Medieval Women & the Cult of the Virgin Mary

Medieval Women & the Cult of the Virgin Mary


I. Pairings of Opposites in the Middle Ages



A. Eve vs. Mary

“Between Adam and God in paradise there was but one woman, and she had no rest until she had succeeded in banishing her husband from the garden of delights and in condemning Christ to the torment of the Cross.”

(1240)



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues: Imago Dei & Procreation



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues

C. Popular Literature & Song: Fabliaux vs. Courtly Love



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues


II. Medieval Spirituality & the Virgin Mary



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues



A. Developments



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues



A. Developments

B. Contribution of Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues


II. Medieval Spirituality & the Cult of the Virgin Mary

A. Developments


1. Mystical Union



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues



A. Developments


1. Mystical Union

2. Humanity of Christ and Mary



A. Eve vs. Mary

B. Related Issues



A. Developments


1. Mystical Union

2. Humanity of Christ and Mary

C. The Virgin Mary in Medieval Art

Icon with the Koimesis ("Falling Asleep") of the Virgin Mary, late 10th century Byzantine; probably made in Constantinople

Inscribed in Greek: The Koimesis; Ivory

Traditional Byzantine Hodegetria [=literally "she who shows the way"]

Mosaic in apse of the Katholikon, one of the monastery churches of Hosios Lukas in central Greece, c.1020

Virgin and Child in Majesty, 1150–1200French; Made in Auvergne

Detail of Virgin of Vladimir

Painted in Constantinople, c.1125; subsequently brought to Russia

Enthroned Virgin and Child ca. 1260–1280; French; Paris

Madonna and Child, ca. 1300; Duccio di Buoninsegna (Italian, Sienese, active ca. 1278–1318; Tempera & gold on wood)

Shrine of the Virginca. 1300; German, Made in Rhine valley

Rare devotional shrine designed to make manifest the miracle of the Incarnation, by which God became human.

Closed, it is a statuette of the enthroned Virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child…

When opened, the shrine shows a sculptural representation of the Trinity (the figure of Christ and the dove of the Holy Spirit are lost), mystically revealing that salvation is achieved through Christ incarnate.

On wings are scenes of Christ’s Nativity.

Virgin and Child, 1290–1300English; perhaps made in London

It was used as a personal devotional object. The statues were made at a time when the cult of the Virgin had reached its peak of popularity.

The composition emphasizes the reciprocal tenderness between the mother and child: the Virgin turns slightly to her left to face the now-missing infant Christ.

III. Actual Medieval Women

A. Some Common Features and Types

B. Women Religious & Mystics – 3 Examples:

1. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

2. Christina of Markyate (10/96/98-c.1160)

3. Elisabeth of Schönau

When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man's seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman's sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can old something enclosed in his fist.

Hildegard’s Vision, from the Scivias Codex (1174)

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Medieval Women & the Cult of the Virgin Mary