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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 1147: A Saint beyond Borders: New Work on Birgitta of Sweden in Medieval England

Wednesday 8 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Young Research Talents Grant, Research Council of Norway / Project ReVISION 'Re-Assessing St Birgitta of Sweden & her Revelations in Medieval England: Circulation & Influence, 1380-1530'
Organisers:Julia King, Institutt for fremmedspråk, Universitetet i Bergen
Laura Saetveit Miles, Institutt for Fremmedspråk, Universitet i Bergen
Moderator/Chair:Ian Johnson, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies / School of English, University of St Andrews
Paper 1147-aBirgitta of Sweden and Female Intercession for the Dead in Late Medieval England: New Evidence for Her Influence on the Author of A Revelation of Purgatory
(Language: English)
Clarck Drieshen, British Library, London
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1147-bBorders of Geography, Not Gender: English Women Reading Birgitta of Sweden
(Language: English)
Caitlin Branum Thrash, Department of English University of Tennessee Knoxville
Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1147-cSt Thomas More and Syon Abbey: Brigittine Devotional Culture and Early Modern Catholic Humanism
(Language: English)
Nancy Bradley Warren, Department of English, Florida State University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Lay Piety, Religious Life
Paper 1147-dThe Vitae of St Birgitta and Syon Abbey: Questioning the Evidence
(Language: English)
Veronica O'Mara, School of Arts - English, University of Hull
Index terms: Religious Life, Women's Studies
Abstract

This session presents recent work on the ways in which St Birgitta of Sweden (1303-1373) and texts related to her were known in England from the late medieval through the early modern period. Although Birgitta never set foot in the British Isles, her book of revelations, the Liber Celestis, reached England soon after her death and enjoyed over a 150 years of booming popularity among English readers of all kinds. These papers will explore how texts such as the Liber and her vitae circulated in England, who read them, what their impact was on religious textual traditions, and how far their influence extended among both male and female readers and authors.