Essays suggesting new ways of studying the crucial but sometimes difficult range of medieval mystical material. This volume seeks to explore the origins, context and content of the anchoritic and mystical texts produced in England during the Middle Ages and to examine the ways in which these texts may be studied and taught today. It foregrounds issues of context and interaction, seeking both to position medieval spiritual writings against a surprisingly wide range of contemporary contexts and to face the challenge of making these texts accessible to a wider readership. The contributions, by leading scholars in the field, incorporate historical, literary and theological perspectives and offer critical approaches and background material which will inform both research and teaching. The approaches to Middle English anchoritic and mystical texts suggested in this volume are many and varied. In this they reflect the richness and complexity of the contexts from which these writings emerged. These essays are offered aspart of an ongoing exploration of aspects of medieval spirituality which, while posing a considerable challenge to modern readers, also offer invaluable insights into the interaction between medieval culture and belief. Contributors: E.A. Jones, Dee Dyas, Valerie Edden, Santha Bhattachariji, Denis Renevey, A.C. Spearing, Thomas Bestul, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Barry A. Windeatt, Alexandra Barratt, R.S. Allen, Roger Ellis, Ann M. Hutchison, Marion Glasscoe, Catherine Innes-Parker

`The Index of Middle English Prose when completed will be a monumental achievement.' REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES This handlist indexes 82 manuscripts from twelve Midlands collections. The collections examined are diverse in origin: the cathedral libraries include Hereford and Worcester, whose collections include manuscripts in their possession continuously since the middle ages, and Gloucester, Lichfield, Peterborough and Southwell Minster, whose early libraries were largely dispersed at the dissolution or during the Civil War and whose present libraries are modern foundations. Also included are manuscripts on deposit in Record Offices in Gloucester and Leicester, the private collections on deposit in Nottingham University Library and manuscripts acquired by university or college libraries inthe twentieth century. Of note are several Wycliffite bibles, a number of sermon collections (including one not previously described), several works by Rolle, Hilton's Scale of Perfection, Chaucer's prose tales and the chronicle Brut.Dr VALERIE EDDEN is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English,University of Birmingham.