Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages

Description

first heard about in [Undheim 2017](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=8833)Introduction (ref:7) contains a good overview of the Scholastics' conceptions of chastity and virginity. St. Albert's four-fold categorization of chastity summarized in ref:7.26.Interesting observations of St. Jeann d'Arc, "they never felt sensual desire when they saw her" (ref:9.5), are similar to [Voragine's of the Blessed Virgin](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=7173).Author was raised in Catholic schooling and is not anti-Catholic or anti-medieval-thinking; ref:12.9: "at my Confirmation, I had chosen to be named for Jeanne d’Arc because I had been taught to admire her chastity and her bravery.) […] I could have used a little less bravery and a little more chastity—and a good deal more enchantment."* * *This book challenges the belief that female virginity can be reliably and unambiguously defined, tested and verified. Kelly analyses a variety of medieval Western European texts - including medical treatises and their Classical antecedents - and historical and legal documents. The main focus is the representation of both male and female virgins in saints'legends and romances. The author also makes a comparative study of examples from contemporary fiction, television and film in which testing virginity is a theme. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages presents a compelling and provocative study of the parodox of bodily and spiritual integrity as both presence and absence.