Guddommelig begavelse eller i pagt med djævelen? En undersøgelse af kvindesyn samt kvinders religiøsitet og hellighed i højmiddelalderen

Abstract

The pivotal point of this project is the High Middle Ages’ twosided and diametrical view on women, a view that must be seen in the light of christianity’s promotion of archetypes: the sinful, bodily and disobedient woman, represented by Eve, and the holy and virginal woman, represented by Virgin Mary. My research unfolds through the use of different women figures which are all a part of the increasing feminization of the religion in the high middle ages; the visionary prophetess Hildegard of Bingen, the beguine mystic Marguerite Porete and the Holy Harlot ”Mary of Egypt” – a type of female saint, who was given renewed life in the high middle ages by the french poet Rutebeuf. The two historic figures as well as the tale of Mary of Egypt are analyzed starting from ”the religious field”, as this concept is illustrated by the french sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in his further development of Max Webers’ sociology of religion. Whereas the tale of Mary of Egypt confirms the presence of the twosided and diametrical view on women, Hildegard and Marguerite work as examples of how women actually maneuvered in the religious field in the High middle ages, and how they represented themselves as women in the light of the existing perception of women.