Medieval Women's Visionary Literature

by Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff

These pages capture a thousand years of medieval women's visionary writing, from late antiquity to the 15th century. Written by hermits, recluses, wives, mothers, wandering teachers, founders of religious communities, and reformers, the selections reveal how medieval women felt about their lives, the kind of education they received, how they perceived the religion of their time, and why ascetic life attracted them.

Genres: Medieval, History, Religion, Nonfiction, Feminism

416 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 1986

Reviews

[Jules DiGregorio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed-turned-stolen because I couldn't help myself from annotating. Thank you Robert Stanton and I'm sorry.

[John Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of familiar names in this collection, like Hildegaard and Julian of Norwich, and plenty of new names, too. Well, names that will be new to many. Petroff seems to do a good job trying to arrange the authors not only according to chronology but also to movements, connecting them to one another and drawing lines between them.

Put together, a great read: historical information and spiritual inspiration. I really appreciated it.

[Ella]

Read for Michaelmas Term Primary Tutorial: Medieval Female Mystics