‘It’s an extremely sexy story’: How the legendary tale of ‘rebel’ saint Mary of Egypt became a medieval blockbuster
In 11th-Century England, a dark-skinned saint with a promiscuous past became a boundary-breaking cultural and religious icon. A new study is hoping to reassert her place in history.
She was old. She was dark-skinned. As a young woman, she had been promiscuous and enjoyed sex. But after rejecting the world and spending 47 years living naked in the desert, Saint Mary of Egypt became a wise and virtuous teacher of Christian scripture – or so 11th Century readers were led to believe.
When the extraordinary legend of Saint Mary was first translated into Old English from Latin by an unknown author just over a millennium ago, it became the medieval equivalent of a blockbuster, copied multiple times and translated into Old Norse, Welsh, Irish and eventually Middle English.
Now, Cambridge University is seeking to solve the mystery of how and why the tale of this “rebellious” saint appealed to readers in 11th-Century England, and reassert the rightful place in history of Saint Mary – an elderly Egyptian woman – as a role model for medieval English Christians.
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