Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
DOI
10.17077/1536-8742.2220
Access Restrictions
Full text restricted to subscribers.
Abstract
This paper compares the illuminations in two medieval apocalypses, the Cloisters Apocalypse and Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias, to inspect their similar constructions of female sexuality, motherhood, and monstrosity. It first analyzes the monstrosity of female sexual organs found in Hildegard’s portrayal of the Church and the Mother of the Antichrist. The paper then goes on to consider the uncanny slippage between images of birth and death in the Cloisters’s depiction of John and the Woman of Revelation 12. Ultimately, the paper not only explores the monstrosity of female bodies in apocalyptic manuscripts, but also concludes that medieval women’s circular experience of time and memory corresponds with medieval conceptions of circular apocalyptic time, thereby making women’s bodies an apt metaphorical vehicle for apocalyptic narratives.
Keywords
apocalypse, women, hildegard, bingen, scivias, cloisters, monster, monstrosity, time, sexuality, birth
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Recommended Citation
McKellips, Jenna M. "Miraculous Monstrosity: Birth and Female Sexuality in the Illuminated Scivias and Cloisters Apocalypse." Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 56, No. 2 (2021) : 176-203.
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Figure 1: Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias, Book One, Vision One
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Figure 2: Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias, Book Three, Vision Eleven
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Figure 3: Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias, Book Two, Vision Three
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Figure 4: Close-Up of Figure 3; The Church Balances on her Womb
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Figure 5: Close-Up of Figure 3; The Woman Purifies Souls
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Figure 6: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f. 20r.
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Figure 7: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 180, p. 43
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Figure 8: London, Lambeth Palace Library, Ms. 209, f. 15r.
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Figure 9: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f. 1v.
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Figure 10: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f. 27v.
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Figure 11: London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 209 f.23v
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Figure 12: London, British Library, Royal 2B VII, f. 22. v.
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Figure 13: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f. 21r.
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Figure 14: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f. 3r.
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Figure 15: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 68.174, f.16v.
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