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The Articulation of Virginity in the Medieval Chanson de nonne
- Journal of the Royal Musical Association
- Oxford University Press
- Volume 133, Part 2, 2008
- pp. 159-188
- Article
- Additional Information
The chanson de nonne presents stereotypical images of young women whose bodies and voices are trapped within the confines of a nunnery. Close examination of the architectural metaphors used to describe virginity and chastity in the Middle Ages allows comparisons to be made between the structures – metaphorical, musical and textual – that held fictitious nuns within the frame of the clerical imagination at the centre of thirteenth-century motet production.