THE NEW MIDDLE AGES BONNIE WHEELER, Series Editor The New i'vliddle Ages is a series dedicated to transdisciplinary studies of medieval cultures, with particular etnphasis on recuperating vvotnen's history and on fetninist and gender analyses. This peer-reviewed series includes both scholarly monographs and essay collections. PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE: Women i11 the Medieval Islamic World Engaging Words: The Culture of" Reading in the edited by Gavin R. G. Hambly Later A!iddle A,Qes by Laurel Am tower The Ethics or\.fature in the A!iddle A,Qes: On Borraccio's Poetaphysirs Robes a11d Ho11or: The Medieval World of" by Gregory B. Stone Investiture edited by Stewart Gordon Presence and Presentation: Wc>men in the Chinese Literati Traditio11 RepresentinJi Rape in ;Hedieual and Early by Sherry]. Mou Modern Literature edited by Elizabeth Robertson and The Lost Letters of" Heloise and Ahelard: Christine M. Rose Perceptio11s of" Dialogue in Tweljih-Ce11tury France by Constant]. Mews Same Sex Loue and Desire a1/1011J!. Women in the Middle A,ges Understandin,Q Scholastic Thou,Qht with Foucault edited by Francesca Canade Sautman and by Philipp W. Rosemann Pamela Sheingorn For Her Good Estate: The Life of"Elizaheth S(Qht and E111hodi111ent in the A!iddle AJies: de BurJih Ocular Desires by Frances A. Underhill by Suzannah Biernoff Constructions of Widowhood and Vir;Qinity in Listen, Dau,Qhter: The Speculum Virginum the A!iddle AJieS allif the Formation of" Religious Women in the edited by Cindy L. Carlson and Middle Ages Angela Jane W eisl edited by Constant]. Mews i'vlotherhood a11d i'vlotherit(g i11 Anglo-Sa:xo11 Et(gland Scimce, the Singular, a11d the Question of" by Mary Dockray-Miller TheoloJiy Listening to Heloise: The Voice of" a Twel{th by Richard A. Lee, Jr. Cmtury Woma11 Ce11der i11 DebatefYom the Early Middle Ages to edited by Bonnie Wheeler the Renaissance The Postcolonial i'vliddle Ages edited by Thelma S. Fenster and edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen Clare A. Lees Chaucer's Pardoner and Gender Theory: }\1alory's Morte Darthur: Remakin,Q Arthurian Bodies (?f Discourse Tradition by Robert S. Sturges by Catherine Batt Crossin,Q the BridJie: Comparatiue Essays on The Vernacular Spirit: Essays on Aiedieval i'vledieual Europea11 a11d Heia11 Japanese ReliJiious Literature Women Writers edited by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, edited by Barbara Stevenson and Cynthia Ho Duncan Robertson, and Nancy Warren Popular Piety and Art in the Late Middle AJies: CharlemaJine's ;Hustache: And Other Cultural In1a!ie Worship and Idolatry in EnJiland Clusters of' a Dark AJie 1350--1500 by Paul Edward Dutton by Kathleen Kamerick Troubled Vision: Gender, Sexuality, allif S(ght Ahsent "Yarratiues, }\1anuscript Textuality, and in ;Hedieual Text and In1a!ie Literary Structure in Late Medieval England edited by Emma Campbell and Robert Mills by Elizabeth Scala Queering Aledieual Genres Creatin,Q Co111munity with Food and Drink in by Tison Pugh Alerwin,gian Gaul by Bonnie Effros Sacred Place in Early Medieval .