E A Jones 
The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England 
Papers Read at Charney Manor, July 2004 [Exeter Symposium VII]

The regular meetings resumed, here with particular focus on Julian of Norwich, and Syon Abbey and the Bridgettines.


The latest volume of proceedings in the series initiated by Marion Glasscoe in 1980 shares with its predecessors a concentrated focus on the English mystical authors and the reception of their continental contemporaries in medieval England. At the same time, it bears witness to the range of disciplinary approaches – literary, historical, theological, art historical – which are currently bearing fruit in research on the medieval mystical tradition.

Thethirteen papers include new work on Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, the
Cloud- author and the thirteenth-century anchoritic texts; texts connected with Syon Abbey and the Bridgettines; and the reception of Ruusbroec, Eckhart and the continental holy women in England. Among the themes explored are the spirituality of the religious orders; gender, class and mystical discourse; the theological precision of mystical language, and the
translatio of the continental mystics into English cultural forms.


Contributors: DENISE N. BAKER, ALEXANDRA BARRATT, SUSANNAH MARY CHEWNING, MARLEEN CRE, VASLERIE EDDEN, VINCENT GILLESPIE, DAVID GRIFFITH, A.ANNETTE GRISE, ANN M. HUTCHISON, LIZ HERBERT MCAVOY, KARL HEINZ STEINMETZ, ANNIE SUTHERLAND, NAOE KUKITA YOSHIKAWA.


Dr E.A. JONES teaches in the Department of English at the University of Exeter.

Table of Content

`Our feyth is groundyd in goddes worde’- Julian of Norwich and the Bible’ – Annie Sutherland

`We are United with God (and God with Us?)’: Adapting Ruusbroec in
The Treatise of Perfection of the Sons of God and
The Chastising of God’s Children Chastising of God’s Children – Marleen Cre

The Structure of the Soul and the `Godly Wylle’ in Julian of Norwich’s Showings – Denise Baker

`Neb…sumdeal ilich wummon & neddre is behinden’: Reading the Monstrous in the Anchoritic Text – Liz Herbert Mc Avoy

Reflections on Aspects of the Spiritual Impact of St Birgitta, the Revelations and the Brigittine Order in Late Medieval England – Ann M. Hutchison

Holy Women in Print: Continental Female Mystics and the English Mystical Tradition – C. Annette Grise

The Reception of Continental Women Mystics in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century England: Some Artistic Evidence – David Griffith

Discretio spiritum in Time: The Impact of Julian of Norwich’s Counsel in the Book of Margery Kempe – Naoe Kutika Yoshikawa

`Thiself a cros to thiself’: Christ as Signum Impressum in the Cloud- Texts against the Background of Expressionistic Christology in Late Medieval Devotional Theology Christology in Late Medieval Devotional Theology – Karl Heinz Steinmetz

`The prohetycal lyf of an heremyte’: Elijah as the Model of the Contemplative Life in The Book of the First Monks – Valerie Edden

`Makedes of me / wrecche $ti leofmon & spuse’: Mystical Desire and Visionary Consummation – Susannah Chewning

Lordship, Service and Worship in Julian of Norwich – Alexandra Barratt

`Hid Diuinite’: The Spirituality of the English Syon Brethren – Vincent Gillespie

About the author

SUSANNAH MARY CHEWNING is Senior Professor of English, Union County College.