Part I: Preliminary Information
Title : Performing the Bride: Visuality, Female Authority, and the Sacred Spaces of Mechthild von Magdeburg’s
Flowing Light of the Godhead
Names : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Abstract
My project will examine textual images of the bride in the medieval mystic Mechthild of
Magdeburg’s Das fließende Licht der Gottheit
(The Flowing Light of the Godhead), hereafter as
DfL , through the lens of gender and visual culture studies. A close reading of these images will be enriched by an art historical analysis that compares illuminated depictions of brides and women in extant Sachsenspiegel (Mirror of the Saxons) manuscripts with German medieval cathedral sculpture. In comparing written images of the bride with iconic ones, the project will explore dominant textual and visual discourses of religion, power, and gender common during the German High Middle Ages, as well as how these discourses may have been reinforced or subverted through Mechthild's use of bridal imagery. Finally, by expanding current research on visual culture and medieval female monasticism, the project will be a unique contribution to
German medieval studies and medieval art history.
Personal Statement
I was raised in a household where I had little encouragement or opportunity to think about critical issues concerning sex, gender, and the social construction of identity. It was not until attending Elon that I found the engaging environment that facilitated self- expression and discovery both inside and outside of the classroom. My first-year Cultural Anthropology course

was one of first places where I was introduced to the critical difference between sex and gender.
This concept reemerged in other classes I took, in which an analytical understanding of cultural discourses undermined the idea that any given facet of identity is naturally inherent. During
Winter Term 2012 I produced a paper on the performance of gender for Maya rulers, and during an art history course in the spring I designed a curatorial exhibit proposal on the social construction of landscape painting. It was classes like these that began to provide me with the language and academic framework to express my passion for exploring the intersection of identity construction, culture, and art.
Although I occasionally went to art museums growing up in Denver, Colorado, it was experiences during my gap year as an au pair in Spain that inspired me to pursue a career in museum curation in Europe. Living so close to several major international art museums was a significant part of what motivated me to declare an art history major and frequent visits to the
Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao encouraged my interest in medieval art.
My interest in the way that identity is socially constructed has personal significance for me and, until my sophomore year, was a topic that I explored at a theoretical level through courses at Elon. It was during my sophomore year, however, that these academic interests were translated into campus engagement and social activism. Through involvement with EFFECT,
Elon’s feminist organization, I have twice produced the Vagina Monologues. This experience was one of many that personally empowered me to realize that – even as a student – in solidarity with other activists I have the ability to question and subvert systems of oppression. It was also during my sophomore year that I became highly involved with Spectrum, Elon’s gay and straight alliance. In this organization I have found a welcoming community and a safe environment

where I could finally come out about my sexual orientation and further explore the fluidity of identity.
Considered in the light of my personal and academic growth at Elon, my examination of bridal figures in DfL can be viewed as an outgrowth of my own interests in gender identity and performance, medieval art, and social activism. Having been introduced to Mechthild through conversations with Dr. Neville and a summer of closely reading her text myself , I became enthralled by the directedness and intimacy of the relationship that Mechthild imagined she could have with God. My passion for gender studies influenced my reading of her mystical treatise, and I was genuinely curious to consider how Mechthild’s bold claims to spiritual authority would have been received by a patriarchal church hierarchy. Although the importance of social activism and feminism in my life tempts me to see Mechthild as a subversive medieval feminist, any study of gender and sexuality in the past, as I learned in my LGBTQ History course this Winter Term, can be problematic. My consideration of gender and sexuality in DfL must, therefore, be aware that that one cannot assume universal and timeless applicability of contemporary conceptualizations of sexuality and gender to highly complex categories of identity.
Part II: Project Description
Focus:
Transcribed during the 13 th
century, Mechthild of Magdeburg’s DfL is the first autobiographical work by a woman in a German vernacular dialect. Consisting of eight chapters written over the course of her life, DfL is an eclectic compilation that details, among other things, erotic trysts with God, accusations of corruption within the clergy, advice given to virgins, and complex visions of heaven and hell (Magdeburg 1998, 51-207). Although the text is wide-