\Jeoplatonism by L. Michael Harrington Representations of Early Byzantine E111presses: Image and Empire The Middle A,Qes at Work by Anne McClanan edited by Kellie Robertson and Michael Uebel EncounterinJi ;Hedieual Textiles and Dress: Objects, Texts, bna,ges Chaucer's Jobs edited by Desiree G. Koslin and Janet Snyder by David R. Carlson Eleanor ofAquitaine: Lrrd and Lady Medievalism and Orimtalism edited by Bonnie Wheeler and by John M. Ganim John Carmi Parsons Queer Love in the Aliddle A,ges !sahel La Cat,)fica, Queen of Castile: by Anna Klosowska Critical Essays PerfimninJi Women: Sex, Gender and the edited by David A. Boruchoff I /Jeri an Lyric Homoeroticis111 and Chivalry: Discourses of'Aiale by Denise K. Filios Same-Sex Desire in the Fourteenth Cmtury Necessary Conjunctions: The Social Self'in by Richard E. Zeikowitz ;Hedieual EnJiland Portraits o(;Hedieual Wcrmen: Family, by David Gary Shaw Alarria,ge, and Politics in En,gland 1225--1350 Visual Culture in the German Middle Ages by Linda E. Mitchell edited by Kathryn Starkey and Horst Wenzel Eloquent Vir;Qins: From Thecla to Joan of Arc ;Hedieual Paradigms: Essays in Honor of]ere111y by Maud Burnett Mcinerney duQuesnay Adams, Volu111es 1 and 2 The Persistence of' Aledieualism: Narrative edited by Stephanie Hayes-Healy Adumtures in Contemporary Culture False Fables and Exemplary Truth in Later by Angela Jane Weisl Middle English Literature Capetian Womm by Eliza beth Allen edited by Kathleen D. Nolan Ecstatic Transj(mnation: On the Uses ofAlterity Joan of' Arc and Spirituality in the Aliddle A,ges edited by Ann W. Astell and Bonnie Wheeler by Michael Uebel The Texture of' Society: Medieval Women in the Sacred and Secular in ;Hedieualand Early Southern Low Countries ;Hodern Cultures: New Essays edited by Ellen E. Kittell and Mary A. Suydam edited by Lawrence Besserman Tolkien's Modern A!iddle A,Qes Aiindful Spirit in Late Medieual Literature: edited by Jane Chance and Essay in Honor orElizaheth D. Kirk Alfred K. Siewers edited by Bonnie Wheeler Representin,Q R(Qhteous Heathens in Late Aiedieval Fabriwtiom: Dress, Textiles, i\1edieual EnJiland Clothwork, and Other Cultural InwJiinin,Qs by Frank Grady edited by E. Jane Burns Byzantine Dress: Representations of Secular Was the Bayeux Tapestry Aiade in France?: Dress in E(Qhth-to-Twelfth Century PaintinJi The Case J>r St. Flo rent of' Saumur by Jennifer L. Ball by George Beech The Laborer's Two Bodies: Lahor and the 'TVork' Wmncn) Power) and Rci(e,ious PatronaJ!.C in the of the Text in Medieual Britain, 1350-1500 A!iddle AJieS by Kellie Robertson by Erin L. Jordan The DoJiaressa of Venice, 1250-1500: Wifi· Hybridity, Identity, and }\1onstrosity, in and Icon Aiedieval Britain: On Different Middles by Holly S. Hurlburt by Jere my Jerome Cohen LoJiic, TheoloJiy, and Poetry in Boethius, Aiedieval Go-betweens and Chaucer's Pandarus: Ahelard, and Alan or Lille: Words in the Choreo,QraphinJi Lust and Lwe A hsrnce of Things by Gretchen Mieszkowski by Eileen Sweeney The SurJieon in Aiedieval En,Qlish Literature The TheoloJiy of Work: Peter Damian and the by Jeremy]. Citrome Medieval Religious Mouemmt Temporal Circumstauces: Form and History iu by Patricia Ranft the Canterbury Tales On the Purification or Wo111en: ChurchinJi in by Lee Patterson :Vorthem Fra11ce, 1100-1500 Erotic Discourse and Early E11,glish Religious by Paula Rieder WritinJi Writers or the Re(Qn or Henry II: Twelve Essays by Lara Farina edited by Ruth Kennedy and Simon Odd Bodies and Visible E11ds in Medieval Meecham-Jones Literature Lonesome Words: The Vocal Poetic of' the by Sachi Shimomura Old EnJilish Lament and the Afi'ican American On FartinJi: LcliiJ!Ua,Qe and Lau,Qhter in the Blues So11,gs Aliddle Ages by M.G. McGeachy by Valerie Allen Perfimnin,Q Piety: Alusical Culture in Aiedieval Wo111en and Aiedieval Epic: Gender, Genre, E11glish .\Ju11neries and the Limits of Epic Masculi11ity by Anne Bagnell Yardley edited by Sara S. Poor and JanaK. The Fl(Qhtjrol/1 Desire: Au,Qustine and Ovid to Schulman Chaucer by Robert R. Edwards WOMEN AND MEDIEVAL EPIC GENDER, GENRE, AND THE LIMITS OF EPIC MASCULINITY Edited by Sara S. Poor and ]ana K. Schulman * WOMEN AND MEDIEVAL EPIC © Sara S. Poor and jan a K. Schulman, 2007. