Women's Writing in Middle English An Annotated Anthology

Women's writing in any period remains of critical concern,both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. AlexandraBarratt's edition offers a wide range of texts from the period 1300-1500, including: Original texts written by women in the Middle Ages Texts translated by women in the Middle Ages Prayers, meditations,scriptural comment, and accounts of religious experiences Educational writings Romance, poetry Each poem is given a headnote, giving details of composition, manuscript and sources. Full on-page annotation is provided giving details of allusions to contemporary religious, historical and social issues. A general introduction gives context to all the pieces and provides a penetrating account of the role of women in a burgeoning society of literary and cultural transmission.

Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Editorial procedure IntroductionThe Texts (extracts) 1. Middle English Trotula texts 2. Marie de France: Lay le Freine 3. Mechtild of Hackeborn and Gertrude the Great: The Book of Ghostly Grace 4. Marguerite Porete: The Mirror of Simple Souls 5. Elizabeth of Hungary: The Revelations of Saint Elizabeth 6. Bridget of Sweden: The Revelations and The Rule of Our Saviour 7. Catherine of Siena: The Orchard of Syon 8. Julian of Norwich: A Revelation of Love 9. Christine de Pisan: The Epistle of Othea and The Body of Policy 10. A Revelation of Purgatory: A Revelation Showed to a Holy Woman 11. Fifteen Prayers Revealed to a Recluse: The Fifteen Oes 12. Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe 13. A Collection of Prayers: The Faits and the Passion of Our Lord Jesu Christ 14. Women and the Law 15. Dame Eleanor Hull 16. Juliana Berners: The Book of Hunting 17. The Cellaress of Barking Abbey 18. Some Paston Letters 19. Fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century poems 20. Lady Margaret Beaufort: The Imitation of Christ and The Mirror of Gold to the Sinful Soul 21. Fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century prayersBibliography Index