Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 3764
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Fein , Susanna Greer.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Maternity in Aelred of Rievaulx's Letter to His Sister
  • Source: Medieval Mothering.  Edited by John Carmi Parsons and Bonnie Wheeler.  Garland Publishing, 1996.  Pages 139 - 156.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, Saint- De Institutione Inclusarum Anchoresses Brothers Cistercian Order Handbooks Mother, Image of Sexuality in Literature Sisters Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 12
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: In "De institutione inclusarum," a work addressed to his recluse sister, Aelred of Rievaulx provides spiritual insight through a womb-centered imagery of sexual arousal, pregnancy, childbirth, and maternal pathos that analogizes anchoritic cell to female body. [Reproduced by permission of Garland Publishing.]
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources: Similar blurrings of roles and meanings are found in Susanna Greer Fein's study of how Aelred of Rievaulx mothered his sister. In his advice to his sister, Aelred carefully distinguished physical motherhood from spiritualized mothering in a way that also
  • Author's Affiliation: Kent State University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1996.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0815323417