Agnes of Harcourt, Felipa of Porcelet, and Marguerite of Oingt: women writing about women at the end of the thirteenth century

Church History, June, 2007 by Sean L. Field

This is not to suggest that Agnes felt free or wished to invent fictional episodes for cynical purposes. She was collaborating with many other nuns who had known Isabelle and were witnesses to the events she described, so it seems unlikely that exchanges between princess and abbess that appear in the Vie would be complete fabrications or blatant distortions. The entire story concerning Sister Alice probably took place just as she describes it. Nevertheless, Agnes's authorial choices shape its meaning. For instance, it was unnecessary to include Agnes of Anery in the story at all. Isabelle's miraculous powers would have been just as apparent without the first abbess's appearance. Agnes of Harcourt's superior claims to personal ties to Isabelle, however, would not have been evident.

In sum, the Vie d'Isabelle contains little asceticism, no visions or paramysticism, no mention of eucharistic piety, and no corporeal images of physical union with Christ. It focuses instead on Isabelle's pious comportment, her charity and saintly attentions to others, her humility, and her role as founding "mother" of Longchamp and author of its rule. It remains to be seen how this picture compares with the biographies of Douceline of Digne and Beatrice of Ornacieux.

III. FELIPA OF PORCELET AND DOUCELINE OF DIGNE

Like Agnes of Harcourt's Vie d'Isabelle, Felipa's biography of Douceline places little emphasis on harsh ascetic behavior. (58) The recent English translation by Kathleen Garay and Madeleine Jeay follows the text's nineteenth-century editor in dividing the sixteen chapters of the Life

of Douceline into 352 paragraphs. (59) Of these, only 4 paragraphs in chapter 1 (paragraphs 10 to 13) deal explicitly with the subject of physical mortification, detailing how Douceline would wear a hair shirt, a painful knotted cord, and an iron girdle, and would sleep on an uncomfortable straw bed. (60) Chapter 1 also describes the way the young Douceline cared for poor people and "washed their feet, picked the vermin from their legs and their heads, and cared for their wounds." (61) But these few paragraphs cannot be said to define the themes of the rest of the work. Even in this first chapter, which describes Douceline's youth in the world before becoming a beguine, the main theme is her diligent care of the sick and poor, not a fascination with bodily suffering.

Chapters 2 and 3 relate the founding of Douceline's communities. Upon her father's death she re-dedicated herself to charity and service of the poor. After visiting the sick in hospitals, she asked God to let her "find an order and way of life that would be pleasing to God." (62)

Thus, like Isabelle of France, Douceline's foundation of a new community was linked to a charitable interest in hospital work. Two women then miraculously appeared to her and showed her the habit that her sisters should wear, and with her brother Hugh's help she adopted this dress, dedicated herself to virginity, made a vow of poverty, and began her first beguinage. Since many "ladies" came to join her at Hyeres, she asked Hugh to give them a rule. As the first house prospered, she took one of her followers and went to found another house at Marseille.