medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hugo Koch, Die Ehe Heinrichs II mit Kunigunde (Koln: 1908) examined what
evidence there is for the question. He found nothing during their lives to
indicate a vow of abstinence and thought that Henry's admirers (or political
allies) made a virtue of necessity by claiming it after the partys were
dead. It's interesting that the eleventh century is almost a unique period
for attributing this kind of chastity to men and not to women. Generally it
is the queen who is reluctant (or even adamant) and the king who assents to
her spiritual ambitions. The same story is told of a near contemporary,
Edward the Confessor. In both cases, the queen does not exactly share in
the glory. Edward's queen was the object of some slander on the subject of
her chastity. The legend of Cunegund, whose "canonization" (not by Rome)
came substantially later than Henry's includes quite a saucy passage in
which the Devil, disguised as a handsome young knight, showed himself
lurking about her bedchamber at night while the chaste king slept elsewhere.
Ultimately she was accused of infidelity and subjected to the ordeal of
walking barefoot over white hot plowshares. This incident is portrayed as
one of her miracles on her elaborate tomb in Bamberg cathedral where she is
daintily lifting her skirts as she prances over the obstacles.
Jo Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Martin" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 8:36 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 13. July: St. Henry
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Assuming one means by "chaste" a marriage free of sexual relations
> (Christian chastity applies to all--not acting out of cupiditas and lust
> but out of caritas--but the chastity of a married couple will, of
> course, take place in a rather different context than that of a celibate
> religious), the historian in me asks how one could know that Henry and
> Cunegunde did or did not engage in marital relations. That they had no
> children would be obvservable to outsiders. But how would one know,
> especially at this distance, that they engaged in marital intercourse
> but no children resulted from it rather than remained abstinent?
>
> Dennis Martin
>
> >>> [log in to unmask] 07/12/02 17:33 PM >>>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> , Canterbury.
>
> Henry II (d. 1024) . . . . Later legend gave Henry a prime qualification
> for sainthood: a chaste marriage (in reality, his marriage to Cunegunde
> appears to have simply been childless). He was canonized in 1146.
>
>
> Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
> [log in to unmask]
>
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