Sanctity and Female Authorship Birgitta of Sweden (Birgitta Birgersdotter, 1302/03–1373) and her younger contemporary Catherine of Siena (Caterina Benincasa, 1347–1380) form the most powerful and influential female duo in European history. Both enjoyed saintly reputations in life while acting as the charismatic leaders of a considerable group of followers consisting of clergy as well as mighty secular men and women. They are also among the very few women of the Trecento to leave a substantial body of written work, which was widely disseminated in their original languages and in translations. Copies of Birgitta’s Liber celestis revelacionum (The Heavenly Book of Revelations) and compilations of Catherine’s letters (Le lettere) and prayers (Le orazi- oni) and her theological work Il Dialogo della Divina Provvidenza (The Dialogue) found their way into monastic, royal, and humanist libraries all over Europe. After their deaths, Birgitta’s and Catherine’s respective groups of supporters sought to have them formally canonized. In both cases, however, their political and theological outspokenness, orally and in text, and their public authority represented obstacles. In this comparative study, leading scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds offer, for the very first time, a comprehensive exploration of the lives and activities of Birgitta and Catherine in tandem. Particular attention is given to their literary works and the complex process of ne- gotiating their sanctity and authorial roles. Above all, what the chapters reveal is the many points of connections between two of the most influ- ential women of the Trecento and how they were related to one another by their peers and successors. Maria H. Oen is Associate Professor of Art History and Deputy Direc- tor of the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome. She is also the editor of A Companion to Birgitta of Sweden and Her Legacy in the Later Middle Ages (Brill, 2019). Unn Falkeid is Professor of the History of Ideas at the University of Oslo. She is the author of The Avignon Papacy Contested: An Intellectual History from Dante to Catherine of Siena (Harvard University Press, 2017) and co-editor, with Albert Russel Ascoli, of The Cambridge Com- panion to Petrarch (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and, with Aileen A. Feng, of Rethinking Gaspara Stampa in the Canon of Renaissance Poetry (Ashgate, 2015). Routledge Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture Toleration and Tolerance in Medieval European Literature Albrecht Classen Beowulf’s Popular Afterlife in Literature, Comic Books, and Film Kathleen Forni Disability and Knighthood in Malory’s Morte Darthur Tory V. Pearman From Medievalism to Early-Modernism Adapting the English Past Edited by Marina Gerzic and Aidan Norrie Avid Ears Medieval Gossips and the Art of Listening Christine M. Neufeld Zöopedagogies Creatures as Teachers in Middle English Romance Bonnie J. Erwin Before Emotion The Language of Feeling, 400–1800 Juanita Feros Ruys Forging Boethius in Medieval Intellectual Fantasies Brooke Hunter Sanctity and Female Authorship Birgitta of Sweden & Catherine of Siena Edited by Maria H. Oen and Unn Falkeid For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com Sanctity and Female Authorship Birgitta of Sweden & Catherine of Siena Edited by Maria H. Oen and Unn Falkeid First published 2020 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Taylor & Francis The right of Maria H. Oen and Unn Falkeid to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-36855-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-35177-8 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Abbreviations ix Notes on Editions and Translations xi List of Contributors xiii Acknowledgements xvii Introduction 1 MARIA H. OEN AND UNN FALKEID 1 Birgitta and Catherine and Their Textual Communities 14 F. THOMAS LUONGO 2 “Su dunque, peregrino!”: Pilgrimage and Female Spirituality in the Writings of Birgitta and Catherine 35 JANE TYLUS 3 Constructing Female Authority: Birgitta of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and the Two Marys 54 UNN FALKEID 4 Saint Birgitta’s and Saint Catherine’s Visions of Crusading 74 RENATE BLUMENFELD-KOSINSKI 5 The Transmission of Birgittine and Catherinian Works within the Mystical Tradition: Exchanges, Cross- Readings, Connections 93 SILVIA NOCENTINI 6 Ambivalent Images of Authorship 113 MARIA H. OEN vi Contents 7 Saints Catherine and Birgitta as Received by Preachers 138 ROGER ANDERSSON 8 The Mystical Pregnancy of Birgitta and the Invisible Stigmata of Catherine: Bodily Signs of Supernatural Communication in the Lives of Two Mystics 159 GÁBOR KLANICZAY 9 The Crossing Paths of Birgitta of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, and Alfonso of Jaén 179 CAMILLE ROUXPETEL Epilogue 201 ANDRÉ VAUCHEZ Bibliography 215 Index 239 Illustrations 1.1 Birgitta of Sweden receiving a vision (Frontispiece to the Liber celestis revelacionum). New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.498, fol. 4v. Date: Last quarter of 14th century. Photo: The Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum. MS M.498, fol. 4v. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1912 16 1.2 Birgitta of Sweden writing down her Revelations and Alfonso of Jaén communicating these to their royal addressees (historiated initial opening Epistola solitarii ad reges). New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.498, fol. 328r. Date: Last quarter of 14th century. Photo: The Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum. MS M.498, fol. 4v. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1912 17 1.3 Birgitta of Sweden receiving the heavenly emperor’s book to kings from Christ (Frontispiece to Liber celestis imperatoris ad regem). New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.498, fol. 343v. Date: Last quarter of fourteenth century. Photo: The Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum. MS M.498, fol. 343v. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1912 18 6.1 Author portrait of Birgitta of Sweden writing down her revelations. Siena, Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati, I.V.25, fol. 11v. Date: 1399. Photo: Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati 121 6.2 Catherine of Siena (historiated initial opening Raymond of Capua’s prologue to Liber divine doctrine). Siena, Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati, T.II.4, fol. 5v. Date: first quarter of fifteenth century. Photo: Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati 124 6.3 Catherine of Siena dictating to scribes (historiated initial opening Liber divine doctrine). Siena, Biblioteca viii Illustrations comunale degli Intronati, T.II.4, fol. 6v. Date: first quarter of fifteenth century. Photo: Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati 125 6.4 Catherine of Siena offering her letters to cardinals. Siena, Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati, T.II.2, fol. 25v. Date: First quarter of fifteenth century. Photo: Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati 128 Abbreviations AASS Acta sanctorum, eds. Johannes Bollandus, Godefridus Henschenius, et al., 68 vols (Antwerp: 1643–1940) AP Acta et processus canonizacionis b. Birgitte, ed. Isak Collijn. SFSS, Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter 1 (Uppsala: 1924–31) ES Alfonso of Jaén, Epistola solitarii ad reges, ed. Arne Jönsson, in Birgitta of Sweden, Revelaciones Book VIII, ed. Hans Aili (Stockholm: 2002), 47–81 Extrav. Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones Extrauagantes, ed. Lennart Hollmann. SFSS, Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter 5 (Uppsala: 1956) KVHAA Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities LM Raymond of Capua, Legenda maior sive Legenda admirabilis virginis Catherine de Senis, ed. Silvia Nocentini (Florence: 2013) PC Marie-Hyacinthe Laurent (ed.), Il Processo Castellano. Con appendice di documenti sul culto e la canonizzazione di S. Caterina. Fontes Vitae S. Catharinae Senensis Historici 9 (Milan: 1942) Prol. M. Prologus Magistri Mathie, in Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones Book I, ed. Carl-Gustaf Undhagen (Stockholm: 1977), 229–40 Rev. I–VIII Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones Books I–VIII, eds. Hans Aili, Birger Bergh, Ann-Mari Jönsson, and Carl- Gustaf Undhagen, 8 vols (Stockholm: 1967–2002) RS Birgitta of Sweden, Opera minora I: Regvla salvatoris, ed. Sten Eklund (Stockholm: 1975) SA Birgitta of Sweden, Opera minora 2: Sermo angelicus, ed. Sten Eklund (Uppsala: 1972) SFSS Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskrift-sällskapet. Swedish Medieval Texts Society