GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The goal of this course is to investigate the specific meaning and function of the portrayal of sanctity through analysis of various Saints' Lives (hagiography) dating from the medieval period. Central to our exploration is a collection of Old French hagiographic poems (translated in the main textbook for this course: The Lady as Saint) which were composed during the thirteenth century in commemoration of the saintly heroines of the Christian tradition.
Keeping in mind the character of medieval hagiographic poetry as a literary genre that combines edification and entertainment, we will assess both the specific and universal components of the portrayal of holy perfection: why this need to commemorate the holy heroes and heroines of the Christian tradition? what narrative strategies do storytellers employ to confirm their protagonists' perfection? what is the instructive merit and purpose of those Lives with respect to their intended audiences? what do those Lives tell us about the fears and expectations of their public during this particular period of medieval history? and to what extent does the saintly protagonist differ from the secular heroes and heroines of the epic tradition, courtly romance, post-medieval novels, dramas, movies, and popular tales and legends?
REQUIRED READINGS
1) The Lady as Saint (B. Cazelles, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991).
The thirteenth-century hagiographic poems translated in this anthology share a number of characteristics:
Such characteristics require that we approach those Saints' Lives as documents whose main interest, significance, and value lie in the domain of cultural anthropology.
2) Course Reader
The documents contained in the Course Reader serve to enlarge our perspective and facilitate comparison with other manifestations of holiness in medieval culture:
WORKLOAD
(A four-unit course, letter-grade only)
1) Participation (30%)
Includes reading all assignments, regular attendance, and active contribution to class discussions. In addition,
2) Written assignments (50%)
> Those reaction papers are meant to induce you to examine our readings from a "scholarly" perspective (i.e., an objective, comparative assessment of the texts synthesizing their cultural significance, literary value, narrative strategies, goal and function, etc.), and are thus not supposed to be a summary of the stories, nor a personal/emotional response to our texts.
A mid-term paper (3-5 pages; 25%), the topics of which will be announced in class.
3) Final (20%)
> Candidates for the second option will compose collectively their rendition of a typical Saint's Life and perform the resulting legend for the entertainment and edification of the class (videos are not an option).
NOTE: the documents identified for each session consist of texts you are to analyze on your own ("Readings") and texts you are to read in view of our class exploration ("Discussion").
A brief survey of the texts, authors, periods, and publics under consideration.
Terminology: Hagios, sanctus, holy, sacred. Medieval saints as embodiments of caritas (love of God); versus modern "saints" as embodiments of altruistic charity. The cult of the saints in Christian history: official sanctification and the canonization process; popular veneration.
READINGS: in Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 3-21, and 27-30.
First reaction paper (consult our Webpage for topic and advice)
Authentic, historical saints, versus legendary, fictional, and fabricated saints. Favorite types of saints: martyrs, hermits, repentant sinners. Secular romance and "hagiographic romance."
READINGS: the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (in Lady as Saint, pp. 313-14) and its adaptation by Christine de Pizan (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: comparison of Eulalia 1, Eulalia 2, and the fair lady in Lanval by Marie de France (in Course Reader).
Historical background: the Great Persecutions. The martyr as "witness." Cast of characters: pagan tormentors, heroic protagonists, intratextual onlookers, executioners. Conflicts and tensions: the oppositional structure of a typical martyr's Passion.
READINGS: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 30-38; the Martyrdom of Saint Perpetua (in Course Reader), the Passion of Saint Faith (in Lady as Saint).
DISCUSSION: the Martyrdom of Saint Perpetua.
Contrast between male martyrs and female martyrs; between authentic martyrs and fictional ones. The value of martyrdom from the perspective of medieval authors and listeners.
READINGS: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 43-59; the Passion of Saint Agnes (in Lady as Saint), the Passion of Saint Lawrence (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the Passion of Saint Lawrence.
ORAL REPORT: Saint Thomas Becket (1118-1170).
Second reaction paper (consult our Webpage for topic and advice)
Historical background: the "Fathers of the Desert." The hermit as an ascetic figure: fuga mundi (flight from the world). The Lives of non-martyr saints: a gradational structure.
