Lay Piety and Religious Discipline in Middle English Literature (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 73)

In Late-fourteenth-century England, The Persistent Question Of How To Live The Best Life Preoccupied Many Pious Christians. One Answer Was Provided By A New Genre Of Prose Guides That Adapted Professional Religious Rules And Routines For Lay Audiences. These Texts Engaged With Many Of The Same Cultural Questions As Poets Like Langland And Chaucer; However, They Have Not Received The Critical Attention They Deserve Until Now. Nicole Rice Analyses How The Idea Of Religious Discipline Was Translated Into Varied Literary Forms In An Atmosphere Of Religious Change And Controversy. By Considering The Themes Of Spiritual Discipline, Religious Identity, And Orthodoxy In Langland And Chaucer, The Study Also Brings Fresh Perspectives To Bear On Piers Plowman And The Canterbury Tales. This New Juxtaposition Of Spiritual Guidance And Poetry Will Form An Important Contribution To Our Understanding Of Both Authors And Of Late Medieval Religious Practice And Thought.--jacket. Introduction -- Translations Of The Cloister : Regulating Spiritual Aspiration -- Dialogic Form And Clerical Understanding -- Lordship, Pastoral Care, And The Order Of Charity -- Clerical Widows And The Reform Of Preaching -- Conclusion : Spiritual Guides In Fifteenth-century Books : Cultural Change And Continuity. Nicole R. Rice. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 153-234) And Index. In late-fourteenth-century England, the persistent question of how to live the best life preoccupied many pious Christians. One answer was provided by a new genre of prose guides that adapted professional religious rules and routines for lay audiences. These texts engaged with many of the same cultural questions as poets like Langland and Chaucer; however, they have not received the critical attention they deserve until now. Nicole Rice analyses how the idea of religious discipline was translated ̈Üinto varied literary forms in an atmosphere of religious change and controversy. By considering the themes of spiritual discipline, religious identity, and orthodoxy in Langland and Chaucer, the study also brings fresh perspectives to bear on Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales. This new juxtaposition of spiritual guidance and poetry will form an important contribution to our understanding of both authors and of late medieval religious practice and thought. Frontmatter Preface (page ix) Acknowledgments (page xvi) Abbreviations (page xviii) Introduction (page 1) I Translations of the cloister: regulating spiritual aspiration (page 17) 2 Dialogic form and clerical understanding (page 47) 3 Lordship, pastoral care, and the order of charity (page 81) 4 Clerical widows and the reform of preaching (page 105) Conclusion: Spiritual guides in fifteenth-century books: cultural change and continuity (page 133) Notes (page 153) Bibliography (page 217) Index (page 235) In this book Nicole Rice analyses late medieval prose guides that disseminated the idea of religious discipline to a lay audience. By considering the themes of spiritual discipline, religious identity, and orthodoxy in Langland and Chaucer, the study also sheds new light on Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales.