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One of the "Library of Medieval Women", this volume contains a translation of the medieval French "Letter of Othea to Hector", together with an introduction, notes and interpretative essays on the subject of its author, the first French woman poet to make her living by the pen, Christine de Pizan.

Devout, virtuous and independent, the heroines of Old English saints' lives (one of the most popular literary genres of the middle ages) provided exemplars of personal and public inspiration for medieval Christians. The eight lives translated here are the earliest known vernacular accounts of the biographies of AEthelthryth, Agatha, Agnes, Cecilia, Eugenia, Euphrosyne, Lucy, and Mary of Egypt.Each life is preceded by a brief description of the saint's cult from its early Christian origins to its presence in Anglo-Saxon culture. The translation is accompanied by an introduction establishing the general background for the genre, the conventions of women saints' lives, and women's religious culture in Anglo-Saxon England. An interpretive essay exploring the relationships between explicit presentations of the female body and the strength of spiritual authority as exhibited in these texts completes the volume.

A considerable collection of German women's poetry in translation, results of ingenious archival research.

Margery Kempe's text draws on her maternal, female body to illuminate her relationship to the divine.

With an Introduction, Interpretive Essay and BibliographyTHE LETTERS OF PERCHTA AND ANEZKA offer an illuminating insight into how two aristocratic women in fifteenth-century Bohemia saw themselves and their lives. The central topic of this collection is Perchta's expression, in letters to her father, of her deep unhappiness at his choice of husband for her, in which her expectations of respect and companionship in marriage clearly emerge. This rare discussion on paper of a situation that must have faced many women in the middle ages is valuable for its illustration of how much a woman might do to influence plans made for her, made all the more interesting by the vigorous personalities of the two sisters and the incidental illumination of family and castle life.

Margaret of Oingt was born around 1240 into a noble family in the French Beaujolais region, and became prioress of the Carthusian charterhouse of Poletains; visionary and mystic, her writings are intelligent and humorous. Includedhere are the Page of Meditations, on sin and salvation; the Mirror, a vision of Christ; the Life of the Virgin Saint Beatrice of Ornacieux, an exemplary text; and letters and stories, including comments on her problems as prioress. They are translated from the Latin and Francoprovencal with an introduction, notes, and interpretative essay. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski is Chair, Department of French and Italian, and Professorof French, at the University of Pittsburgh.

Frances Beer chooses Julian's first, more intimate, Revelations on which to base this accessible edition and study of her life and work.

English translation of a variety of texts from women's books of hours, with introduction, notes, and an interpretive essay.

English translation of a variety of texts from women's books of hours, with introduction, notes, and an interpretive essay.

The first modern translation of one of the most influential books to come from the middle ages.

Translation of Christine's autobiographical Vision, both dealing with her own life and career, and offering a possible solution to the troubled state of France at the time.

Selections from this widely varied original mystical treatise offer insight into the lives of C13 female religious in northern Europe.

Collection of letters and texts offering guidance for nuns, and including selections from Abelard's letters to Heloise.

Selection of the works of Hrotsvit, the first-known woman dramatist, containing legends, dramas, and epics.

Late eleventh-century spiritual counsel for a woman recluse, anticipating medieval advice literature for anchoresses.

Eye-witness account of the theft of the crown of St Stephen in 15c Hungary.

The Paston letters viewed in the context of medieval women's writing and medieval letter writing.

Translation, with full explanatory notes, of the two works of Teresa de Cartagena, the fifteenth-century Spanish nun.

A modern English version of the Middle English text of Birgitta's Revelations made at the Birgittine Syon Abbey in England, in which the scribes extracted their favourite episodes from the longer Latin version.

Douceline de Digne, founder of the beguine community of the Ladies of Roubaud in Provence, was an important woman mystic of her time; contextual material includes comparison with the beguines of northern Europe.

Female mysticism, usually nourished in contemplative surroundings, in Blannbekin's case drew its inspiration from urban life; Weidhaus identifies her visions as 'street mysticism'.

The powerful voice of major Italian medieval woman mystic, translated with commentary.

Medieval attitudes to health and treatment revealed in Hildegard's treatise.

Translation and facing text of an important female-authored work from the late middle ages.

Anne of France (1461-1522) composed these lessons - presented as a portrait of an ideal princess - as guidance in negotiating the pitfalls facing a woman in the world of politics. First English translation.

Text, with English translation in two formats, of all the Old Norse poetry attributed to women - skaldkonur.