Early Middle English literature contains a distinct type of writing, specifically designed for the religious, moral, and to some extent social instruction of women, or as suitable texts for them to read. The most famous of these is the "Ancrene Wisse", an anonymous tract on how female recluses (originally for three particular women) should live their lives; how to pray, how to spend the day, how to deal with visitors to their cells, how to comport themselves. There is also a collection of shorter works which have connections with "Ancrene Wisse" and with each other, being written originally in the same literary dialect and linked by verbal and thematic parallels, as well as often being found grouped in the surviving manuscripts. Five of these make up what is known as the "Katherine Group" - lives of the virgin martyrs Katherine, Margaret and Juliana, together the letter on virginity called "Hali Meiohad" and an allegory on the custody of the soul, "Sawles Warde".To make these texts more accessible to students, the editors have made a selection of the whole of "Hali Meidhad", "Seinte Margarete", "Sawles Warde", and the final two sections of the "Ancrene Wisse" and have provided them with translations and a textual commentary explicating difficult parts of the texts. The book thus provides an introduction to this area of Middle English writing, and throws light on the position of women at that period.
