Gender Roles In The Medieval Church

Yaqueline Rodas
Art History 1
Fathi Tuesday 10-11am
February 10, 2016
Virgin and Gender inequality During Medieval art and Early Christian, there was a mixed misconception of women specifically within their social position in society. As traditionally speaking, women were seen as inferior in society due to the expected traditional roles of the domestic ideology that has existed for as long as time. For these reasons, they were seen as inferior and the subaltern in society as well as the evilness depicted of women through the aspect of religion. Through the excerpts “Chartres Cathedral” by Robert Branner and “Eve and Mary: Conflicting Images of Medieval Women” by Henry Kraus, we get an understanding of the representation of the Virgin within
Within the “right portal is probably the most significant one of all… the Virgin Mary takes a leading role,” there is the Virgin and Child (Chartres Cathedral - West Facade) in Chartres, France, rebuilt after the 1194 fire (Branner, 73). In the portal, at the top the “Virgin holds the Child on her lap and the pair face outward in a stiff pose that suggests an icon (Branner, 73). It is important to note that women were not represented during this period since they did not have a voice in society, however the Virgin changes that view by becoming an icon in religious settings and being recognized as a glory person, compared to before where she was not portrayed with such importance. Although she still doesn’t fully acquire independence as a woman since her son accompanies her in her lap, the portal on the west façade, we can see that there are angels on the side praising her and her size is much bigger than that of the angels, highlighting her importance. She also has a crown and halo above her head, depicting the glory and a religious importance that she holds during medieval art and early Christianity especially since before, she was not portrayed in this manner. Overall, her size dominates the whole portal because she is the biggest figure
For instance, many people begin to worship the Virgin Mary and even the Chartres Cathedral when built, is dedicated to her because of the churches holding of her relic. Kraus states that its conflicting because “they dedicated all their churches to her” and in St. Bernard, they “devoted a whole series of his homilies to the mother of Christ, that “strong woman” upon whom “our salvation, the recovery of our innocence and the victory over our enemy [Satan] depends” (Kraus, 101). Therefore, the Virgin Mary was depicted as glorious and someone that was looked upon in his or her prayers and in the religious society because of the great importance that she held as the mother of the all time savior in the religious world. To add on, in the Santa Maria Maggorie, Rome, 432-40, there is a piece of art work titled “Annunciation and Epiphany, Triumphal Arch Mosaic, S. Maria Maggiore,” we get another portrayal of the Virgin Mary as a women with huge importance. For instance, in the top layer of the artwork, for the first time, we do not see Christ on her lap, as previous times, but rather alone. This is a tremendous change because Mary was always with Christ in one way or another, and in the top image, she is finally by herself being glorified by the angels and glory people around her. She also has a dove