Two Middle English Prayer Cycles

This volume presents the first critical editions of two fascinating but overlooked medieval prayer sequences: the Holkham Prayers and Meditations (c. 1400-1420), a rare example of medieval religious literature by a female author written to guide a religious sustir in her devotions; and Simon Appulbys Fruyte of Redempcyon (1514), composed by one of Englands last anchorites to serve his urban community. Patterned after the widely influential fourteenth-century Meditationes vitae Christi (Meditations on the Life of Christ) and its psychological model of prayer, both cycles direct their readers to imagine themselves in Jesuss presence during key events of Christian history, mystically envisioning and experiencing Christs life and passion in the here and now through a state of spiritual intimacy. Despite their differences in century, contexts, and intended audiences, these prayer sequences together introduce readers to one of the most vital and idiosyncratic traditions of medieval Christian devotion.