Print

Print


medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Hi Ingvil,

I'm assuming that the text you're working on is Marie de France's 'Bisclavret', where the werewolf punishes his treacherous wife?  If not, you might want to look at it - it is very similar.

I think it might be useful to look at facial self-mutilation in general, as well as noses in particular. Two saints sprang to mind with regard to your query: St.Ebba the Younger and St. Margaret of Cortona.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia online gives the outline of Ebba's story: Virgin, martyr, Abbess of Coldingham, died c.870. During the Danish invasion she and her nuns mutilated their faces to preserve their chastity, and were burned alive, when the barbarians set fire to the monastery. Feast, 2 April.

Margaret's story is closer to your enquiry - this version of her story is an amalgamation I made some time ago from various sources.  I was particularly interested in the fairytale/folkloric qualities of her vita.  I haven't kept references to the sources, which I am sure you can find, but I do remember that some are extremely gory.

Born of peasant stock in thirteenth century Umbria, Margaret was unusually lovely and therefore hated by her stepmother.  At 17 she was seized and carried off by a young nobleman.  They lived together for a number of years and Margaret bore him a son, but then he died in mysterious circumstances and his half-putrefied body was found in a forest when Margaret was guided to it by his dog.  She begged forgiveness of her father, spent all her days and nights in tears, and walked to her parish church with a rope around her neck, asking for public pardon for her former sins. 

Perhaps Margaret was a truly penitent murderess or perhaps she was simply devout; whatever exactly her sins might have been, Margaret’s stepmother refused to shelter her.  The local Franciscans said she was too young and pretty to join them.  So a local family, the Moscari, allowed her to live in a cell on their land, where she spent every waking hour mutilating herself.  Her confessor, a Franciscan from Cortona, tried to curb her most excessive impulses and prescribed her ‘austere practices suitable to her fervour’.  Hating her former beauty, she frequently had to be prevented from hacking at her face with a razor.

However, by the age of 28 she had mutilated herself sufficiently to be no longer an object of impure thoughts for the monks, and she was accepted as a Franciscan Tertiary in Cortona.  She founded a hospital and also began to counsel groups of penitents.   Her fame for her sanctity drew crowds who besieged her.  Preferring to be alone, she gained permission to go and live on top of Mount Sant-Egidio, where she enjoyed mystical visions and where, worn out by her austerities, she died.  At the moment of Margaret’s death a nun some distance away had a vision of her soul entering heaven and acclaimed as Christ’s new Magdalene.

As well as Ebba and Margaret, there is of course St. Brigid of Ireland, who rather less drastically prayed that her beauty be removed so that she would not have to marry.  Once she had safely taken the veil, it returned.

Hope these are of use.

All the best,

Rebecca Stephens


From:  Ingvil Brugger Budal <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:  medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]>
To:  [log in to unmask]
Subject:  [M-R] Noseless women?
Date:  Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:42:55 +0200
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>culture
>
>I'm currently working on a medieval text where a werewolf bites off
>a woman's nose, and I'm quite sure that I've read something years
>ago about medieval women cutting off their noses to avoid marriage
>and become nuns instead. Do anyone know where to find information
>about this?
>
>Ingvil BB
>
>**********************************************************************
>To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>to: [log in to unmask]
>To send a message to the list, address it to:
>[log in to unmask]
>To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>to: [log in to unmask]
>In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write
>to:
>[log in to unmask]
>For further information, visit our web site:
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html