Women's writing in any period remains of critical concern, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Alexandra Barratt's edition offers a wide range of texts from the period 1300-1500, including:

• Original texts written by women in the Middle Ages
• Texts translated by women in the Middle Ages
• Prayers, meditations, scriptural comment, and accounts of religious experiences
• Educational writings
• Romance, poetry

Each poem is given a headnote, giving details of composition, manuscript and sources. Full on-page annotation is provided giving details of allusions to contemporary religious, historical and social issues. A general introduction gives context to all the pieces and provides a penetrating account of the role of women in a burgeoning society of literary and cultural transmission.