Conflicting Clerical Masculinities in Early Medieval Britain

Abstract

This thesis explores conflicting notions of clerical masculinity in early medieval Britain. Masculinity was subject to conflicting notions at this time because genders exist not as fixed categories but as constructions that reflect cultural discourses and social expectations. By approaching the clergy’s conflicting masculinities through a gender studies lens, I am shedding light on a category of historical analysis which is otherwise obscure. Through four distinct chapters in this thesis, I will argue that various factors ensured that there was no singular, consistent standard on which the clergy based their masculinity. The first chapter is foundational, where I outline the biggest influences on early medieval Britain’s Church. In this chapter, I examine influential understandings of gender and the physical body that developed during Classical Antiquity, and later, the significant works and opinions of the Latin Fathers in Late Rome. In the second chapter, I begin by discussing the Church’s consolidation in early medieval Britain and how the clergy operated in the resulting minsters. Then, I briefly analyse contemporary forms of traditional masculinity to compare conflicting clerical masculinities. In the third chapter, I compare and contrast the divide between clerical marriage and celibacy and analyse why the latter was considered the ideal standard for the clergy. Then, I examine outward expressions of celibacy that the clergy opted for, namely tonsuring and manner of dressing. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I compare and contrast the lives and actions of three early medieval clerical figures to provide illustrative examples of conflicting masculinities in Britain. Through a close analysis of secondary literature and primary evidence, I will demonstrate the extent to which there were conflicting notions of clerical masculinity in early medieval Britain and how clerical masculinities conflicted against traditional masculinity and amongst clerics themselves. To a strong and resilient woman who had a heart of gold. A woman with hands that healed, ears that truly listened, and arms that always held love.