A revelation of purgatory / edited and translated by Liz Herbert McAvoy.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Herbert McAvoy, Liz, editor, translator.

Series:

Library of medieval women

Standardized Title:

Revelation of Purgatory.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Purgatory--Early works to 1800.

Purgatory.

Genre:

Early works.

Physical Description:

x, 187 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : D.S. Brewer, 2017.

Summary:

A Revelation of Purgatory was written by a female anchorite living in Winchester during the second decade of the fifteenth century; it provides an account of how a deceased member of her order appeared to her in four consecutive dream visions over three nights, showing her suffering in purgatory, begging for her sisters' prayers, and pleading that masses be said for her soul, to enable a quicker release. The text offers a fascinating insight into a female-focused view of theological doctrine as it developed during the latter middle ages, and provides a formative testimony to the changing roles of women within the religious climate at the time. Read alongside the works of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, it also forms a vital link in the chain of our understanding of what constituted "women's writing". This volume contains a rendering of the Revelation into modern English; it is accompanied by an edition of the text from the version in the Thornton manuscript (the earliest of the three in which it is extant). A substantial introduction argues for the importance of the text and demonstrates why this unjustly-neglected work should be better known.

Contents:

Introduction. The Canon and Invisibility

Women's Writing: The Wider Context

The Author of A Revelation of Purgatory

The Recipients of A Revelation of Purgatory

The Doctrine of Purgatory in the Middle Ages

Medieval Women's Responses to Purgatory

Purgatory: The English Literary Tradition

A Revelation of Purgatory's Sources

The Manuscripts

Notes on the Edition and Translation

Text and Translation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-172) and index.

ISBN:

9781843844716

1843844710

OCLC:

994122519

Publisher Number:

99972795267