Recent critical work upon medieval theological and devotional writings has identified a substantial body of work which can usefully be termed 'vernacular theology'. Writing Religious Women: Female Spiritual and Textual Practices in Late-Medieval England addresses the question of female spirituality within this tradition by looking at devotional texts in which women play a significant role, either as authors, recipients, or subjects, and suggests that these texts participate in the expression of 'female vernacular theology'.
The volume is organized around four main thematic interests: the influence of anchoritic spirituality upon later lay piety; Carthusian links with female spirituality; the representation of femininity in vernacular religious poetry; and the anchoritic, hagiographical and liturgical influences which underlie the textual representation of Margery Kempe. Writing Religious Women provides critical access to several little-known texts which form interesting connections with Carthusian spirituality; it also resituates better-known texts within the context of vernacular textual practice and production from which they have often been detached. This ground-breaking book is a sustained exploration of a fascinating period of cultural and religious history and contributes to the opening-up of a comparatively neglected area of medieval devotional practice.