This volume comprises selected papers of SEM VI to VIII (Studientage Englisches Mittelalter), held at Jena, Bochum, and Zurich between 2004 and 2007. It presents a representative cross-section of topics in the field of English medieval studies in Germany and Switzerland. The spectrum ranges from philological textual criticism, cultural studies centring around the history of ideas, questions of historical writing, alliteration, and the depiction of the monstrous in early modern literature, to philological and linguistic approaches focussing on morphology and grammar.

The saints were the superheroes and the celebrities of medieval England, bridging the gap between heaven and earth, the living and the dead. A vast body of literature evolved during the middle ages to ensure that everyone, from kings to peasants, knew the stories of the lives, deaths and afterlives of the saints. However, despite its popularity and ubiquity, the genre of the Saint's Life has until recently been little studied. This collection introduces the canon of Middle English hagiography; places it in the context of the cults of saints; analyses key themes within hagiographic narrative, including gender, power, violence and history; and, finally, shows how hagiographic themes survived the Reformation. Overall it offers both information for those coming to the genre for the first time, and points forward to new trends in research. Dr SARAH SALIH is a Lecturer in English at the University of East Anglia. Contributors: SAMANTHA RICHES, MARY BETH LONG, CLAIRE M. WATERS, ROBERT MILLS, ANKE BERNAU, KATHERINE J. LEWIS, MATTHEW WOODCOCK