The Vernacular Spirit: Essays on Medieval Religious Literature 1st ed. 2002 Edition

“The important themes of vernacularity, spirituality, and gender in the later Middle Ages are explored here across a broad European canvas. The Vernacular Spirit brings together studies of English, French, German, Flemish, and Spanish religious and devotional writing; while the volume defines certain issues in common among literary traditions, each essay presents a fully historicized reading of a particular vernacular spiritual community and its emergence within the terms of its own linguistic, cultural, and political tradition. This volume will be an excellent resource for comparative perspectives on vernacular spirituality, and for an understanding of the variety of vernacular literary formations in response to the growth of lay spirituality across medieval Europe.” – Rita Copeland, University of Pennsylvania