From Siena to Syon: a study on the transmission and translation of Catherine of Siena’s Middle English texts

Estrafallaces, Nicola (2025) From Siena to Syon: a study on the transmission and translation of Catherine of Siena’s Middle English texts. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis studies the medieval English reception of texts by and about Catherine of Siena (1347–1380) and, in particular, their transmission across medieval Europe and their translation into Middle English. After surveying the corpus of Catherinian texts, the thesis examines case by case the five texts for which circulation in medieval England can be established conclusively: Raymond of Capua’s Legenda maior (chapter 1); two related hagiographical letters, Stefano Maconi’s Epistola de gestis et virtutibus sanctae Catharinae and Bartolomeo da Ravenna’s Epistola 7omae Antonii de Senis (chapter 2); William Flete’s Documento spirituale (chapter 3); and Catherine’s Dialogo della divina provvidenza, on which some preliminary observations are made (coda to Part I: Transmission). Building on previous studies on the transmission of the Legenda maior with original archival and philological research, this thesis situates manuscript and early-print evidence from medieval England—both in Latin and Middle English—within a larger corpus of European archival material. Ke chapters in Part I of the thesis outline the textual histories of each work under consideration, paying attention to the text’s genesis, its later recensions, and the historical context in which these recensions were produced and circulated. By way of textual and historical evidence, Part I of the thesis argues that English copies of the Legenda maior and of Maconi’s and Bartolomeo’s Epistolae show signs of a Carthusian transmission, while Flete’s Documento spirituale bears possible traces of a Dominican transmission. Part II turns to translation and analyzes the Orcherd of Syon, a Middle English version of Catherine’s Dialogo prepared for the Birgittine nuns at Syon Abbey (chapter 4). Kis adaptation is read alongside other Middle English translations of texts by European visionary women. Ke comparison shows that the Orcherd presupposes a sophisticated reading process and a non-interventionist approach to its source that elevate both its women readers and woman author, in contrast to the typical treatment of European contemplative texts, especially if translated for women readers. All in all, medieval English reception of Catherine of Siena shows a deep engagement with European mystical literature as well as a cosmopolitanism not often recognized in the religious and literary environment of fifteenth-century England.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics
• Funder's Name: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
• Supervisor's Name: Wiggins, Professor Alison and Robertson, Professor Elizabeth
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85137
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 May 2025 06:23
• Last Modified: 01 Jun 2025 20:53
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85137
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85137