Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre

While it is common to consider Beguine spirituality as predominantly, if not exclusively, feminine, several literary texts written in the oïl language during the 13th century offer the possibility of a different perspective, designating members of Beguinages using the masculine forms beguins or the...

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Main Author: Claire Donnat-Aracil
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société de Langues et de Littératures Médiévales d'Oc et d'Oil 2024-12-01
Series:Perspectives Médiévales
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/peme/54268
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author Claire Donnat-Aracil
author_facet Claire Donnat-Aracil
author_sort Claire Donnat-Aracil
collection DOAJ
description While it is common to consider Beguine spirituality as predominantly, if not exclusively, feminine, several literary texts written in the oïl language during the 13th century offer the possibility of a different perspective, designating members of Beguinages using the masculine forms beguins or the inclusive doublet beguins et beguines. Given that the grammatical masculine can hardly, in the latter case, be read as anything other than a specific masculine, this article aims to show that, in 13th-century northern France, the assimilation of Beguine productions to texts reserved for women is not always as self-evident as one might think. By successively analyzing sermons intended for Beguine communities, pious poetry directly from these communities, and an epideictic text firmly opposed to them, this article aims, on the one hand, to highlight the possibility of a masculine reading of this spirituality, and to show, on the other hand, that the gender stereotypes conveyed by certain clerics in the 13th century have contributed, from the Middle Ages to the present day, to rendering invisible the possible presence of men within Beguine communities.
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spelling doaj-art-745024777b5a459f8ab215847cc0316e2025-01-13T15:29:58ZengSociété de Langues et de Littératures Médiévales d'Oc et d'OilPerspectives Médiévales2262-55342024-12-01Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genreClaire Donnat-AracilWhile it is common to consider Beguine spirituality as predominantly, if not exclusively, feminine, several literary texts written in the oïl language during the 13th century offer the possibility of a different perspective, designating members of Beguinages using the masculine forms beguins or the inclusive doublet beguins et beguines. Given that the grammatical masculine can hardly, in the latter case, be read as anything other than a specific masculine, this article aims to show that, in 13th-century northern France, the assimilation of Beguine productions to texts reserved for women is not always as self-evident as one might think. By successively analyzing sermons intended for Beguine communities, pious poetry directly from these communities, and an epideictic text firmly opposed to them, this article aims, on the one hand, to highlight the possibility of a masculine reading of this spirituality, and to show, on the other hand, that the gender stereotypes conveyed by certain clerics in the 13th century have contributed, from the Middle Ages to the present day, to rendering invisible the possible presence of men within Beguine communities.https://journals.openedition.org/peme/54268spiritualitysermonsexualitydevotionmasculinitygender
spellingShingle Claire Donnat-Aracil
Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
Perspectives Médiévales
spirituality
sermon
sexuality
devotion
masculinity
gender
title Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
title_full Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
title_fullStr Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
title_full_unstemmed Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
title_short Quelle place pour les masculinités dans la spiritualité béguinale ? Penser les béguins au regard des études de genre
title_sort quelle place pour les masculinites dans la spiritualite beguinale penser les beguins au regard des etudes de genre
topic spirituality
sermon
sexuality
devotion
masculinity
gender
url https://journals.openedition.org/peme/54268
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