서양 중세의 남장여성(男裝女性) - Hildegund von Schönau의 역사성 재검토 -

초록

The subjects of this study are the medieval women who dressed as men. Although there has been some work on individual aspects of cross dressing in the Middle Ages, Hildegund von Schönau has received less attention than Jeanne d’Arc and the legendary female Pope Joan. This arises not from a lack of historical sources but rather from the tendency in the recent studies to privilege the anomalous (Hildegard von Bingen, Christine de Pizan) over the ordinary women. Five hagiographic accounts of Hildegund von Schönau make it possible to focus on the daily life of common people. This vitae record her successful performance as a man in secular and religious settings. But when one looks beyond the story itself, one finds that biography in these accounts presents problems for interpretation. The authors of all five versions admire Hildegund and praise God for hiding such a saintly woman among them. But historical presentations in the vitae accord with the hagiographic tradition of transvestite saints. And the evidence for Hildegund’s existence comes only from the stories that the Cistercians told about her. This absence of the Hildegund story from non-Cistercian sources again raises doubts about her historical existence. The authors rather illustrate the way they thought the Cistercian order. The vitae are characterized by the crossed purposes of establishing Hildegund as a saint and demonstrating the inferior nature of women. It follows that the transvestite heroine finds enthusiastic approbation when she performs as a man. Although demonstrably fictionalized, the vitae clearly commanded the same authority as historical texts. The evidence of official decrees against female cross dressing implies that women actually wore men’s clothing or even attempted to pass as men with some frequency. Hildegund’s life as Brother Joseph is plausible. Whether historical oder fictional, the depictions of women in male dress substantiate the conventional understanding of women’s place in medieval society.

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