READINGS: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 21-27; the Life of Saint Paul the Hermit and the Life of Saint Alexis (both in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the Life of Saint Alexis.
Contrast between male hermits and female hermits; between fictional and authentic eremitic figures. The value of eremitism from the perspective of medieval authors and listeners.
DISCUSSION: the Life of Saint Christine of Markyate (excerpts in Course Reader).
ORAL REPORT: Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226).
The enclosure of maidens. Fathers as protectors, fathers as persecutors. Jealous husbands, lovers as liberators.
READINGS: the Passion of Saint Barbara (in Lady as Saint) and its adaptation by Christine de Pizan (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the lady-in-tower motif in Barbara and in Yonec by Marie de France (in Course Reader).
Mid-term paper (consult our Webpage for topics and advice)
Miracles, wonders, supernatural manifestations. Confronting the unknown; the saint as an exception to the norm; explaining the unknown.
The male saint as imitator of Christ: limits and value. The case of the female saint: Christ as Father, Christ as Friend, Christ as Divine Spouse.
DISCUSSION: the Life of Saint Euphrosyna (in Lady as Saint) and its adaptation by Christine de Pizan (in Course Reader).
ORAL REPORT: Saint Theresa of Avila (1515-1582).
Sublimating the "unfortunate" female nature: to become "like a man." "Spiritual" manliness: function and effects of the male disguise.
READINGS: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 62-68; the Life of Saint Marina (in Lady as Saint) and its adaptation by Christine de Pizan (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the innocent-victim motif in Marina and in The Ash Tree by Marie de France (in Course Reader).
Vices and virtues: psychomachia (war within the soul). Journey to the seven places of Hell. The birth of purgatory.
READING: the Life of Saint Jehan Paulus (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the wilderness-within motif in Jehan Paulus and in The Werewolf by Marie de France (in Course Reader).
Third reaction paper (consult our Webpage for topic and advice)
Attritionism, versus contritionism. Evil appearance, wilderness within. The space of female repentance: enclosure, exposure.
READINGS: the Life of Saint Mary the Egyptian, the Life of Saint Thais (both in Lady as Saint).
DISCUSSION: the Life of Saint Mary the Egyptian.
The saint as "quester." Three stages of the holy quest: departure, liminality, reintegration. Secular heroes and the quest for distinction; holy questers and the ordeal of difference.
DISCUSSION: recap.
ORAL REPORT: Saint Theresa of Lisieux (1873-1897).
Virginity as a prerequisite to female sanctity in hagiographic romance. Social value and narrative function of maidenhood. Treatment of the institution of marriage: in the courtly tradition, in the hagiographic tradition. Can a "Lady" be a saint?
READINGS: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 69-74; the Life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, the Life of Saint Paula (both in Lady as Saint).
DISCUSSION: the Life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Violence and religion: just wars, holy crusades, divinely-sanctioned aggression. Epic struggle: right is might according to the Song of Roland. Victory over Satan as "dragon": Sts. George, Juliana, and Margaret.
READINGS: in Lady as Saint, the Passion of Saint Juliana and the Passion of Saint Margaret of Antioch (along with the latter's adaptation by Christine de Pizan in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the Passion of Saint Margaret of Antioch.
STRONG WOMEN: MENTAL POWER
Ambivalent character of female sanctity in the medieval tradition: between aesthetics (the "textile") and ethics (the "textual").
READINGS: the Passion of Saint Christina, the Passion of Catherine of Alexandria (both in Lady as Saint), and their adaptations by Christine de Pizan (in Course Reader).
DISCUSSION: the Passion of Saint Christina and its adaptation by Christine de Pizan.
Abelard as philosopher and thinker. Abelard as lover and husband. His sacrificial treatment of Heloise.
DISCUSSION: selected letters of Heloise to Abelard (in Course Reader).
Against the tradition of violence and aggression: Heloise, Francis of Assisi, Christine de Pizan.
READING: Lady as Saint, Commentary pp. 74-84.
CONCLUSION: THE SACRIFICIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HAGIOGRAPHY.
