Reading Children In Gautier De Coinci’s Miracles De Nostre Dame

Abstract

As cultural historians publish findings on the image and role of children in medieval society, scholars of medieval literature have begun to consider the same question. However, the children in Gautier de Coinci’s Miracles de Nostre Dame, published in the first third of the 13th century, have escaped serious scholarly attention. Work to date on the question of children in the Miracles is comprised of only a few pages of a monograph and has only included three children, portraying them as rather flat symbols ofinnocence. The present study includes eight children and submits that their image and role vary in tandem with the particular didactic aim of each miracle. Careful study of these figures in their literary and socio-cultural context demonstrates an attitude towards children that is far more complex and rich than at first glance. Furthermore, by isolating and casting these characters into relief, we gain better understanding of the miracle as a genre. Children exemplify how elements, including characters are manipulated in the universe of the miracle in various ways but towards a single, didactic aim.