Introduction : the visionary tradition in women's writing : dialogue and autobiography -- I. Women in the early church : St. Perpetua and St. Macrina -- II. Holy women and the christianizing of Europe : Hugeberc of Hildesheim, St. Leoba, and Hrotsvit of Gandersheim -- III. Visionaries of the early twelfth century : Christina of Markyate, Hildegard of Bingen, and St. Elisabeth of Schonau -- IV. New styles of feminine spirituality-the Beguine movement : Marie d'Oignies, Christina Mirabilis, Hadewijch of Brabant, and Beatrijs of Nazareth -- V. Beguine spirituality and the convent of Helfta : Mechthild of Magdeburg and St. Gertrude the great -- VI. Women and spirituality in medieval Italy : St. Clare of Assisi, St. Agnes of Assisi, St. Umiltá of Faenza, Blessed Angela of Foligno, and St. Catherine of Siena -- VII. Women, heresy, and holiness in early fourteenth-century France : Na prous Bonetta, Marguerite d'Oingt, and Marguerite Porete -- VIII. Women writers of the late fourteenth century-seeking models : Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Dona Leonor Lopez de Cordoba, and Christine de Pizan -- IX. Individual and collective reformation at the end of the Middle Ages : Magdalena Beutler of Freiburg and Mary of Nijmeghen.