St Wilgefortis and Her/Their Beard: The Devotions of Unhappy Wives and Non-Binary People

Abstract

This image (figure 1) of St Wilgefortis hangs in the abbey Church of St Etienne in Beauvais. We see a bearded saint, dressed in late medieval women’s clothing, with luscious long plaits, curvaceous breasts and a look at once of suffering, relief and compassion. St Wilgefortis at the Church of St Etienne in Beauvais, c. 1500 (image: Jean-François Madre, secrétaire de l’Association Beauvais Cathédrale) Wilgefortis’ story is dramatic and unforgettable.2 She was, the legend tells us, a young Christian woman, the daughter of the king of Portugal, and devoted to her faith. But her ambitious father promised her in marriage to the pagan king of Sicily. Wilgefortis was distraught, and prayed all night that God would find a way to release her from this obligation. When she awoke in the morning, she had grown a beard. The pagan king was apparently repulsed by the sight of her and renounced the marriage immediately. But this was not the end of Wilgefortis’ trials. Her father, apoplectic with rage at the thwarting of his plans, crucified her. I have used the pronouns ‘she/her’ so far to tell Wilgefortis’ story, but I will alternate between ‘she/her’ and ‘they/them’ as the article progresses. Wilgefortis and her beard did many things, and were meaningful for many different people. As we move between different images of Wilgefortis, we will find some depictions which focus explicitly on her feminine body, superimposing her beard like a piece of armour against an unwanted sexual predator. But we will find others which present a saint who is far more explicitly non-binary, where their masculine and feminine attributes are juxtaposed in ways which are seamless and beautiful. Indeed, beauty as a category of analysis has a lot to tell us about Wilgefortis and why she/they mattered. In writing about Wilgefortis, I join an increasingly crowded field, and one which is genuinely inspiring in the new directions which are emerging.3 But in the appeal of this figure is deeply personal. It is entangled, without being auto-ethnographic.4 My interest in history has always been twofold: the exploration of distant emotional worlds which nevertheless resonate with my own experiences; and the possibility of using the past to throw critical light on the present. And these two perspectives shape my goals in exploring what Wilgefortis did for medieval people. Wilgefortis was never canonized and was even removed from the official list of saints in 1969. Rather, this saint emerged slowly into popular consciousness in the later Middle Ages, disappeared abruptly in the twentieth century, and is now again reaching new admirers within and beyond the Church. In what ways was this saint meaningful and important, and what light does that shed on our own dilemmas and challenges?5 Wilgefortis was important in a range of ways to medieval people, including unhappy wives.6 She was feted in the late Middle Ages as the patron saint of unhappy relationships: women could turn to her for solace and even to pray for physical relief from bullying husbands. As we will discover, there is a frustrating asymmetry between the wealth of surviving images of Wilgefortis, and the dearth of textual sources. The onus is on us to do the imaginative and contextual work necessary to think about how people may have responded to the saint. It is never enough to claim that we lack sources for certain groups: piecing together emotional echoes with wider historical context enables us to recover experiences beyond those of the noisy and powerful.7 A degree of informed empathy and compassion can help us to take seriously the ways in which some women turned to this saint: supplicants have too often been mocked or dismissed even by the most serious scholars.8 Historians of emotions have taught us about the cultural constructedness and contingency of emotions.9 But our own emotional worlds are necessarily entangled with those of our subjects, and we can make a virtue of this. There are emotional logics and experiences which reverberate across time, even whilst their articulation and the particular forms of oppression to which they responded belong to another period. Our own experiences, frustrations and unhappinesses can implicitly shed light on what may seem otherwise like irrational or even frivolous responses by people in the past. Equally, understanding the ways in which those in unhappy relationships turned to Wilgefortis may provide us with insights into what is contingent and what is universal in our own experiences.10 Among Wilgefortis’ other gifts – the ability to offer relief to the dying, support for the sick and so on – is their gender identity. In delightfully clear and non-enigmatic ways, Wilgefortis is a non-binary saint. They provide a celebrated figure of non-binary identity, one which shifts by time, place and depiction, but which does not disrupt gender binaries so much as move beyond them in an inspiringly expansive way.11 Wilgefortis is a generous figure, unlike their father, and the crucified statue gazing out from the wall of the cathedral at Beauvais speaks at once of pain and suffering, and of relief and settlement in a non-binary state. In other words, Wilgefortis tends not to be depicted as a saint in transition, but a saint whose self is complete. We can speculate, if not prove, that Wilgefortis was a moving and significant figure for non-binary people. Wilgefortis’ beard was important in different ways to the many people who sought solace from her, but the point is more than just an example of multiple significations. The key challenge and insight for our own times that this story provides is about a convergence of interests of the oppressed and unhappy. We can or otherwise unhappy and non-binary people, these images Wilgefortis solace to them all their were not experiences of are all but they is by about gender It is a challenge particular to the century, but Wilgefortis and supplicants another Wilgefortis speaks to women in unhappy relationships and to those the of and and that we to do saints do for They are of to a saint in the that a figure with more of and will be to that to a many that the saint would on with the and their But saints have to is They offer of from often often the of a which particular Christian of so in and in the