Saint Brigit 和 Her Habits: Exploring Queerness in Early Medieval Irel和

Saint Brigit’s behavior in Cogitosus’s Life of Saint Brigit 和 her reception by society highlight an avenue by which women in the early medieval period could escape societal strictures, exercising agency over their bodies 和 their romantic choices, 和 carve out a distinct 和 unexpected place for themselves in a Christian patriarchal society. 圣布里吉特的位置, 行动, 和 depiction by Cogitosus can be interpreted through the lens of queer theory in order to ask key questions regarding attitudes towards queerness in early medieval Irel和. To render the queerness of female sanctity acceptable in a patriarchal system, there were significant elements of compensation for the deviance from these societal norms in the depictions of female saints, such as hyperfemininity contrasting with contemporary masculine traits. This balance of deviance 和 compensation is most clear in hagiographies, texts where the saints 和 their 行动 were recorded 和 mediated for the explicit purpose of demonstrating sanctity.

As Cogitosus’s Life of Saint Brigit depicted a woman who not only stepped out of one social structure, 这是世俗的, 也有修道院的, his portrayal of Saint Brigit demonstrates that within female sainthood, queerness was not only accepted, but a prerequisite 和 inherent feature worthy of veneration. By examining how scholars have used a lens of queerness 和 mediation to analyze key hagiographies first of saints more broadly, 然后是女圣徒, 和 using these approaches to examine the inherently queer 行动, 职位, 和 roles found in Saint Brigit’s First Life, we can gain a clearer view of societal views towards queerness during the early medieval period, 和 in early medieval Irel和 in particular. 这样做的时候, this thesis will help chip away at the monolithic view of the period, as well as the queer erasure within, demonstrating that queerness has always been a fundamental part of human society.