The Distaff Gospels (Les Evangiles des Quenouilles), a fascinating fifteenth-century collection of more than 250 popular beliefs, constitutes a kind of encyclopedia of late medieval women's wisdom. The women's beliefs and experiences are recounted within the narrative frame of traditional gatherings where women meet with their spindles and distaffs to spin. They share advice on such important matters as how to control errant husbands, how to predict the gender of future offspring, how to cure common diseases, and ways to deal with evil spirits, providing a rare look into the intimate lives of medieval peasant women. This edition includes a facing-page translation (the first in English since 1510) of the two Old French manuscripts of the text. The critical introduction discusses the literary context, textual history, and cultural significance of The Distaff Gospels, while the rich selection of appendices includes translations of the names of the women storytellers and excerpts from works by Giovanni Boccaccio, Jean de Meun, Francois Villon, and Christine de Pizan.

Douceline de Digne, founder of the beguine community of the Ladies of Roubaud in Provence, was an important woman mystic of her time; contextual material includes comparison with the beguines of northern Europe. The Life of Douceline de Digne introduces to an English-speaking audience a 13th-century woman mystic [d.1274] of great significance in the study of female spirituality in the middle ages. Douceline combined an active life of community service [as Mother of the beguine community the Ladies of Roubaud] with vigorous mysticism, and was the focus of an intense cult in Provence after her death. The Life, probably written by Philippa de Porcellet, a member of Douceline's community in Marseilles, is complemented by a study of Douceline's importance in terms of her own spiritual experience, and also as founder and leader of the community, dedicated followers of Franciscan spirituality; she is also compared to other holy women of the later middle ages, especially the beguines of northern Europe.