Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 8486
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Blanton , Virginia.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Ely's St. Æthelthryth: The Shrine's Enclosure of the Female Body as Symbol for the Inviolability of Monastic Space [The author argues that the monks at Ely used hagiographies and historical accounts to present the saint and her monastery in as strong a position as possible. The monks identify with the holy female body, emphasizing that as Æthelthryth's body is intact so the lands and properties of the monastery must not be violently seized. After the Norman conquest, William sent Norman monks to Ely. They, however, also wanted to defend the house's privileges, and the writings took on a new image for the saint. She is a warrior woman (a virago or virile woman) who confronts those wrongly holding the monastery's properties. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Women's Space: Patronage, Place, and Gender in the Medieval Church.  Edited by Virginia Chieffo Raguin and Sarah Stanbury.  State University of New York Press, 2005.  Pages 47 - 73.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Æthelthryth of Ely, Queen of Northumbria, Saint Body Ely, Cambridgeshire, England- Male Benedictine Monastery Hagiography Liber Eliensis, Chronicle Miracles Monks Norman Conquest of England Relics Shrines Virile Women Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 11-12
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: One figure. Figure One Miracle of Æthelthryth's resistance to Ecgfrith's desire, octagon capital, 1330s (?) (Ely, Ely Cathedral).
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  • Author's Affiliation: University of Missouri, Kansas City
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2005.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0791463656