The South English Legendary

The South English Legendary (SEL), a collection of saints' lives and temporale materials originating in the Southwest of England circa 1270-85 and written in Middle English, has been the object of a number of scholarly studies since its first publication by C. Horstmann in 1887. More than sixty extant manuscripts attest to the legendary's popularity and rank it with Chaucer, Langland, and the Picke of Conscience as one of the most widely read, copied and distributed texts of the Middle English period.
The book contains critical essays by Thomas J. Hefferman, Katherine G. McMahon, Marcelle Thiebaux, Gregory M. Sadlek, Karen T. Bjelland, Thomas R. Liszka, Manfred Markus, and Hans Sauer. The contributions draw on comparative philology, textual analysis according to genetic, generic, formalistic and linguistic methods, and intellectual/cultural history. The essays deal with source and language problems, imagery, Saints George, Ursula, Scholastica, Thomas Becket, and the treatment of female saints. It includes new editions of the "Defence of Women" by Oliver S. Pickering and "St. Mildred", by Paul Acker, as well as an introduction by the editor and a bibliography of SEL scholarship since 1960.