Deviance or Devotion: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval England.

AbstractOn the 18th September 1417, Matilda Burgin and Margaret Usshar were brought before the ecclesiastical court of the Bishop of Durham for attempting to enter Durham Cathedral in order to approach the shrine of St Cuthbert from which women were banned. So to enter, they put on masculine clothing and for these crimes they were punished with the public humiliation of wearing the offending clothing in full view of their community. This article will first examine the case of Matilda and Margaret, their arrest in Durham Cathedral and the social, spiritual and sartorial consequences of their very public punishment. It will then compare their experience with that of other medieval women and gender non-conforming people who were arrested in masculine dress. Finally, this article will examine the possible influence the popular religious literature of cross-dressing saints may have had on Matilda and Margaret. This article will ask whether Matilda and Margaret’s own personal devotion to St Cuthbert drove them to put on masculine clothing to see his shrine? Or was it a disdain for the gendered segregation upheld by the Bishop of Durham and a disobedience of the command of St Cuthbert? Or something else entirely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]