Title Unknown.

It always starts with a "simple idea." Topic: Medieval classical reception of fire imagery in The Life of Christina of Markyate. I start researching. I find a great article: Nadia, Margolis. "Flamma, Furor and Fol'Amors: Fire and Feminine Madness from The Aeneid to the Roman D'eneas." I have a bad research day: I hate sitting in the Rose Main Reading Room (which I insists smells like feet), and finding out that all my articles are useless. I mention my idea to my professor, she mentions The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Now, I have jumbled mess of ideas in my head, and way more research than I even want to attempt. 

Good fire imagery. Bad fire imagery. Madness (Roman, medieval, and of course, my own). Christina of Markyate. Abelard and Heloise. Plato. Plato's Cave. Light. Truth. Christianity. Marriage. Bride of Christ. Plato's Symposium. Love. Reproduction (of babies, and ideas) as path to immortality. Diotima. 

I hate having a good idea that I need to connect together. I hate the connecting. Yet, it feels so good when it all connects. 

I hate Plato. Yet, it always goes back to Plato. Always. I swear the bloke haunts me. Ugh. Note to self from my Medieval professor: You're a couple hundred years too early for Plato. The people of Middle Age Europe liked Aristotle, Ovid, NOT PLATO. Time to pursue alternative philosophies. Especially in republicanism. ;D

Prospectus for Research Essay:

Primary Source:

The Life of Christina of Markyate: A Twelfth Century Recluse. Trans. C.H. Talbot. New York: Oxford UP, 1987. Print.

Secondary Sources:Brown, Peter. “Bodies and Minds: Sexuality and Renunciation in Early Christianity.” Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient World. Ed. David M. Halperin, et al. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1990. 479-93. Print.

Carson, Anne. “Putting Her in Her Place: Woman, Dirt, and Desire.” Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient World. Ed. David M. Halperin, et al. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1990. 135-70. Print.

Elliott, Dyan. “Alternative Intimacies: Men, Women and Spiritual Direction in the Twelfth Century.” Christina of Markyate: A Twelfth-century Holy Woman. Ed. Samuel Fanous and Herietta Leyser. London: Routledge, 2004. 160-83. Print.

---. The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment in the Lives of Pious Women. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P. 2012. Print.

---. Spiritual Marriage. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993. Print.

Heller, Sarah-Grace. “Light as Glamour: The Luminescent Ideal of Beauty in the Roman de la Rose.” Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies: 76.4 (2001 Oct): 934-59.

Hersch, Karen K. The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.

Margolis, Nadia. "Flamma, Furor, and Fol'amors: Fire and Feminine Madness from the Aeneid to the Roman d'Enéas". Romanic Review: 78.2 (1987 Mar.). 131-147. Print.

McGuire, Brian Patrick. Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience, 350-1250. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2011. Print.

Dictionaries Being Consulted:

Oxford Latin Dictionary

Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources

Three Questions:

1. Fire is both a productive and destructive force. How is the versatility of the fire imagery utilized in The Life of Christina of Markyate?

2. How is the fire imagery of marriage from Classical Antiquity reworked into the descriptions of relationships in the Middle Ages?

3. Christina’s relationship with Roger is described in terms of fire, while Christina’s relationship with Christ is described in terms of light. What do these descriptions indicate about each relationship?

Expected scope of topic:

            The focus of my essay will be on the reworking of fire imagery from Classical Antiquity into the Middle Ages and the manner in which it is utilized to described the relationships between Christina and Roger, and Christina and Christ. While Peter Brown focuses on the changes that take place with the introduction of Christianity, I argue that the while there is a shift from marriage to sexual renunciation, the symbolic torch of the Roman marriage is carried into the Middle Ages. Nadia Margolis’s article clearly demonstrates this in the secular tradition of courtly love. However, I focus on the symbolic fire in The Life of Christina of Markyate, a hagiographical text. While the main focus of the essay will be on fire imagery, I will also touch upon the light imagery that is prevalent within the Middle Ages, elaborating on the significance of the use of light imagery instead of fire imagery in Christina’s relationship with Christ. Ultimately, my argument is that while the importance of marriage is more heavily emphasized in Roman times, a bond between a man and a woman in either time periods can become a sanctifying force in society even a within a religious community. In my research, I will be working primarily with the English translation by C. H. Talbot, but I will also utilize the Latin texts on the opposite pages. 

I love having a solidified topic! ;D