Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 17403
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Edwards , A. S. G.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Fifteenth-Century English Collections of Female Saints' Lives [The author examines a mid-fifteenth century manuscript (Cambridge University Library MS Add. 4122) which contains two female saints' lives and a treatise on the Virgin Mary. Edwards briefly examines cultural influences (Bokenham, Chaucer, Lydgate, and Capgrave), religious practices (devotion to St. Margaret and the Virgin), and manuscript conventions (small dimensions and copying verse as prose) that contributed to books such as this one that were intended for family audiences. Title note supplied by Feminae.]
  • Source: Yearbook of English Studies 33, ( 2003): Pages 131 - 141.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Hagiography Literature- Verse Manuscripts Readers Sources Women in Literature
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence: Manuscript; Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Add. 4122. It is a small parchment manuscript (85 x 123 mm) with 162 leaves. It is dated to the mid-fifteenth century. It has three texts, all in Middle English Verse: a life of Saint Margaret, "Tretys of Oure La
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: This article examines Middle English collections of female saints' lives in manuscript, both in verse and in prose. It enumerates the contents of these collections and discusses their early audiences, as well as the various cultural and literary influences, particularly those of Chaucer and Lydgate, that helped shape their growth.
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation:
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03062473