Somatic Styles of the Early Middle Ages
Lynda L. Coon
‘Somatic Styles’ examines how classical modes of gender played significant roles in carving out competitive arenas between clerical and lay elites, c.600–900 CE. The paper explores the hermeneutical obstacles standing contemporary theorist complex nature early medieval texts under scrutiny. analysis reconstructs classicising techniques deployed by churchmen, it does so a way that both challenges stranglehold ‘one-sex’ model on pre-modern understandings heals ‘rupture’ ‘Ancient’ ‘Dark Age’. Finally, essay maps somatic gendered styles onto an architectural space where consecrated bodies met – ninth-century monastic basilica.
Gender & History