Activities per year
Abstract
The clerical author known as B provides the earliest account of one of pre-Conquest England’s more infamous tales: the coronation scandal of 955. In his Vita S. Dunstani, written 995 × 1005, B recounts that King Eadwig (955–959) absconded from his coronation feast, later to be found by Dunstan, the Abbot of Glastonbury, engaging in a sexual liaison with two women, a mother and daughter. Dunstan’s forcible separation of Eadwig from the two women is presented as the genesis for a feud that plays out between Dunstan and the older of the two women, Æthelgifu. Where much previous analysis of this episode has focused on the saint, Dunstan, and the king, Eadwig, this article seeks to centre Æthelgifu as the primary antagonist of the story. In so doing, it undertakes a detailed examination of her character construct, considering the political situation, intertextual models and biblical archetypes that inform it.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 527-546 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | English Studies |
Volume | 103 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 18 Nov 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Keywords
- Hagiography
- queenship
- kingship
- Anglo-Latin
- Anglo-Saxon England
- Eadwig
- Æthelgifu
- St Dunstan
- Historiography
- Medieval
- medieval
- Anglo-Saxon
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Dive into the research topics of 'Deconstructing the Female Antagonist of the Coronation Scandal in B’s Vita Dunstani'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 2 Oral presentation
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Rhetoric and Royal Reputation: The Coronation Scandal of Vita S. Dunstani
Matthew Firth (Speaker)
5 Jul 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Intertextual Archetypes: The Royal Woman as ‘Wicked Queen’
Matthew Firth (Speaker)
21 Jun 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs
Firth, M., 15 Jun 2020, In: Royal Studies Journal. 7, 1, p. 1-21 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus)30 Downloads (Pure) -
The Martyr and the Mother: Political Rhetoric in the Minority Rule of Æthelred II
Firth, M., Jun 2019. 1 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract › peer-review
Open Access -
Anglo-Saxon Royal Saints and the Trope of the Treacherous Woman: The Martyrdoms of Ss. Kenelm and Æthelberht
Firth, M., 2017.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract