The Katherine Group is a set of Early Middle English works composed for devout women, renowned for both their vigorous and flexible prose and their rich and distinctive language. This volume for the first time brings together all the manuscripts of four of the five works, printing them in parallel for easy comparison. Scrutiny of the manuscripts has made it possible to correct a considerable number of errors in the standard editions, and to present the Royal and Titus texts in a more diplomatic form than hitherto available. The notes pay particular attention to paleographic details and doubtful readings. Complete wordlists, giving frequencies and differentiating the individual texts, have been provided for the Royal and Titus versions, allowing them to be studied on an equal footing with the better-known Bodley 34 versions.

Shoko Ono (Tokyo Woman’s Christian University) and John Scahill (formerly of Keio University, Tokyo) represent the eight medievalists of the Tokyo Medieval Manuscript Reading Group, which as a tool for the historical study of English has already produced a diplomatic parallel text of Ancrene Wisse (2003-2005).

Inhaltsverzeichnis