Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 5350
  • Author(s)/Creator(s):
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: All Girls Together: Community , Gender, and Vision at Helfta [analysis of the environment at Helfta based on the writings of its visionaries: Mechthild of Hackeborn, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Gertrude the Great; the experience within this supportive community allowed Gertrude and Mechthild of Hackeborn to ascribe female characteristics to the divine that drew on images of female biology including enclosure, blood, and the vagina].
  • Source: Medieval Women in Their Communities.  Edited by Diane Watt.  University of Toronto Press, 1997.  Pages 72 - 91.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Body Female Biology, Image of Femininity Gender Gertrude the Great of Helfta, Mystic, Saint Helfta, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany- Monastery Jesus Christ- Wounds Mechthild von Hackeborn, Mystic Mechthild von Magdeburg, Mystic Monasticism Mystics Sacred Heart, D
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 13
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  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources: "Voaden's article looks at the interconnections between the mystics, Mechtild of Hackeborn, Mechtild of Magdeburg, and Gertrude the Great, who lived together at Helfta. She posits that the "intellectual and moral authority which seems to have existed amongst the women at Helfta resulted in a mystical discourse incorporating two of the cardinal elements of their experiences: membership in a community and biological femaleness." (p. 73)" From the review written by Katherine L. French of "Medieval Women in Their Communities," "Medieval Review" (TMR ID: 96.12.11). [Reproduced by permission of the "Medieval Review."].
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  • Year of Publication: 1997.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0802042899