page_title: Revelations of Divine Love
section_title: The Short Text
hierarchical_section_title: Revelations of Divine Love / Surviving manuscripts / The Short Text
caption_attribution_description: English: Revelations of Divine Love (Add MS 37790) f. 97r from the British Library Manuscript
context_page_description: Revelations of Divine Love is a medieval book of Christian mystical devotions. It was written between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by Julian of Norwich, about whom almost nothing is known. It is the earliest surviving example of a book in the English language known to have been written by a woman. It is also the earliest surviving work written by an English anchorite or anchoress.
  Julian, who lived all her life in the English city of Norwich, wrote about the sixteen mystical visions or "shewings" she received in 1373, when she was in her thirties. Whilst seriously ill, and believing to be on her deathbed, the visions appeared to her over a period of several hours in one night, with a final revelation occurring the following night. After making a full recovery, she wrote an account of each vision, producing a manuscript now referred to as the Short Text. She developed her ideas over a period of decades, whilst living as an anchoress in a cell attached to St Julian's Church, Norwich, and wrote a far more extended version of her writings, now known as the Long Text. She wrote straightforwardly in Middle English.
  Julian's work was preserved by others.
context_section_description: It is thought unlikely that the Short Text, thought to have been completed shortly after Julian's recovery from her illness in 1373, was ever read by others whilst she was still alive, on account of the draconian measures taken against those—especially women—who wrote on theology in Middle English, the vernacular language. The text was instead copied after her death, and then largely forgotten. It remained hidden following the English Reformation, as ownership of any copies of her work would have been considered heretical by the religious authorities.
  The sole surviving medieval copy of the Short Text was—until its reappearance in 1910—thought to have been lost. It is part of an anthology of theological works in Middle English, now known as "MS Additional 37790". It was copied c.1450 by James Grenehalgh (born c.1470) for the Carthusian community at Syon Abbey. The manuscript acknowledges Julian as the author of the Short Text and includes the date 1413.
  The manuscript was obtained for the library of the English astrologer and astronomer Vincent Wing (1619-1668) and was at a later date acquired by the English antiquary Francis Peck (d. 1743). The copy is known to have been seen by Francis Blomefield when the manuscript was in Peck’s possession, as Blomefield quoted from it in his 1745 work An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk. During the eighteenth century it was owned by the scientist and collector William Constable (1721–91) of Burton Constable Hall, in Yorkshire, before being sold on 14 June 1889 at Sotheby's to the politician and collector Lord Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909). As part of the sale of the library of Lord Amherst of Hackney, which took place on 24 March 1910, the manuscript was purchased by the British Museum. "MS Additional 37790"—once known as the Amherst Manuscript—is now held in the British Library in London.
caption: The beginning of the 15th century Short Text. "Here es a vision schewed be the goodenes of god to a devoute woman and hir name es Julyan that is recluse atte Norwyche and zitt ys on lyfe anno domini millesimo ccccxiii" (BL, Add MS 37790)
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