Elizabeth G. Dickenson Dissertation Manuscript
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Copyright by Elizabeth Gayle Dickenson 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Elizabeth Gayle Dickenson Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND THE POLITICS OF “UNITY” IN VISIGOTHIC SPAIN Committee: Denise A. Spellberg, Supervisor Ernest N. Kaulbach, Co-Supervisor Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra Neil D. Kamil L. J. Andrew Villalon MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND THE POLITICS OF “UNITY” IN VISIGOTHIC SPAIN by Elizabeth Gayle Dickenson, B.Humanities; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2011 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Janet A. Meisel. Acknowledgements I have received generous assistance in researching and writing this dissertation and in completing my education at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Denise A. Spellberg took over the supervision of this dissertation in the fall of 2009. Her skills as a scholar and mentor gave new impetus to the project and brought it to completion. Dr. Ernest N. Kaulbach read the Latin sources with me for six years, co-supervised the dissertation, and provided advice and mentoring as he has done for so many students during his fifty years of teaching. Drs. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Neil D. Kamil, and L. J. Andrew Villalon served as readers on my dissertation committee and made helpful suggestions on a wide range of topics. I owe thanks for financial support to the University’s History Department and Charles A. Dana Center, as well as to The Medieval Academy of America for a CARA scholarship to study Latin paleography in 2008, and to the Spanish Cultural Ministry for a research grant in 2009. Dr. James M. Boyden of Tulane University provided pedagogy on medieval and early modern Spain and the opportunity to co-author a published essay with him in 2004. For such generosity on the part of institutions, faculty, and staff, including Mrs. Marilyn Lehman, graduate coordinator of the History Department, I am grateful. My family has encouraged my educational endeavors, and it is to them that I owe the most. v MARRIAGE, GENDER, AND THE POLITICS OF “UNITY” IN VISIGOTHIC SPAIN Elizabeth Gayle Dickenson, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Denise A. Spellberg; Co-Supervisor: Ernest N. Kaulbach Abstract: This dissertation’s thesis is that the marital rhetoric and gendered imagery of late classical, Christian political discourse appear in narrative, conciliar, and legal texts produced in Visigothic Spain between 579 and 654 A.D. for the purpose of expressing conflict, rather than “unity.” This thesis opposes views of the Visigothic kingdom as a model of successful Christian unification by showing how the male- authored, Spanish sources - far from being silent on religio-political conflicts - use marriage, women, and wealth as metaphors in disputes over orthodoxy and status. These early medieval texts suggest a new paradigm of Christian “unity” in which Jews function as the “enemy,” and in so doing, establish a political model decidedly different from that of late antiquity. Examples of this political model appear in the Third and Fourth Councils of Toledo (589 and 633 A.D.), which are published here for the first time in Latin-English translation. Despite the historical significance of the Visigothic sources in the Spanish and broader contexts, little attention has been paid to late classical marital rhetoric and gendered imagery in them as evidence of conflicts. Understanding the purpose of these rhetorical strategies helps us to perceive how the paradigm of Christian “unity” masked deep conflicts over status, orthodoxy, and wealth - conflicts that persisted until a new invading force appeared to challenge Visigothic power in 711 A.D. vi Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Thesis and Sources ..........................................................................................1 Significance.....................................................................................................4 Theory ...........................................................................................................10 Methodology .................................................................................................13 Historiography ..............................................................................................19 Gender Historiography in Late Classical History and Religious Studies ..................................................................................................21 Gender Historiography in Medieval Studies........................................26 Organization ..................................................................................................29 PART I BACKGROUND .....................................................................................33 CHAPTER ONE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS “UNITY” IN THE PROVINCIAE HISPANIAE ........................................................................35 Provinciae Hispaniae: The Problem of Political and Territorial Unity in Classical Antiquity (228 B.C. – 305 A.D.) ..........................................36 Roman Conquest and Iberian Resistance .............................................37 Roman Conquest and Peninsular Diversity .........................................38 Roman Conquest, Political Unity, and the Wealth of Hispania ..........40 Christianity and the Problem of Unity in the Fourth Century ......................42 Imperial Administration and Structures of Authority ..........................42 The Council of Elvira and Spanish Episcopal Authority .....................45 Sexual Purity and the Episcopacy ...............................................46 Sexual Purity and Christian Community ....................................47 Sexual Purity and the Boundaries of Authority ..........................48 Unity and Orthodoxy in the Fourth Century .................................................49 The Council of Nicaea (325) ................................................................49 Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Rights to Public Authority ............................52 vii Imperial and Episcopal Authority: Late Fourth and Early Fifth Century ....55 The Goths in Spain (409 A.D. – 654 A.D.) ..................................................58 The Visigoths in the Fifth Century ......................................................61 Visigothic Spain in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries ..........................62 Conflict and the Silence of the Sources ......................................62 Conflict and Conversion .............................................................65 CHAPTER TWO MARRIAGE IN LATE CLASSICAL LAW, CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE .........................................72 Marriage and Civic Concordia .....................................................................72 Roman Marriage and Social Unity in Late Antiquity ...................................73 Marriage in Classical Roman Law .......................................................75 Wealth and Offspring ..................................................................76 Divorce and Remarriage .............................................................77 Patria Potestas ............................................................................78 Christian Marriage in Law, Theology, and Political Discourse ....................81 Christian Marriage in Civil and Ecclesiastical Law ............................81 Christian Marriage in Augustinian Theology: Quiddam Coniugale...83 Marriage, Virginity, and Christian Polemics .......................................85 Marriage, Virginity, and Ascetic Politics ............................................88 Marriage, Virginity, and Political Division .........................................89 Marriage and Virginity in the Rhetorical Economy of Visigothic Spain .....90 Leander of Seville on Marriage and Virginity .....................................91 Isidore of Seville on Marriage, Women, and Wealth ..........................92 The Etymologies..........................................................................93 De ecclesiasticis officiis ..............................................................95 Ascetic Politics in Visigothic Spain ..............................................................97 PART II NARRATIVES ....................................................................................100 CHAPTER THREE LEANDER OF SEVILLE: ON THE INSTRUCTION OF VIRGINS AND CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD .........................................102 Leander’s Rule for Nuns as a Treatise on Virginity ....................................103 viii The Rule as Paradox...........................................................................107 The Prefatory Letter ....................................................................................109 The Inheritance of Virginity ..............................................................110 The Authority of Virginity .................................................................113 The Integrity of Virginity...................................................................115 The Dangers of Marriage ...................................................................118 Orthodoxy and the Heretical “Other” Woman ...................................119