'I wish to remain single, for I have made a vow of virginity.'This is the remarkable story of the twelfth-century recluse Christina, who became prioress of Markyate, near St Albans in Hertfordshire. Determined to devote her life to God and to remain a virgin, Christina repulses the sexual advances of the bishop of Durham. In revenge he arranges her betrothalto a young nobleman but Christina steadfastly refuses to consummate the marriage and defies her parents' cruel coercion. Sustained by visions, she finds refuge with the hermit Roger, and lives concealed at Markyate for four years, enduring terrible physical and emotional torment. EventuallyChristina is supported by the abbot of St Albans, and her reputation as a person of great holiness spreads far and wide.Written with striking candour by Christina's anonymous biographer, the vividness and compelling detail of this account make it a social document as much as a religious one. Christina's trials of the flesh and spirit exist against a backdrop of scheming and corruption and all-too-human greed.

"The Life of Christina of Markyate", a twelfth-century English recluse and later abbess of Markyate near St Albans, is a remarkable example of late medieval hagiography. Originally written at the time of or soon after Christina's death in the twelfth century, the Life is unusual both in its relative lack of miracles, and in the unknown author's decision to write Christina's life factually rather than gathering together stock elements from previously written saint's lives, as was the custom. First published in 1959, this edition contains the original Latin text with a facing-page English translation. It is accompanied by a comprehensive Introduction that discusses the codicological problems of the text, and provides other contextual and background material. 'One of the great virtues of this Life is its vivid revelations of Christina's personal circumstances, which must have been based on her own reminiscences. Although doubts have been cast on her veracity ... they do not affect the main lines of the extraordinary story she told the author.' From the General Editors' Note

Beautifully illustrated, and drawing on research from a wide range of disciplines, this interdisciplinary study provides students with a fascinating and comprehensive collection that surveys the life of an extraordinary medieval woman.

The St Albans Psalter, made in the 1130s, is one of the great monuments of English Romanesque painting and has survived the disasters of religious upheaval and war in pristine condition. The sequence of forty full-page miniatures illustrating the Life of Christ establishes their artist, the so-called Alexis Master, as one of the most influential painters in early twelfth-century England. It includes 215 initials illustrating the psalms in a vigorously literal way. Their inventiveness and charm belie the complex theological and personal messages which they convey. This new book by Dr. Jane Geddes is the first to reproduce so much of the psalter in color, but it also fully integrates the psalter's contents into the historical context of its probable patron, Abbot Geoffrey of St Albans and its recipient, the Anglo-Saxon hermitess Christina of Markyate. Using a record of Christina's life, written by a St Albans monk, the book examines in depth every aspect of the psalter, tying it in closely to the lives of Christina of Markyate and Abbot Geoffrey. Through her close analysis, Geddes provides a profound insight into female literacy, Anglo-Norman relations, the organization of England's premier scriptorium, monk-nun relations and the emerging Anglo-Norman language. This new book demonstrates the significance of the St Albans Psalter, which in social terms is as important as the Bayeux Tapestry, crystallising the artistic, spiritual and emotional integration of Anglo-Saxons and Normans.

What have a deaf nun, the mother of the first baby born to Europeans in North America, and a condemned heretic to do with one another? They are among the virtuous virgins, marvelous maidens, and fierce feminists of the Middle Ages who trail-blazed paths for women today. Without those first courageous souls who worked in fields dominated by men, women might not have the presence they currently do in professions such as education, the law, and literature. Focusing on women from Western Europe between c. 300 and 1500 CE in the medieval period and richly carpeted with detail, A Medieval Woman’s Companion offers a wealth of information about real medieval women who are now considered vital for understanding the Middle Ages in a full and nuanced way. Short biographies of 20 medieval women illustrate how they have anticipated and shaped current concerns, including access to education; creative emotional outlets such as art, theater, romantic fiction, and music; marriage and marital rights; fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, contraception and gynecology; sex trafficking and sexual violence; the balance of work and family; faith; and disability. Their legacy abides until today in attitudes to contemporary women that have their roots in the medieval period. The final chapter suggests how 20th and 21st century feminist and gender theories can be applied to and complicated by medieval women's lives and writings. Doubly marginalized due to gender and the remoteness of the time period, medieval women’s accomplishments are acknowledged and presented in a way that readers can appreciate and find inspiring. Ideal for high school and college classroom use in courses ranging from history and literature to women's and gender studies, an accompanying website with educational links, images, downloadable curriculum guide, and interactive blog will be made available at the time of publication.

Medieval Women's Writing is a major new contribution to our understanding of women's writing in England, 1100-1500. The most comprehensive account to date, it includes writings in Latin and French as well as English, and works for as well as by women. Marie de France, Clemence of Barking, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and the Paston women are discussed alongside the Old English lives of women saints, The Life of Christina of Markyate, the St Albans Psalter, and the legends of women saints by Osbern Bokenham. Medieval Women's Writing addresses these key questions: Who were the first women authors in the English canon? What do we mean by women's writing in the Middle Ages? What do we mean by authorship? How can studying medieval writing contribute to our understanding of women's literary history? Diane Watt argues that female patrons, audiences, readers, and even subjects contributed to the production of texts and their meanings, whether written by men or women. Only an understanding of textual production as collaborative enables us to grasp fully women's engagement with literary culture. This radical rethinking of early womens literary history has major implications for all scholars working on medieval literature, on ideas of authorship, and on women's writing in later periods. The book will become standard reading for all students of these debates.

Neil Cartlidge analyses a number of continental texts which are central to any study of medieval marriage - the De amore of Andreas Capellanus, Erec et Enide, and the letters of Abelard and Heloise - but it is the concern with marriage in the medieval literature of England in particular that forms the substance of this book.