This work examines the literary English traditions of four Virgin Martyrs: Agatha of Catania, Agnes of Rome, Juliana of Nicomedia, and Katherine of Alexandria. The primary focus surrounds the narratological developments and alterations of these women’s sex-specific or -emphasized tortures. In addition to torments, other details, which may not initially appear sex-specific in nature, are also considered. As recent scholarship has shown, Virgin Martyrs’ lives tend to conform to a relatively standardized core narrative by the later Middle Ages. This study considers to what extent the lives of these four saints actually conform and to what extent they retain individualism despite this homogenizing trend. An analysis of each narrative’s progression from early Latin sources, when available, through fifteenth-century English texts, which supplements the current scholarly trend of examining Virgin Martyrs as a collective group, is also provided. The tracing of these legends’ sex-specific characteristics allows for clear identification of similarities and deviations within various sources. Five appendices, each including an analytical table, are included to aid in the visualization of this progression. The tables, which allow for quick and easy identification of variations through chronologically listed sources, demonstrate this process in a concise and user-friendly manner and should be utilized alongside examinations of these legends as presented in each of the central chapters. The first chapter, on Agatha, addresses her breast amputation and its symbolic implications for femininity and motherhood, as well as the argument that Virgin Martyrs ‘Become Male’ during their passiones. The second chapter, on Agnes, explores her traditionally eroticized relationship with Christ, the motif of concealment, and Virgin Martyrs’ conventional brothel experience. The third chapter, on Juliana, focuses upon the Warrior Virgin Martyr tradition, her physical and spiritual struggle with the devil, and the tradition of familial rejection. The final chapter, on Katherine, considers her position as supreme Bride, her limited physical trials, and her relationship with the Blessed Virgin. The final appendix contains a comparative chart of Virgin Martyr legends within the Legenda aurea, which indicates the frequency of motifs and plot devices in these lives.

This work examines the literary English traditions of four Virgin Martyrs: Agatha of Catania, Agnes of Rome, Juliana of Nicomedia, and Katherine of Alexandria. The primary focus surrounds the narratological developments and alterations of these women’s sex-specific or -emphasized tortures. In addition to torments, other details, which may not initially appear sex-specific in nature, are also considered. As recent scholarship has shown, Virgin Martyrs’ lives tend to conform to a relatively standardized core narrative by the later Middle Ages. This study considers to what extent the lives of these four saints actually conform and to what extent they retain individualism despite this homogenizing trend. An analysis of each narrative’s progression from early Latin sources, when available, through fifteenth-century English texts, which supplements the current scholarly trend of examining Virgin Martyrs as a collective group, is also provided. The tracing of these legends’ sex-specific characteristics allows for clear identification of similarities and deviations within various sources. Five appendices, each including an analytical table, are included to aid in the visualization of this progression. The tables, which allow for quick and easy identification of variations through chronologically listed sources, demonstrate this process in a concise and user-friendly manner and should be utilized alongside examinations of these legends as presented in each of the central chapters. The first chapter, on Agatha, addresses her breast amputation and its symbolic implications for femininity and motherhood, as well as the argument that Virgin Martyrs ‘Become Male’ during their passiones. The second chapter, on Agnes, explores her traditionally eroticized relationship with Christ, the motif of concealment, and Virgin Martyrs’ conventional brothel experience. The third chapter, on Juliana, focuses upon the Warrior Virgin Martyr tradition, her physical and spiritual struggle with the devil, and the tradition of familial rejection. The final chapter, on Katherine, considers her position as supreme Bride, her limited physical trials, and her relationship with the Blessed Virgin. The final appendix contains a comparative chart of Virgin Martyr legends within the Legenda aurea, which indicates the frequency of motifs and plot devices in these lives.

<p dir="ltr">When one thinks of the medieval past, one might think of knights with their shining armor and swords; these are warriors. My dissertation seeks to examine and expose how “warriors” are gendered as masculine; a person or character categorized as a warrior might be assumed to be a man unless otherwise specified to be a “woman warrior.” The need for the qualifying adjective (“woman” or “female”) illustrates that the maleness of warriorhood and violence is understood as implicit. This governing assumption affects how women’s actions, particularly women’s violent actions, are interpreted. This dissertation takes women’s violence as a starting point, examining characters from Judith to Chaucer’s Dido. I show how and why the violence these women enact cannot be relegated to, say, maternal instinct or spirituality. The spiritual warrior is herself impressive, of course; she is a tool, a weapon of God, through whom God fights. The idea of the spiritual warrior then allows for discussions of women without painting them as inherently violent or aggressive. Instead, the spiritual warrior is the martyr, an extension of maternal instincts and the idea that women are caretakers and, when necessary, protectors. But these self-sacrificial ideals, often associated with maternity, are not, nor should they be, a requirement for womanhood.</p><p dir="ltr">I argue that in order to create a capacious enough definition of “woman” and even femininity, we must prize definitions of femininity from the grip of the patriarchy. What if we took these women on their own terms, instead? I seek to do exactly this: to examine, throughout this dissertation, both the ways that violent women act and what they say, without considering how their behavior might, nonetheless, be understood to conform to limiting ideas of femininity (such as the virgin or the whore). I thereby invite us to think about what it means when violent women enact their will on the world; and I also attend to the physical, in addition to the spiritual, effects of this violence (like killing someone). My work suggests that, in order to take gender seriously, we must pay attention to these moments when women hurt or kill either someone else or themselves.</p>