The Meditationes Vitae Christi Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Text and Image

Drawing on diverse literary traditions, the author of the fourteenth-century Meditationes Vitae Christi transformed the Gospel accounts into an emotionally charged and vivid narrative that became one of the most popular texts of the late Middle Ages. Over the past few years, new theories about the authorship, date, and original language of the text have emerged, raising new questions about this text and its impact on late medieval art and spirituality. The essays in this interdisciplinary volume examine multiple aspects of the Meditationes history, from its possible authorship to its manuscript traditions to its reflections in art.