Extracts

Appendix The Fate of Julian's Texts There are various theories about why the three surviving Long Text manuscripts differ from each other and what degree of authority should be accorded to each. This is linked to the overall fate of Julian's texts after her lifetime. What can we surmise about this? The evidence about both the circulation and the readership of Julian's texts during the first two centuries of their life is extremely limited and ambiguous. The so‐called

Long Text presents particular difficulties.1

Extracts The only likely medieval manuscript associated with the Long Text consists of a limited number of short extracts in what is known as Westminster Cathedral Treasury Manuscript 4. This florilegium appears to date from the middle of the fifteenth century. The extracts appear in a different order from the full Long Text and are written in very neutral

English. As a result, it is not clear whether medieval readers had access to Julian's full text or how closely any available text reproduced what Julian actually wrote.

Full Texts The earliest full manuscripts of the Long Text date from either the late sixteenth century or from the first part of the seventeenth century. It seems probable that at some point before this, perhaps during the Henrician Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries, a copy or copies of the Long Text were in the hands of Benedictine nuns who then went into exile. Thus, the so‐called Paris manuscript (Bibliothèque

National Fonds Anglais Ms 40, designated by Julian scholars as P) was Julian of Norwich: "In God's Sight" – Her Theology in Context, First Edition. Philip Sheldrake.

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