The Katherine Group (MS Bodley 34)

This edition presents for the first time newly edited and translated versions of the texts known collectively as the Katherine Group, contained in the early thirteenth century manuscript known as Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 34. Curated to highlight the virtues of female virginity, these texts include saints’ lives of Saints Katherine, Margaret, and Juliana, which affirm the triumph of virginity over the temptations of material wealth and power; Hali Meithhad (Holy Maidenhood), a virginity tract that skillfully recasts patristic commentary to reflect choices available to middle-class and upper-class women in thirteenth-century England; and Sawles Warde (The Guardianship of the Soul), an allegorical homily encouraging readers to avoid sin by achieving emotional balance in earthly life. Together, these texts provide valuable witnesses for the rigorous anchoritic spiritual life pursued by female recluses in medieval England and the development of Middle English writing in the first centuries after the Norman Conquest.