In this book, Cazelles seeks to determine what defined the concept of female sanctity in the thirteenth century amid the development of new literary forms and their impact on society. By analyzing the text of these “hagiographic romances” and comparing it with other examples of poetic and prose hagiographical accounts, Cazelles seeks to establish the common themes of female sanctity in hagiographic literature of the period. Moreover, by taking into account the authorship and audience of these texts, she also attempts to determine the purpose and effect of these works. Her primary focus is comparing the defining moments and themes of sanctity to conclude what defines female sanctity, and therefore, what example is set for women of the era, who were the primary audience of these romances.
By including context, analysis, and anthology of thirteen hagiographic romances written primarily in thirteenth-century France, Cazelles holds a strong influence over the reader’s perspective. She organizes her text by giving a brief overview of the sociopolitical structures of France in a broader context as well as the contemporary state of the Catholic Church and the tradition of hagiography in Catholicism and literature. She then introduces her arguments by giving precise, quotation-based examples from hagiographic literature that predate these romances as well as contemporary examples. She compares how prose and poetic hagiographies differed in both origin and emphasis, as well as how both styles of writing treated male and female saints. In general, prose accounts were written for those who could read, especially Latin, while poetic accounts were grounded in oral tradition. They were intended primarily for recitation to the common, illiterate public for their edification. While the literacy rate for this period is an issue up for debate, there is strong evidence that the authors were mostly if not all male. Moreover, she argues that intertextual references make it clear that while these stories are edifying to all, these female saints primarily serve as examples for Christian women to emulate.
By the thirteenth century, however, the poetic style had changed in light of the rising popularity of courtly love and troubadours’ romantic poetry. It is then that existing poetic versions of Saints’ Lives as well as prose sources were adapted into the hybrid form which is the subject of the book: hagiographic romances. Sometimes they were composed with the epic decasyllabic format of secular and vernacular epics, such as The Song of Roland. More often, however, they followed the octosyllabic pattern which most troubadour romances exemplified. More than formatting, these new hagiographies followed the romances in other stylistic elements as well, whether describing male or female saints. To quote from the text, “The Romance [of Saint Alexis] focuses on human emotions in a manner reminiscent of courtly romance, thus greatly reducing the importance of the salient motifs (such as flight from society and holy insensitivity) that characterize the earlier version” (32). Focus shifted from pure piety to emotional language. Moreover, Cazelles gives many examples of a shift to physical and sexual themes in these thirteenth-century hagiographic romances, especially in those featuring holy women.
Cazelles posits that the predominant distinction between male and female sanctity as portrayed in this format is grounded in the body. In hagiographic romances, male saints transcend the body, while female saints are defined by it. According to Cazelles, “Female Saints’ Lives of the vernacular verse production in the main stress the exemplary character of their protagonists’ achievement in terms of an exceptional, and virtually inimitable, ability to overcome woman’s innate propensity to sin in the flesh” (34). She uses the examples of Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch, and Mary the Egyptian, who were all popular subjects of hagiographic verse in the previous century, to delineate the differences between earlier depictions of female saints to those of the thirteenth century. In new hagiographic romances, the physical sufferings which constitute their holiness are brought on by their beauty and their resistance to sexual temptation or advances.
While Cazelles acknowledges that women were able to rise to a state of recognition and exultation in the courtly love tradition, she argues that female characters were still limited to the role of a symbol rather than an active participant. She argues that while the holy woman is not as limited as the beloved woman, she is still “marginalized and set at a distance from the sphere of cultural activities” by the motif of virginity, which is paramount to the portrayal of saints in the anthology provided (47). She goes on to illustrate and argue how exposure and enclosure as themes in these hagiographic romances further amplify the “erotic elements inherent in these stories” (63). She also addresses the role that erotic language plays in the writings of Christian mystics. However, she argues that these romances are not personal testimony, but “images that reflect a male perspective on women’s piety and perfection” (70). She concludes that material suffering is the price of female salvation and sainthood, specifically in terms of self-sacrifice. She does this in life by preserving her chastity and in death through martyrdom. Even after death, Cazelles argues, she is not a person, but a source of miraculous power.
Cazelles’ argument is layered and multifaceted, and she builds to her points effectively and convincingly. As mentioned previously, she structured the book to support her arguments as well, providing first a general background, then her arguments, and lastly the brief anthology. This order suits the goal of the text, and it supports her argument internally. Furthermore, the thorough construction of her argument provides specific examples illustrating each point. However, I do not think the book or her argument is without its weaknesses. Her critiques are based around the idea that these hagiographic romances were meant to represent sanctity but were stylized to please crowds. However, she does not go into detail about the context in which these hagiographic romances would be recited. I can make assumptions based on knowledge of the veneration and celebration of saints, but the gap raises questions. Could these texts have served as popular entertainment or literary exercises? What evidence is there of their purpose and use, besides that given by the poems’ authors, which Cazelles points out to be unreliable at times (33)? Another flaw I find is that while her argument is convincing, I think some of her analysis is too influenced by a modern perspective. In all her analysis, she gives little evidence of contemporary thoughts on the matter. The female authors whom she cites as contemporary evidence do not match the intended audience that she had previously described, having argued the illiteracy of the common woman. Moreover, the examples Cazelles cites are based on her analysis of their writings, not a firsthand response. If there is not one, that should be acknowledged.
Overall, however, I do believe Cazelles provides a well-written and researched argument.
Cazelles, Brigitte. The Lady as Saint: A Collection of French Hagiographic Romances of the Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130jv0n.6
Omnia Disce 
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