Episcopal Virginity in Medieval England

In his classic study of medieval sainthood, André Vauchez outlines the qualities that characterized a saint-bishop in mid-twelfth-century Europe: "He was not expected to perform ascetic exploits or shine as a scholar, but be sober and temperate. What was crucial was that he should be of good morals, and above all demonstrate the values of a leader and administrator. The chief virtues demanded of him were benevolence and discretion, moderation and balance."¹ Although Vauchez goes on to outline his theory that, from the twelfth century onward, the post-Gregorian "drive to monasticize the episcopate" led to increased emphasis on the celibacy and virginity of certain bishops, it is clear that he considers the episcopal office to be the central component of episcopal sainthood.² Despite the recent increase in scholarly interest in clerical masculinity and sexuality, historians of gender and sexuality have done relatively little to contradict Vauchez's findings. Indeed, the sexuality of medieval bishops has been the subject of surprisingly few studies, and to date there has been no coherent overview study of episcopal sexuality in later medieval England. Those scholars who have considered episcopal sexuality (notably Megan McLaughlin and Jacqueline Murray) have focused their attention on the problem of celibacy and the challenges it posed for male clerics.³ Only once has virginity been proposed as a defining characteristic of the medieval saint-bishop, by Patricia Cullum in her 2007 essay on the cult of Richard Scrope, archbishop of York.⁴

This historiographical failure to consider virginity as a significant episcopal quality is attributable to two main factors: a tendency to consider virginity as a primarily female attribute, and a disinclination to grapple with the complexities of medieval sexual terminologies.⁵ The literature on medieval sainthood is substantial, rich, and varied, but on one point it is almost unanimous: sexuality, in particular virginity, was of far greater significance to female saints than to their male counterparts. According to Robert Bartlett, virginity "always mattered more in the case of women. . . . [T]here are cases of male saints praised for maintaining their virginity, but they did not form a large, identifiable category in the way that female virgins did."⁶ Some historians have gone even further and argued that when a woman lost her virginity she effectively destroyed her potential to be considered truly holy.⁷ We have little reason to doubt that virginity was one of the defining characteristics of the medieval female saint and that the virgin-martyr was a particularly important figure in contemporary piety across Europe.⁸ Yet according to Kathleen Kelly, "The male virgin never takes centre-stage in the saint's life," and Sarah Salih has argued that virginity had only limited significance for clerics and virtually no value for laymen.⁹

While some scholars have downplayed the significance of medieval male virginity, "many modern editors and translators," as Cullum has noted, "have found the idea of male virginity problematic and not addressed its implications."¹⁰ This tendency stems in part from the complicated terminologies of sexual abstinence and the peculiar difficulty inherent in distinguishing between male chastity, celibacy, and virginity.¹¹ Modern definitions are based on the assumption that these are relatively uncomplicated physical states: a virgin is someone who has not yet had sex, while celibacy and chastity are used virtually interchangeably to refer to a nonvirgin's temporary state of sexual abstinence.¹² Medieval definitions were rather more complex. A chaste man was usually one who did not engage in sexual activity, but the term could encompass those who engaged only in licit sexual activity, that is, marital reproductive intercourse. Technically, a celibate was simply an unmarried individual, although (as Ruth Mazo Karras has pointed out) in a medieval Christian context this should also imply chastity, especially for a priest.¹³

The picture was further complicated by the medieval tendency to embrace (and indeed emphasize) an individual's mental state alongside his physical experiences. This meant that a cleric was only truly chaste if he not only renounced all sexual partners but also eschewed all forms of sexual activity, including masturbation...