ranging in its scope, the one figure that stands as a constant and unifying literary theme throughout the text is that of the bride.
The bride as a central metaphor in DfL has a twofold importance for my project. First, the figure of the bride not only connects divergent themes within the text but, second, it also connects the text to external discourses that dictated the roles and expectations of women in the
German High Middle Ages. Exploring the connection between these external discourses and the internal structure of the text will allow for a more nuanced understanding of how the figure of the bride was directly influenced by these discourses and how Mechthild as a woman author accepted, co-opted, or subverted them.
However, the location of this figure at the intersection of multiple social and cultural discourses leads to questions of how best to approach its analysis. It is difficult to create an interpretative framework for a figure so fluid in its representation. Nevertheless, it is precisely the fluidity of the figure that allows it to function as a unique entry point for understanding DfL . I would suggest that Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, precisely because it acknowledges identity as a fluid social construct and gender as a daily performance (Butler 1988,
519-31), is an approach best suited to uncover the rich interplay between figures of the bride in the text and the social and cultural discourses in which they are embedded.
In order to situate DfL within its social and cultural contexts, the interpretive framework of the project should consider the material and visual culture of the German High Middle Ages as revealing of contemporary discourses on brides and married women. The project I propose will unfold in two steps. The first step, and core of my SURE project, focuses on the
Sachsenspeigel , a 13 th century legal document recording the common and feudal law practices of

Saxony in the High Middle Ages. The four extant Schansenspiegel manuscripts display unique illuminations that run along the outer margins of each folio (see Appendix A, Figures 1 and 2).
In order to frame Mechthild’s use of the bridal figure within larger social and cultural discourses, the project will examine passages describing property rights, inheritance, and matrimony as found in two Sachenspeigel manuscripts, Cod. Pal. Germ. 164 and Cod. Guelf. 3.1 Aug. 2°
(Repgow 1999, 80-81). Finally, by reading the illuminations that accompany these passages as visual interpretations of the written legal text, the project will seek to reveal how the stylized gestures, positioning, and movements of the bodies in these illuminations construct gender.
The second step, and core of my Lumen project, will augment my readings of the
Sachsenspiegel illuminations with German cathedral sculpture from the time and geographical area in which Mechthild wrote. Specifically, I will analyze sculpture of brides and powerful married women that were created by or attributed to the Naumburg Master, and other sculptors, at sites located in Magdeburg, Meißen, Naumburg, and Nordhausen (see Appendix B; Appendix
C, Figures 1 and 2). By including an examination of Gothic sculpture alongside a reading of an illuminated medieval manuscript, I will be able to develop a more extensive interpretive framework for approaching DfL.
Such a framework would be more thoroughly grounded in the material and visual culture of the German High Middle Ages and would allow my project to explore how gender performativity unfolded in a physical as well as in a textual space. By comparing depictions of the bride in DfL with illuminations and sculpture, the project frames the figure as both textual and iconic, and therefore makes a significant contribution to the arthistorical conversation on the visual culture of female monasticism and bridal imagery in the
German High Middle Ages.

