Listen, Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages (review)

Reviews 257 Parergon 20.1 (2003) Mews, Constant J., ed., Listen, Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages (The New Middle Ages), New York, Palgrave, 2001; cloth; pp. xiii, 306; 6 b/w illustrations; RRP US$49.95; ISBN 0312240082. Constant Mews has contributed to, and drawn together, an excellent collection of articles which advances understanding of the Speculum virginum and of the learning, development and position of religious women in the Middle Ages. The Speculum virginum exists in a large number of Latin and vernacular manuscripts, and provides a useful tool for understanding the expression of the spiritual life between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries. It is an extended dialogue between a spiritual director, Peregrinus, and a nun, Theodora. The text thus reveals attitudes between the female religious and the male director, how female spirituality and virginity was understood, and how language, art and music were used in instruction. The history of the manuscripts, their relationships and the probable author are ably discussed by Jutta Seyfarth (Chapter Two). The continuity of the Speculum is traced in Chapter Eleven, where Urban Küsters shows how the Speculum, translated into Middle Dutch, influenced the reformation to more institutionalised women’s religious communities in the fifteenth century. Perhaps the most striking aspect for modern readers is Peregrinus’s claim that Mary pre-existed with Wisdom before the creation. Kim Power (Chapter Four) explores the probable background for this notion as well as cogently arguing for the identification of the virgin nun in the mirror of the Virgin Mary. This transcendental understanding of self through imaging highlights the transformative nature of the spirituality imparted. This radical Mariology also provokes thought about Peregrinus’s distinction between Mary, identified with Wisdom, and her difference from the Word of God and so provides fruitful material for further study. Several contributors focus on distinctions between male and female religious literature. Unlike spiritual directives for monks, the Speculum emphasises audiovisual aspects, according to Morgan Powell (Chapter Five). The text begins: ‘Listen, daughter, and see’, and Powell clearly shows how the accompanying illustrations are integral to the treatise and provide a sophisticated alternative to monastic reading. The process of hearing and seeing offers the potential for transformation and for a ‘sensory experience of the Logos’ (p. 116). The very form of the text then underlines the message. 258 Reviews Parergon 20.1 (2003) The multifaceted way in which spiritual understanding takes place is further underlined by Catherine Jeffreys (Chapter Six), who discusses the Epithalamium which accompanies the earliest manuscripts. She ably shows how the music is integral to the text, how the alternation of antiphon and response also image, or mirror, the ideal relationship of Bride and Christ and so, again, the medium becomes the message. The form of the Speculum, a dialogue, is a traditional medium for instruction and one explored by Sabina Flanagan (Chapter Eight) who contrasts it with other twelfth-century dialogues. While the author maintains control over the pupil, Theodora is not simply a Boso to his Anselm. Indeed, Theodora is shown, if only at times, to have ‘a perfect grasp of the concept of biblical exegesis’ (p. 192). The dialogue draws the listener into new perspectives and is an important part of the message of spiritual transformation. Issues of gender and gender perception are discussed by Julie Hotchin (Chapter Three) who positions the Speculum in the expansion in the eleventh and twelfth centuries of religious life for women in, or alongside, male monastics. Although males made the definitions, there was room for interaction and mutual learning: ‘Male commentary on female religious life was a process through which they could actively constitute their own male religious identity’ (p. 74). Elisabeth Bos (Chapter Nine) considers how spiritual advice to men and women differed. She notes the female literature emphasised ‘virginity, marriage, wealth, children, clothing and beauty’ (p. 216), but argues the ‘spiritual principles underpinning the lives of religious men and women remained fundamentally the same’ (p. 216). Janice Pinder (Chapter Seven) compares the Speculum and De claustro animae, addressed to men, and De modo bene vivendi addressed to religious women but also used by men. The texts reveal...