Campion, Louise G. E. (2019) Christ in the kitchen, Christ in the chamber: the language and imagery of domestic space in late medieval religious literature. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the language and imagery of domestic space in four understudied fifteenth-century Middle English religious texts. These texts are The Doctrine of the Hert, an anonymous guidance text for nuns, The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, by Nicholas Love, a vernacular Life of Christ, The Booke of Gostlye Grace, a Middle English translation of the visions experienced by the German female mystic, Mechtild of Hackeborn, and the Liber Celestis, by Bridget of Sweden, a collection of over 700 visions experienced by Bridget, an aristocratic woman who became a nun following the death of her husband. The four chapters of my thesis are devoted to close readings of the significant patterns of domestic imagery in each of the texts outlined above, which have not yet been explored in any great detail. Alongside these close readings, I examine the ways in which fifteenth-century readers might have responded to the texts’ repeated recourse to household imagery as a means of explicating various aspects of spiritual life, including the taking of the Eucharist, the practice of confession, and the narrative of Christ’s life on earth. One of my salient research questions asks why the imagery of domestic space was so popular in fifteenth-century England. By way of answering this question, I identify five key areas of evidence that suggest that the household was becoming increasingly important to late-medieval people; domestic space was key to conceptions of family, comfort, privacy, pride, religious practice, and wealth. I also invoke several pieces of primary manuscript evidence that suggest that fifteenth-century readers were responding specifically to the household language in my four texts. This thesis is the first study to take note of the repeated patterns of domestic imagery in fifteenth-century religious literature, and to suggest a connection with the burgeoning importance of the household in late medieval life.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Literature, Medieval, Religious literature, Christianity
Official Date:	April 2019
Dates:	Date Event April 2019 Published
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Whitehead, Christiania
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	ix, 284 leaves :|billustrations
Language:	eng

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