Saints’ Lives for Medieval English Nuns, II

Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604 contains a unique collection of prose saints’ lives evenly divided into eleven universal and eleven native saints (predominantly culted at Ely). Clearly intended for the devotional life of nuns, presumably in an East Anglian convent, the volume comprises nineteen female figures, all of whom are virgins, martyrs, or nuns, and three male saints (two apostles and a hermit). These late Middle English lives are translated from a variety of Latin sources and analogues including material by Jacobus de Voragine, John of Tynemouth, and others. The collection demonstrates an interest in showcasing native saints alongside their universal sisters. Luminaries of the English Church, such as Æthelthryth of Ely and her sister Seaxburh, are found in the company of notable virgin martyrs like Agatha and Cecilia. Famous saints like John the Evangelist and Hild of Whitby feature alongside others such as Columba of Sens and Eorcengota. Fully analysed and contextualised in its companion volume Saints’ Lives for Medieval English Nuns, I: A Study of the ‘Lyves and Dethes’ in Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604, these texts are edited here for the first time. Alongside the edition of the twenty-two saints’ lives and full textual apparatus, there are extensive overviews and commentaries providing details of the sources and analogues as well as explanatory historical and literary notes. The edition concludes with three appendices, a detailed select glossary, and a bibliography of works cited.