medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
To everyone who responded to my query about Brigit: I thank you all.
I want to clarify one thing. I am quite familiar with the early lives of B,
having spent quite a lot of time with Cogitosus, the Vita Prima, and the
Bethu Brigte. I used them extensively in my Master's thesis and in various
papers and presentations. I am also aware that the themes of illegitimate
childbirth etc are fairly common in Irish hagiography and, perhaps, in early
lives from other cultures. They are not common, however, in the South
English Legendary or in other major collections such as the Legenda Aurea.
As mentioned, the earlier SEL's version of B is taken from Cogitosus and is
mainly focused on her virginity as is the version in the LA. Also, the Irish
lives are all fairly early - before, I believe, the church was organized
enough to enforce conformity and before the administrations of the "British"
isles had begun to focus so singlemindedly on uniformity. In the fourteenth
century, which is also beyond the Anglo-Norman period and well into just
plain English, it seems to me that stories of unabashed unwed motherhood and
companionable relationships with pagan druids would not have been considered
representative of proper Christian conduct particularly since there was no
force applied that would allow B to appear as a martyr to the unscrupuolous
actions of others, a devise used to present titillating material in other
saints lives. The fourteenth c. is a time when the Irish were considered to
be uncivilized barbarians and when their laws, particularly their marriage
laws, and the nature of their commitment to "true" Christianity was being
called into question by those who were trying to impose "Englishness" upon
them. I guess what I was looking for in my query to the list was someone to
give me good reason why I can't present the life of B in the later SEL as a
possible expression of this kind of imperialism.
Carol - that video sounds fascinating, but very reminiscent of the Swedish B.
If as you say, it really is supposed to be about B of Ireland and Wales, it
is quite surprising. B was indeed the abbess of the double monastery of
Kildare, but from there on the video must rely on a very late and, perhaps,
conflated (with the Swedish B) version as we have no such details on B's life
- in fact there are no historical details at all. I would be very interested
to know the source.
Graham - thank you for the further info on Modwenna. I will check it out.
Maeve - thank you for the references. I haven't looked at the Sharpe because
I was thinking of it as being too early to give me anything on the fourteenth
century, but it might give me some clue as to the exchange of literature in
the 11th and 12th so that might help. The Bartlett and Cosgrove sound
promising too - thanks.
Diane
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