The Position of Women
The Position of Women
partially, in this life. However, on the face of it, it seems to be a rather strange move from the opening of the chapter where Julian contemplates
Jesus on the cross, his face covered in blood, to having her understanding "let down into the bottom of the sea." Apparently this experience happened once. Beyond the question of what this taught Julian about God, it is interesting to ask what ordinary experiences it may reflect. It may refer to Julian's experience of living in Norwich where the River Wensum, which is relatively close to St Julian's Church, was periodically beset by storms from the North Sea when waves flooded the marshes and houses close to the river. Julian may also have heard about the dangers of the North Sea from stories told by fishermen in the port. Such an awareness may connect to Julian's imagery of herring scales in reference to the drops of blood on Jesus' face in chapter 7. Herrings were one of the basic foods in medieval Norwich. In their notes on this chapter Watkins and Jenkins suggest that the image of the sea may instead echo Julian's awareness of Psalm 139, verses 9–10: "If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast" (NRSV Bible).
The Position of Women The overall social position of women in England at the time of Julian of Norwich can only be described in terms of patriarchy.25 That said, the status and role of women obviously varied according to certain factors including where they lived, whether they were unmarried, married, or widowed, and what social class they belonged to. It is also the case that the position of women inevitably altered in the aftermath of the Black
Death, which left many of them as widows and also reduced the male workforce. Wealthy widows were sometimes able to live as powerful members of their communities. Equally, others in cities such as Norwich were able to work in a limited range of occupations including lace‐making and even ale brewing.
Women were often seen as inherently weak and defective. What power they had, not least sexual power, was seen as negative and a source of danger: particularly to men. This is reflected in some of the spiritual and anchoritic literature available to Julian. Thus the Ancrene Wisse or Ancrene Riwle in its second part, "The Outer Senses," in reference to the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, in the Book of Genesis, chapter 34, comments "The Holy Spirit caused all such things to be written in the book to warn women of their foolish eyes." Equally, women must not show themselves to men because it brings out the "animal" in them! Yet, later on in the same section the Ancrene Wisse also offers an image of
Julian in Context
God's positive response, even obedience, to a woman. God becomes human because of what Mary says to the Archangel Gabriel. John the Baptist exults in his mother's womb when Mary greets her cousin
Elizabeth. Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana when his mother Mary presses him to do this. And in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, the child Jesus once found by his mother in the Temple becomes obedient to his mother once again.26
Within Julian's own writings there is a fascinating contrast between the Short Text and the Long Text. In the Short Text, Julian seems uncomfortably aware of a woman's presumption in writing, especially in ways that were meant to teach other Christians. However, she is persuaded that her visions are not for her personal benefit and that therefore she must record them. This does not sit easily with her and she appears to worry that it may not sit easily with her readers. There is a very interesting contrast within the Short Text, chapter vi. "But God forbid that you should say or assume that I am a teacher, for that is not and never was my intention; for I am a woman, ignorant, weak and frail." While Julian may not have been aware of the theological writings of Jean Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1395, his negative attitude to the idea of women teaching would have been symptomatic of Julian's time. Gerson remarks that "the female sex is forbidden by apostolic authority to teach in public, that is either by word or by writing…. All women's teaching, particularly formal teaching by word and by writing, is to be held suspect unless it is diligently examined, and much more fully than men's."27 However, Julian then goes on to say that she cannot be silent, or be silenced. "But because I am a woman, ought I therefore to believe that I should not tell you of the goodness of God, when I saw at that same time that it is his will that it be known?" Fundamentally the Short Text self‐justifies with several "buts." In contrast, in the equivalent passage in the Long
Text, chapter 9, Julian drops her apologies for being such a daring woman, asserts her orthodoxy, and substitutes a profound reflection on the value of such special revelations, even to a woman. "I am not good because of the revelations, but only if I love God better…" "But in everything I believe as Holy Church preaches and teaches." "And to this end and with this intention I contemplated the revelation with all diligence, for throughout this blessed revelation I contemplated it as God intended." Scholarly feminist readings of Julian suggest that she refused to be silenced in the face of contemporary suspicions and that, particularly by the time of the Long Text, she had found her own confident voice. Importantly, Julian does not restrict her message to her fellow women but addresses her teaching to all her fellow
Christians, men and women.28