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“Æthelthryth”: Shaping a Religious Woman in Tenth-Century Winchester" (2019)

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“Æthelthryth”: Shaping a Religious Woman in Tenth-Century Winchester University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses August 2019 “ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH- CENTURY WINCHESTER Victoria Kent Worth University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Worth, Victoria Kent, "“ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH-CENTURY WINCHESTER" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 1664. https://doi.org/10.7275/13999469 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1664 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH-CENTURY WINCHESTER A Dissertation Presented By VICTORIA KENT WORTH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2019 Department of English © Copyright by Victoria Kent Worth 2019 All Rights Reserved “ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH-CENTURY WINCHESTER A Dissertation Presented By VICTORIA KENT WORTH Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________________ Joseph Black, Chair _________________________________________________ Jenny Adams, Member _________________________________________________ Sonja Drimmer, Member _____________________________________________ Randall Knoper, Chair English Department DEDICATION To my mother Iris Burton Kent 1920-2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Steve Harris, who first introduced me to the study of the Middle Ages. His introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature and the manuscripts of the period inspired me to pursue this degree. Our conversations lead me to focus on this particular topic, to explore sources, and to dig deeper into areas that were challenging. Mary Dockray Miller was especially valuable. She pushed me to imagine and re-imagine themes that were especially provocative, and she inspired me be to the kind of scholar that I wished to become. I also want to thank Jenny Adams and Sonja Drimmer, who served on my dissertation committee. Jenny’s generous and incisive feedback has contributed in important ways to this thesis, and has had a major effect on my participation in a scholarly community. Sonja’s inspiring classes on medieval art helped me to a greater understanding of the important relationship between the image and the text. I owe Joe Black a tremendous debt of gratitude in completing this dissertation. He has helped me take this project to the finish line, and I am honored by his kindness and dedication. I also wish to acknowledge Asha Nadkarni, who was a tremendous ally for me. Both Joe and Asha gave me the support I needed. There are countless friends who have cheered me on over the years. I cannot name them all, but a few stand out. Ruah Donnelly and Elizabeth Stowe, two medievalists who met with me over the past two years, listened to my ideas and gave me feedback on my writing. Our monthly conversations were invaluable to me as I searched for ways to approach and articulate my ideas. The topic of my dissertation inspired our recent trip to see the British Library’s exhibit, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom. Polly Bishop gave me a place to finish writing over the summer when I needed the kind of quiet, separate space that helped me focus. Her love and support were just the right anecdote to life’s distractions. Last but not least, I want to thank my husband, Stephen and my daughter, Charlotte. Stephen has made innumerable sacrifices that have helped make this project possible, supporting me as I have struggled to balance my academic pursuits with the demands of family life. Charlotte has also given me the strength to finish this project because of her confidence in me. It was my family’s unwavering faith in me that kept me going, and I am truly grateful for their love and encouragement. ABSTRACT “ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH-CENTURY WINCHESTER MAY 2019 VICTORIA KENT WORTH, B.A., KENYON COLLEGE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Joseph Black It is well established that Anglo-Saxon writers were concerned with a specific set of principles (chastity, wisdom and piety) articulated in monastic life. However, the representation of women’s religious lives and the exemplification of their values influencing male saint’s Lives and their authors have to date been largely overlooked. To rectify this omission, I focus on Wulfstan’s tenth-century Vita St. Æthelwoldi, in which Æthelthryth’s character plays a far more significant role than we have heretofore noticed. Apart from the traditional figurae the author uses to depict her virtuous devotion, Wulfstan’s account of Æthelthryth is a testimony of a particular approach to monastic identity propagated by the circle of Bishop Æthelwold. I argue that Æthelthryth was elided in Wulfstan’s text in order to support the Benedictine Reformers’ objectives. As a result, Æthelthryth casts light on choices writers like Wulfstan made during this period when representing important Winchester women. Written for Winchester’s royal and ecclesiastical audience, the Vita of St. Æthelwoldi was concerned with employing inherited female religious models that would vi complement the story of Bishop Æthelwold. Texts by Bede and Aldhelm, as well as Classical and Latin patristics, incorporated idealized representations of female monastic life, and Wulfstan drew from these images in order to portray Æthelthryth as being in keeping with the vita’s objectives. While various sources help frame an understanding of this woman—the period, place and circumstances of her life—a depiction points to her figural qualities. Æthelthryth’s representation reflects Wulfstan’s preoccupations with images of the female monastic leader: namely, a virgin dedicated to God who is responsible for the nuns, and spiritual counselor and prudent advisor, one who provides guidance to female members of the larger Winchester Community. I maintain Wulfstan depicted Æthelthryth’s capabilities as a divinely infused form of knowledge. She is represented as possessing nursing, visionary and motherly skills that enabled her access to both physical and spiritual realms. Æthelthryth’s character was therefore accorded a mediated role in the lives of religious and secular communities in tenth-century Winchester. A motherly virgin dedicated to God, she is a textual symbol of nurse and spiritual counselor. By fulfilling these responsibilities, Æthelthryth also prefigures the role of prudent advisor. Æthelthryth’s character provides the context for Æthelwold’s acquisition of visionary knowledge and Wulfstan’s potential to inscribe his life. The image of a monastic woman modeling divine prescience and miraculous portents, central for the life of a saint, is a rare and venerable asset; her ability to do so for an eminent male authority and his biographer is remarkable. It is important to investigate how depictions of monastic women promoted spiritually and pragmatic refining effects for the benefit of both their own houses as well as for the larger ecclesiastical populace, demonstrating the significance of female vii religious devotion. Thus, Æthelthryth becomes the proper focus of development and an example of female sanctity worthy of imitation by monastics, secular, religious, and lay audiences alike. I show that Æthelthryth is a critical source for understanding the important contributions of monastic women to Anglo-Saxon culture, elucidating a new and valuable understanding of their role in religious texts. The lives of medieval religious women have been only partially perceived by literary texts. Although ecclesiastics related to the monastic life of the period and place they lived, Wulfstan omits details about Æthelthryth’s background and ignores Nunnaminster’s history, including its founding as well as other important women associated with the house. How and what Wulfstan obscures through his depiction of Æthelthryth relates to the Reformers’ goals for control over the monasteries they were attempting to renew. Æthelthryth’s story is larger than the Vita St. Æthelwoldi. Not solely dependent on Wulfstan’s account, I investigate Æthelthryth’s description vis-a-vis her community through multiple sources. These sources provide evidence of women’s considerable control of Nunnaminster, as well as their spiritual life and literary achievements. I offer a different perspective of this nunnery, leading up to and including the tenth century, than the male-authored prescriptive to date. Anglo-Saxon women maintained their authority in religious life far beyond their suggested depiction. Through the study of her character, Æthelthryth offers a compelling understanding of how Anglo-Saxon female religious life was portrayed in literature. Moreover, her representation exists within the context of the surrounding royal and ecclesiastical priorities, which invariably
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