Judas, a Medieval Other? Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Thirteenth-Century Middle English Judas
Judas, a Medieval Other? Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Thirteenth-Century Middle English Judas

Summary/Abstract: The article commences with a discussion of the otherness of medieval literature in comparison with the texts from other epochs. The topic of otherness also appears in medieval texts. The religious, ethnic, and gender difference of Judas is complemented by that of his “sister”, who similarly to him illustrates the anti-Judaic stereotypes of the epoch. In the thirteenth-century poem Judas, however, remains a universal figure, since he is one of many traitors and sinners, while his “sister” univocally embodies the type known as la juive fatale. Judas’ efeminacy, both psychological and physical, seems to be only one of many diverse aspects of that complex literary construct. The equivocal nature of representing Jews in Middle English literature is best exemplified by the fourteenth-century romance The Siege of Jerusalem, but even this text features the topic of weakness, if not effeminacy, of that ethnic group in their confrontation with the Romans. Judas, a text more complex in that respect from e Siege of Jerusalem, emphasizes religious, ethnic, and gender difference, but also presents the main character as an everyman, allowing its modern readers to explore the sphere of medieval imagination to a greater extent.

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