IMC 2024: Sessions

This session has been grouped by the IMC Programming Committee from individually submitted paper proposals.

Paper a: This paper delves into how Bede moulds exemplars of English female virgins within his work, particularly through his portrayal of Æthelthryth’s life. Æthelthryth, a queen who married twice but maintained her virginity throughout, receives significant praise and emphasis from Bede. Through a comprehensive analysis, this study examines Bede’s depiction of Æthelthryth in relation to conventional virginity motifs commonly found in accounts of virgin martyrs, as well as his own interpretation of virginity in his exegetical writings. The central argument of this paper posits that Bede’s establishment of Æthelthryth as a paradigmatic model of virginity aimed to address a series of moral crises prevailing in his contemporary context. By meticulously crafting Æthelthryth’s character, Bede presented a response to these challenges while aligning her as a paragon of virtuous womanhood. This exploration sheds light on Bede’s intricate narrative strategies and his engagement with the societal concerns of his time.

Paper b: Crisis is one of the hallmarks of saints’ lives in Old English literature. In these texts, saints’ sanctity is frequently proven in their ability to withstand suffering. These sanctified individuals are often able to achieve this through the intervention of non-human animals. However, many of these animals are depicted as more than simply embodied expressions of God’s will and power over nature in assisting the saints. Rather, numerous animals in Old English hagiographies present biologically realistic behaviors as they help solve, or at least mitigate, the tribulations of the saints. By reading human-animal interactions in these texts through the lens of animal studies, which seeks to uncover the real animal beneath the anthropocentric narrative, the animals in these texts emerge as important, not in their generic function as automatons executing God’s will, but as individuated creatures with identifiable species-specific behaviors. Whether it is an eagle delivering a fish to a hungry St. Cuthbert or a wolf guarding St. Edmund’s severed head, such seemingly miraculous animal interventions, among others, are depicted in ecologically accurate ways in order make the resolution of the saints’ crises more relatable to a lay audience, granting the hagiography credence it might otherwise struggle to achieve.

Paper c: This paper analyses Saint Swithun’s reported miracles, the Winchester Old Minster cathedral’s material culture and its architectural alterations by bishop Aethelwold, and the concept of monasticising reform promoted by Aethelwold. The origins of Swithun’s cult are still relatively mysterious and benefit from the interdisciplinary analysis offered. Aethelwold deliberately fashioned Swithun’s cult to assuage tumultuous political tensions: the healing miracles represent reconciliation and vindicate Aethelwold’s reformist agenda, which was unsettled. The concept of ‘reform’ was viewed as spiritual ‘cleansing’, and Swithun’s healing efficacy parallels Aethelwold’s cleansing of his bishopric. Finally, Aethelwold associated reform visually with his architectural expansions of the Old Minster, whilst king Edgar’s patronage of the cult demonstrated Swithun’s validation of royal power in an interrelation of secular and ecclesiastical dimensions.