Summer Recap for Medieval Institute Publications

Conceiving Heroic Christianity in Early Medieval England

by David G. Pedersen

Unlike much of early medieval Europe, the early English converted to Christianity through missional efforts, not martial conquest. Thus early English converts had freedom to construct their Christian identity, producing a religious subjectivity that differed from the Latinate perspective of the missionaries who converted them. This book investigates lay texts to undermine monolithic conceptions of medieval Christianity by revealing a uniquely English religious subjectivity evident in Old English wisdom literature.

ISBN: 978-1-50152-664-0 (hardcover), 978-1-50151-678-8 (eBook) © 2025

The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome

edited by Rory G. Critten and Alison Wiggins

The Middle English Seven Sages of Rome was translated from French ca. 1300 by an anonymous writer whom scholarship locates in London. The text relates a tale-telling competition between parties arguing for and against the execution of Florentine, the emperor of Rome’s son. The emperor’s second wife wants Florentine dead because he threatens her position at court; she tells tales of usurping sons and untrustworthy counsellors. In response, the sages tell tales of perfidious wives and the dangers of haste. The emperor vacillates until his son speaks in his own favor and the contest is decided. The frame narrative of the Seven Sages originates in eighth-century Persia; during the Middle Ages it was translated into all the vernaculars and Latin. This edition makes the Middle English poem newly available to students and researchers interested in topics including medieval misogyny, east-to-west cultural transfer, and the history of the exemplum and exemplary writing.

ISBN 978-1-58044-713-3 (paperback), 978-1-58044-714-0 (hardback), 978-1-58044-715-7 (PDF) © 2026

The Sacred and Profane in Premodern Icelandic Literature

edited by Margrét Eggertsdóttir, Katelin Marit Parsons, and Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir

This edited volume re-examines literary production and reception during a neglected chapter of Iceland’s history. It questions the usefulness of the binary division of pre-modern texts into religious and secular, advocating for a more holistic approach in which one can glimpse the sacred in the profane and the profane in the sacred.

ISBN 978-1-50152-226-0 (hardcover), 978-1-50151-850-8 (PDF), 978-1-50151-859-1 (EPUB) © 2026

Textual Respect and Situated Readings of Spenser, Shakespeare, and Donne: Essays in Honor of Judith H. Anderson

edited by Tamara A. Goeglein and Jennifer C. Vaught

ISBN 978-1-50152-136-2 (hardcover), 978-1-50151-795-2 (ebook) © 2026