Surviving in 59 complete manuscript versions, few English texts of the late medieval period seem to have achieved the popularity of Nicholas Love's fifteenth-century translation and adaptation of the Latin Meditationes Vitae Christi - The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ. The Mirror has received surprisingly little scholarly attention and is often contextualized in terms of its role in the theological conflict between English ecclesiastical orthodoxy and the teachings of heresiarch John Wycliff. David Falls presents a new account of the text's history which de-centralises, but does not disregard, the influence of the Wycliffite controversy. Falls interrogates preconceptions and investigates new possibilities for understanding the composition, circulation, function and use of Love's Mirror by examining both the textual modifications and additions made by Love in his adaptation of the Latin, and places these alterations in context by examining individual copies of the Mirror. The manuscript copies are read as both sites of literary consumption and nexuses of textual transition, demonstrating that it was Love's ability to inscribe his work with "functional diversity" which explains the Mirror's popularity. This book presents a nuanced picture not only of the Mirror's production, circulation and function, but also the dynamic and flourishing devotio-literary culture of late medieval England in which Love's text operated.

Surviving in 59 complete manuscript versions, few English texts of the late medieval period seem to have achieved the popularity of Nicholas Love's fifteenth-century translation and adaptation of the Latin Meditationes Vitae Christi - The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ. The Mirror has received surprisingly little scholarly attention and is often contextualized in terms of its role in the theological conflict between English ecclesiastical orthodoxy and the teachings of heresiarch John Wycliff. David Falls presents a new account of the text's history which de-centralises, but does not disregard, the influence of the Wycliffite controversy. Falls interrogates preconceptions and investigates new possibilities for understanding the composition, circulation, function and use of Love's Mirror by examining both the textual modifications and additions made by Love in his adaptation of the Latin, and places these alterations in context by examining individual copies of the Mirror. The manuscript copies are read as both sites of literary consumption and nexuses of textual transition, demonstrating that it was Love's ability to inscribe his work with "functional diversity" which explains the Mirror's popularity. This book presents a nuanced picture not only of the Mirror's production, circulation and function, but also the dynamic and flourishing devotio-literary culture of late medieval England in which Love's text operated.

Essays exploring the great religious and devotional works of the Middle Ages in their manuscript and other contexts.

This book represents the first full-length study of the prevalence of domestic imagery in late medieval religious literature. It examines as yet understudied patterns of household imagery and allegory across four fifteenth-century spiritual texts, all of which are Middle English translations of earlier Latin works. These texts are drawn from a range of popular genres of medieval religious writing, including the spiritual guidance text, Life of Christ, and collection of revelations received by visionary women. All of the texts discussed in this book have identifiable late medieval readers, which further enables a discussion of the way in which these book users might have responded to the domestic images in each one. This is a hugely important area of enquiry, as the literal late medieval household was becoming increasingly culturally important during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and these texts’ frequent recourse to domestic imagery would have been especially pertinent.

An overlooked aspect of the iconography of the Annunciation investigated - Mary's book.

Steven Rozenski reopens old discussions and addresses new ones concerning late medieval devotional texts, particularly those showing continental and German influences. For many, Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into German has come to define the spirit of the Protestant Reformation. But there existed a host of devotional and mystical writings translated into the vernacular that had more profound impacts upon lay religious practices and experiences well into the seventeenth century. Steven Rozenski explores this devotional and mystical literature in his focused study of English translations and adaptations of the works of Henry Suso, Catherine of Siena, and Thomas à Kempis, and the common devotional culture manifested in the work of Richard Rolle. In Wisdom’s Journey, Rozenski examines the forms and strategies of late medieval translation, of early modern engagement with Continental medieval devotion, and of the latter’s literary afterlives in English-speaking communities. Suso’s Rhineland mysticism, the book shows, found initial widespread influence, translation, and adaptation followed by a gradual decline; Catherine of Siena’s Italian spirituality saw continued use and retranslation in post-Reformation recusant communities paralleled by vehement denunciation by English Protestants; and Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ attained a remarkably consistent expansion of popularity, translation, and acceptance among both Catholic and Protestant readers well into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Wisdom’s Journey traces this path as it reshapes our understanding of English devotional and mystical literature from the 1400s to the 1600s, illuminating its wider European context before and after the Reformations of the sixteenth century. Written primarily for scholars in medieval mysticism, Reformation studies, and translation studies, the book will also appeal to readers interested in medieval studies and English literature more broadly.

A Companion to Late Medieval and Early Modern Siena introduces the once-powerful commune to a wider audience. Edited by Santa Casciani and Heather Richardson Hayton, this collection explores how Siena built a distinctive civic identity and institutions that endured for centuries.