A Revelation of Purgatory was written by a female anchorite living in Winchester during the second decade of the fifteenth century; it provides an account of how a deceased member of her order appeared to her in four consecutive dream visions over three nights, showing her suffering in purgatory, begging for her sisters' prayers, and pleading that masses be said for her soul, to enable a quicker release. The text offers a fascinating insight into a female-focused view of theological doctrine as it developed during the latter middle ages, and provides a formative testimony to the changing roles of women within the religious climate at the time. Read alongside the works of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, it also forms a vital link in the chain of our understanding of what constituted "women's writing". This volume contains a rendering of the Revelation into modern English; it is accompanied by an edition of the text from the version in the Thornton manuscript (the earliest of the three in which it is extant). A substantial introduction argues for the importance of the text and demonstrates why this unjustly-neglected work should be better known.
Liz Herbert McAvoy is Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing, University of Swansea..