Nemini vetula placet? In search of the positive representation of old women in the Middle Ages

Abstract

A sketch surveying perception of old women in medieval texts. Among other, Hugh of Folieto's, Petrus Alfonsi, or Pseudo-Ovidian author of De vetula are mentioned.

If not repulsion and laughter, the presence of an old woman usually brings about a deep nostalgia for the ever changing world and the youth lost once and forever.

Keywords

• medieval literature
• old age
• vetula