Middle Ages, work not just as but as And saints were of at the of late medieval a of in the of in and see is and that we to the of the Church in will see how and are our own In other words, we are not as as those who us, and we to for virtue and from the The de out to those to the that the by saints were not for her from a of take that of a not a of so the be that the of the does not make a for can have that Wilgefortis’ example was one which could be the beard was an to an unwanted sexual and the was not an of the story to the other of Wilgefortis’ in God and to the unwanted were genuinely inspiring in And she/they are a more saint to a did not just of and throw at surviving for the of Wilgefortis is from and wall to and images are in the and in The was The images interest in the saint: of a of with a image of A statue of Wilgefortis, to in the by the and now in the in speaks to a late medieval interest in the saint (figure But images as a at Church in (figure or the at in that the women of the turned to this There is some in which that too an interest in the of why people sought out recover the of in particular unhappy and non-binary people, we turn to more sources. There is surviving textual more about Wilgefortis, the a about this popular saint, and there is an on the by The images were to be with in an but to provide and solace in an statue of St Wilgefortis, c. (image: by of Church The story of Wilgefortis, may have an the the of the the most to be that from a of the image of the in were apparently so by the of the crucified in this image – this had a – that the story to that this was a crucified But for our this is not the The of where Wilgefortis from was not for those who turned to for solace or The range of ways in which saints for people us to what people and what these images As people turned to saints as the images were not but to their In other words, one was not a of the one was in some the saint The of the statue from which Wilgefortis’ may have was often to have It was apparently by the of and by an to in the It was a but more than was to be with a of images of Wilgefortis a in the and Wilgefortis one this is a to a story the statue the so much that she her When was of the the statue her other one In a legend tells of a or who was to to the of statue and was with a The of these may tell us about the of than the between the to a that these and images did more than just the saint. The provides a that images were often by the another of which these far more than images of Wilgefortis were not in did people necessarily them to be with some of but is nevertheless that images did beyond the than saints were there to We these images of Wilgefortis the of those who to the are the of the this is not just a about is a to and were not images to be out of the of have an explicitly and can be by to Wilgefortis’ The in figure for in a the of Wilgefortis’ their on a and their of the the with the image of Wilgefortis on the with or they a more and It is of that Wilgefortis was or not were that the saint may have in of images of the crucified the were And images of the not but compassion times in a with the of some in the and these of – the the and the the – to be at the of our of what Wilgefortis to medieval people. We will some of these images and their in more the of the but for to that they are all beautiful. I about the of in the Middle these have a which an emotional This is not a of of is about to present a young who at with and with of or of the images the or the but they do a of In other words, of these images to Wilgefortis’ non-binary who she/they are – – the of their these of and and the they seem to The of Wilgefortis are they point to a of and by the saint. The Wilgefortis is from which is the Middle for the to the of the But take on a range of different time, and these for our more than It is that the of the multiple for The of is an which the of the story in their are to solace and in the and beard. This is a of which the non-binary and that their and beauty in their of gender The Wilgefortis may be from the the this In this Wilgefortis those who her a story of and and a of and this is a which sexual as the of her In the saint as and was in the in the most was these and at the of the of the saint could for This was from all of and more from unwanted from unwanted from unwanted but from unwanted and the which that so often Wilgefortis was as or It is a that as we make Wilgefortis into what we them to the one this was a saint who a of medieval responses to relationships and on the other this was a saint whose story was with The emotional of Wilgefortis and those who her was often one of This article is in two is in some ways a the of Wilgefortis in their and their of But my is to the ways in which oppressed in different ways find in their to the saint: so the will what Wilgefortis did for and the what she did for non-binary people. were often unhappy in the Middle The story of a and medieval but this was a and which We to that women just had to with this for that we all to be and were not is not enough just to that women to in and that their do we about unhappy Wilgefortis to these but we lack about their with her. We to a wider context of responses to unhappy so that we can more the We do that not all women to and are not so as to women As of in the are of in and women did not necessarily their unhappy women and a of a of could be to women to their and to In for one was in by the of she had and to to her their experiences in the they their husbands. The of in an of were on this in with their other And some women did their the experiences of unhappy their or them so that these of the As is now was in the Middle Ages, and to and physical pain and would be In a of in a sought a was never and this of from and was the most that could be women that there was or so we of they in or and the of the The of medieval a of what from the of on the by and in and was beyond a that be and But the ways in which is not of the experiences of the women who and The of to they to be did to the And what of the women whose was not by these of The women to and The women whose of was and by even beyond the of by of marriage And what of the women who a of emotional which would not have the of and the in many as does It is of to these experiences, but we can to more did women have in the of and