Mirror to Devout People (Speculum devotorum): An Edition with Commentary

FAIN: FT-59268-11

Paul J. Patterson
Saint Joseph's University (Philadelphia, PA 19131-1308)

This project is a critical edition of the Mirror to Devout People (c. 1430-1450), also known as the Speculum devotorum, for the Early English Text Society. The Mirror to Devout People is a Middle English life of Christ written in the pseudo-Bonaventuran tradition by an anonymous Carthusian monk of Sheen for a Bridgettine nun at the neighboring Syon Abbey. It plays a central role in growing scholarly interest in medieval lives of Christ that originated in the text-producing center of the Sheen royal manor where Henry V established a Carthusian monastery and the Bridgettine Syon Abbey. Despite the importance of the Mirror to Devout People for understanding the role of late medieval English lives of Christ in the broader context of religious practice, there is no critical edition of the text. This project will provide for the first time a full critical edition that takes into account all textual variations along with a full textual and explanatory commentary and glossary.