This volume focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 700 and 1500. It brings to the fore a wide range of women's literary activity undertaken in Latin, Welsh and Anglo-Norman alongside that of the English vernacular, demanding a rethinking of the traditions of literary history, and ultimately the concept of 'writing' itself.

This volume focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 700 and 1500. It brings to the fore a wide range of women's literary activity undertaken in Latin, Welsh and Anglo-Norman alongside that of the English vernacular, demanding a rethinking of the traditions of literary history, and ultimately the concept of 'writing' itself.

Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Chronology Introduction: Writing a History of Women's Writing from 700 to 1500; L.Herbert McAvoy  & D.Watt PART I: PRE-TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Women and the Origins of English Literature; C.A.Lees  & G.R.Overing Literary Production Before and After the Conquest; C.A.M.Clarke The French of the English and Early British Women's Literary Culture; C.Batt Women Writers in Wales; J.Cartwright Medieval Antifeminism; A.Bernau PART II: BODIES, BEHAVIOURS AND TEXTS Romance; C.Saunders  Saints' Lives; S.Horner  Devotional Literature; M.M.Sauer  Marian Literature; S.Niebryzdowski  Late Medieval Conduct Literature; M.J.Seaman PART III: LITERACIES AND LITERARY CULTURES Women and their Manuscripts; C.M.Meale   Women and Reading; L.Farina  Women and Networks of Literary Production; E.Robertson  Anonymous Writers; L.H.McAvoy   Women Translators; A.Barratt  Women's Letters, 1350-1500; J.Daybell PART IV: FEMALE AUTHORITY Christine de Pizan and Joan of Arc; N.B.Warren  Mary of Oignies; J.N. Brown  Bridget of Sweden; L.Saetveit Miles  Catherine of Siena; A.C. Grisé  Julian of Norwich; A.Appleford  Margery Kempe; D.Watt  'A Revelation of Purgatory'; M.C.Erler Bibliography Index