Wilgefortis a range of The most was the and in many sources by an and this. The story of the by her at is a in A young is from by a and can her to his her by she that her have and by her that to take a more to his never She is her her of her and The story has and was by and by was by the who a of for his young that she was nevertheless to and without in and of the story, the of the that medieval were at by the It was not medieval women to with and There were a of saints whose own of of and St the of St was to have been to a and She with she was could pray to St in the that she help them to and and they could and her example in the of being by her example of But late medieval women could turn to saints from more of and of for were of and of and We may find of in these And there is of that their example to all medieval of responses to relationships were far more Wilgefortis, bearded and her pain at but sought from the of an unwanted sexual medieval she a figure to turn to in our own imaginative work with the surviving and the of the women who this figure, we have textual of what Wilgefortis did for in the Wilgefortis in the of a between an and a The Wilgefortis as an example of medieval medieval women would offer her a of in to them of their unwanted the and women there offer in she them of and of women who offer a of to Wilgefortis in the that she will them of their The Wilgefortis of the of the who could this of but to the of is more were the and of often grown on us a of women who may have for The us that most women did not just and or was not the they for they sought help and from a saint. they to their was of the and of for the of but his was in a to against some of the of the of to the figure that women were not necessarily for the of their for may they by than may be in more ways than the possibility that women may if their their on to claim that women may have been that their own ways and be so as to their to too long is his of the range of women were to that not for the of the but and In other words, his an that unhappy did not even necessarily what was they were relationships often work like is not necessarily the that a clear is in sight and one can work by to a saint, or by other some women did offer the for a to their But many the of in the that Wilgefortis would them a dramatic way or provide a of their Wilgefortis can us that there is of for a range of responses to unhappy in the Middle if was by and we that many women sought or by their and the help and of the This of a with of too often and for and women could turn to their they did so in the or at that others would find the of their Wilgefortis could be sought out by those in unhappy but more by women who to unwanted sexual women did not to have with their Wilgefortis was a of support and marriage was the of the This was by and women in but and the of could if not the sexual of But women could against and their to Wilgefortis may provide a insight into the and of many women in to their within In Wilgefortis a of saints whose ways to unwanted sexual of and of are to have prayed for to their in to their Wilgefortis’ beard to have grown at a in which was more than on a range of out the context of to their of all interest was in saints who had apparently turned from to to was apparently in in with of like of she was often had apparently turned from a of and images her in this from It was not a for women to in these saints a not of sexual but of from It is a was another figure who apparently with into a this may be as of her but the turn of the story that the was In other words, these women solace for whose and for there way just as much as for Wilgefortis was a figure with the help of was to to her own The of some of Wilgefortis’ to unwanted with the of those women who to their to a of marriage is a This would the of for the of their The was by late medieval but insights into the sexual of late medieval In one by the of in a her to a of marriage with When the clear to the and why she was so on in the is an Indeed, the of the of 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Wilgefortis and her in in and on a that is not just about and that women are more than what is to were not the to turn to images of Wilgefortis with Wilgefortis a range of and may have been a and meaningful figure for non-binary people. In this I with my of enough context to the ways in which people Wilgefortis and them We have to but why would The images present a figure of beauty and with non-binary which are about is always to some a work of imaginative and were wider as as their own We now enough of non-binary in the Middle Ages to that this was a with a of even whilst with in particular has the of of non-binary people in this they this with what we of the experiences of those who did not with gender They have about how these were meaningful for The of non-binary of images of Wilgefortis were There to have been a wider to non-binary more explicitly with a in at were by and But they that they in a which was in that gender is not Wilgefortis people who too the of and but who that their experiences were In to Wilgefortis, and to a that this was a saint whose was to be Wilgefortis would have been at once and in the lack of in their This is Wilgefortis as depicted by (figure She has just the of a beard. Her breasts are her shape explicitly There are Wilgefortis’ beard and at the This challenge to gender binaries was deeply with with Wilgefortis’ that of had a place in the the of medieval is not that was always more and the in all medieval of the between and as in particular has The feminine attributes of were in a range of of this on with as a increasingly and It was about the late medieval with often depicted the in his like a This is important people of all that their the other often to with the more masculine attributes of – and Wilgefortis’ beard the of the of in this way of the saint, apparently had a of with a her to St Wilgefortis from the of the by as on (image: in this Wilgefortis’ beard with a of which explicitly masculine and feminine attributes in and women and non-binary people in the of In some is Wilgefortis’ of gender which is most explicitly Wilgefortis with of is a from an (figure This particular image was on the of as a of St in in Wilgefortis was an of the they to their a t

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