Medieval Women's Visionary Literature

by Petroff and Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff

Book Overview

These pages capture a thousand years of medieval women's visionary writing, from late antiquity to the 15th century. Written by hermits, recluses, wives, mothers, wandering teachers, founders of religious communities, and reformers, the selections reveal how medieval women felt about their lives, the kind of education they received, how they perceived the religion of their time, and why ascetic life attracted them.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019503712X
• ISBN13: 9780195037128
• Release Date: March 1986
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Perfect Introduction to Medieval Women's Visionary Writings

Petroff's compilation of visionary writings is wonderful in its breath both in terms of time and women. It stretches from St. Perpetua to Mary of Nijmeghen. In addition to beautiful selections of visionary literature, Petroff provides intelligent introductions which enable a novice reader such as myself to place the women writers in their contexts.

A classic for both content and commentary

This book is THE starting place for those seeking to understand the variety of women's religious writings and experiences in the medieval west. The chosen texts are very good themselves, and Petroff's commentary is very helpful to modern readers seeking to understand a sometimes alien discourse. I use this as a textbook in religious studies and women's history courses for university freshmen and sophomores and get consistently good comments from my students about the book.