Jon,
I appreciate your post about Eve and Christina, both of whom I find
intriguing. I have a question, though. Why do you suppose that Eve and
Herve lived in separate cells, or that Christina and Roger saw each other
only once? Geoffrey of Vendome's letter does not state that Eve and Herve
did nor, to the best of my knowledge, does Hilary's poem. In the essay you
cite, Dom Jean Leclerq remarks that Roger saw Christina only once, but the
vita itself does not state that their first fiery gaze was their last, as
would be the expected if this were the case. It is improbable that Roger
avoided looking at her (or Christina at him) in the intimate interaction
described by the author, and, if he did, the author would most likely
mention it as further testament to his discipline. I view Eve and Hervey's
relationship, and Christina's relationships with Roger, the unnamed cleric,
and (to a lesser extent) Geoffrey as forms of syneisaktism, roughly defined
as celibate cohabitation between an unrelated man and woman in the pursuit
of a virtuous religious life. This practice, contrary to Jean Leclerq's
comment, is not unique in 'historical history'. For syneisaktism, (in
addition to some of the texts you cite) see:
Hans Achelis, "Agapetae," Encyclopediae of Religion and Ethics (1913)
Jo Ann McNamara, "Chaste Marriage and Clerical Celibacy," in Sexual
Practices and the Medieval Church, eds. Verb Bullough and James Brundage (1982)
Jo Ann McNamara, Sisters in Arms (1996)
Rosemary Rader, Breaking Boundaries (New York: Paulist Press, 1983)
Roger Reynolds, "Virgines Subintroductae in Celtic Christianity," Harvard
Theological Review 61 (1968)
It's also interesting to compare Jerome's Epistola 45 with Ep. 52. The
early twelfth-century Libellus de diversis ordinibus et professionibus qui
sunt in aecclesia offered a tantalizing promise of its second book: "itidem
revertamur ad mulieres quae heremiticam vitam ducunt, ascendentes ad
sanctimonialium, necnon et ad illas quae cum sanctis et sub sanctis viris
iugum suaue suspiciunt." Unfortunately, either this promise was never
fulfilled or the text has since been lost.
Slan,
Maeve
At 01:26 PM 4/2/97 GMT0BST, you wrote:
>
>Perhaps one of the most celebrated female hermits was Eve of Wilton,
>best known from a letter, the Liber confortatorius, to her by Goscelin
>of St Bertin, ca. 1082-3. Eve had been a nun of the English Wilton
>Abbey, but left a few years before Goscelin's letter to become an
>anchoress in the anchorhold of Saint-Laurent in Angers.
>
>Twenty years later, she joined Herve, an ascetic former monk of la
>Trinite, Vendome (and sometime follower of Robert of Arbrissel
>[I had to work him in somehow, he typed with a grin...]) in the cell
>of Saint-Eutrope. A letter of Geoffrey of Vendome celebrates the
>beauty of their holy life together -- which seems to indicate that
>they had separate cells (e.g., Roger of St Albans only saw Christina
>of Markyate once during their reclusive life together). Hilary of
>Orleans, one of Abelard's students at the first incarnation of the
>Paraclete, wrote a poem about Herve & Eve's life together at
>Saint-Eutrope, and how their love "was not in this world, but in
>Christ."
>
>See: C. H. Talbot, ed., "The Liber confortatorius of Goscelin of St
>Bertin," Analecta monastica 3 (=Studia Anselmiana 37) 1955, 1-117.
>
>Andre Wilmart, "Eve et Goscelin" Revue Benedictine 46 (1934) 414-38
>and RB 50 (1938) 42-83.
>
>Geoffrey of Vendome Ep. 4:48 (PL 157:184-6) -- compare with his
>letter to Robert of Arbrissel, condemning him for living with women,
>ep. 4:47, (PL 157:181-4).
>
>For Hilary, see the edition of his poems by N. M. Haring, "Die
>Gedichte und Mysterienspiele des Hilarius von Orleans" Studi
>medievali 17 (1976) 928.
>
>And generally, P. J. F. Rosuf, "The Anchoress in the 12th & 13th
>centuries" and Jean Leclercq, "Solitude and Solidarity: Medieval
>Women Recluses" both in Medieval Religious Women II: Peaceweavers,
>edd. L. T. Shank & J. A. Nichols (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1987) and
>Penelope D. Johnson's Equal in Monastic Profession (Chicago UP, 1991).
>
>As I recall, there is a little about female hermits in Henrietta
>Leyser's Hermits and the New Monasticism.
>
>tot ziens,
>
>j
>
>JON PORTER
>Department of History
>University of Nottingham
>
>
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