Death did not them Depart - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 33

2020-09-19

Death did not them Depart The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 33 An examination of joint grave memorials for pairs of unrelated women that use the symbolism of marriage. In this episode we talk about: Classical Greek sculptural monuments from 5th c. BCE Athens A Classical Roman memorial in which two women are shown clasping right hands, in a gesture typically indicating marriage The unusual joint memorial brass of Elizabeth Etchingham and Agnes Oxenbridge from the 15th century in East Sussex The 17th...

Death did not them Depart The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 33

An examination of joint grave memorials for pairs of unrelated women that use the symbolism of marriage.

In this episode we talk about:

Classical Greek sculptural monuments from 5th c. BCE Athens
A Classical Roman memorial in which two women are shown clasping right hands, in a gesture typically indicating marriage
The unusual joint memorial brass of Elizabeth Etchingham and Agnes Oxenbridge from the 15th century in East Sussex
The 17th century grave memorial of Mary Barber of Suffolk, which gave equal prominence to her husband and her beloved friend Ann Chitting.
The 18th century memorial of Mary Kendall in Westminster Cathedral commemorating her “close union and friendship” with Lady Catharine Jones and her wish that their ashes might lie together after death.
The memorial dedication by Mary Pope for Katharine Bovey, commemorating their “near 40 years in perfect friendship”, and with additional information documenting their joint household for those 40 years and how Bovey was notorious for refusing marriage in favor of “the pleasures of friendship.”

Articles mentioned

Bennett, Judith. 2008. “Two Women and their Monumental Brass, c. 1480” in Journal of the British Archaeological Association vol. 161:163-184.
Bray, Alan. 2006. The Friend. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-07181-7
Brooten, Bernadette J. 1997. Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-226-07591-5
Lanser, Susan S. 2014. The Sexuality of History: Modernity and the Sapphic, 1565-1830. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-18773-0
Traub, Valerie. 2002. The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-44885-9
Younger, John G. “Women in Relief: ‘Double Consciousness’ in Classical Attic Tombstones” in Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin & Lisa Auanger eds. 2002. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN 0-29-77113-4
The Roman memorial stone of Eleusis and Helena can be viewed here.