Table of Contents

What is Ancrene Wisse - Yoko Wada
The Genre of Ancrene Wisse - Bella Millett
The Communal Authorship of Ancrene Wisse - Anne Savage
The AB Language: the Recluse, The Gossip and the Language Historian - Richard Dance
The Anglo-French lexis of Ancrene Wisse: a re-evaluation - D A Trotter
The Middle English Manuscripts and Early Readers of Ancrene Wisse - A S G Edwards
'This Living Hand': Thirteenth-Century Female Literacy and the Female Reader of Ancrene Wisse - Elizabeth Robertson
The Legacy of Ancrene Wisse: Translations, Adaptations, Influences and Audience, with Special Attention to Women Readers - Catherine Innes-Parker
The Recluse and its Readers: Some Observations on a Lollard Interpolated Version of Ancrene Wisse - Christina von Nolcken
Ancrene Wisse, Religious Reform and the Late Middle Ages - Nicholas Watson
Ancrene Wisse and the Identities of Mary Salome - Roger Dahood

About the Author

A. S. G. Edwards has taught at various universities in North America and England and currently holds honorary professorships at the University of Kent, University College, London, and King's College, London. NICHOLAS WATSON teaches English at Harvard University. His research focuses on medieval English and North European literature, intellectual history, visionary writing and the role of the written vernacular.

Reviews

A welcome addition to Ancrene Wisse scholarship, and Millett's and Watson's essays in particular should become essential reading for all students of the text.
*MEDIUM AEVUM*

This is a valuable collection, always stimulating and provocative.
*ANGLIA*

This collection...amply testifies to the central place Ancrene Wisse has come to occupy in the history of English devotional literature. As a showcase for productive new approaches.this volume is most welcome.
*SPECULUM*

A very coherent introduction and source for students interested in medieval female spirituality. [...] This is an excellent collection of strong work.
*MEDIAEVISTIK*

A timely and important contribution to the field of anchoritic studies....The fact is that many of these essays will be important influences on Ancrene Wisse research for some time to come.
*MEDIEVAL REVIEW*