A Companion to The Doctrine of the Hert: The Middle English Translation and its Latin and European Contexts
Denis Renevey and Christiania Whitehead
Abstract
The Doctrine of the Hert was the fifteenth-century English translation of De doctrina cordis, the thirteenth-century Latin devotional treatise addressed to nuns. The text progressively pairs the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit with seven key actions of the heart, leading readers toward contemplative unity with God. It was a religious bestseller, circulated widely throughout Europe between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and was translated into numerous vernacular versions. This book consists of ten essays from an international group of scholars of medieval religion discussing the Middle ... More
The Doctrine of the Hert was the fifteenth-century English translation of De doctrina cordis, the thirteenth-century Latin devotional treatise addressed to nuns. The text progressively pairs the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit with seven key actions of the heart, leading readers toward contemplative unity with God. It was a religious bestseller, circulated widely throughout Europe between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and was translated into numerous vernacular versions. This book consists of ten essays from an international group of scholars of medieval religion discussing the Middle English text alongside its Latin forebear, and other European vernacular translations (French, German, Spanish, and Middle Dutch). Despite its medieval popularity, The Doctrine of the Hert has largely escaped the attention of scholars until recently, yet it has much to offer regarding our understanding of late medieval female spirituality. University of Exeter Press's new edition (published June 2010) opens up the field by providing access to the text, and this companion further establishes scholarship on this text.
Keywords:
nuns,
De doctrina cordis,
devotional treatise,
seven gifts,
Holy Spirit,
contemplative unity,
God,
medieval religion,
spirituality
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780859898218 |
| Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: May 2014 |
DOI:10.5949/liverpool/9780859898218.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Denis Renevey, editor
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Christiania Whitehead, editor
University of Warwick
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