Listen Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages

The New Middle Ages

by Constant J. Mews

The words “Listen daughter” (Audi filia, from Psalm 44) were frequently used in exhortations to religious women in the 12th century, a period of dramatic growth in the involvement of women in various forms of religious life. This volume looks at the “Mirror for Virgins” (Speculum Virginum ), an illustrated dialogue between a nun and her spiritual mentor written by a monk not long before Hildegard of Bingen started to record her visions. An appendix provides the first English translation, by Barbara Newman, of significant excerpts from the Speculum.

Genres: History

306 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2001