What Did It Mean to Act in the Middle Ages
Elisabeth of Spalbeek and Imitatio Christi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4553699 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jesse Njus (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2011-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theatre Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0192-2882 • E-ISSN: 1086-332X |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tj.2011.0026 |
| OpenAlex | W2073205911 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
The medieval devotional practice of imitatio -the imitation of saints and biblical figures-was arguably a foundational element of medieval acting. Popularized by Saint Francis, who made imitatio a form of public, rather than private, devotion, the practice provided laypersons with access to sacred people and events by allowing anyone to imitate, and therefore participate in, sacred history. This essay focuses on the laywoman Elisabeth of Spalbeek (ca.1246/7-1304), who practiced imitatio Christi -the imitation of Christ-everyday for ten years, enacting a violently physical portrayal of Christ's Passion in which she portrayed both the holy and wicked characters. She performed despite being an invalid, ostensibly due to divine possession that enabled her to perform while in trance. Philip, the abbot of Clairvaux, witnessed Elisabeth's performance and wrote a detailed description that sanctions her divine possession, while employing theatrical terminology taken from the rubrics of liturgical dramas to describe her actions. Elisabeth's performance connects medieval acting to devotional practice, demonstrating that the techniques and motivations of acting in vernacular religious dramas drew from the practice of imitatio
Art · Art history · Cloister · Literature · Possession (linguistics · SAINT · Terminology · Classics · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
The Drama of the Medieval Church.
Masks and Masking in Medieval and Early Tudor England
Performative Reading
Les stigmates de saint François et leurs détracteurs dans les derniers siècles du moyen âge
The Visual and the Visionary
Marking the Hours
Phenomenal Religion in the Thirteenth Century and Its Image
Unquiet Souls
Possessed by the Spirit
The Politics of Mysticism
The Cistercians
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2014 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |