Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 6799
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Price , Merrall Llewelyn.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Imperial Violence and the Monstrous Mother: Cannibalism at the Siege of Jerusalem [The author explores the popular tale of Maria of Jerusalem who ate her own infant during a siege of Jerusalem. The author is interested in her as both a double and opposite of the Virgin Mary whose son was also sacrificed. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Domestic Violence in Medieval Texts.  Edited by Eve Salisbury, Georgiana Donavin, and Merrall Llewelyn Price.  University Press of Florida, 2002.  Pages 272 - 298.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Painting Cannibalism in Literature Illumination of Manuscripts Infanticide in Literature Jews in Literature Maria of Jerusalem, Popular Tale of a Mother Who Ate Her Own Infant During a Siege Mothers in Literature Violence in Art Violence in L
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: General
  • Century: 11- 12- 13- 14- 15- 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Five figures. Figure One Four marginal illustrations of Maria's story, "Sacra Parallela," ninth century (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale MS gr. 923, fol. 227). Figure Two "Jerusalem Under Siege,"from Louis Paris's "Toiles Peintes et Tapisseries de la Ville de Reims, ou, la Mise en Scène du Théâtre des Confrères de la Passion" (Paris, 1843). Figure Three "La Guerre des Juifs," manuscript illumination, twelfth century (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale MS lat. 16730, fol. 267v.). Figure Four Maria roasts and eats her child, manuscript illumination, "Des Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes" (Geneva, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire, MS fr. 190, fol. 101). Figure Five Maria roasts and eats her child, manuscript illumination, "Des Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes" (Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 5193, fol. 309v).
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  • Author's Affiliation: University of Alabama, Huntsville
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0813024420