Saints' Lives and the Rhetoric of Gender : Male and Female in Merovingian Hagiography

Medieval lives of female saints have attracted wide attention in recent years. Some scholars have argued that such texts reveal a distinctive form of female sanctity which only female hagiographers managed to properly articulate, and important writings have been attributed to female authors on that assumption. In this revisionist work, John Kitchen tests such claims through a close examination of several texts--lives of both male and female saints, by authors of both sexes--from sixth century France. He argues that sometimes the "authentic voice" of the female writer or saint sounds emphatically male. This study gives examples of how both male and female authors sometimes depicted holy women talking, acting, or even dressing like their male counterparts. Ultimately, the author aims to cast doubt on the assumption that male authors were ignorant of or hostile toward certain--specifically female--concerns. By the same token, Kitchen's work raises serious methodological problems with the gender approach to the hagiographic literature of the early Middle Ages. In This Revisionist Work, John Kitchen Depicts The Lives Of Both Male And Female Saints, By Authors Of Both Sexes - From Sixth-century France. Looking At The Works Of The Most Prolific Male Hagiographers Of The Period, Venantius Fortunatus And Gregory Of Tours, The Author Examines How These Writers Treated Male Saints In Comparison To Female Saints, And Considers The Significant Differences. He Then Focuses On One Of The Few Biographies Written At That Time By A Female Author, Baudonivia's Life Of Saint Radegund. Baudonivia's Story Of A Female Saint Is Considered In Light Of The Previous Observations On Fortunatus, Gregory, And The Prominent Trends That Characterize The Literature's Early Development. This Study's Insights And Conclusions Offer A More Penetrating Assessment Of The Literature Than Has Previously Been Given By Modern Scholars Debating The Relationship Between Gender, Sanctity, And The Role Played By Female Saints And Writers In The Religious Life Of The Early Middle Ages. It Will Be Of Great Interest To Students And Scholars Of Religious, Literary, And Cultural History Of Late Antiquity And The Medieval West. Pt. I. Sancti -- The Prose Hagiography Of Venantius Fortunatus -- Gregory Of Tours Life Of The Fathers -- Pt. Ii. Sanctae -- Like A Man Among Men : The Female Saint In A Male Corpus -- Baudonivia's Life Of Saint Radegund -- Conclusion : A World Turned Upside-down. John Kitchen. Revision Of Author's Dissertation (doctoral)--university Of Toronto, 1995. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 235-250) And Index. Kitchen examines several texts - lives of both male and female saints, by authors of both sexes - from 6th century France. The result is to cast doubt on the assumption that male authors were ignorant of, or hostile to, specifically female concerns. It also raises methodological problems with the assignation of certain texts to female authors