ABSTRACT
The texts of the Fisher Miscellany present a moral universe in which such leisure activities could be pursued without censure and without conflict with the texts. The Fisher Miscellany and its incorporation of a merchant’s mark into an armigerous device may similarly record the Fishers’ position in the Norfolk urban elite or their aspiration for such social advancement. The high value placed on passive suffering is mirrored in the fragment of the Festial added to the beginning of the University Library manuscript, probably after it was separated from the rest of the Fisher Miscellany. The idea of a fashionable function for hagiography extends beyond the mere popularity of the saints as lay reading material. The collocation of the Festial with the other texts in the Fisher Miscellany, whether by intention or accident, suggests readers who valued a form of sanctity centered on acceptance of one’s fate and faith in God.
