The Displacement of the Body in Ælfric's Virgin Martyr Lives

by Alison Gulley

Overview

The virgin martyr vitae in Ælfric's Old English Lives of Saints recount the stories of young women who renounce marriage and sex to devote their lives to Christian service. In this volume, Alison Gulley explores how the context of the Benedictine Reform in late Anglo-Saxon England informed Ælfric's translations of the Latin legends as well as their reception.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472405951
Publisher:	Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	02/28/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Alison Gulley is Associate Professor of English at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, USA.

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction: the function of Ælfric's hagiography; The ideal of castitas and the environment of Ælfric’s virgin martyr legends; Marital imagery, Marian allusion, and circumscribed virginity in Ælfric’s Life of Agnes; Private lives and public contexts in Ælfric’s Lives of Agatha and Lucy; Cross-dressing, sex-change, and womanhood in Ælfric’s Life of Eugenia; ’Let us hold firmly to the beautiful treasure’: teaching, learning and salvation in the Passio of Chysanthus and Daria; Conversion and marital vocation in the Passiones of Julian and Basilissa and Cecilia and Valerian; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.