Stories of the torture and execution of beautiful Christian women first appeared in late antiquity and proliferated during the early Middle Ages. A thousand years later, virgin martyrs were still the most popular female saints. Their legends, in countless retellings through the centuries, preserved a standard plot—the heroine resists a pagan suitor, endures cruelties inflicted by her rejected lover or outraged family, works miracles, and dies for Christ. That sequence was embellished by incidents emblematic of the specific saint: Juliana’s battle with the devil, Barbara’s immurement in the tower, Katherine’s encounter with spiked wheels. Karen A. Winstead examines this seemingly static story form and discovers subtle shifts in the representation of the virgin martyrs, as their legends were adapted for changing audiences in late medieval England.
Karen A. Winstead
Virgin Martyrs
Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England
Virgin Martyrs
Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England
Lingua Inglese ● Formato PDF ● Pagine 216 ● ISBN 9781501711572 ● Dimensione 12.7 MB ● Casa editrice Cornell University Press ● Città Ithaca ● Paese US ● Pubblicato 2018 ● Scaricabile 24 mesi ● Moneta EUR ● ID 6368686 ● Protezione dalla copia Adobe DRM
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