A Model of Sheela Na Gig in Lybeaus Desconus and the Squire of Low Degree?

A Sheela Na Gig is a carving of a woman with exposed and/or exaggerated genitalia, usually found on religious buildings in the Middle Ages and considered to be sacred. This article seeks to examine the complexity of the naked female body in the Middle ages embodying a sheela na gig model. The naked female body is usually regarded as a sinful object as most of the medieval clerical antifeministic writings deal with in relation to the Fall of Eve. However, some anonymous Middle English romances – particularly the fifteenth century Lybeaus Desconus and The Squire of Low Degree seem to resist the medieval representations of the naked female body as sinful. This article argues about naked female body which does not seem to be a subject matter of evil in the Middle English Lybeaus Desconus and The Squire of Low Degree.