New essays on the burgeoning of pastoral and devotional literature in medieval England.

New essays on the burgeoning of pastoral and devotional literature in medieval England.

Pastoral and devotional literature flourished throughout the middle ages, and its growth and transmutations form the focus of this collection. Ranging historically from the difficulties of localizing Anglo-Saxon pastoral texts tothe reading of women in late-medieval England, the individual essays survey its development and its transformation into the literature of vernacular spirituality. They offer both close examinations of particular manuscripts, and of individual texts, including an anonymousSpeculum iuniroum, theSpeculum religiosorum of Edmund of Abingdon and later vernacular compositions and translations, such asHandlyng Synne and Bonaventure'sLignum Vitae. The reading and devotional use of texts by women and solitaries is also considered. They therefore form an appropriate tribute to the work of Bella Millett, whose research has done so much to advance our knowledge of the field.

Contributors: Alexandra Barratt, Mishtooni Bose, Joseph Goering, Brian Golding, C. Annette Grise, Cate Gunn, Ralph Hanna, Bob Hasenfratz, Catherine Innes-Parker, E. A. Jones, Derek Pearsall, Elaine Treharne, Nicholas Watson, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne

Preface: Bella Millett
Bibliography of Bella Millett's Writings
Introduction - Derek Pearsall
'Vae Soli': Solitaries and Pastoral Care - E.A. Jones
Scribal Connections in Late Anglo-Saxon England - Elaine Treharne
Gerald of Wales, theGemma Ecclesiastica and Pastoral Care - Brian Golding
Time to Read: Pastoral Care, Vernacular Access and the Case of Angier of St Frideswide - Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
Lambeth Palace Library MS 487: Some Problems of Early Thirteenth-century Textual Transmission - Ralph Hanna
Pastoral Texts and Traditions: the AnonymousSpeculum Iuniorum [c. 1250] - Joe Goering
Reading Edmund of Abingdon'sSpeculum as Pastoral Literature - Cate Gunn
Middle English Versions and Audiences of Edmund of Abingdon'sSpeculum Religiosorum - Nicholas Watson
Terror and Pastoral Care inHandlyng Synne - Bob Hasenfratz
Prophecy, Complaint and Pastoral Care in the Fifteenth Century: Thomas Gascoigne'sLiber Veritatum - Mishtooni Bose
Pastoral Concerns in the Middle English Adaptation of Bonaventure'sLignum Vitae - Catherine Innes-Parker
Prayer, Meditation and Women Readers in Late-Medieval England: Teaching and Sharing through Books - C. Annette Grise
'Take a Book and Read': Advice for Religious Women - Alexandra Barratt