Possibly relevant: the Life of St Stephen of Aubazine, cc. 43-49, ed. Michel
Aubrun, 1970 - boys destined for monastic life being brought up in an
adjacent nunnery until five years old. One boy is fetched by a brother, who
curiously inquired about the women the boy had grown up with. Boy said he'd
never seen women. Would you like to see some real ones, the monk asked,
pointing at some goats grazing in the field. The boy believed him, and upon
reaching Aubazine, he bragged to the other boys in the 'statio puerorum'
that he'd seen real women grazing, to the amusement of youngsters who 'knew
women better, but not in a more salutiferous manner' (c. 47, p. 170).
It's the old theme of children raised in the cloister losing any sense of
gender (cf Jonas of Bobbio, V Columbani, about Burgundofara). It may well
cross with the one of cross-dressing.
Mayke de Jong
Trinity College
Cambridge
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