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Marian maternity in late-medieval England

By Long, Mary Beth

Marian maternity in late-medieval England Contemporary literature

Marian maternity in late-medieval England

By Long, Mary Beth

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Description
Marian maternity in late-medieval England takes advantage of the fifteenth century's intense interest in the Virgin Mary, the best-documented mother of the medieval period, to examine the constructions and performances of maternity in vernacular religious texts. By bringing together texts and authors that are not often discussed in tandem, this study offers a rich examination of the multiple factors at play as Marian material circulated among experienced devotional readers.

Taking a close look at the private devotional reading of late-medieval patrons, the book shows how texts including Chaucer's poetry, Margery Kempe's Boke, and legendaries of female saints are saturated with indirect references to and imitations of the Virgin. Marian maternity in late-medieval England employs a matricentric feminist approach to discern how readers' devotional literacies inform their understanding and imitation of the Virgin's maternal practice. Attending to internal cues in the texts, to manuscript contexts, and to the evidence and content of readers' multiple literacies, the author examines Marian maternity as both theological concept and imitable practice. The result is a book that explains late-medieval perceptions of Mary's maternity and sets them against readers' devotional, emotional and relational circumstances.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
306
Release Date:
2025-06-03
Publication Date:
2025-06-03
Publisher:
Manchester University Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1526191601
ISBN13:
9781526191601
Weight:
573 g
Height:
140 cm
Width:
216 cm
Thickness:
20 cm
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