This list of references is designed to provide you with both general and specific information for the writing of your papers. (An asterisk* indicates the books that are in the Meyer Reserve).
1) General references
David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford UP, 1987). Arranged alphabetically. [Reference room: BR1710. F34]
Butler's Lives of the Saints, ed. Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater, 4 vols. (New York: P. J. Kennedy, 1965). Ordered chronologically according to the saint's day of commemoration. [BX4655]
Dictionary of the Middle Ages. [D114. D5 1982]
2) Cult of the saints
*Kenneth L. Woodward, Making Saints. How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't, and Why (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
*Alison G. Elliott, Roads to Paradise. Reading the Lives of the Early Saints (UP of New England, 1987).
*Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (The U. of Chicago P., 1981).
*R. Blumenfeld-Kosinski and T. Szell, ed., Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe (Cornell University Press, 1991).
Wilson Stephen, ed., Saints and Their Cults: Studies in Religious Sociology, Folklore and History (Cambridge UP, 1983).
D. Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints and Society (Chicago UP, 1982).
Michael Goodich, Vita Perfecta: The Ideal of Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1982).
Richard Kieckhefer, Unquiet Souls: Fourteenth-Century Saints and Their Religious Milieu (University of Chicago Press, 1984).
3) Old French hagiographic tradition
Paul Meyer, "Légendes hagiographiques en français," Histoire Littéraire de la France, 33 (1906), 328-458.
*P. A. Johnson and B. Cazelles, Le vain siecle guerpir: A Literary Approach to Sainthood through Old French Hagiography of the Twelfth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 1979).
B. Cazelles, Le Corps de sainteté. D'après Jehan Bouche d'Or, Jehan Paulus et quelques Vies des XIIe et XIIIe siècles (Geneva: Droz, 1982).
Duncan Robertson, The Medieval Saints' Lives. Spiritual Renewal and Old French Literature (Lexington, Kentucky: French Forum, 1995).
4) Women in the Middle Ages
*R. Howard Bloch, Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love (U of Chicago Press, 1991).
*Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (U California P, 1987).
Susan Mosher Stuard, ed., Women in Medieval Society (U of Pennsylvania P., 1976).
Shulamith Shahar, The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages, trans. C. Galai (London and New York: Methuen, 1983).
McNamara & Wemple, "Sanctity and Power: The Dual Pursuit of Medieval Women," in ed. Bridenthal & Koonz, Becoming Visible. Women in European History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), (pp. 90-118).
Penny Schine, The Lady and the Virgin: Image, Attitude, and Experience in Twelfth-Century France (U of Chicago P, 1985).
5) Analyses of assigned readings
(For the texts of 13th-century hagiographic romance, consult notes and bibliography in The Lady as Saint).
On Saint Perpetua:
*Peter Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua (203) to Marguerite Porete (Ý1310) (Cambridge UP, 1984).
On Saint Alexis:
See Introduction to Carl J. Odenkirchen's edition and translation, The Life of St. Alexius (Brookline, Mass.: Classical Folia, 1978).
*K. D. Uitti, Story, Myth, and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry, 1050-1200 (Princeton UP, 1973). [First Chapter]
On Saint Christine of Markyate:
See Introduction to C. H. Talbot's edition, The Life of Christine of Markyate. A Twelfth-Century Recluse (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1959), pp. 1-33.
On Christine de Pizan's City of the Ladies:
Maureen Quilligan, "Allegory and the Textual Body: Female Authority in Christine de Pizan's Livre de la Cité des Dames," Romanic Review 79 (1988), 222-248.
On Heloise:
*Peggy Kamuf, Fictions of Feminine Desire: Disclosures of Heloise (University of Nebraska Press, 1982), pp. 1-43.
Linda Georgianna, "Any Corner of Heaven: Heloise's Critique of Monasticism," Mediaeval Studies, 49 (1987), 221-53.
Betty Radice, "The French Scholar-Lover: Heloise," in Medieval Women Writers, ed. Katharina M. Wilson (Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 1984), pp. 90-108.