The Textual and Visual Uses of the Literary Motif of Cross-Dressing In
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The Textual and Visual Uses of the Literary Motif of Cross-Dressing in Medieval French Literature, 1200–1500 Vanessa Elizabeth Wright Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD in Medieval Studies University of Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies September 2019 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Vanessa Elizabeth Wright to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Rosalind Brown-Grant, Catherine Batt, and Melanie Brunner for their guidance, support, and for continually encouraging me to push my ideas further. They have been a wonderful team of supervisors and it has been a pleasure to work with them over the past four years. I would like to thank my examiners Emma Cayley and Helen Swift for their helpful comments and feedback on this thesis and for making my viva a positive and productive experience. I gratefully acknowledge the funding that allowed me to undertake this doctoral project. Without the School of History and the Institute for Medieval Studies Postgraduate Research Scholarship, I would not have been able to undertake this study. Trips to archives and academic conferences were made possible by additional bursaries and fellowships from Institute for Medieval Studies, the Royal Historical Society, the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literatures, the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship’s Foremothers Fellowship (2018), and the Society for the Study of French History. These trips would also not been possible without the permission and help of the staff at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, the Bodleian Library, the University of Glasgow’s Special Collections, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, and the Morgan Library. My sincere thanks also go to Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and the Médiathèque municipale of Arras for undertaking manuscript digitisations on my behalf. I have gained much from each of the academic departments I have been a member of. Especial thanks go to Ruth Harvey and Joseph Harris who introduced me to medieval literature and gender studies, and to Sophie Marnette and Helen Swift whose teaching helped me bring those two interests together. The close community of researchers at the Institute for Medieval Studies has been a constant source of advice and different perspectives. I am grateful to Rachel Gillibrand, Sophie Harwood, Sunny 4 Page, Joanna Phillips, Rose Sawyer, Trevor Russell Smith, and James Titterton for their friendship and guidance since day one. My thanks also go to Calum White for the countless hours of help with funding applications, without which this PhD project might never have been started. My family have been a wonderful support during my PhD. I am grateful to my parents Karen and John Wright for instilling in me a love of reading from a young age and for always encouraging me in my studies. To my sister Katharine who has been there every step of the way and who, along with my niece Silke, always brightens my day. I would like to thank Glenys and Bob Case for their generosity and encouragement. I would like to acknowledge Nancy Wright, Kenneth Westwood, Eddie and Nancy Garner, none of whom lived to see me go to university but whose financial bequests made it possible for me to fund my MSt degree. Finally, to Charles Whalley who has read (almost) every conference paper, article, and thesis chapter written over the past four years and who has done so with only minimal complaints, but more importantly who has always been patient, kind, and a source of never-ending reassurance. 5 Abstract This thesis investigates the uses of the literary motif of cross-dressing in medieval French literature, focussing on texts written between 1200 and 1500. It combines analysis of literary, legal, and visual material in order to demonstrate the ways in which this motif interacts with contemporary concerns. Chapter I examines the manuscript contexts of the literary corpus so as to determine ownership, audience, and popularity of the texts as well as discussing the texts and genres with which this corpus is most commonly associated in medieval manuscripts. Chapters II to V are each centred on a different theme to illustrate how the cross- dressing motif draws attention to these social and legal concerns. Chapter II analyses how both text and image depict the gender expressions and identities of cross-dressing characters. Focussing on how dress and status, marriage, and sex and desire are portrayed in the literary corpus and accompanying manuscript illuminations, chapters III, IV, and V demonstrate how literature engages with canon law debates and practice. This approach reveals the connections between literature and law, deepening our understanding of how medieval writers interacted with legal material and revealing areas of shared and diverging concern. Through the motivations, experiences, actions, and relationships of cross-dressing characters, texts containing this motif consider issues of gender, sexuality, love and marriage, and status. As a consequence, analysis of the cross-dressing motif in literature highlights the importance of these subjects to medieval society and aids our appreciation of how these issues were conceptualised and reflected upon in medieval French culture. 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 5 Lists of Tables and Figures ............................................................................................... 9 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 13 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 14 Aims ............................................................................................................................ 15 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 15 Scope ........................................................................................................................... 18 Selection of Literary Corpus .................................................................................... 18 Selection of Manuscripts ......................................................................................... 21 Selection of Legal Sources ...................................................................................... 22 Scholarship and Contribution of the Thesis to the Field ............................................. 24 Terminology ................................................................................................................ 28 Outline ......................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter I: Medieval Manuscripts: Production, Content, and Ownership ....................... 37 I.1: Manuscript Production ......................................................................................... 40 I.2: Texts and Genres Associated with Narratives Containing the Cross-Dressing Motif ............................................................................................................................ 45 I.3: Circulation and Popularity .................................................................................... 52 I.4: Audience ............................................................................................................... 59 I.5: Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 68 Chapter II: Gender .......................................................................................................... 70 II.1: Variations on the Cross-Dressing Motif and the Representation of Gender ....... 70 7 II.1.1: Temporary Cross-Dressing for Others .......................................................... 73 II.1.2: Permanent Cross-Dressing for Others........................................................... 83 II.1.3: Temporary Cross-Dressing for Self .............................................................. 87 II.1.4: Permanent Cross-Dressing for Self ............................................................... 92 II.2: Visual Representations of Cross-Dressing Characters in Medieval Manuscripts 97 II.3: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 103 Chapter III: Dress and Status ........................................................................................ 105 III.1: The Regulation of Dress ................................................................................... 106 III.1.1: Ecumenical Councils: Lateran II, Lateran IV, Vienne, and Constance ..... 107 III.1.2: The Sumptuary Laws of 1279 and 1294 .................................................... 116