‘Laboure no more in veyn’: Violence and Virginity in Four Lives of Saint Margaret

Saint Margaret of Antioch, typically depicted in iconography with the dragon that she defeats with the power of her faith, was once one of the most popular female saints in England. Her martyrdom was told in no less than five languages over the course of seven centuries. I argue that Saint Margaret of Antioch evolves in the English hagiographical tradition from a symbolic figure to a physical one as she is rewritten in Old and Middle English contexts. My investigation is conducted through two overarching lines of evidence. The first considers evidence of the medieval reader provided by surviving manuscript witnesses of Margaret’s life across the four iterations. The second is a consideration of the story through the alteration of key moments and symbols—for example, Margaret’s virginity, descriptions of torture, and the dragon and second demon episode—and the addition or erasure of various elements—direct and indirect godly intervention, the role of the Theotimus character, and the translation of Margaret’s relics. By closely reading and identifying the existence of an evolution across the four versions through their manuscript evidence, I chart Margaret’s evolution from a didactic symbol of virginity and piety to a physical person who underwent immense trauma through martyrdom.