Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:35:36.036Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 19 - Julian of Norwich

A Woman’s Vision, Book, and Readers

from V - Women as Authors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2023

Corinne Saunders
Affiliation:
Durham University
Diane Watt
Affiliation:
University of Surrey
Get access

Summary

This essay explores the insights into female authorship offered by Julian of Norwichߣs Revelations of Divine Love. While we know very little of this figure, external evidence clearly identifies her as an anchoress celebrated for her holiness and spiritual guidance, and she is the first woman writer to use English who can be identified. Windeatt explores the distinctive witnesses to medieval womenߣs literary culture offered by the two extant texts of the Revelations. The shorter version, almost certainly earlier, is explicit about its female authorship, but reflects no particularly female approach. The longer version, by contrast, suppresses reference to female authorship but develops a uniquely woman-centred exposition of deep theological sophistication that suggests extensive learning. The afterlife of Julianߣs Revelations sustains the process of editing, as the short text finds its way into an anthology while excerpts of the Long Text are woven into a florilegium probably for nuns, whilst post-medieval communities of nuns ensure the survival of Julianߣs book.

Type
Chapter
Information
Women and Medieval Literary Culture
From the Early Middle Ages to the Fifteenth Century
, pp. 400 - 419
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Baker, Denise N. (1994). Julian of Norwich’s Showings: From Vision to Book, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Beckwith, Sarah (1993). Christ’s Body: Identity, Culture and Society in Late Medieval Writings, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bynum, Caroline Walker (1982). Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages, Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erler, Mary J. (2002). Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, Carole (2010). Women and Religion in Late Medieval Norwich, Woodbridge: Boydell Press.Google Scholar
Lamm, Julia A. (2019). God’s Kinde Love: Julian of Norwich’s Vernacular Theology of Grace, Freiburg: Herder and Herder.Google Scholar
McAvoy, Liz Herbert (2004). Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar
McAvoy, Liz Herbert, ed. (2008). A Companion to Julian of Norwich, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelstrop, Louise (2019). On Deification and Sacred Eloquence: Richard Rolle and Julian of Norwich, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Salih, Sarah, and Baker, Denise N., eds. (2009). Julian of Norwich’s Legacy: Medieval Mysticism and Post-Medieval Reception, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Turner, Denys (2011). Julian of Norwich, Theologian, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×