Middle English Legends of Women Saints

Middle 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.

Middle 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.

Acknowledgments General Introduction General Bibliography AbbreviationsI. The Legend of St. Frideswide of Oxford, an Anglo-Saxon Royal Abbess Introduction and Select Bibliography ShorterSouth English Legendary Life of St. Frideswide Explanatory Notes Textual Notes LongerSouth English Legendary Life of St. Frideswide Explanatory Notes Textual NotesII. The Legend of Mary Magdalen, Penitent and Apostle Introduction and Select Bibliography EarlySouth English Legendary Life of Mary Magdalen Explanatory Notes Textual Notes John Mirk, Sermon on St. Mary Magdalen Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Mary Magdalen, fromSpeculum Sacerdotale NotesIII. 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, fromSpeculum Sacerdotale Notes Christina of Bolsena Introduction and Select Bibliography William Paris, Life of St. Christina Explanatory Notes Textual NotesIV. 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