Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women

Holy Feast and Holy Fast......Page 2
CONTENTS......Page 8
LIST OF PLATES......Page 10
PREFACE......Page 13
INTRODUCTION......Page 17
I— THE BACKGROUND......Page 26
1— Religious Women in the Later Middle Ages......Page 27
New Opportunities......Page 28
Female Spirituality: Diversities and Unity......Page 37
2— Fast and Feast: The Historical Background......Page 45
Fasting in Antiquity and the High Middle Ages......Page 47
A Medieval Change: From Bread of Heaven to the Body Broken......Page 62
II— THE EVIDENCE......Page 84
3— Food As a Female Concern: The Complexity of the Evidence......Page 85
Quantitative and Fragmentary Evidence for Women's Concern with Food......Page 88
Men's Lives and Writings: A Comparison......Page 106
4— Food in the Lives of Women Saints......Page 125
The Low Countries......Page 127
France and Germany......Page 141
Italy......Page 152
5— Food in the Writings of Women Mystics......Page 162
Hadewijch and Beatrice of Nazareth......Page 165
Catherine of Siena and Catherine of Genoa......Page 177
III— THE EXPLANATION......Page 199
6— Food As Control of Self......Page 200
Was Women's Fasting Anorexia Nervosa?......Page 205
Food as Control of Body: The Ascetic Context and the Question of Dualism......Page 219
7— Food As Control of Circumstance......Page 230
Food and Family......Page 231
Food Practices and Religious Roles......Page 238
Food Practices As Rejection of Moderation......Page 248
8— The Meaning of Food: Food As Physicality......Page 256
Food and Flesh As Pleasure and Pain......Page 257
The Late Medieval Concern with Physicality......Page 262
9— Woman As Body and As Food......Page 271
Woman As Symbol of Humanity......Page 272
Woman's Body As Food......Page 280
10— Women's Symbols......Page 288
The Meaning of Symbolic Reversal......Page 290
Men's Use of Female Symbols......Page 293
Women's Symbols As Continuity......Page 299
Conclusion......Page 305
EPILOGUE......Page 308
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 314
Introduction......Page 318
1— Religious Women in the Later Middle Ages......Page 322
2— Fast and Feast: The Historical Background......Page 331
3— Food As a Female Concern: The Complexity of the Evidence......Page 342
4— Food in the Lives of Women Saints......Page 360
5— Food in the Writings of Women Mystics......Page 377
6— Food As Control of Self......Page 395
7— Food As Control of Circumstance......Page 406
8— The Meaning of Food: Food As Physicality......Page 412
9— Woman As Body and As Food......Page 417
10— Women's Symbols......Page 424
Epilogue......Page 429
PLATES I......Page 431
PLATES II......Page 432
A......Page 433
B......Page 434
C......Page 435
D......Page 436
F......Page 437
G......Page 438
I......Page 439
L......Page 440
M......Page 441
P......Page 443
S......Page 444
V......Page 445
Y......Page 446
B......Page 447
C......Page 448
D......Page 449
G......Page 450
K......Page 451
M......Page 452
Q......Page 453
S......Page 454
W......Page 455
Z......Page 456