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  1. Church History/
  2. Medieval

Legends of Holy Women

by Osbern Bokenham, Sheila Delany

  • Hardback
  • 240 pages
  • Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
  • 15.3 x 23 x 2.6 cm

£95.56

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Sheila Delany's translation of Osbern Bokenham's "Legendys of Hooly Wummen" (1443-1447) makes available in modern English the first all-female hagiography. Closely translated from elaborate, Latinate Middle English verse into prose, "A Legend of Holy Women" contains the Augustinian friar's version of the stories of 13 women saints from gospel, apocrypha, martyrology, and high-medieval history. As Delany writes in her comprehensive introduction, "Bokenham gives us not only an all-female hagiography - an authorial decision significant in its own right - but a gallery of powerful, articulate women who are indubitably worthy to do God's work. Some of them are well-educated, some give sound political advice to a monarch, some preach, converting hundreds and thousands to Christianity, some walk on water or perform resurrection. Nor are they pacifists; on the contrary, they call for divinely inflicted vengeance and approve violence in their cause." Delany argues that Geoffrey Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women" provided a principle of selection and of arrangement for Bokenham's array of saints.She suggests further that the friar's choice of all-female hagiography, and his poetic representation of holy women, are closely linked to patronage and politics in 15th-century England. The translation is accompanied by full notes, which, along with the introduction, make the book accessible to a wide audience. It should appeal to all readers interested in the representation of women in late-medieval culture as well as to scholars and students in medieval, renaissance, religious, and women's studies.
Legends of Holy Women and Chaucer and the Jews
Chaucer and the JewsLegends of Holy Women

  • Authors

    Osbern Bokenham +1

  • Book Format

    Hardback

  • Publisher

    University of Notre Dame Press

  • Published

    December 1992

  • Weight

    477g

  • Page Count

    240

  • Dimensions

    15.3 x 23 x 2.6 cm

  • ISBN

    9780268012946

  • ISBN-10

    0268012946

  • Eden Code

    1191055

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