Empress and Virgin: St Cunigunde and Female Sainthood in the Early Thirteenth Century

Abstract

This article uses the previously unjustly discarded early thirteenth-century hagiographical text Vitae s. Heinrici additamentum to show how different ideals of female sainthood could be combined within one figure. In two of its chapters, the Additamentum presents two distinct but not contradictory images of its female protagonist, Cunigunde (d. 1033), the wife of the German emperor Henry II (d. 1024). The first chapter of the text portrays Henry and Cunigunde’s marriage as dominated by consensual chastity and emphasizes the spouses’ equality. On their wedding night, within the privacy of their bedchamber, their mutual wish for chastity takes the place of any gendered expressions and is the reason for the blossoming deep affection between them. Following ideals of love and consensual marriage from the twelfth century onwards, this chapter is situated within contemporary discussions of marital affection. In contrast, the third and last chapter of the Additamentum is set within the public space of the imperial court. Cunigunde, a powerful empress, goes through a trial by ordeal to clear herself of an accusation of infidelity. In this chapter, both she and Henry are clearly gendered, but Cunigunde is behaving considerably more ‘manly’ than her husband and ultimately proves herself a saintly virago. Both the ordeal and the virago were predominantly early and central medieval motifs, situating this chapter within a different literary tradition from the first. The Additamentum thus proves the coexistence and possible intertwining of different models of female sainthood.