132 / Renaissance and Reformation

La vie de Marie Magdaleine, par personnages. Genève: Librairie Droz, 1986.

115p. Edition critique de Jacques Chocheyras et Graham A. Runnalls.

Longtemps restée dans l'ombre, la version dramatisée de La vie de Marie

Magdaleine, datée de 1605 et publiée à Lyon par Pierre Délaye, se voit de
nos jours ressuscitée grâce à la toute récente édition critique proposée par
Jacques Chocheyras et Graham A. Runnals.
Ecrit par un auteur anonyme, ce drame de 1922 vers met en scène, selon
l'Incipit: "la vie de Marie Magdaleine, contenant plusieurs beaux miracles,
comment elle, son frère le Lazare, et Marthe sa soeur vindrent à Marseille,
et comme elle convertit le Duc et la Duchesse; et est a XXII personnages."
Outre ses qualités littéraires et dramatiques, le volume présente toutes les
caractéristiques d'un mystère médiéval. La forme ainsi que le contenu (sur-
tout la langue et la versification) semblent soutenir l'hypothèse qu'il s'agit
là de la reproduction d'un ouvrage plus ancien, datant probablement de
1500. La publication lyonnaise confirme, par ailleurs, la survie de ce type de
drame au-delà de l'époque médiévale. De même elle témoigne de la fascina-
e
tion qu'exerçait le culte de Marie-Madeleine jusqu'au début du XVII siècle.
Le text publié semble être, avec la Conversion de sainte Madeleine, la seule
pièce en français traitant de la légende de Marie-Madeleine.
L'édition critique, basée sur le texte trouvé à la Réserve de la Bibliothèque
Nationale de Paris, comporte des notes explicatives et un glossaire. Quant
à l'introduction, elle tend à familiariser le lecteur avec les sources, le culte
de marie-Madeleine, la langue, la versification, etc. Ouvrage utile pour ap-
profondir ses connaissances sur le théâtre français du XVI e et du XVII e siècle.

JOANNA PRZYBYLAK, Université d'Ottawa

Judith C. Brown. Immodest Acts. The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy.
New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Pp. vii, 214. $20.95.

In recent years historians have once again been using biography as a means
of entry into the society of the past. But rather than focussing on the lives
of the great, the subjects havecome from outside the traditional power struc-
tures. Outstanding examples of this type of biography are The Return of Mar-
tin Guerre by Natalie Davis and The Cheese and the Worms by Carlo Ginzburg.

To this list should now be added Immodest Acts by Judith C. Brown. These
works all reconstruct the life of one of society's outsiders, one whose non-
conformity came to the attention of the authorities. Thus, through legal
documentation, the individual's story has been preserved rather than laps-
ing into the anonymity that was the fate of the majority of the population
 Renaissance et Réforme / 133

in the pre-modern world. As with the Brown has drawn

earlier studies, Judith
on the methods of a variety of disciplines to aid in reconstructing and un-
derstanding the life of a vibrant and complex individual. Her acquittal of
this task is laudable: the result is a fascinating and insightful study.
Benedetta Carlini was born in 1590, the only child of a comfortable fami-
ly in the mountain village of Vellano, near Florence. Dedicated to the
religious life at birth, she was educated by her father until she entered the
Theatine community at Pescia at the age of nine. Her life in the community
seemed unremarkable she began having mystical visions. Four
until, in 1613,
years later these visions turned into nightly battles with demons, battles of
such severity that her superiors assigned a companion, Bartolemea Crivel-
li, to assist her. In 1619 Benedetta received the stigmata and, as earthly recog-

nition of her uniqueness, she was elected Abbess. These events were rapidly
followed by a public wedding to Christ. The next day a commission was es-
tablished to investigate the legitimacy of her claims as a mystic. This com-
mission, consisting of local notables, upheld Benedetta's experiences as
genuine. In July 1620, at the young age of 30 and as the Theatine convent
became fully enclosed, Benedetta was once again elected Abbess. For another
two and a half years she fulfilled the dual role as Abbess and mystic until,
for unknown reasons, she came to the attention of the papal nunzio who in-
itiated a new, more impartial investigation into her claim to be a visionary.
This second commission arrived at different conclusions from the earlier
one, perhaps because it was more professional and impartial, or perhaps be-
cause in the interim Benedetta had acquired enemies willing to testify against
her. Her miracles were found to be false, her stigmata self-inflicted. Her
character was decidedly unsaintly: she was vain, impatient and quick to
anger. But, most damning of all was the testimony of her companion, Bar-
tolemea, that Benedetta had forced her to engage regularly in lesbian acts
over the course of two years. Hence, the "immodest acts" of the book's title.
At this point, the documents end and the judgement of the nunzio does not
survive. Our final reference to Benedetta is in the diary of an anonymous
Theatine nun who reports that Sister Benedetta died in 1661, at the age of
71, after 35 years in prison.
Brown has taken of Benedetta, examined it in minute detail, set it
the life

in its and analyzed it with the tools of history, anthropol-

historical context
ogy and psychology. The result is a study of unparallelled detail of a lesbian
mystic in pre-modern Europe. Benedetta Carlini is the only lesbian from
this period for whom any detailed information survives. Recent studies of
the history of homosexuality either make fleeting references to lesbians or,
despairing of information, define them as outside the parameters of study.
134 / Renaissance and Reformation

Thus Brown's work is important as the first in-depth study of female

homosexuality in the pre-modern period.

