The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England, Ireland and Wales: Papers Read at Charney Manor, July 1999 [Exeter Symposium VI](Medieval Mystical Tradition)

Contemplative life in the middle ages has been the focus of much recent critical attention. The Symposium papers collected in this volume illuminate the mystical tradition through examination of written texts and material culture in the medieval period. A particular focus is on Celtic modes of witnessing to comtemplative vision from Ireland and Wales: an eighth-century account of voyages to wonders beyond the known world of Irish monasticism, and the work of Christian bards in medieval Wales. Distinctions within the mystical tradition in England are also explored both within differing Religious Orders and bewtween individuals engaged with the contemplative life. Dr MARION GLASSCOE teaches in the School of English and American Studies at the University of Exeter.Contributors: THOMAS O'LOUGHLIN, OLIVER DAVIES, R. IESTYN DANIEL, RUTH SMITH, VALERIE EDDEN, DENISE N. BAKER, DENIS RENEVEY, E.A. JONES, RICHARD LAWES, NAOE KUKITA YOSHIKAWA, C. ANNETTE GRISE, JAMES HOGG

Table of Contents:
Distant Islands: The Topography of Holiness in the 'Nauigatio Sancti Brendani' - Thomas O'Loughlin Rhetoric of the Gift: Inspiration, Pneumatology and Poetic Craft in Medieval Wales - Oliver Davies Medieval Mysticism: An Example from Wales - Iestyn Daniel Cistercian and Victorine Approaches to Contemplation: Understandings of Self in 'A Rule of Life for a Recluse' and 'The Twelve Patriarchs'Twelve Patriarchs' - Ruth Smith The Mantle of Elijah: Carmelite Spirituality in England in the Fourteenth Century - Valerie Edden The Active and Contemplative Lives in Rolle, the 'Cloud'-Author and Hilton - Denise N Baker Name Above Names: The Devotion to the Name of Jesu from Richard Rolle to Walter Hilton's 'Scale of Perfection I' - Denis Renevey A New Look into the 'Speculum Inclusorum' - E A Jones The Madness of Margery Kempe - Richard Lawes The Role of the Virgin Mary and the Structure of Meditation in the 'Book of Margery Kempe' - Naoe Kukita Yoshikawa 'In the Blessed Vyneyerd of Oure Holy Saueour': Female Religious Readers and Textual Reception in the 'Myroure of Oure Ladye' and 'The Orcherd of Syon''The Orcherd of Syon' - C. Annette Grise Adam Easton's 'Defensorium Sanctae Birgittae' - James Hogg Dial M for Mystic: Mystical Texts in the Library of Syon Abbey and the Spirituality of the Syon Brethren - Vincent Gillespie

About the Author :
E.A. JONES is Professor of English Medieval Literature and Culture in the Department of English at the University of Exeter. NAOË KUKITA YOSHIKAWA is Professor Emerita of Medieval English Literature at Shizuoka University, and Research Fellow at the Center for Medieval English Literary Text Studies, Meiji University, Japan.

Review :
Summaries can only suggest the riches for the student of medieval mysticism and spirituality to be found... a collection which delights and instructs. The strength of this volume lies not only in the expansion of its geographical remit, but also in its embracing of some of the more neglected spiritual traditions and texts.