Writing Women in Medieval Europe: Intellectual Activity and Text Production in Helfta

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13223
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: Miura Asami 東洋大学, 人間科学総合研究所, 客員研究員 (40814893)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 西洋中世 / ジェンダー / キリスト教

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines the significance of writing, in terms of what women wrote and how they legitimized their writing activities. To discuss this point, religious literary texts from the second half of the 13th century were used as the main source, and as a specific case study, the Cistercian monastery Helfta in Germany, where there were several highly educated women who wrote in Latin, was the object of analysis, including its environs. In general, the end of the 13th century is characterized by a turn towards mysticism and the internalization of faith. However, by focusing on references to secular society in visionary texts, this study has revealed the influence of the traditional monastic system, which linked salvation after death to endowments, and the possibility that text production played a role in compensating for the religious inferiority of women, offering a new perspective for the study of religious movements.

Free Research Field

西洋中世史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は、第一に、これまでのヘルフタ修道院研究が見落としてきたテクストに着目し、女子修道院と世俗社会という新しい観点から分析を試みた点にある。さらに、ここから明らかになった幻視における寄進の影響というテーマを追求することで、13世紀に盛んになった女性の宗教運動との関連づけを図った。これにより社会的、知的に孤立した女子修道院という従来の見方を修正し、俗人女性中心に論じられてきた宗教運動研究の視野を広げた点にある。