The Figure of the (disbelieving) Woman in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-century Middle English Sermons

This paper investigates the figure of the disbelieving woman in fourteenth and fifteenth-century Middle English sermons, showing how Latin exempla – drawn from sources such as the Legenda Aurea, the Speculum Laicorum or authors such as Caesarius, Ètienne de Bourbon or Jacque de Vitry, and so on – reworked to serve ecclesiastical and didactic purposes. Particular attention is given to how these sermons depict women as morally flawed and prone to diabolic deception, thereby reinforcing stereotypes of female weakness, but also subtly constructing a bad allure around the female human being. At the same time, the narrative choices transform individual episodes into universal moral lessons on faith, repentance, and transubstantiation.