Towards a Spirituality for Lay Active life in Middle English Religious literature from the Thirteenth Century to the Fifteenth

Based on extensive manuscript research in British Libraries, a close reading of the relevant primary sources, and a wide survey of the secondary literature, presents much new evidence for the engagement of the laity in the Christian life. It reveals that in the 13th - 15th centuries the development of a lay spirituality emerged that has been largely ignored to date.