Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages / Edition 1

by Kathleen Coyne Kelly

Overview

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 makes a comparative study of examples from contemporary fiction, television and film in which testing virginity is a theme. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages presents a compelling and provocative study of the parodox of bodily and spiritual integrity as both presence and absence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415221818
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/03/2000
Series:	Routledge Research in Medieval Studies , #2
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1540L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

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