This thesis highlights the role of Carmelite friars in the composition and circulation of religious texts in the vernacular in late medieval England, a mission undertood with energy but also consternation, because of the vexed religious and social climate of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A particular theological concern to the Carmelites were the teachings of Oxford theologian John Wyclif (c.1328-84) and his ‘Lollard’ followers. Carmelite writers of ‘vernacular theology’ in the years 1375-1450 trod a fine line in balancing their Order’s reputation for, on the one hand, promoting religious renewal, and on the other hand the rooting out of heresy.
The first two chapters set out the context in which medieval English Carmelite writers and their audiences lived. Chapter One considers the interactions between Carmelites and pious laypeople, notably the testimony offered by Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438+) in her Book, and the symbolic imagery contained in the so-called Reconstructed Carmelite Missal. Chapter Two surveys early Carmelite history and historiography, with a particular focus on the Whitefriars’ approach to vernacularity, apostolate, education, and bibliographic culture.
The following chapters present in roughly chronological order the Carmelites known to have written in the vernacular, making reference to others who may have done so, or had a demonstrable interest in vernacular theology. Each Carmelite is first put in his social and literary context, before his life and work are considered. Chapter Three presents Carmelite theologian Richard Maidstone (d. 1396), comparing his Latin works with his Middle English poem The Penitential Psalms. Chapter Four considers parallel interests in the Litil Tretys on the Seven Deadly Sins by Richard Lavenham (fl. 1399). Chapter Five considers the work of Thomas Ashburne and Richard Spalding, and a manuscript scribe who may well have been an East Midlands Carmelite. Chapter Six concerns Richard Misyn, who in the 1430s translated into English the De Emendatio Vitae and Incendium Amoris by Richard Rolle of Hampole (c.1290-1349), clearly articulating in a preface addressed to an anchorite the tension Whitefriars felt in promoting and policing religious thought in the vernacular. Misyn’s work is compared with confrere Thomas Fishlake, who translated Walter Hilton’s Scale of Perfection into Latin. Chapter Seven examines Thomas Scrope’s activities as a writer, translator, bibliophile, and promoter of Carmelite spirituality in both the Latin and English languages.
The conclusion traces the extraordinary experience of Carmelite Provincial John Milverton, provides a broad chronological survey of major themes and individuals, and presents a broad resumé of findings, suggesting areas for further research.
Appended to the thesis are: a chronology of Carmelite vernacular writers in medieval England; a list of their surviving, lost, doubtful, and rejected writings, including all known manuscripts, editions, and translations; the Carmelite Rule of Saint Albert in Latin and Modern English versions; and a comprehensive bibliography.