rise of the universities, all women’s access to learning, to publishing, and to participation
in culturally relevant discussions drastically declined. By necessity, religious women’s
creative outlets aligned them more closely to popular culture, the vernacular and heretical
movements. In sum, women’s religious achievements became generally possible only
under favorable conditions that included access to theological knowledge, freedom from
traditional roles related to child rearing and work in a home-based economy (Jeanne-
Marie de Maillé [1331–1414] began her career as a visionary recluse after the death of
her spouse), institutional support, and a relatively stable, economically thriving, and
culturally diverse environment (e.g., the women saints of the Merovingian era tended to
live in well-endowed and well-connected monasteries). Therefore, we can locate most
medieval French women mystics in regions characterized by the existence of royal
houses or important medieval cities, with vibrant trading centers and their potential for
cultural exchanges.
Medieval France witnessed three phases of distinguished female religious creativity.
In the 6th and 7th centuries, when the Merovingians shaped the three kingdoms of
Burgundy, Austrasia, and Neustria, a remarkable number of noble women saints emerged
whose biographies testify to their influence on local spiritual culture. In many cases, their
cults were promoted by fellow nuns who survived the saint (often the founder of the
community) and struggled to keep the monastery financially secure and spiritually alive.
Religious experiences cultivated in these monastic environments centered on a mixture of
active charity to the community (the saints functioned as “living sermons,” to use the
felicitous term coined by Jo Ann McNamara) and mediatory roles that highlighted the
saints as “mothers” and peacemakers in the community. In the cases of Radegund (ca.
525–587), Aldegund, and Balthild (d. ca. 680), their lives have either been recorded by
themselves or other women, thus representing a more accurate view of women’s
spirituality.
- In these accounts, virginity and ascetical feats appear to be less important than
compassionate leadership, the performance of miracles, and love of God and community.
Radegund was a Thuringian princess captured by the Franks and married to Clotar I (r.
511–67). With the help of two bishops, Radegund managed to leave Clotar and
established a monastery at Poitiers, for which she secured a relic of the Holy Cross. Her
male biographer Venantius Fortunatus stressed Radegund’s extravagant penitential piety
and acts of status reversal, both features more typical of male saints. In contrast, her
female biographer Baudonivia, a fellow nun, focused more on miracles that consolidated
Radegund’s community and her visionary teachings, which Radegund revealed only to a
small group of trusted nuns.
Aldegund, also a member of the nobility, was educated at the monastery of Nivelles
and later founded her own monastery at Maubeuge. The description in her vita of her
visions was dictated by Aldegund herself and used as inspirational readings in her own
institution, thus establishing a kind of “female lineage” of teachings. Although
Aldegund’s visionary imagery is traditional (including Christ, the Virgin, angels, the
Devil in the form of a wolf and a lion), its message of love is innovative. Balthild was a
Saxon slave who eventually became a queen and regent. She founded a monastery for
men at Corbie and one for women at Chelles, where she lived from 664/65 until her
death. Renowned for her generosity, Balthild, like Radegund, encouraged peacemaking
efforts and durable relations between the court and the monastery and promoted her
The Encyclopedia 1861