Feminine Figurae Representations of Gender in Religious Texts by Medieval German Women Writers, 1100-1475

This work offers an examination of religious texts written by twelve women over three centuries in two languages and three genres, showing the variety and complexity of gendered images available to medieval women. Moving beyond the categories of virgin, wife and widow, these religious texts created a spectrum of exemplary feminine life-paths based not on marital status, age, social rank, or profession, but instead founded on biblical figures, monastic divisions of labor, expected saintly behaviors, and even individual personality characteristics. This study contributes to discussions of genre and its influences on gender representation, as well as to scholarship on the complexities of gender relationships within literary works and historical contexts. This work will also serve to introduce a wider audience to a cycle of texts and an interrelated group of women authors previously available only to specialists in German and manuscript studies.

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Veiled Individuals CHAPTER 1 Women's Genres, Women's Authority CHAPTER 2 Where is the Body? Imitibility in Hildegard's Images of Eve and Mary CHAPTER 3 Invented Communities, Idealizing the Past: Redefining Monastic Ideals in the Dominican Sister-Books Interlude: Personal Revelations: Re-Living the Model, In-Scribing the Self CHAPTER 4 Margaretha Ebner: Illness in the Service of God CHAPTER 5 adelheid Langmann: Bride of God, Beloved of Christ Postlude: Personal Revelations: Generic Imitation and Expansion CONCLUSION Varied Ideals NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Rebecca L. R. Garber