Female Imitatio Christi in early modernity – the search for strong virgins like St Wilgefortis

At first glance you think that this is Christ crucified. At a second glance, you recognize a woman hanging on a cross. This is not an invention of the 20th century but reaches back to history where we we can find women cross-dressed or even bearded as men. St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber was a bearded and crucified woman who was venerated widely in northern Europe during the fifteeneth and sixteenth centuries. Wilgefortis is a corruption of the term „virgo fortis“ („strong virgin“). She and other female saints were considered as „imitations of Christ“. The paper deals with the reasons why this saint became so popular and how even today ideas about such strong virgins which mirror androgynous symbolism live on in popular culture.

The earliest English translation of the first three books of the De imitatione Christi, now first printed from a ms. in the library of Trinity college, Dublin, with various readings from a ms. in the University library, Cambridge. Also the earliest printed translation of the whole work from a copy in the British museum (Books I-III by William Atkynson, D. D., book IV by the Lady Margaret, mother of K. Henry VII, and countess of Richmond and Derby).

Mode of access: Internet.

L'auteur du livre De imitatione Christi.

A reprint, rev. and enl., of an earlier study pub. in the first edition of his Doctrine du livre De imitatione Christi. Paris, 1881. 8⁰. Livre 4 : La critique historique, p. 294-530.

Essai bibliographique sur le livre De Imitatione Christi /

Mode of access: Internet.

Denkschrift über den wahren Verfasser des Buches von der Nachfolge Christi /

"In's Deutsche übersetzt und mit den nothwendigen Erläuterungen und Zusätzen versehen von Johann Baptist Weigl".

Esame critico del primo viaggio di Amerigo Vespucci al Nuovo mondo, con una dissertazione intorno al manoscritto del libro De imitatione Christi, detto il codice di Arona ecc. Opuscoli pubblicati nelle Memorie dell' Accademia imperiale delle scienze di Torino e ristampato per servire di nuove aggiunte al contenuto nel libro intitolato Della patria di Colombo, stampato in Firenze nell' anno MDCCCVIII.

Mode of access: Internet.

Great books : Bunyan, Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, The imitation etc ... /

"Reprint of papers which have appeared in The Sunday magazine."

Les fondements de la vie spirituelle : tirés du livre de l'imitation de Jésus-Christ /

Mode of access: Internet.

De la imitacion de Christo y menosprecio del mundo /

Cat. Imitatio Christi 183, Palau 127.477.

Études sur les mystères : monumens hitoriques et littéraires, la plupart inconnus, et sur divers manuscrits de Gerson, y compris le texte primitif français De l'imitation de J.-C., récemment découvert /

Mode of access: Internet.

Études sur les mystères : monumens historiques et littéraires, la plupart inconnus, et sur divers manuscrits de Gerson, y compris le texte primitif français de L'imitation de J.-C. /

Mode of access: Internet.

Collectanea Gersoniana : ou recueil d'études de recherches et de correspondance littéraires ayant trait au problème bibliographique de l'origine de l'Imitation de Jésus Christ /

Mode of access: Internet.

Sur deux traductions nouvelles de l'Imitation de J.-C., et principalement sur celle de M. Genoude; lettre d'un docteur en théologie,

Refers also to the translation of J.B.M. Gence.

Corneille et Gerson dans l'Imitation de Jésus-Christ

Mode of access: Internet.