Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 7634
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Rawcliffe , Carole
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Women, Childbirth, and Religion in Later Medieval England [The author traces the means by which the church offered support and aid to women facing childbirth. Rawcliffe also accounts for varied responses provided by popular religion including saints, shrines, and charms. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Women and Religion in Medieval England.  Edited by Diana Wood.  Oxbow Books, 2003.  Pages 91 - 117.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Anne, Mother of the Virgin, Saint Charms Childbirth Hagiography Lay Piety Margaret of Antioch, Saint Mary, Virgin, Saint Medicine Mortality Relics Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 12- 13- 14- 15- 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Six figures. Figure One Manuscript illumination of a mother, infant and midwife. The mother contemplates a shrouded body at her feet while a Franciscan friar offers the host. From a French "Bible moralisée" (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 270b, fol. 215v). Figure Two Roof boss depicts the Holy Family (the Virgin Mary, Christ, Saint Anne, and Joseph), late fifteenth century (Norwich, Church of the Great Hospital). Figure Three Stained glass panel of the Nativity, fifteenth century (Norwich, Church of St. Peter Mancroft). Figure Four Sculpted wooden bench-ends depicting Saint Margaret with a dragon and Saint Katherine with a wheel (Ufford, Suffolk, nave of the Church of Saint Mary). Figure Five Stained glass panel of the Visitation, fifteenth century (Norwich, Saint Peter Mancroft). Figure Six The birth of the Virgin Mary embroidered on a priest's vestment, 1415-1430, part of a set illustrating the life of Saint Anne and Mary (Glasgow, Burrell Collection, 29/2).
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  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of East Anglia
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 1842170988