ABSTRACT
In the later Middle Ages, mysticism and affective spirituality seized the theological world, resulting in the production of a large number of devotional works, many accessible to women. In fact, the new branch of spiritual expression, which included meditation, contemplation, and ecstatic visions, allowed for greater participation by women, as they could claim a personal relationship with Christ, and thus achieve a more empowering form of spirituality. For instance, many female saints' authority resulted, in part, from receiving visions. ! Visionary authority provided women with a voice and an ability to instruct others as well as a content for teaching. Absence of approved leadership roles for women in medieval society gave women who had mystical or visionary experience authority they might not otherwise have possessed. Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff claims that these women, by shattering stereotypes, "gave birth to themselves , and furthered . . . the growth of the men around them" (Male Confessors 1 57). In some cases, men reclaimed a typically female expression in order to further their own spiritual growth, as happens in the devotional treatise A Talkyng of the Loue of God (A Talkyng).