Inherent in this study, however, is the risk that a fascination with lesbian
sexuality will overshadow the other puzzling aspects of Benedetta's life and
character. By means of a psychological and anthropological approach,
Brown concludes that Benedetta was an example of multiple personalities,
a conclusion that is most regrettably buried in an endnote (n.23, pp.201 - 3).
Her sexual activities were always conducted in the guise of one of her guar-
dian angels, Splenditello. Thus, Sister Benedetta claimed to have had no
recollection of them. Yet, accepting the theory of multiple personality does
not help our understanding of the fraud who engineered false miracles and
engaged in willful self-multilation in order to establish her mystical reputa-
tion. Was this too, another angel/persona or the real Benedetta, a clever and
determined imposter? Certainly, the character that emerges would appear
capable of such a successful charade and clever enough to know that denial
would be her only defence.
Professor Brown highlights the tension between Benedetta the mystic and
Benedetta the lesbian. The former fits into one of society's predefined
categories. Despite the post-Tridentine movement to inhibit unsubstantiated
mystical experiences, the Church nevertheless had a framework in which to
analyze her claims. As for the latter, Professor Brown concludes that the in-
vestigators "entirely lacked either an intellectual or imaginative schema"
necessary for examining and assessing her sexual activities (p. 118). The In-
troduction provides a review of the treatment of lesbianism in the theologi-
cal, canonical, literature and shows that, while the topic was
and pastoral
not entirely ignored, remained veiled in ignorance. The tension between
it

the charges of false mysticism and lesbianism cannot be resolved. Without

the nunzio's judgement it is impossible to know on what grounds Benedet-
ta was consigned to life imprisonment Was it her penance for her illicit
sexual activities? Or was it because she maintained a popular following in
Pescia which needed to be protected from influences outside traditional
Church teaching? Or was she to be an example to other women who, on the
basis of mystical claims, sought to exercise authority traditionally reserved
for men?
Occasionally points might have been better drawn together, for example,
the parallels between Benedetta's mystical life and that of Saint Catherine
of Siena. Benedetta's mother was especially devoted to Saint Catherine,
whose mystical marriage was celebrated as a feast day in the Carlini home.
Upon enclosure, the Theatine convent was placed under the protection of
Saint Catherine. Both women underwent a mystical marriage to Christ. Both
lived for several days without their own heart until it was replaced with that
 Renaissance et Réforme / 135

of Christ Can such a series of complementary experiences be coincidental?

Surely the literate Benedetta had read a life of Saint Catherine. Carlo
Ginzburg has indicated the extent to which an inquiring mind was able to
translate, re-interprret, and internalize the written word and also how far the
historian can go in reconstructing this process. Did the life of Catherine of
Siena impress the young girl to such an extent that the disturbed adult con-
sciously tried to emulate it? Or did she indeed develop an alternate persona
based on Saint Catherine? This is a problem that warrants further considera-
tion.
Immodest Acts is well written and is organized in a manner that appeals
to both the scholar and the popular reader. Selected documents of the reports
of the investigations are provided in translation. These are particularly use-
ful in illuminating the problems the investigators encountered in examin-
ing a phenomenon so far outside society's understanding. Two typographical
errors are minor (p.85, surrundings and n.41, p.189, 1969 for 1619). More
troublesome is the repetition of the lengthy phrase in a quotation from the
Canons of the Council of Trent (n.l, pp.174 - 5). The endnotes provide use-
ful commentary and context or indicate sources for further study.
Brown has presented a remarkable study of an hitherto unexplored
Judith
area. Many questions remain unanswered and unanswerable, not the least
being the complex and enigmatic personalities of Benedetta Carlini and Bar-
tolomea Crivelli. This work stands at the forefront of the rediscovery of the
history of women and of sexuality. And it clearly indicates the importance
and usefulness of a biographical approach for the historian of pre-modern
Europe.

JACQUELINE MURRAY, Centre for Reformation $ Renaissance Studies, Vic-

toria University, University of Toronto

Donald Beecher and Massimo Ciavolella. Comparative Critical Approaches to

Renaissance Comedy. Carleton Renaissance Plays in Translation Series No.
9. Ottawa: Dovehouse Editions, 1986. Pp. [vi], 165.

The editors of the Carleton series have deviated somewhat from their man-
date by offering this collection of ten essays on the nature of Renaissance
comedy. While this ninth publication is neither a play nor a translation, it
does enrich the previous eight editions by presenting various critical views
of Renaissance plays and their contexts in essays that are always engaging
and quite often stimulating. The editors define the value of the collection as
its "concerted effort to examine the underlying units of thought, form and
sign" that occur in "plays that represent the genre, viewed across national