Listen Daughter
The <I>Speculum Virginum </I>and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages
Editors: Mews, Constant J. (Ed.)
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- About this book
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The words 'Listen daughter' (Audi filia, from Psalm 44 in the Latin Vulgate) were frequently used in exhortations to religious women in the twelfth century. This was a period of dramatic growth in the involvement of women in various forms of religious life. While Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) has become widely known in recent years as one of the most eloquent and original voices of the period, she is often seen as a figure in isolation from her context. She lived at a time of much questioning of traditional models of religious life, by women as well as by men. This volume introduces readers to a range of strategies provoked by the growth in women's participation in religious life in one form or another, as well as to male responses to this development. In particular, it looks at the 'Mirror for Virgins' (Speculum Virginum), an illustrated dialogue between a nun and her spiritual mentor written by a monk not long before Hildegard started to record her visions. While this treatise engages in dialogue with a fictional virgin, other writings present women (not just Hildegard) as teaching both women and men. An appendix will provide the first English translation of significant excerpts from the Speculum, as well as from other little known texts about religious women from the age of Hildegard. The underlying concern of this volume is to examine new ways in which religious life for women was conceived by men as well as interpreted in practice by women within a society firmly patriarchal in character.
- About the authors
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CONSTANT J. MEWS teaches in the Department of History at Monash University in Australia, where he is also Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology.
- Reviews
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'Constant Mews has contributed to, and drawn together, an excellent collection of articles which advances understanding of the Speculum virginum and of the learning, development and position of religious women in the Middle Ages.' - Rosemary Dunn, Parergon
- Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Introduction
Pages 1-14
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Virginity, Theology, and Pedagogy in the Speculum Virginum
Pages 15-40
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The Speculum Virginum: The Testimony of the Manuscripts
Pages 41-57
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Female Religious Life and the Cura Monialium in Hirsau Monasticism, 1080 to 1150
Pages 59-83
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From Ecclesiology to Mariology: Patristic Traces and Innovation in the Speculum Virginum
Pages 85-110
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Listen Daughter
- Book Subtitle
- The <I>Speculum Virginum </I>and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages
- Editors
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- Constant J. Mews
- Series Title
- The New Middle Ages
- Copyright
- 2001
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan US
- Copyright Holder
- Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc.
- eBook ISBN
- 978-1-137-07943-5
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-1-137-07943-5
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-0-312-24008-0
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-1-349-63327-2
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XIII, 306
- Topics
