1st Edition
Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages
By Kathleen Coyne Kelly
Copyright 2000
208 Pages
by
Routledge
208 Pages
by
Routledge
208 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This book challenges the belief that female virginity can be reliably and unambiguously defined, tested and verified. Kelly analyses a variety of medieval Western European texts - including medical treatises and their Classical antecedents - and historical and legal documents. The main focus is the representation of both male and female virgins in saints' legends and romances. The author also... Read more
Introduction. Castitas/Virginitas 1. Hymenologies: the multiple signs of virginity 2. 'Armour of Proof': the virgin and the Church in hagiography 3. 'Love's Traces': the lady and test in romance 4. Oxymoronic bodies: male virgins in hagiography and romance 5. Multiple virgins and contemporary virginities
Biography
Kathleen Coyne Kelly
