DescriptionThis dissertation looks at the generic tropes of hagiography and how late medieval writers in other genres borrowed them, namely explicit moral clarity, the ability to appeal to alternate forms of authority, and the capacity to rewrite genealogy. It then examines how and why these modes of thinking were used through a series of case studies. For instance, in the anonymous Sir Gowther, the author relies on the possibility of rewriting genealogy in a partially successful attempt to relieve anxiety about the role of violence in a chivalric society and the dangers of illegitimacy in a patrilineal culture. Kempe draws on the language of hagiography in order to establish herself in the communities of saints and to interpret the resistance and scorn she encounters as a form of martyrdom. Finally, The Legend of Good Women juxtaposes classical tradition with hagiographic structure, placing the two traditions in opposition to each other in order to create a liminal space wherein feminine voices may have room to speak.