Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9847
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Warren , Nancy Bradley.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Monastic Politics: St. Colette of Corbie, Franciscan Reform, and the House of Burgundy
  • Source: New Medieval Literatures 5, ( 2002): Pages 203 - 228.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Abbesses Colette of Corbie, Saint Ecclesiastical Reform Franciscan Order Gender Hagiography House of Burgundy Jean Sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy Monasticism Politics Poor Clares Order- Colettines Sanctity Spirituality Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: This article explores intersections of politics and female spirituality that characterize the histories of St. Colette of Corbie's monastic foundations and reforms, undertakings that were enmeshed in the turmoil of the papal schism, internal conflicts within the Franciscan order, and civil war in France. It examines the opposition of the Benedictine monks of Corbie to Colette's efforts to found a nunnery there and the objections of the friars of Dole to her reform movement. Both cases highlight anxieties about female authority--both religious and secular--as well as underline the importance of spiritual, symbolic profit in the religio-political sphere. The article also considers such profit in an analysis of the roles played by St. Colette and her monastic foundations in the representational strategies of the house of Burgundy, concluding that the saint and the duchy had a symbiotic relationship in which each used the resources of the other to accomplish mutually beneficial goals. [Abstract submitted to "Feminae" by the author].
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Utah State University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 14653737