Femininity In Medieval Times
Women often took a backseat to men in the literature and storytelling from the Middle Ages. When they were portrayed, they were often weak or submissive, allowing themselves to mold to whatever decisions the male character had made. Even when religion came into play, women initially had a reputation that matched the “traditional misogyny and mistrust associated with Eve”(Levack 167). However, often through the voice or pen of men, tales of spiritual women did reach a larger audience. The popularity of numerous women who reached extreme levels of spirituality, helped to give women a more impactful and relevant image in medieval times but did little to challenge the pre-existing traits that people associated with being a proper women such as
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While the mystical woman such as Christina Mirabilis, Marie d’Oignies, Hadewijch of Brabant, and Angela of Foligno were not submissive to earthly men, their extreme submission to God reinforced the view of women as submissive creatures in the eyes of many medieval people. Many of these women did remove men from their lives but they were not actually independent. Christina Mirabilis, “remained unknown to all, and the more hidden she was, the more known she was to God alone”(Cantimpré 184). As Christina, “ran from the presence of men with wondrous horror”(Cantimpré 185), she threw herself into the arms of God. Hadewijch writes,“In union with God’s humanity, you should live here in labor and exile; and in union with God’s eternal omnipotence you should in your heart love and rejoice, gently laying all your trust in him” (Hadewijch 191). The devotion of these women went so far that they would submit their mortal bodies to punishment and cruelty in order to maintain their spiritual relationship with god. Marie d'Oignies “found no rest in spirit, until by means of bodily chastisements, she had made up for all the pleasures she had experienced in the past” (Vitry 180). Yet, despite her own bodily harm Marie passed with a smile on her face as,“the ravages of death did not alter the cheerfulness of her expression” (Vitry 183). These spiritual women valued their relationship with God above all else, regardless of harm to their own physical body or suffering. Even with men out of the picture, the way these women experienced their spirituality required them to take on an extreme form of submission that did nothing to change people’s perception of what women were capable of on their
While the mystical woman such as Christina Mirabilis, Marie d’Oignies, Hadewijch of Brabant, and Angela of Foligno were not submissive to earthly men, their extreme submission to God reinforced the view of women as submissive creatures in the eyes of many medieval people. Many of these women did remove men from their lives but they were not actually independent. Christina Mirabilis, “remained unknown to all, and the more hidden she was, the more known she was to God alone”(Cantimpré 184). As Christina, “ran from the presence of men with wondrous horror”(Cantimpré 185), she threw herself into the arms of God. Hadewijch writes,“In union with God’s humanity, you should live here in labor and exile; and in union with God’s eternal omnipotence you should in your heart love and rejoice, gently laying all your trust in him” (Hadewijch 191). The devotion of these women went so far that they would submit their mortal bodies to punishment and cruelty in order to maintain their spiritual relationship with god. Marie d'Oignies “found no rest in spirit, until by means of bodily chastisements, she had made up for all the pleasures she had experienced in the past” (Vitry 180). Yet, despite her own bodily harm Marie passed with a smile on her face as,“the ravages of death did not alter the cheerfulness of her expression” (Vitry 183). These spiritual women valued their relationship with God above all else, regardless of harm to their own physical body or suffering. Even with men out of the picture, the way these women experienced their spirituality required them to take on an extreme form of submission that did nothing to change people’s perception of what women were capable of on their