Proposed Experiences:
With a successfully accepted SURE application for Summer 2013, I have made a significant start on exploring the performative nature of the bridal figure in DfL . Formulating my
SURE project has allowed me to compile a substantial literature review of books and articles by gender studies, art historical, and German medieval studies scholars such as Judith Butler,
Jeffrey Hamburger, Sarah Poor, Grace M. Jantzen, Niklaus Lagier, and Michelle Voss Roberts.
Expansion of this list will be a continuous process throughout the next two years.
In Fall 2013 I will significantly expand my project through study abroad in Heidelberg,
Germany. As I have described above, my study of cathedral sculpture as representative of medieval ecclesiastical discourses will significantly broaden the interpretive framework of my project. I intend to use Lumen funds to conduct site visits of medieval cathedrals and churches in
Magdeburg, Meißen, Naumburg, and Nordhausen, where I will examine Gothic sculpture depicting brides and powerful married women. I will also utilize Lumen funds to travel to St.
Mary’s of Helfta, where a community of nuns has built the modern reputation of their convent on the legacy of three medieval Helfta mystics: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Mechthild of Hackeborn, and Gertrude of Helfta. During a two day stay at the convent, when I will participate in a seminar on Mechthild of Hackeborn, I will be able more fully to explore the afterlife of Mechthild’s text.
By participating in convent culture and talking with the Helfta Sisters I will seek to understand the relevancy of Mechthild’s text and bridal figure in their spiritual lives.
The fact that I will be studying at the University of Heidelberg will itself be advantageous for my project. Not only will I take courses at the university that help me to develop fluency in the German language, but I will be connected with professors in the art history department at the

university who have pledged their support of my project and have promised to mentor me during my stay. Additionally, one of the extant Sachsenspiegel manuscripts is housed in the university library, and I will attempt to gain access to this manuscript while abroad.
Spring Semester 2014 will be a period of interdisciplinary synthesis for my project. Dr.
Neville and I will continue to develop my visual and textual approach of the social construction of Mechthild’s bridal figure. This work will now be expanded by the findings that I made in
Germany. Additionally, I will begin working closely with Dr. Gatti, an art historian conversant in
German medieval manuscripts. I will work with her to refine the art historical perspective of the project through analysis of the data that I collected during my site visits. I intend to enroll in Dr.
Gatti’s course on medieval Jewish, Christian, and Islamic art traditions and to write a specialized research paper focusing on the intersecting commonalities and divergences in bridal imagery found in these three traditions.
During Winter Term 2014 I will participate in the GST course co-led by Dr. Gatti and Dr.
Huber called “Italy’s Heritage: Past is Present.” The objectives of this course include an exploration of the political functions of religion, the cultural discourses reflected through art, and the social construction of sex and gender norms in Italy’s past and present history. Through a specialized paper that I will write for this course, I will develop a deeper understanding of critical theory that pertains to my research and provides me with opportunities to reflect on how representations of the bride in DfL are socially constructed.
My findings from experiences described above will be synthesized in writing during
Summer 2014. I will use Lumen funds to offset the costs of living to remain at Elon and spend the summer writing articles for submission and papers for presentations at conferences. I will

continue to revise my articles for publication and submit abstracts for spring conferences during
Fall 2014. My preparation to present at The International Congress on Medieval Studies in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, will be supported through completing 2 hours of 499 with Dr. Gatti in
Fall 2014 and Spring 2015.
A more detailed description of target journals and conferences is given below.
Proposed Products:
My project will result in several final products. Through work as a SURE scholar I will produce a 20-30 page research paper which will be the basis of my presentation for the program’s final conference. The article that I begin writing during Summer 2014 will constitute my submission to Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies . This article will also be the foundation for the presentation I will give at the undergraduate session at Kalamazoo in Spring
2015 and the Undergraduate Art History Conference at Baker University during the same semester. Finally, I will plan to present at SURF and NCUR.
Part III: Feasibility
Although the purposed project is indeed ambitious in its goals, it will be successfully feasible through careful planning and external support. Through my SURE project I have made connections with a wider community of medieval scholars. During Winter Term 2013 I met with
Dr. Michelle Voss Roberts, Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Wake Forest
University, who has several publications examining female spiritual authority in Mechthild’s text. She has offered her continued support of my project as an external advisor.

