Description
Book SynopsisMiddle English Legends of Women Saints presents a collection of saints' Lives intended to suggest the diversity of possibilities beneath the supposedly fixed and predictable surfaces of the legends, using multiple retellings of the same legend to illustrate that medieval readers and listeners did not just passively receive saints' legends but continually and actively appropriated them. The collection opens with legends about two royal (or supposedly royal) women, Frideswide and Mary Magdelen, and continues with those of three popular virgin martyrs, Margaret of Antioch, Christina of Tyre, and Katherine of Alexandria. The final portion of the collection is devoted to St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary. The collection includes a number of relatively unknown texts that have not appeared in print since Horstmann's transcriptions in the nineteenth century and a few that have never before been published.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
General Introduction
General Bibliography
Abbreviations
I. The Legend of St. Frideswide of Oxford, an Anglo-Saxon Royal Abbess Introduction and Select Bibliography
Shorter
South English Legendary Life of St. Frideswide
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
Longer
South English Legendary Life of St. Frideswide
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
II. The Legend of Mary Magdalen, Penitent and Apostle Introduction and Select Bibliography
Early
South English Legendary Life of Mary Magdalen
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
John Mirk, Sermon on St. Mary Magdalen
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
Mary Magdalen, from
Speculum Sacerdotale Notes
III. Three Popular Legends of Virgin Martyrs (a) Margaret of Antioch
Introduction and Select Bibliography
Stanzaic Life of Margaret
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
John Mirk, Sermon on St. Margaret
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
John Lydgate, "Lyfe of Seynt Margarete"
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
(b) Katherine of Alexandria
Introduction and Select Bibliography
Stanzaic Life of Katherine
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
John Mirk, Sermon on St. Katherine
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
St. Katherine, from
Speculum Sacerdotale Notes
© Christina of Bolsena
Introduction and Select Bibliography
William Paris, Life of St. Christina
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
IV. Legends of St. Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary Introduction and Select Bibliography
John Mirk, Sermon on the Conception of the Virgin Mary
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
John Mirk, Sermon on St. Anne
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
Osbern Bokenham, Life of St. Anne
Explanatory Notes
Textual Notes
Glossary
