• Acknowledgements


• List of Illustrations


• Introduction


• 1: Borderline Sanctity: Dorothea of Montau, 1347-1394


• 2: Anchoritic Damsel: Margery Kempe of Lynn, c. 1373- c. 1440


• 3: Holy Amazon: Mary Ward of Yorkshire, 1585-1645


• 4: Vice Queen of Ireland: Elizabeth Cary of Drury Lane, c. 1585-1639


• Bibliography


• Index

David Wallace studied for a BA (1976) in English and Related Literature at York and for a Ph.D. at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. Following a Research Fellowship at Cambridge (1981-3) and a Mellon Fellowship at Stanford (1984-5), he taught at the University of Texas at Austin (1985-91) and then at the University of Minnesota, where he was Professor of English and Frenzel Chair in Liberal Arts (1991-6). He has been Judith Rodin Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania since 1996, with stints as Visiting Professor at King's College, Cambridge, Melbourne University, Princeton University, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He has done extensive work for BBC radio, with documentary features on Bede, Malory, Margery Kempe, and John Leland. He is currently editing what will be the first literary history of Europe, 1348-1418, for OUP: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~dwallace/regeneration/

It takes a strong woman to secure bookish remembrance in future times. The four fascinating Catholic women considered here - Dorothea of Montau (1347-1394), Margery Kempe of Lynn (c. 1373-c. 1440), Mary Ward of Yorkshire (1585-1645), and Elizabeth Cary of Drury Lane (c. 1585-1639) - shock, surprise, and court historical danger.