Mystical writing flourished between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries across Europe and in England, and had a wide influence on religion and spirituality. This volume examines a range of topics within the field. The five "Middle English Mystics" (Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe) receive renewed attention, with significant new insights generated by fresh theoretical approaches. In addition, there are studies of the relationships between continental and English mystical authors, introductions to some less well-known writers in the tradition (such as the Monk of Farne), and explorations around the fringes of the mystical canon, including Middle English translations of Boethius, Lollard spirituality, and the Syon brother Richard Whytford's writings for a sixteenth-century "mixed life" audience. E. A. Jones is Senior Lecturer in English Medieval Literature and Culture at the University of Exeter. Contributors: Christine Cooper-Rompato, Vincent Gillespie, C. Annette Grisé, Ian Johnson, Sarah Macmillan, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Nicole R. Rice, Maggie Ross, Steven Rozenski Jr, David Russell, Michael G. Sargent, Christiana Whitehead.

The latest volume of proceedings in the series initiated by Marion Glasscoe in 1980 shares with its predecessors a concentrated focus on the English mystical authors and the reception of their continental contemporaries in medieval England. At the same time, it bears witness to the range of disciplinary approaches - literary, historical, theological, art historical - which are currently bearing fruit in research on the medieval mystical tradition. The thirteen papers include new work on Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, the 'Cloud'- author and the thirteenth-century anchoritic texts; texts connected with Syon Abbey and the Bridgettines; and the reception of Ruusbroec, Eckhart and the continental holy women in England. Among the themes explored are the spirituality of the religious orders; gender, class and mystical discourse; the theological precision of mystical language, and the 'translatio' of the continental mystics into English cultural forms. Contributors: DENISE N. BAKER, ALEXANDRA BARRATT, SUSANNAH MARY CHEWNING, MARLEEN CRE, VASLERIE EDDEN, VINCENT GILLESPIE, DAVID GRIFFITH, A.ANNETTE GRISE, ANN M. HUTCHISON, LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY, KARL HEINZ STEINMETZ, ANNIE SUTHERLAND, NAOE KUKITA YOSHIKAWA. Dr E.A. JONES teaches in the Department of English at the University of Exeter.