Middle English devotional compilations – consisting of a series of texts or extracts of texts that have intentionally been put together to constitute new and unified devotional texts – have often been approached as complex collections of source texts that need to be linked with their originals. This book argues that the study of compilations should move beyond the disentanglement of their sources. It approaches compiling as a literary activity and an active way of shaping the medieval text, with the aim to nuance scholarly discussion about compiling by putting greater emphasis on the literary instead of the technical aspects of compiling activity. In addition to describing the additions, omissions and other types of adaptations that compilers made to their source texts, Middle English Devotional Compilations highlights the nature and function of compiling activity in late medieval England, and examines three major but understudied Middle English devotional compilations in depth: The Pore Caitif, The Tretyse of Love and A Talkyng of the Love of God.
Table of Content
Series Editors’ Preface
Volume Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
Abbreviations
1. Compiling Styles and Strategies
2. The Pore Caitif
3. The Tretyse of Love
4. A Talkyng of the Love of God
Afterword: Without the Multiplication of Many Books?
Bibliography
Appendix: A transcription of ‘ȝe þat wollen lerne to loue god rede þis litill scripte’
Index
About the author
The book is primarily written for an international academic audience (researchers and postgraduate students), interested in late medieval literature, religious studies and manuscript studies. Middle English Devotional Compilations offers these readers a new perspective on late medieval compiling activity.
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