Dear all,
Just a few thoughts for the discussions about Mary as a spinner and
also Mary as a help to those in childbirth.
The former is discussed in the wide-ranging
Kuryluk, Ewa, Veronica and her cloth :
history,
symbolism, and structure of a "true" image:
1991
It is a long while since I read this book and I didn't agree with
everything in it, but as far as I remember it provides a wealth of
reference and images to the idea of the Virgin as a spinner, as does
an article on 'The thread of Life in the hands of the Virgin', which I
believe appeared in Equally in God's image (the book quoted below). As
I remember there was also an article about the portrayal of Noah's
wife as a greedy and troublesome spinner, in contrast to the Virgin.
Both these make reference to the story of the Virgin spinning and
weaving during her childhood in the Temple and making the veil for the
Temple (the one which was rent asunder when Jesus died). The Virgin
was given scarlet or purple thread to weave with; some have seen this
as an image of the onset of menstruation.
Both these themes of spinnning and childbirth are described in:
GIBSON, G.McM., The Theater of Devotion. East Anglian Drama and
Society in the late Middle Ages (Chicago and London 1989).
and to a lesser extent;
GIBSON, G.McM., 'St Margery: The Book of Margery Kempe', in, Equally
in God's Image: Women in the Middle Ages, eds J.B.Holloway, C.S.Wright
and J.Bechtold (New York 1990), 144-163.
GIBSON, G.McM., 'Saint Anne and the religion of childbed. Some East
Anglian texts and talismans' inASHLEY, K. and SHEINGORN, P.,
eds, Interpreting Cultural Symbols - St
Anne in late Medieval Society (Athens, Georgia 1990), 95-110.
There seems to have been a very rich tradition of childbed talismans,
such as girdles associated with the Virgin; several such items are
discussed in the letters between Cromwell and his minions. Although
now very old, probably a good source for tracking down further
scattered references in English is:
WATERTON, E., Pietas Mariana Britanniae (London 1879).
Both the miracles of the Virgin at Mont St Michel and the Virgin and
the Jewess are depicted in wall paintings at Eton College Chapel, for
which see: JAMES, M.R. and TRISTRAM, E.W., 'Wall paintings in Eton
College Chapel and in the Lady Chapel of Winchester Cathedral', The
Walpole Society, 17 (1929), 1-43.
Miriam Gill
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