TY - JOUR
T1 - Finding the Female Voice in Anselm’s Orationes sive Meditationes
T2 - New Manuscript Evidence
AU - Pohl, Benjamin
PY - 2024/6/17
Y1 - 2024/6/17
N2 - This article presents new manuscript evidence of one of the most widely read devotional texts of the Middle Ages—the Prayers and Meditations (Orationes sive Meditationes) by St Anselm, abbot of Le Bec and archbishop of Canterbury—to argue that some of these prayers were originally written and disseminated in the voice of a woman. Composed and copied in grammatically feminine forms, these prayers were, as I show here, deliberately designed to be used and recited by female users. This new and hitherto completely overlooked evidence is transformative for our understanding of women’s active voices in medieval cultures of devotion.
AB - This article presents new manuscript evidence of one of the most widely read devotional texts of the Middle Ages—the Prayers and Meditations (Orationes sive Meditationes) by St Anselm, abbot of Le Bec and archbishop of Canterbury—to argue that some of these prayers were originally written and disseminated in the voice of a woman. Composed and copied in grammatically feminine forms, these prayers were, as I show here, deliberately designed to be used and recited by female users. This new and hitherto completely overlooked evidence is transformative for our understanding of women’s active voices in medieval cultures of devotion.
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
SN - 0022-0469
JO - Journal of Ecclesiastical History
JF - Journal of Ecclesiastical History
ER -