Focusing on women's prophecy, this study explores the voices of English female visionaries from the twelfth to seventeenth centuries, including notable figures like Margery Kempe and Anne Askew. These women, through trances and eucharistic devotion, claimed divine authority, allowing them to engage in the religious and political discussions of their time. By examining their strategies for being heard, the book reveals how these prophets navigated societal constraints to assert their autonomy and influence. It won the Foster Watson Memorial Gift in 1998.
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.
Margaret Paston's letters offer a rare glimpse into late medieval England, capturing the complexities of life during the Wars of the Roses. The collection reveals her experiences with political turmoil, family strife, secret romances, and the harsh realities of war and disease. Diane Watt, an expert on medieval women's writing, delves into Margaret's emotions and relationships, illustrating her navigation through both ordinary domestic life and extraordinary historical events, making it a unique exploration of a woman's voice from this tumultuous period.
Exploring women's literary contributions in Britain from 700 to 1500, this volume highlights diverse activities in Latin, Welsh, and Anglo-Norman, as well as English vernacular. It challenges traditional literary history and prompts a reevaluation of what constitutes 'writing,' showcasing the significant yet often overlooked role of women in shaping literary traditions during this period.
This volume focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 700 and
1500. It brings to the fore a wide range of women's literary activity
undertaken in Latin, Welsh and Anglo-Norman alongside that of the English
vernacular, demanding a rethinking of the traditions of literary history, and
ultimately the concept of 'writing' itself.
Women's literary histories usually start in the later Middle Ages, but recent scholarship has shown that actually women were at the heart of the emergence of the English literary tradition. Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650-1100 focuses on the period before the so-called 'Barking Renaissance' of women's writing in the 12th century. By examining the surviving evidence of women's authorship, as well as the evidence of women's engagement with literary culture more widely, Diane Watt argues that early women's writing was often lost, suppressed, or deliberately destroyed. In particular she considers the different forms of male 'overwriting', to which she ascribes the multiple connotations of 'destruction', 'preservation', 'control' and 'suppression'. She uses the term to describe the complex relationship between male authors and their female subjects to capture the ways in which texts can attempt to control and circumscribe female autonomy.Written by one of the leading experts in medieval women's writing, Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650-1100 examines women's literary engagement in monasteries such as Ely, Whitby, Barking and Wilton Abbey, as well as letters and hagiographies from the 8th and 9th centuries. Diane Watt provides a much-needed look at women's writing in the early medieval period that is crucial to understanding women's literary history more broadly.
