During a roundtable discussion on trans historicities that was published in TSQ in 2018, M. W. Bychowski, a forerunner in trans medieval studies, reflected on what she saw as some of the most pressing intellectual and ethical imperatives of the field (Bychowski et al. 2018). First, instead of asking, “Were there any trans people in the Middle Ages?,” Bychowski instead asked, “How were people trans in the Middle Ages?” This question prompted scholars to think about the ways in which subjecthood could be both trans and medieval simultaneously—effectively, about how the medieval period offers new possibilities for imagining transgender, and how transgender presents new ways of understanding the medieval period. Bychowski suggested that by addressing this central question, steps could be made across time toward trans liberation in the present.
Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography is a landmark in trans medieval studies, engaging the imperatives of...