I have also established connections within the art history department at the University of
Heidelberg: Dr. des. Tobias Frese and Dr. des. Anja Eisenbeiß have offered their personal assistance with my project once I arrive in Germany and have recommended other faculty and staff that I might reach out to.
Perhaps most important is that the divergent aspects of my project coincide with the research expertise of three professors here at Elon. Besides working closely with Dr. Neville and
Dr. Gatti, study abroad in Italy will allow me to incorporate Dr. Huber into my research and to capitalize on her knowledge and scholarship on biblical metaphor and image theory as it pertains to the figure of the bride in the Book of Revelations.
The feasibility of this project is further explained through the information below.

Budget:
Roundtrip Airfare to Heidelberg: $1,500.
Semester at Heidelberg Univeristy: $10,000.
BahnCard 25: 60 Euros ($77.94).
Digital Camera: $200.00.
Subtotal: $ 11777.94
Semester in Germany and Site Visits
Site Visit to Magdeburg
Travel to Magdeburg on Thursday during semester
Site visits Friday through Sunday
Travel back on Sunday

Round-trip train (with BahnCard 25): 148.50 Euro ($193.82).

Youth hostel: 93 Euro (31 Euro x 3 = $121.38).

Per diem: 180 Euro (45 Euro x 4 = $233.82).

Photography costs: 50 Euro ($64.95).
Subtotal: $613.97
Site visit to Helfta
Travel to Helfta on Thursday, 07 November

Seminar on Mechthild von Hakeborn (08-10 November)
Travel back on Monday, 11 November

Round-trip train (with BahnCard 25): 108.75 Euro ($141.94)

Housing at Helfta: 134 Euro (33.50 Euro x 4 = $207.84)

Per diem: 180 Euro (45 Euro x 4 = $233.82)

Ground travel: 50 Euro ($64.95)
Subtotal: $648.55
Site Visit to Nordhausen – Naumburg – Meißen
Travel to Nordhausen on Thursday, 19 December

One-way train ticket (with BahnCard 25): 63 Euro ($82.23)

Hotel: 80 Euro (40 Euro x 2 = $103.92)

Per diem: 90 Euro (45 Euro x 2 = $116.91)

Photography costs: 50 Euro ($64.95)
Travel to Naumburg on Saturday, 21 December

One-way train ticket (with BahnCard 25): 18.75 Euro ($24.47)

Hotel: 100 Euro (50 Euro x 2 = $129.90)

Per diem: 90 Euro (45 Euro x 2 = $116.91)

Photography costs: 50 Euro ($64.95)
Travel to Meißen on Monday, 23 December


One-way train ticket (with BahnCard 25): 14.25 Euro ($18.60)

Hotel: 100 Euro (50 Euro x 2 = $129.90)

Per diem: 90 Euro (45 Euro x 2 = $116.91)

Photography costs: 50 Euro ($64.95)
Subtotal: $1034.60
Other Expenses

Living costs to stay at Elon for the summer: $800.00

Library Card at UNC: $15.00

Unforeseen Expenses: $110.00
Subtotal: $925.00

Timeline:
Summer 2013
Fall 2013
Winter 2014
Spring 2014
Summer 2014
Fall 2014
Proposed Experiences
Formation of interpretive framework with SURE
Travel to New York library to gain access to exclusive secondary literature on the Sachsenspeigel
Examination of Sachsenspeigel illuminations online
Semester at Heidelberg
Site visits to Naumburg, Meissen,
Magdeburg, and Nordhausen to view cathedral sculpture by the Naumburg
Master
Site visit to Helfta Cloister
Proposed Product(s)
15-30 page research paper
Expansion of literature review
Interpretive framework for analysis of the Sachsenspeigel
Development of German language skills
Collection of images for art historical analysis
Understanding of modern relevance of
Mechthild’s bridal figure
Direct access to Sachsenspeigel
Specialized research paper on bridal imagery
Study abroad in Italy with Dr. Gatti and Dr. Huber
ARH 300 level course with Dr. Gatti
2 hours 499 with Dr. Neville
GER 321
Summer stay at Elon to write article for publication in undergraduate journal
Application for Fulbright Teaching
Fellowship in Germany
2hours 499ARH with Dr. Gatti
Period of synthesis
Research paper, reading articles and expanding lit review
Continuation of more advanced
German language skills
Working closely with Dr. Neville and
Dr. Gatti to expand ideas and write article for publication
Creating histiography of medieval cathedral and manuscript culture
Revising and continued writing of article for publication

