Versions of Virginity in Late Medieval England

Medieval virginity theory explored through study of martyrs, nuns and Margery Kempe. This study looks at the question of what it meant to be a virgin in the Middle Ages, and the forms which female virginity took. It begins with the assumptions that there is more to virginity than sexual inexperience, and that virginity may be considered as a gendered identity, a role which is performed rather than biologically determined. The author explores versions of virginity as they appear in medieval saints' lives, in the institutional chastity of nuns, and as shown in the book of Margery Kempe, showing how it can be active, contested, vulnerable but also recoverable. SARAH SALIH teaches in the Department of English at King's College London.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Scope of the Study; The Critical Map; Narratives of Virginity; Perpetual Incorruption in Corruptible Flesh: Towards a Theory of Virginity; Performing Virginity: The Katherine Group; Containing Virginity: The Veil and the Wall; Like a Virgin? The Book of Margery Kempe Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter One. Introduction Scope of the Study 0 The Critical Map 0 Narratives of Virginity 00 Chapter Two. Perpetual Incorruption in Corruptible Flesh: Towards a Theory of Virginity Medieval Terms 00 Modern Terms 00 Chapter Three. Performing Virginity: The Katherine Group Binaries of Sanctity 00 Virgin Martyr Legends 00 The AB Texts 00 Virgins and Romance 00 Sponsae Christi 00 Sex, Violence and Spectacle 000 More Hagiographic Virginities 000 Chapter Four. Containing Virginity: The Veil and the Wall Some Parameters 000 Gendering Nuns 000 The Monastic Self in the Community 000 The Veil and the Virgin Individual 000 The Wall and the Virgin Community 000 The Nun of Watton 000 Chapter Five. Like A Virgin? The Book of Margery Kempe Placing Margery 000 Modes and Techniques of the Book 000 Reclaiming Virginity 000 Hagiographic and Other Models 000 Margery and the Virgin Martyrs 000 Continuities and Ruptures 000 Martyrdom and Closure 000 Suffering and Penitence 000 Martyrdom by Slander 000 White Clothes 000 Relationships, Sexuality and Desire 000 Final Remarks 000 Conclusion 000 Bibliography 000 Index

Review :
A solid contribution to the study of modes of virginity in England. Her bibliography is excellent, and her notes judicious. I highly recommend this work. This book will be of use and interest to all those working on medieval and early modern religion and gender. A book of immense importance because it has attended to the complexities of a religious discourse that is strikingly foreign to modern sensibilities.