How Has Christina Challenged The System Of Power In Medieval Religion?

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The lives of female saints throughout the middle ages was full of obstacles placed before them by those in power, mostly men. For many saints, maintaining their virginity and their oath to God was a daily battle against those who hoped to bring them down. One such saint, Christina of Markyate, fought against the authority of men, including her father, Bishops of the Church, and her husband. Christina is one example of how far a woman had to go to uphold the values she held dear. From Christina’s hagiography one can see how a female saint challenged the system of power in medieval society by refusing to consummate her marriage, repeatedly disobeying her father, and fighting head-on against the Catholic Bishops who repeatedly tried to force her …show more content…

She spoke to God late at night, and showed an interested in lives of monks at the St. Albans monastery, which she often visited with her parents. While Christina devoted much of her time and thought to her faith, the people around her, including her family, mocked her dedication throughout her early years. Sometime between 1111 and 1112, during a visit to St. Albans when Christina was around the age of sixteen, she swore an oath of chastity and virginity to God. A man named Sueno, described as “a man advanced in age, conspicuous for his good life, and influential in his teachings,” confirmed Christina’s vow. Sueno was a key religious advisor to Christina during this time as he offered her encouraging words about both “the difficulty of preserving it [virginity], and the glory of having preserved it intact.” Besides Sueno, there is nothing written in her hagiography suggesting that anyone else knew about Christina’s vow to …show more content…

After the prior and others took the case to the Bishop, who ruled in Christina’s favor, Autti then bribed the man to change his mind. According to the hag-, Christina’s parents “hoped that she would have children who would be like her in character,” and the fact that Christina had taken a vow of chastity and refused to consummate her marriage made them believe “that they would lose her and all that they could hope to gain through her.” They repeatedly make clear attempts to force their daughter to consummate her marriage, yet all of them fail. The author of the hag- equals these events to supernatural intervention; however, Christina’s resistance to her parents’ authority and dramatic escape from the traditions of nobility showcase how difficult and dangerous it was to move against society’s expectations about parental authority and marriage. Her hag- provides an inside look at the trials one would have to subject themselves to in an attempt to move beyond the power structure and gain control for

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