Ancrene Wisse: A Corrected Edition of the Text in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402, with Variants from Other Manuscripts. Volume I: A ... (Early English Text Society Original Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0197223281 ISBN 13: 9780197223284

Publisher: Early English Text Society, 2005

Synopsis

Drawing on the uncompleted edition by E.J. Dobson, with a glossary and additional notes by Richard Dance. The early thirteenth-century guide for women recluses, Ancrene Wisse, is not only the major surviving work of early Middle English prose, and one which was influential throughout the medieval period; it was an important document in the history of European pastoral literature. This edition is the first to draw upon the evidence of all surviving manuscripts, using a corrected version of the Corpus text as a `point of entry' to the text's history, as it was revised and adapted by its author and successors for the needs of changing audiences. This first volume contains the text and full critical apparatus; the second volume (forthcoming) will contain the General Introduction, setting the work in its broad cultural and institutional context. Bella Millett is Reader in English at the University of Southampton.

About this title

Review

This is an elegant and informed statement of modern editing which contains some important insights for the treatment of later medieval vernacular texts, particularly those of a practical nature. (Margaret Connolly, Medium Aevum)

Synopsis

The thirteenth-century "Ancrene Wisse" is one of the major works of early Middle English prose, and was repeatedly revised and adapted for different audiences. It has attracted much attention from students of church history and women's studies as a highly influential, important example of pastoral guidance for women religions. This is the first edition to bring together the full manuscript evidence, and to set it in its broader cultural and institutional context. Volume II will be published in 2006.

Edition details

• Publisher: Early English Text Society
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197223281
• ISBN 13: 9780197223284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328
• Editor: Millett Bella