Scholars have long been aware of the impact of the lives and works of Continental holy women on English spirituality; female mystics such as Margery Kempe were inspired by their predecessors abroad, whose visionary experiences and spiritual reflections were recorded and widely read. However, very little scholarly work has been done on the effect of Continental holy women on the spiritual and devotional practices of late-medieval England. The essays in this volume investigate the influence of Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, Mechtild of Hackeborn, Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena by focusing on topics including manuscript dissemination, incorporation in spiritual guides, and the translation, illumination, adaptation and alteration of their works for an English audience. Overall, they offer new evidence of the way in which Continental sensibility and spiritual reflection were altered and adapted for an identifiably English devotional practice and spirituality.
Dr ROSALYNN VOADEN teaches in the Department of English at Arizona State University. The contributors are: DENISE DESPRES, JANETTE DILLON, ROGER ELLIS, JOAN FRIEDMAN, IAN JOHNSON, KATHRYN KERBY-FULTON, ROSALYNN VOADEN, NICHOLAS WATSON, DIANE WATT.