Twenty-six Lives of Saints, mainly from the British Isles, or with British connections. Almost all previously unpublished, the Lives were added as supplementary material to the Gilte Legende deriving from the enormously influential Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine.

The Gilte Legende is, for the most part, a close translation "drawn out of Frensshe into Englisshe" in 1438, of Jean de Vignay's Legende doree of about 1333-40, itself a close translation of Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea, completed c.1267. The importance of the Legenda aurea as one of the most widely copied and read books of the later middle ages can hardly be over-estimated. This is the first of a projected set of three volumes; volumes I and II will contain the text, and volume III the general introduction, notes and commentary. Richard Hamer is an Emeritus Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and former Tutor in English Literature. Vida Russell was formerly a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Adelaide.