Virgin Martyrs

Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England

Bibliographic Data

ID23148372
AuthorsKaren A Winstead (corresponding author)
Year1997
Pages216
Publication date1997-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueVirgin Martyrs (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCornell University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7591/9781501711572
OpenAlexW4245875629
Open LibraryOL33719256M
ISBN9781501711572
LanguageEN
Citations received18

Stories of the torture and execution of beautiful Christian women first appeared in late antiquity and proliferated during the early Middle Ages. A thousand years later, virgin martyrs were still the most popular female saints. Their legends, in countless retellings through the centuries, preserved a standard plot—the heroine resists a pagan suitor, endures cruelties inflicted by her rejected lover or outraged family, works miracles, and dies for Christ. That sequence was embellished by incidents emblematic of the specific saint: Juliana's battle with the devil, Barbara's immurement in the tower, Katherine's encounter with spiked wheels. Karen A. Winstead examines this seemingly static story form and discovers subtle shifts in the representation of the virgin martyrs, as their legends were adapted for changing audiences in late medieval England.

Art · History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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