Date of Submission
Spring 2022
Academic Program
Literature
Project Advisor 1
Karen Sulivan
Project Advisor 2
Marisa Libbon
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This project attempts to understand the relationship between a Medieval anchoress and Christ as a romantic relationship rather than a spiritual metaphor. Mystical marriage, the union of a human woman with Christ, son of God, is a popular formulation of the relationship a medieval anchoress experiences through her religious enclosure. Through analysis of a collection of thirteenth century Middle English texts written to instruct anchoresses on the maintenance of mystical marriage, I argue that the love between the anchoress and God is produced through action rather than a spontaneously generated emotion. The Katherine Group, or Ancrene Wisse Group, consists of a love poem to Christ in the voice of an anchoress, a guide on proper comportment as an anchoress, and three Lives of female saints who participated in mystical marriage. These texts provide a “squint” into the lives of thirteenth century anchoresses in the English West Midlands and suggest how these women practiced mystical marriage.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Barickman, Theophila Mathilda, "Theophila" (2022). Senior Projects Spring 2022. 101.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2022/101
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons