The Third Gender and Ælfric’s Lives of Saint

In The Third Gender, McDaniel addresses the idea of the “”third gender”” in early hagiography and Latin treatises on virginity and then examines lfric’s treatment of gender in his translations of Latin monastic Lives for his non-monastic audiences. She first investigates patristic ideas about a “”third gender”” by describing this concept within the theoretical frameworks of monasticism and then turns to creating a historical and theological cultural context within which to locate an interpretation of lfric’s portrayals of male and female saints.