In the female saint's Lives and exempla female reading is sometimes viewed with suspicion, for instance when married wives are being sent love letters by young men."®° It is also associated with pious acts. As a toddler, St. Elizabeth of
Hungary (1207-1231) mimics the ability of reading the Psalter in church, but she is too young to be able to read.'^®^ Reading becomes a source of play: the
apostles' names are written on lots which were drawn in order to pray to the apostle whose name features on it. Whilst consulting the Gospels, St. Theodora of Alexandria (no date) took a decision what to do after her act of adultery."*®^ St. Paula (d. 404), prone to shedding tears even over her venial sins, is urged to spare her eyes to enable her to read the Gospels."®® Every day St. Eugenia is moved to tears whilst reading about Theda's conversion and she finds inspiration in the legend."®" Another form of positive imagery is that in later editions of the
Passionael many female saints are portrayed with a book in the woodcuts."®® Sometimes, the attribute of the book makes sense according to the legend. For
459 460 461 462 463 464 465
On Christine's literate abilities, see Schibanoff, 'Taking', pp. 93-101.
Geesten, one woman is home alone, fol. f2, the other is married to an old husband, fol. v1.
Passionael, winterstuc, elyzabeth, fol. b8.
Passionael, somerstuc, theodora, fol. I6v.
Passionael, winterstuc, paula, fol. t4.
Passionael (Veldener), somerstuc, eugenia fol. PPSv.
For the introduction of woodcuts in the Passionael, see Goudraan, K., 'Met Passionael op de drukpers', Gouden Legenden. Heiligenlevens en heiligenverering in de Nederlanden,
A. Mulder-Bakker en M. Carasso-Kok eds. (Hilversum, 1997), pp. 8 2 - 8 4 .1 have consulted
Passionael, (Delft, Hendrick Eckert van Homberch, 1499-1500), KB The Hague shelf mark 170 E 15, which also features woodcuts on the title pages of winterstuc and
somerstuc respectively depicting a nun reading in a library being visited by Christ, and Mary with a book surrounded by the apostles.
instance, in the case of St. Scholastica (d. ca. 543), the first Benedictine nun, it was a reference to the Rule her brother Benedict of Nursia had written.^®® In some instances, a saint's learnedness or book usage is not mentioned in the source, but the saint is depicted with one nevertheless."®^
When looking for attitudes towards women's writing when they appear in the exemplum collections and female saints' Lives it becomes obvious that they are ambiguous too. God inspired the divinely written word. God was not only creator of everything but also author of the Scriptures and made the human writer his tool."®® In the book which contains her Revelations, as well as hen^nd her daughter Catherine's legend, St. Bridget of Sweden is depicted filled with heavenly inspiration; she is flanked by heavenly worthies, and inspired by the Holy Spirit - as a dove - while an angel looks over her shoulder, dictating the text into her ear."®®
Influenced in all likelihood by Giovanni Boccaccio's Concerning Famous Women,
De Eyb also lists famous women from antiquity in his book."^° In his chapter On the praise of women in which he also refers to Barbara of Brandenburg, he mentions women's influence in the arts and literature. He lists Isis, Nicostrata, Sappho, Cornelia, Aspasia, and Proba, all of whom he commends for their interest in the letters respectively for discovering the first letters {boechstaven)\
discovering Latin letters and syllables; composing poetry; writing of Latin letters; learning and eloquence; re-styling the Old and New Testament in verses
reminiscent of Virgil.
Isis also features in Aesop enhancing his skills. She bestows the power of speech on him and the wisdom and knowledge to invent fables and explain
466
467 468
469 470
Passionael, (Delft, Hendrick Eckert van Homberch, 1499-1500), winterstuc, scolastica, fol. e2v. For her attributes, see Goosen, Afra, p. 66 and p. 68.
See, for instance, the legends of Anastasia, Lucy, Samina and Thaïs.
Demyttenaere, A., 'De auteur en zijn publiek in de middeleeuwen’, L ite ra tu u re n
sam enleving in de m iddeleeuw en, A. Demyttenaere et al. eds. (Wassenaar, 1976), p. 14. Opuscuium, fol. a1. It is probably a reference to the sermo angeiicus.
Ehebüchiein, fols. h2-h3v.
them/^^ Empowered by these gifts he is capable of competing with the wisest of the philosophers. In the incunables, Isis is promoted to and singled out as
goddess of communication on the oral as well as the written level.
It must have been far from obvious to the medieval reader who these ancient ladies mentioned were and exactly why they should be hailed as examples. Grafton and Jardine, when they came across similar lists in their research on women humanists of fifteenth-century Italy who were applauded by their male contemporaries in similar fashion, mention that learned women were routinely praised in this manner."^^
There are many instances of female writing associated with negative ideas. It circumvented any involvement (and control) of others. Unbeknown to her doting father Tancredus, Sigismunda writes a letter to Swyfcardus arranging a secret meeting which she inserted into a length of reed."^^ Under the motto to pray with concentration, a she-monkey features who copies books but since she is always eavesdropping or gossiping, her books remain unsold and she dies in poverty.''^'^ Occasionally, God's hand is seen at work. For instance, Zosimas finds
instructions for Mary of Egypt's funeral written in the desert sand near her corpse while she could neither read nor write."^^ It is clear that there is a bivalent attitude towards female literacy.