Winter 2015
Upper level Business German
Course
Continued Writing
Applications for graduate programs
Presentations at SURF/
NCUR/Kalamazoo
Continuation of more advanced
German language skills
Preparation for conference presentations
Defense of thesis in Art History senior seminar
Spring 2015

Works Cited
Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and
Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal. 40. no. 4 (1988): 519-531. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207893 (accessed March 06, 2013).
Hamburger, Jefferey M., and Robert Suckale. Between this World and the Next: The Art of
Religious Women in the Middle Ages. Crown and Veil: Female Monasticism from the
Fifth to the Fifteenth Centuries . Edited by Jefferey F. Hamburger and Susan Marti. New
York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Jantzen, Grace M. Power Gender and Christian Mysticism . New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1995.
Largier, Niklaus. Scripture, Vision, Performance: Visionary Texts and Medieval Religious
Drama. Visual Culture and the German Middle Ages . Edited by Kathryn Starkey and
Horst Wenzel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Magdeburg, Mechthild von. The Flowing Light of the Godhead . Translated by Frank Tobin. New
York: Paulist Press, 1998.
Poor, Sara S. Mechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book: Gender and the Making of Textual
Authority. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
Repgow, Eike von. The Saxon Mirror . Translated by Maria Dobozy. Philadelphia : University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
Voss Roberts, Michelle. "Retrieving Humility: Rhetoric, Authority, and Divinization in
Mechthild of Magdeburg." Feminist Theology . 18. no. 50 (2009): 50-72. http://fth.sagepub.com/content/18/1/50 (accessed January 07, 2013).

Appendix A
Figure 1: Heidelberg, Ruprecht-Karls University Library, Cod. Pal. Germ. 164 (Heidelberger
Sachsenspeigel), folio 25v. The top two miniatures provide a visual reading of the text in the column on the right, which details the laws governing a widower who remarries.
Figure 2: Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August Library, Cod. Guelf. 3.1 Aug. 2° (Wolfenbütteler
Sachsenspeigel), closeup of folio 20r. Manuscript miniature depicting a married women being represented by her husband, who acts as a legal guardian in a case of trial by combat.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Appendix B
Nordhäuser Stifterfiguren (“Founding figures of the Nordhausen Cathedral”). Nordhausen
Cathedral: Nordhausen, Germany (around 1250).
Stifter- und Patronatsfiguren Kaiser Otto I. und Adelheid von Burgund (“Founding and patronage figures Kaiser Otto I. and Adelheid von Burgund ”). Meißen Cathedral: Meißen,
Germany (around 1260).
Stifterfiguren Hermann von Meißen und Reglindis (“Founding figures of Hermann von Meißen and Reglindis”). Naumburg Cathedral: Naumburg, Germany (around 1250).
Stifterfiguren Ekkehard II. und Uta (“Founding figures of Ekkehard II and Uta”). Naumburg
Cathedral: Naumburg, Germany (around 1250).
Figuren Kaiser Otto I. und seine Frau Edgitha (“Figures of Kaiser Otto I and his wife Edgitha”).
Magdeburg Cathedral: Magdeburg, Germany (around 1250).
Das Herrscherpaar (“The royal couple”). Magdeburg Cathedral: Magdeburg, Germany (around
1250).

Appendix C
Figure 1: Naumburg, Naumburg Cathedral, Stifterfiguren Ekkehard II und Uta.
Figure 2: Magdeburg, Magdeburg Cathedral, Das Herrscherpaar.

Figure 1

Figure 2