Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages

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:	9781134737550
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/01/2002
Series:	Routledge Research in Medieval Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	489 KB

About the Author

Kathleen Coyne Kelly

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