Wif, Cwen, Ides: Cultural Constructions of Femininity in Early Medieval England

In Old English literature, women often appear in recognizable roles like queen, peaceweaver, mother, and mourner. These figures serve as cultural signifiers through whom texts articulate, create, and reinforce societal beliefs. However, the positions, ideals, and expectations ascribed to these female figures are often contradictory. In order to explore the multiple and sometimes nebulous definitions of femininity in early medieval England, this dissertation approaches gender through paradox and intersection. The paradoxical roles and expectations at play in early English texts reveal that femininity cannot be understood within the concept of gender alone, but within frameworks of gender and: that is, models which contextualize gender in relation to other categories of social difference. Intersectionality provides a framework for understanding the various simultaneous positions that an individual occupies in relation to structures of power. This project takes an intersectional approach, leveraging feminist, queer, and transgender methodologies to illuminate a multifaceted portrait of medieval gender beyond a superficial binary arrangement, showing how seemingly coherent and singular categories like “man” and “woman” are socially constructed and historically contingent, then and now. Such observations in turn allow us to reexamine previous critical assumptions and to reach more nuanced understandings of femininity in early medieval England.