@inproceedings{01HEHY3MXQ7R7D51XHWVJHWYZV,
  abstract     = {{Through studying the vita of Alpais of Cudot (d. 1211) alongside other contemporary sources reporting her sainthood, I intend to explore assumptions about dis/ability and reclusion, beyond hagiographical tropes. Alpais was a peasant girl, living in a small village in the archdiocese of Sens. Because her body could no longer bear the relentless hard work on the farmland, she fell ill with a grave yet unidentified disease. Covered in ulcers, her body putrefied, unable to move, and emanating an unbearable stench, Alpais became isolated. Eventually, the Virgin Mary rewarded her display of patience and humility, wherefore she miraculously healed Alpais. However, she did not recover completely, since she remained paralysed and committed to her bed. From this moment onwards, Alpais continued to live as a recluse and experienced many visions, some of them taking place in Purgatory. She then gained a reputation as a saint during her lifetime, as not only her vita (recorded by a Cistercian monk around 1180) but also a variety of contemporary sources attests, such as chronicles, collections of exempla, and even charters. Despite her apparent fame as a living saint, her vita has gone largely unnoticed in historiography, especially compared to the thirteenth-century vitae of the mulieres religiosae. This paper aims to investigate specifically the corporality of Alpais' infirm body in relation to her life as a recluse and her clairvoyance, for the immobility of Alpais' body seems to have facilitated her withdrawal from the world and enabled the mobility of her spirit. Furthermore, I will explore how contemporary authors made sense of Alpais' infirmity and how they gave meaning to her infirmity in relation to her sainthood.}},
  author       = {{Van Sumere, Caroline}},
  booktitle    = {{58th International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS 2023), Abstracts}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Kalamazoo, Michigan}},
  title        = {{'Semper iacens in lectulo' : infirmity, reclusion and clairvoyance in the Vita of Alpais of Cudot (d. 1211)}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}