The guitar of God : gender, power, and authority in the visionary world of Mother Juana de la Cruz (1481-1534)

Until recently, Spanish literary historiography has virtually ignored hundreds of women who wrote between 1500 and 1700. Most of them wrote to record, defend, and disseminate their spiritual visions, for despite the general disempowerment of Spanish women, female visionaries enjoyed considerable authority. This book recovers and examines the visionary experiences of Mother Juana de la Cruz, the most famous of these women during her lifetime and for two centuries afterwards. Born of peasant stock, she became abbess of a Franciscan convent and a mystic who was visited not only by Cardinal Cisneros, but by Emperor Charles V himself. Ronald E. Surtz places Mother Juana's visions in the religious and social context of the age and discusses such pertinent biographical elements as the nun's own androgyny. His focus is on the questions of gender, power, and authority, so pertinent to our own age. The Guitar of God will be of particular interest to scholars and students of late medieval Spanish culture, religion, and history, and women's studies.

Until recently, Spanish literary historiography has virtually ignored hundreds of women who wrote between 1500 and 1700. Most of them wrote to record, defend, and disseminate their spiritual visions, for despite the general disempowerment of Spanish women, female visionaries enjoyed considerable authority.

This book recovers and examines the visionary experiences of Mother Juana de la Cruz, the most famous of these women during her lifetime and for two centuries afterwards. Born of peasant stock, she became abbess of a Franciscan convent and a mystic who was visited not only by Cardinal Cisneros, but by Emperor Charles V himself. Ronald E. Surtz places Mother Juana's visions in the religious and social context of the age and discusses such pertinent biographical elements as the nun's own androgyny. His focus is on the questions of gender, power, and authority, so pertinent to our own age.

The Guitar of God will be of particular interest to scholars and students of late medieval Spanish culture, religion, and history, and women's studies.

Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Preface 11 Abbreviations 15 Note on the Text 17 Introduction 19 I. The Beard and the Apple 33 II. The Mother Hen 55 III. The Guitar of God 81 IV. The Chosen Vessels 105 V. Scripture and Scriptures 127 Appendixes 161 Index 185 Recovers and examines the visionary experiences of Mother Juana de la Cruz, the most famous visionary woman during her lifetime and for two centuries afterwards.