Explore Food and Body Metaphors in Medieval Female Writers' Works

Symbols, metaphors and ritual are all ways in which we humans work to organize and make sense of the mysteries of life. Religion and the task of clerics and mystics of the middle ages were consumed with this challenge to convey complex religious and spiritual concepts, such as creation, salvation, piety and eternal life. What evolved were images of the human body and the act of eating and consumption as key metaphors for understanding Christianity. In this paper, I will focus on the ways in which female mystics and religious women used food and sensory images of the body in their writing to inspire, educate, and contribute to the growing canon of ritual. We will look at how they were accessing a vernacular understanding of woman's body being associated with food and that the metaphor or image of the body was often associated with the feminine or woman as well. In this way, the role of women in medieval religious texts will guide us to an understanding of the influence of gender in reaching a shared point of understanding between writer/clergy and reader/congregation.

The role of women in religion during the medieval period remains controversial. Although some very strong and accepted texts have survived by women such as Hadewijch, Julian of Norwhich and Margery Kempe, women of the 13th and 14th century were often not admitted or associated with any one order of the church. Being a nun was the most popular and accepted form of religious life available to women who felt a "calling" to dedicate themselves to the church.