ABSTRACT
When Margery Kempe asked the Vicar of St Stephen’s, Norwich to spare her an hour or two to speak with him about the love of God, the saintly Richard of Caister expressed incredulity that a woman could occupy so long in speaking about the love of Our Lord (Book of Margery Kempe, p. 38). Some people may well harbour similar doubts about an anthology of Middle English women’s texts. How can a selection of women’s writing in Middle English fill a whole book, when only two names of medieval English women writers immediately come to mind – those of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe?
