ABSTRACT
Eve and Mary represent the two most common role models for medieval women: they appear in contemporary sermons, treatises, medieval texts, romances, sculpture, stained-glass windows, altar pieces, manuscript illuminations. Anywhere that men attempted to define or describe women's roles, one finds references to Eve and Mary. Within texts written by medieval German religious women, however, this most famous feminine pairing is practically absent. Although Mary retains an important role as the mother of Christ, monastic women do not present her as the only positive role model available to women; rather Mary appears as one among several figures considered ideal for imitation, including Christ, the saints, biblical figures and saintly contemporaries. Eve remains significant in her absence: if her name appears within a text at all, it is usually within the formula “daughter of Eve” as a reference to the author, or to women in general. An exception to this general trend, especially with regard to Eve, can be found in the work of Hildegard von Bingen. Her texts present the most complex Mariology of medieval German women writers: Hildegard is the only woman writer to include constructions of Eve within her Mariology, and her comparison of the two women moves beyond a simple oppositional pairing towards a recuperation of Eve through Mary. By offering Eve redemption through Mary, Hildegard offers a means to redeem the female body: Eve's potential yet spoiled fecundity is fulfilled by Mary's corporeal yet non-carnal fertility.
