A maid with a dragon : the cult of St Margaret of Antioch in medieval England / by Juliana Dresvina.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dresvina, Juliana, author.

Contributor:

British Academy, issuing body.

Series:

British Academy postdoctoral fellowship monograph

A British Academy Monograph

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Margaret, of Antioch, Saint--Legends.

Margaret.

Margaret, of Antioch, Saint.

Christian women saints--Turkey--Antioch--Legends.

Christian women saints.

Legends.

Turkey--Antioch.

Genre:

Legends.

Physical Description:

xvi, 325 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

This is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the cult of St Margaret of Antioch in medieval England. Margaret was one of the most famous female saints of both the Catholic world and of Eastern Christianity (where she was known as St Marina). Her legend is remembered for her confrontation with a dragon-shaped devil, who allegedly swallowed Margaret and then burst asunder. This episode became firmly established in iconography, making her one of the most frequently represented saints. Margaret was supposedly martyred in the late 3rd century, but apart from the historically problematic legend there is no evidence concerning her in other contemporary sources. The sudden appearance of her name in liturgical manuscripts in the late 8th century is connected with the dispersal of her relics at that time. The cult grew in England from Anglo-Saxon times, with over 200 churches dedicated to Margaret (second only to Mary among female saints), and hundreds of images and copies of her life known to have been made.0The book examines Greek, Latin, Old English, Middle English and Anglo-Norman versions of Margaret's live, their mouvance and cultural context, providing editions of the hitherto unpublished texts. By considering these versions, the iconographic evidence, their patronage and audience, the monograph traces the changes of St Margaret's story through the eight centuries before the Reformation. The book also considers the further trajectory of the legend as reflected in popular fairy-tales and contemporary cultural stereotypes. Special attention is given to the interpretation of St Margaret's demonic encounter, central to the legend's iconography and theology.

Contents:

Synopsis of the legend of St Margaret 5

Structure and content of the legend 7

Part I Textual traditions of the legend of St Margaret

1 The legend is born: early Greek, Latin, and insular versions 13

1.1 Greek versions 15

1.2 Latin versions 16

1.3 Relations between the Greek and Latin versions 20

1.4 Old English versions 24

1.5 A flower-like virgin with women's well-being in mind: an early Anglo-Norman Vie de sainte Marguerite by Wace 35

1.6 Evidence concerning the development of the cult of St Margaret between the tenth and early thirteenth centuries 40

1.7 Brilliance of the cell: the St Margaret of the Katherine Group 47

2 Thirteenth-century anonymous Margaret poems and their later redactions 53

2.1 The versified lives in Middle English 53

2.2 Versified lives of St Margaret in Anglo-Norman and French 69

3 Sanctae Margaretae, virginis et martyris: Latin texts of the later Middle Ages and their derivatives 77

3.1 Legenda Aavea 77

3.2 St Margaret in English breviaries 82

3.3 Latin verses to St Margaret in English sources 83

3.4 English translations of Legenda Aurea: Gilte Legende and Caxton's Golden Legend 89

3.5 Vernacular legends influenced by the Legenda Aurea 93

4 The St Margaret of the preachers 101

4.1 St Margaret in Mirk's Festial 101

4.2 St Margaret in Bodleian MS Hatton 96 104

5 St Margaret on the stage 106

6 East Anglian Margarets: Lydgate, Bokenham, and the Harley 4012 compiler 110

6.1 Lydgate's Lyfe of Seynt Margarete 110

6.2 Bokenham's life of St Margaret 114

6.3 A prose life of St Margaret in BL Harley 4012 124

7 A prose life of St Margaret in Bodleian MS Eng. th. e. 18 135

8 Evidence for the cult of St Margaret in late medieval England 140

Part II Motifs and iconography of the legend of St Margaret

9 Virginity, sexuality, and temptation 147

10 Done to death: the torture of St Margaret in historical perspective 149

11 The significance of the demonic episode in the legend of St Margaret 158

12 Iconography of St Margaret 173

12.1 Calcatio colli 173

12.2 The morphology of St Margaret's dragon-from text to image and back 178

12.3 Cycles and individual iconographical elements 182

12.4 St Margaret as a helper in health-related issues 187

12.5 St Margaret as a child: St Cinderella, a virgin martyr 193.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780197265963

0197265960

OCLC:

935690682