Gender and Confession: Guibert of Nogent and Gertrud of Helfta as Readers of Augustine1
2012; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2615-2282
Autores Tópico(s)Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies
ResumoThe vast topic of gender in medieval spiritual writing Dffers a daunting range of intellectual temptations. Down one primrose path lies the specter of essentialism; on another lurks the demon of superficiality; over yet another rises the risk of a comparison of apples and oranges that in the end proves fruitless. In attempting to examine gender distinctions in the writing and reception of medieval texts, it is crucial to remember that there were far more similarities than differences between any two medieval writers, whatever their sex, century, or locale.The ability to read was a skill that in itself marked the possessors as members of a cultural elite, set aside from the majority of the population by material resources, religious training, or both. Among those readers, only a subset would also be capable of the more advanced skill of personally writing more than their signature or the briefest of letters, rather than dictating to a trained scribe. So any useful study of the social realities which shaped the experience of male and female writers in the middle ages requires a very careful selection of source texts.This article will compare two very similar works: Latin, high medieval, spiritual autobiographies from central Europe. Guibert of Nogent's Book of My Solitary Songs was written in eleventh century France and Gertrud of Helfta's Herald of God's Loving-Kindness in thirteenth century Germany. Both Guibert and Gertrud were dedicated to the religious life as children and experienced adolescent struggles with this enforced vocation before coming to freely accept it as young adults. Both wrote extensively throughout their lives, commenting on Scripture and other theological subjects in addition to recounting their personal experiences and that of their religious communities.Both also share a textual model for their autobiographies, being influenced in both style and theme by the most famous spiritual autobiography of western Christianity, the Confessions of St. Augustine. The texts' similarities and differences are an intriguing example of both personal differences and those influenced by the roles prescribed for male and female religious and scholars in the medieval church, which frequently persist in their classification by the modern academy.2Guibert ofNogent (1055-1125)The first words of Guibert's Liber monodiarum mearum are addressed to God rather than to his human readers. This prayerful style, repeated use of the term confess, and insistence on the connection between self-knowledge and intimacy with God combine to form a clear evocation of Augustine's Confessions:I confess to your majesty, O God, the innumerable times I strayed from your paths, and the innumerable times you inspired me to return to you. I confess the iniquity of my childhood and of my youth, still boiling within me as an adult. I confess my deep-seated penchant for depravity, which has not ceased in spite of my declining strength. Lord, every time I recall my great persistence in self-defilement and remember how you have always given me the means of regretting it, I can only marvel at your infinite patience.3Like Augustine, Guibert has a keen sense of his own sinfulness, seen especially in hints about his adolescent struggles with sexuality. Yet he also follows Augustine in marking the double meaning of confiteor as confession of both human sin and divine love, emphasizing that the greater reality is always God's overflowing mercy: Yes I do confess my iniquities, but far more important, I confess your tender mercies, which reflect not my corruption but the grace that wells within you.4Guibert recounts his breech birth on Holy Saturday, which nearly killed both him and his mother before family members rushed to the altar of the Virgin and vowed that if she intervened to save them the newborn would be consecrated to her service.5 He dwells at length on the virtues and piety of his noble, earlywidowed mother, which included making reparation for her husband's infidelity by remaining unmarried and raising an orphaned, illegitimate child after his death. …
Referência(s)