Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9273
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Holladay , Joan A.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Relics, Reliquaries, and Religious Women: Visualizing the Holy Virgins of Cologne [the author points to the growth in the cult of Ursula and her virgins including the excavations of their supposed bodies, renovation of the church dedicated to the martyrs, and the invention of Ursula busts; the author suggests that the cult and the busts were designed to appeal to the daughters of patricians and burghers by showing that a holy life could be found in their social class and in marriage rather than in the extremes of the Beguines].
  • Source: Studies in Iconography 18, ( 1997): Pages 67 - 118.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Sculpture Beguines Churches Cologne, North Rhine- Westphalia, Germany- Church of the Holy Virgins Hagiography Martyrs Relics Reliquaries Ursula Busts Ursula, Virgin Martyr, Saint and the Eleven Thousand Virgin Martyrs Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 13- 14
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Fourteen Figures. Figure One Ursula-bust with arms probably of the Cologne patrician families Kusin and von Palast, circa 1350 (Cologne, Schnütgen-Museum). Figure Two Bust of St. Euphrosyne, circa 1350 (Cologne, Church of St. Ursula, Goldene Kammer). Figure Three Ursula-busts, circa 1320-1350 ( Cologne, Church of St. Kunibert). Figure Four Schematic plan of Cologne in the fifth or sixth century, showing major churches [Plan: Michael Warren, after Hermann Keussen, "Topographie der Stadt Köln im Mittelalter" (Bonn: P. Hanstein, 1910), Karte 1]. Figure Five Plan of Cologne after 1180 [Photo: Hermann Keussen, "Topographie der Stadt Köln im Mittelalter" (Bonn: P. Hanstein, 1910), Karte 1]. Figure Six High altar, Church of St. Ursula (earlier known as the Church of the Holy Virgins), Cologne (Drawing: Hugo Rahtgens, "Reliquien - Verehrung und Verklärung," edited by Anton Legner (Cologne: Stadt Köln, Schnütgen-Museum, 1989): 15). Figure Seven Local saints, including the Ursula-virgins portrayed in bust-length to the right of center, protect Cologne from Archbishop Engelbert's troops in 1265. "Chronica van der hilliger Stat Coellen, fol. 228r (Cologne: Johann Koelhoff, 1499). Figure Eight Gothic choir, circa 1247-1287 (Church of St. Ursula, Cologne). Figure Nine Plan of Romanesque Church of St. Ursula showing later changes and additions, circa 1300,17th, and 19th c. (Plan: Hugo Rahtgens. "Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln," 2. Band III. Edited by Ludwig Arntz et al. (Düsseldorf: L. Schwann, 1934): 26). Figure Ten Goldene Kammer 1643-1644 (Church of St. Ursula, Cologne). Figure Eleven Map of the area Niederich marked with organized houses of beguines founded by 1350 [Photo after Hermann Keussen, "Topographie der Stadt Köln im Mittelalter" 2 (Bonn: P. Hanstein, 1910), Tafel XI]. Figure Twelve Seal of Abbess Elizabeth von Virneburg with "Schutzmantel" Ursula, 1310 (Cologne, Stadtarchiv, Haupturkundenarchiv 745 a GB). Figure Thirteen Marienstatt altar, circa 1350 (Cistercian abbey at Marienstatt). Figure Fourteen Bust of St. Ursula (first third of the 14th c.) from the treasury of Basel Cathedral (Basel, Historisches Museum).
  • Table: Two tables. Table One Dates of Ursula-busts from 1261 through 1400. The largest concentration of busts was produced between 1320 and 1360. Table Two Beguines in Cologne, both beguine houses and beguines living alone, from 1223 through 1380.
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Texas, Austin
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1997.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 01481029