Hard lessons in Rutebeuf's Lives of Mary of Egypt and Elizabeth of Hungary

While Rutebeuf's Lives of Mary of Egypt (1262) and Elizabeth of Hungary (1264-5) depict diverging paradigms of religious conversion, his frequent use of the words endureir, dureir, and dur, underscores the commonality of the saints' metamorphoses. Both Mary and Elizabeth become exemplary p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neophilologus 2005-07, Vol.89 (3), p.329-341
Main Author: DAWSON, Maureen Gillespie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
France
French speaking and English speaking literatures
French speaking literatures
History and sciences of litterature
History of literature
Middle Ages
Negotiation
Poetry
Religious literature
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:While Rutebeuf's Lives of Mary of Egypt (1262) and Elizabeth of Hungary (1264-5) depict diverging paradigms of religious conversion, his frequent use of the words endureir, dureir, and dur, underscores the commonality of the saints' metamorphoses. Both Mary and Elizabeth become exemplary penitents; both embrace radical models of lay religiosity. The saints' conversions are practically inimitable and paradoxically undesirable for medieval audiences. Rutebeuf transforms his saintly subjects into objects: hard lessons and relics. His hagiographic poems negotiate between the desire for spiritual renewal and the conservative tendencies of the medieval church. The poems themselves seem calcified; their exempla of extraordinary holiness ultimately advocate a softer conversion for audiences.
ISSN:0028-2677
1572-8668
DOI:10.1007/s11061-005-0518-8