"Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, this authoritative volume examines the central role of medieval women in the production and circulation of books and considers their representation in medieval literature, as authors, readers and subjects, assessing how these change over time"--

Introduction Corinne Saunders and Diane Watt; I. Patrons, Owners, Writers, and Readers in England and Europe: 1. 'Miserere, meidens': abbesses and nuns Elaine Treharne; 2. Creating her own story: queens, noblewomen, and their cultural patronage Mary Dockray-Miller; 3. Woman-to-woman initiatives between female religious: vertical and horizontal learning Mary C. Erler; II. Circles and Communities in England: 4. Ancrene Wisse, the Katherine Group, and the Wooing Group as textual communities, Medieval and modern Michelle M. Sauer; 5. Syon Abbey and the Birgittines Laura Saetveit Miles; 6. What the Paston women read Diane Watt; III. Health, Conduct, and Knowledge: 7. Embracing the body and the soul: women in the literary culture of Medieval medicine Naoë Kukita Yoshikawa; 8. Gender and class in the circulation of conduct books Kathleen Ashley; 9. Women's learning and lore: magic, recipes and folk belief Martha W. Driver; 10. Women and devotional compilations Denis Renevey; IV. Genre and Gender: 11. Lyrics: meditations, prayers and praises; songs and carols David Fuller; 12. 'It satte me wel bet ay in a cave / To bidde and rede on holy seyntes lyves': women and hagiography Christiania Whitehead; 13. Tears, mediation, and literary entanglement: the writings of Medieval visionary women Liz Herbert McAvoy; 14. Convent and city: Medieval women and drama Sue Niebrzydowski; 15. Women and romance Corinne Saunders; 16. Trouble and strife in the Old French fabliaux Neil Cartlidge; 17. Chaucer and Gower Venetia Bridges; V. Women as Authors: 18. Marie de France: identity and authorship in translation Emma Campbell; 19. Julian of Norwich: a woman's vision, book, and readers Barry Windeatt; 20. The communities of The Book of Margery Kemp Anthony Bale; 21. Christine de Pizan: women's literary culture and Anglo-French politics Nancy Bradley Warren; 22. Beyond borders: women poets in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales up to c. 1500 Cathryn A. Charnell-White.