Mary of Egypt: A Black Saint in Anglo-Saxon England? (Alexandra Zhirnova)

The Old English Life of Mary of Egypt, written in the eleventh century, presents an unusual model of Christian virtue. The title heroine, Mary, is an old woman who has spent her youth indulging her sexual desires and now lives as a hermit, going about the desert completely naked. The story centres around her encounter with a monk, Zosimus, who prides himself on his virtue. But it is Mary who teaches Zosimus the true meaning of holiness, not the other way around. The descriptions of Mary’s body, moreover, make it clear that the saint is not white, and does not adhere to medieval Western conceptions of Christian piety as white. By depicting a dark-skinned woman who rejected the norms of modesty as its heroine, this legend challenges the aspects of racial and gender prejudice inherent in some early Christian texts and sheds light on medieval authors’ understanding of the significance of skin colour, gender, racial identity, and ethnicity. In this talk, we will explore the story of Mary of Egypt, how it became popular in medieval England and what legacy it has left to us today.