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-6602-5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLANTM 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73309-5 ISBN 978-1-137-06637-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-06637-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women and medieval epic: gender, genre, and the limits of epic masculinity I edited by Sara S. Poor and jana K. Schulman. p. cm.-(The New Middle Ages) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Poetry, Medieval-History and criticism. 2. Epic poetry, European-History and criticism. 3. Women in literature. 4. Masculinity in literature. I. Poor, Sara S. 1963-11. Schulman, jana K. 1959-111. Series. PN690.W66W66 2007 809.1 '3209940902-dc22 2006045413 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: january 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Transferred to digital printing in 2007. CONTENTS Acknowledgments lX Notes on Contributors Xl Introduction 1 Sara S. Poor and ]ana K. Schulman 1 Winning Women in Two Middle English Alexander Poems 15 Christine Chism 2 Surprisingly Historical Women in the Old French Cmsade Cycle 41 Sarah-Grace Heller 3 Women in the Shalmameh: Exotics and Natives, Rebellious Legends, and Dutiful Histories 67 Dick Davis 4 Women Characters and the Limits of Patriarchy in the Poema De Mio Cid and Mocedades de Rodrigo 91 Thomas Caldin 5 What Hrotsvit Did to Virgil: Expanding the Boundaries of the Classical Epic in Tenth-Century Ottonian Saxony 115 Kate Olson 6 All About Eve: Memory and Re-Collection in Junius 11 's Epic Poems Genesis and Christ and Satan 137 Lisabeth C. Buchelt 7 Ethical Acts and Annihilation: Feminine Heroics in Girart de Roussillon 159 William Burgwinkle 8 Caught between Worlds: Gendering the Maiden Warrior in Old Norse 183 William Layher V111 CONTENTS 9 "A Guest is in the Hall": Women, Feasts, and Violence in Icelandic Epic 209 ]ana K. Schulman 10 Monstrous Mates: The Leading Ladies of the Nibelungcnlied and Viilsun.s<a sa.s<a 235 Kaarcn Grimstad ami Ray M. Wakiftcld 11 Perfonnative Emotion and the Politics of Gender in the NibclunJ<enlicd 253 Kathryn Starkey Biblio.s<raphy 273 Index 293 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As is usual with a project such as this, we owe thanks to a number of people for their help in putting this volume together. The idea for the volume arose from a set of panels we organized at Kalamazoo in 2002 and we are grateful to those panel participants for inspiring us to go forward with the book project. We also want to acknowledge all our contributors for their excellent essays from which we both learned a great deal and especially for their patience and diligence in responding to our various queries during the editing process. A special thanks goes to Christine Chism and Lisabeth C. Buchelt for submitting chapters on short notice. We owe further debts of gratitude to the anonymous reader, whose feedback improved the volume in important ways; to William Layher and Kathleen Davis for sharing their expertise in their respective fields (Gernun and Old English) as we assem bled a core bibliography for the theory of epic; to Claire M. Waters for her helpful comments on the introduction; and to Donna and Gene Best, the proprietors of the Red Brick Inn in Nicklesville, Pennsylvania for the lovely and hospitable surroundings where we met to put the final manu script together. Finally, we thank Bonnie Wheeler and the editing staff at Palgrave for their support of and work on the project throughout.