Christian Woman, Womanchrist: the Feminization of Christianity in Constanza De Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa De Cartagena

University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2004 Christian Woman, womanChrist: The Feminization of Christianity in Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa de Cartagena Mary Elizabeth Baldridge University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Modern Languages Commons Recommended Citation Baldridge, Mary Elizabeth, "Christian Woman, womanChrist: The Feminization of Christianity in Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa de Cartagena. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1886 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Mary Elizabeth Baldridge entitled "Christian Woman, womanChrist: The Feminization of Christianity in Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa de Cartagena." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. Gregory Kaplan, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Bryant Creel, Paul Barrette, Thomas Heffernan Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Mary Elizabeth Baldridge entitled "Christian Woman, womanChrist: The Feminization of Christianity in Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa de Cartagena." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. Gregory Kaplan Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Bryant Creel Paul Barrette Thomas Heffernan Accepted for the Council: Anne Mayhew Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Christian Woman, womanChrist: The Feminization of Christianity in Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa de Cartagena A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Mary Elizabeth Baldridge May, 2004 Copyright © 2004 by Mary Elizabeth Baldridge All rights reserved. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Lawrence and Martha Baldridge, my sister and brother, Ruth Baldridge Piedot and David Baldridge, and the rest of my family and friends. Thank you for always encouraging me and believing in me. iii Acknowledgments I wish to thank all of those who helped me in completing the Ph.D. degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. I thank Dr. Greg Kaplan for his advice, encouragement, and invaluable support. I thank Dr. Bryant Creel, Dr. Paul Barrette and Dr. Thomas Heffernan for serving on my committee and for their valuable criticism. I thank the rest of the faculty of Modern Foreign Languages for supporting and encouraging me. I thank all of my friends, particularly Shane Vandebrake and Perla Zamitiz, for being there for me during this process. And I thank my sister, Ruth, for knowing when not to ask questions about my progress. iv Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the literary works of Contanza de Castilla, a fifteenth century Spanish nun, in comparison with those of Catherine of Siena, a fourteenth century Italian saint, and Teresa de Cartagena, another fifteenth century Spanish nun. The comparisons were made in order to determine whether similarities among the experiences and spiritualities of these three women led to similarities of gender strategies and/or participation in the feminization of Christianity. Examination of the works of these three women was based on both the structure in which they wrote (the epistolary format), and the themes that they used to elaborate their spiritual beliefs (devotion to the humanity of Christ, methods of spiritual growth, the dangers of the world, and the authority of their voices). Examining these areas allowed certain conclusions to be drawn about these women. Based on the comparisons made in the study, it was determined that, although all three women share an individual piety of the type that was spreading throughout v Christendom in the late Middle Ages (and which is often said to presage the Reformation), only Constanza and Catherine can truly be said to be involved in the feminization of Christianity. The similarities between Constanza and Catherine are likely based on the fact that both were associated with the Dominican Order. vi Table of Contents Introduction.............................................1 Chapter 1: Historical Background..............................19 Chapter 2: Constanza de Castilla: The Ars Dictaminis.........92 Chapter 3: Epistolarity in the Works of Catherine of Siena and Teresa de Cartagena.......................125 Chapter 4: Themes Common to Constanza de Castilla, Catherine of Siena and Teresa de Cartagena.................148 Chapter 5: Other Themes.......................................186 Conclusion..............................................213 Works Cited.............................................228 Appendices..............................................245 Appendix 1.........................................246 Appendix 2.........................................250 Vita....................................................316 vii 1 “In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of us is a unique person, with a unique perspective on the world, a member of a class of one.” - W.H. Auden Introduction The nature of religious spirituality among women in medieval Spain has long been neglected by scholars, as has the subject of medieval Spanish women in general. Although we have a fair number of writings from women in other European countries from the twelfth century and afterwards, until recent years very little historical information about medieval Spanish women has been made generally available. Hence, studies of Spanish women's religious spirituality have traditionally begun with Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). Recently, however, a few documents written by medieval Spanish women have come to light. Two of the earliest of these women are Constanza de Castilla (c.1395-1478) and Teresa de Cartagena (c. 1415-?). The present study will examine the spirituality of Constanza de Castilla seen in 2 comparison with Teresa de Cartagena and Saint Catherine of Siena, the latter of whom was an important Italian lay sister from the mid-fourteenth century. The study will compare these three authors in order to explore the ways in which Constanza uses certain gender strategies to develop her own "feminization of Christianity." The term "feminization of Christianity" has been used by various critics to describe a change in Christianity that gained ground gradually through the course of the Middle Ages,1 and endeavored to make Christianity more accessible to women by emphasizing the female aspects of the Divine. In the early Middle Ages nearly all writers were men who were educated in schools administered by the Church and held positions in the Church. Towards the end of the Middle Ages this situation began to change. Though the Church was still the primary source of learning, education was no longer an exclusive privilege of the clergy. More and more lay men of power and lineage were becoming 1 Caroline Walker Bynum has done perhaps the most in-depth study on this phenomenon in her book Jesus as Mother. She terms this change the "feminization of religious language" (135). Other critics to describe this phenomenon include Børreson (who describes it as a "matristic achievement") 250-268, Luongo 89, Newman (who uses the terms 3 educated and beginning to write. The same cannot be said of women. Educational opportunities were much more restricted for women throughout the Middle Ages and well into the Renaissance. While nuns formed the group of aristocratic women most likely to be educated, they rarely received as extensive an education as men.2 Because of the lack of access to education for lay women, most medieval women writers were nuns. However, due to the monastic vow of enclosure, the works written by nuns were rarely circulated outside of their convents. The fact that most medieval women writers were nuns is important in relation to an understanding of the gender strategies used to effect the aforementioned feminization of Christianity. Though male authors had branched out and were writing on an ever wider variety of secular topics,3 "womanChrist" and "feminization of Christianity") 3-5, and Ruether 5, 292. 2 There are, of course, some notable examples of medieval women, such as Heloise, who were very well-educated. 3 The Middle Ages saw male authors branching out into more secular types of literature. In Castile, for example, King Alfonso X, in addition to writing religious poetry, wrote several

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