Addressing Women in Early Medieval Religious Texts

Description

From the tenth to the twelfth centuries in England and Scotland we have scant evidence of women\x27s writing. How, then, can we access these women\x27s experiences? This book argues that by analysing texts deliberately written for and addressed directly to women we gain an insight into the horizons of possibility for their lives. It examines religious texts addressed to women, bringing together works that are more widely studied with others that are less well known, and demonstrates continuities across Old English and Latin texts written for female readers and patrons across the Conquest period. Case studies, ranging from Ælfric\x27s sermons to Aelred\x27s De institutione inclusarum, from the Life of Christina of Markyate to Goscelin\x27s saints\x27 lives for Wilton and Barking Abbeys, attend to the intimate scripts women were encouraged to inhabit through a close focus on the form of the textual address. By concentrating on address, the book illuminates how women were encouraged to live, and by following women\x27s commissioning and copying of texts, it demonstrates which of these textual addresses women valued and attempted to follow. Front cover Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction - Behealde ge wif: Addressing Women in Early Medieval England and Scotland 1 Addressing Laywomen in Old English Sermons 2 Addressing the Recluse in Aelred’s De institutione inclusarum and Goscelin’s Liber confortatorius 3 Addressing Holy Women in the Life of Christina of Markyate and the Life of Margaret of Scotland 4 Addressing Nuns in Goscelin’s Hagiography for Wilton and Barking Abbeys Conclusion - Plebs ecclesiastice discipline: Addressing Women to Include and Exclude Bibliography Index List of previous volumes