IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 1202: Blood, Sex, and Murder: The Lives and Deaths of Martyrs in Medieval England

Wednesday 6 July 2016, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies (CLAMS), King's College London
Organiser:	Hana Videen, Department of English, King's College London
Moderator/Chair:	Kathryn Maude, Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies, King's College London
Paper 1202-a	Hagio-Graphic: The Appearance of Blood in Aldhelm's De uirginitate and Aelfric's Lives of Saints (Language: English) Hana Videen, Department of English, King's College London Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 1202-b	She's Asking For It: Torture, Gender, and Desire in the Old English Lives of St Margaret (Language: English) Beth Crachiolo, Department of English, Berea College Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Sexuality
Paper 1202-c	The Passio of William of Norwich (Language: English) Miri Rubin, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - Latin
Abstract	This panel will address the representation of violence in medieval English martyrdoms. Hana Videen will compare the use of blood in two collections of prose hagiography that bookend the Anglo-Saxon period: Aldhelm’s De uirginitate (c. 675) and Aelfric’s Lives of Saints (c. 998). Beth Crachiolo will analyse the function of gender-specific and sexualized tortures in the Old English Lives of St Margaret. Miri Rubin will discuss the portrayal of violence in the 12th-century Passio of William of Norwich. Together these papers explore the depiction of blood, murder, desire, and violation in the narratives of saints and martyrs.