Wood Empt 17 'Meditatyons for Goostly Exercyse, in the Tyme of the Masse': an edition and notes

Thesis

This thesis presents an edition of a sixteenth century commentary on the Mass.In the Manual of the Writings in Middle English, Raymo classifies the text as belonging to`Works of Religious and Philosophical Instruction''. When it was written, the text soughtto explain the Mass by yoking the objects, actions, and participants in the Eucharisticceremony to specific events in the Passion of Christ. By linking already establishedEucharistic tradition to elements of popular meditative literature, the church would embedits own interpretation of the Mass in the imaginations of its readers. Thus, Wood Empt 17,referred to throughout the thesis as `W', is not only part of the tradition of the Passionmeditation, it also belongs to a tradition of ecclesiastically mediated teaching which wouldcontrol the symbolism of the Mass.

This thesis first seeks to produce an edition of the W text, and then to show W in itsrelationship and lines of influence with two parallel texts. The parallel texts seem toexhibit more devotion to the Passion than W does, for W draws on the Passion only whenit illuminates the Eucharist, while the other texts draw more attention to the Passion eventitself. A brief discussion of W as it relates to other popular meditative works highlightshow W was able to teach its reader the Mass through using aspects of meditativedevotional literature. Subject Matter Notes also record how W follows the liturgy and howit fashions Passion-constructed etymologies meant to support the order of service. In thisway, the W writer presents an ecclesiastically controlled interpretation of the Eucharist.

Authors: Yeager, S

• Type of award: MPhil
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English