Titles of Related Interest
Titles of Related Interest
AVAILABLE AS AN EBOOK
Charity Scott-Stokes (tran.), Women’s Books of Hours in Medieval England (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2006)
The book of hours is said to have been the most popular book owned by the laity in the later Middle Ages. This volume brings together a selection of texts taken from books of hours known to have been owned by women. While some will be familiar from bibles or prayer-books, others have to be sought in specialist publications, often embedded in other material, and a few have not until now been available at all in modern editions or translations. The texts are complemented by an introduction setting the book of hours in its context, an interpretive essay, glossary and annotated bibliography.
“Has something of interest to those interested in women writers [.] is also a helpful text for those interested in medieval women readers.” YEAR’S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES
Sharon Kinoshita & Peggy McCracken, Marie de France: A Critical Companion (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2012)
Marie de France is the author of some of the most influential and important works to survive from the middle ages; arguably best-known for her Lais, she also translated Aesop’s Fables (the Ysopë), and wrote the Espurgatoire seint Patriz (St Patrick’s Purgatory), based on a Latin text. The aim of this Companion is both to provide information on what can be gleaned of her life, and on her poetry, and to rethink standard questions of interpretation, through topics with special relevance to medieval literature and culture. The variety of perspectives used highlights both the unity of Marie’s oeuvre and the distinctiveness of the individual texts.
“[This] volume is well written and informative throughout and succeeds in its stated aim […] of catering for the needs of the student, the scholar, and the general reader.” FRENCH STUDIES.
“Kinoshita and McCracken challenge readers to rethink their understanding of Marie de France and her works based on cultural, social, and political concerns of the period in which she lived and it is for this reason that their book should be read not only by students, but also by specialists in the field.” THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW.
Sharon L. Jansen, Anne of France: Lessons for my Daughter (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2004)
Anne of France (1461-1522), daughter of Louis XI and sister of Charles VIII, was one of the most powerful women of her time. As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of enseignements, “lessons”, for her daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These instructions represent a distillation of a lifetime’s experience, and are presented through the portrait of an ideal princess to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in the world of politics. The lessons are here translated into English for the first time and accompanied by full introduction, commentary and notes.
“Offers explication for non-specialist readers but at the same time provides serious scholarship. […] A thoughtful and informative book which offers a sympathetic reassessment of Anne.” RICARDIAN.