Virgin Martyrs: Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England by Karen A. Winstead

Abstract

288book reviews an analysis of Theophylact's network of correspondents revealed in his letters will pinpoint his place and influence both in provincial and metropolitan society . It rests on another assumption: that the sample of letters that we have is representative of his epistolary activity. The results obtained are nevertheless impressive. They give a more assured and nuanced account ofTheophylact's relationships and conduct of office than has emerged from earlier sketches. However , they need testing against similar work—still to be done—on other letter collections. Disregarding the misgivings that current literary criticism has about the "author ," Mullett provides a sophisticated and satisfying pen portrait of Theophylact as "Author and Man." Despite some elegantly translated verses and snatches of letters—which catch Theophylact's real literary ability—this book confirms the chasm that separates the modern reader from the imaginative world of the Byzantine elite. Its real value lies elsewhere. Mullett has shown that with patience and skill context can be restored to Byzantine literary texts and with it their historical value. It is in this way that she achieves a partial rehabilitation of Byzantine literature. This is an achievement, for which many Byzantinists will be grateful. Michael Angold University ofEdinburgh Virgin Martyrs: Legends ofSainthood in Late Medieval England. By Karen A. Winstead. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1997. Pp. xiii, 201. $35.00.) If saints are supposed to be models, why were the most popular saints' lives in late medieval England the stories of women who were tortured and brutally murdered? This question is the focus of Winstead's insightful study of the retelling of early female virgin martyrdoms in a time of Christian dominance. Analyzing various revisions of the saints' lives, Winstead discerns the medieval authors' intentions and their audiences' response. To show how the retold saints' lives and their visual representations both reflected and shaped cultural norms, Winstead carefully places them in their medieval context. Sensitive to feminist issues as well,Winstead's scholarly work should become standard reading for anyone studying late medieval English spirituality, religion, literature, or women's history. Winstead's introduction is a helpful guide for what is to follow. Posing a host of provocative questions that draw the reader into her inquiry, Winstead presents recent scholarly research related to her topic. The chapters that follow have both a thematic and a chronological focus: Winstead's greatest contribu- BOOK REVIEWS289 tion is her correlation of variations in the retelling of the virgins' lives with religious and spiritual change. In Winstead's assessment, between 1 100 and 1250 the virgin martyr saints' lives were produced primarily by and for people in religious life. The bestknown examples are the legends of the Katherine Group. In these, the saints' devotions and prayers are emphasized over the narrative events of their martyrdoms , a stress that made them suitable models for medieval religious. In the next period, from 1250 to 1400, clerical authors reshaped these paradigms of sanctity for a lay audience. In this phase, the saints were presented not as heroines to imitate but as powerful miracle-workers; to emphasize their exceptionality , the tortures they endured were described with particular relish. Because the distinction between the saints and other mortals was emphasized,Winstead believes these versions bolstered clerical authority and the power of the institutional church. In the final period Winstead considers, 1400 to 1450, the radical elements in these heroic tales were toned down to make them more suitable as purveyors of the values of "middle-class readers." The virgin martyrs were portrayed as "refined gentlewomen"—introspective, gracious, discreet, modest, and even enamored with the joys of living. Looking especially at the legends by Osbern Bokenhamjohn Lydgate, and John Capgrave,Winstead identifies an attempt to discourage excesses of piety that could lead to heresy. Particularly intriguing is Winstead's attention to the "politics of reading," the ambiguous attitudes male authors had about the increased literacy of lay women. Winstead's identification of shifting emphases in the various versions of the lives of the virgin martyrs is convincing. Her hypothesis that the changes in the saint's lives reflect different audiences and cultural settings is persuasive, although at times one can wonder whether the authors...