Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 September 2019
This article discusses annotations to some eighty surviving copies of William Caxton's “Golden Legend.” It assesses reactions from male and female readers across the religious spectrum, exploring the varied ways in which early modern readers engaged with a book that quickly became—and has remained—a shorthand for medieval religion. It seeks to contribute to the history of the “Legend” itself, to historical understanding of annotation, and to the history of reading during the Reformation.
This research was supported by the Gonville Studentship, at Gonville and Caius College; the Frances Yates Long-Term Fellowship, at the Warburg Institute; the Francis Weber Short-Term Fellowship, at the Huntington Library; two Minor Grants from the Bibliographical Society; and a Royal Historical Society Conference Travel Grant. My sincere thanks to colleagues at the Reformation Studies Colloquium, Early Modern Graduate Workshop, and Early Modern British and Irish History Seminar, especially to Brian Cummings, Eamon Duffy, Sam Kennerley, Bill Sherman, and Alexandra Walsham.