The Wooing Group (Wohunge Group) includes the
title piece, loe Wohunge of ure Laured (The Wooing
of Our Lord), On Lofsong of ure Loured (A Song of
Praise Concerning Our Lord), On wel swu´∂e God
Ureisun of God Almihti (An Exceedingly Good Orison
to God Almighty), On Lofsong of ure Lefdi (A
Song of Praise Concerning Our Lady), as well as the
two fragmentary renditions of the final two pieces,
On Ureisun of ure Lourede (An Orison to Our Lord),
and loe Oriesun of Seinte Marie (An Orison to Saint
Mary). All are 13th-century pieces written in the
West Midlands dialect J. R. R. Tolkien christened
the “AB” language (a standard written—rather
than spoken—dialect, characterized by French and
Norse loanwords, colloquial expressions, conservative
spelling, and similarities to Old English syntax).
Only one direct source has been found for any
member of the Wooing Group: On Lofsong of ure
Lefdi has its origins in an 11th-century Latin
prayer by Marbod of Rennes, Oratio ad sanctum
Mariam.While the other texts certainly share correlations
with other prayers of the same era, they
appear to be substantially original in composition.
loe Wohunge survives in only one manuscript,
London, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D.xviii
(ff. 127r–133r), and the other three pieces of the
Wooing Group are not found with it; instead, they
are found at the end of ANCRENEWISSE in London,
British Library, MS Cotton Nero A.xiv.While there
is no general agreement among scholars as to authorship,
Ancrene Wisse, the KATHERINE GROUP, and
the Wooing Group are often combined, albeit
loosely, into a confederation of texts. They are
connected by manuscript tradition, as many of the
texts appear and reappear in manuscripts in various
combinations. Perhaps most significantly,
there exist numerous thematic parallels among the
group, including a focus on a suffering human
Christ who has a personal relationship with the
primarily female audience, and a connection to anchoresses.
Anchoresses were women who completely
withdrew from earthly life by having
themselves enclosed in small cells attached to
churches, from which they could never depart.
They communicated with servants and visitors
through a window that looked out on the churchyard,
and observed Mass and received communion
through a window that was directed towards the
high altar. As contemplatives, the anchoresses’ primary
purpose was to pray, seeking complete union
with God.
The pieces are written in lyrical prose, and combine
COURTLY LOVE imagery of Christ as the perfect
lover-knight with more earthy eroticism. Similarly,
the texts combine nuptial metaphors with crucifixion
imagery, blending divine marriage with
shared divine pain. Jesus is at once the desired
spouse and the suffering savior. In particular, the
title piece outlines all the qualities that Christ has
that make him the perfect spouse, and these are all
defined in human terms. Christ is handsome, kind,
noble, wealthy, generous, and loving. The other
members of the Trinity make only rare appearances.
For instance, God the Father is referred to
only in the context of providing Jesus with a kingdom.
Similarly, the Virgin Mary is invoked as a
pure, unstained advocate for the female speaker’s
cause, but not fleshed out as an individual figure.
W.Meredith Thompson, an early editor ofWooing
Group, put forth the claim that it was written by
a woman for other women, probably anchoresses,
and that loe Wohunge itself was written with one
specific anchoress in mind.While this view is appealingly
optimistic, it is rather unlikely, as the
works appear more performative and directive than
personal. Other scholars have suggested attributing
common, but unknown, authorship to Ancrene
Wisse, the Katherine Group, particularly HALIMEIDENHAD,
and the Wooing Group.
Related to the Wooing Group, but not technically
a part of it, is the 14th-century text A
Talkyng of the Loue of God (A Discussion of the
Love of God). This work, extant in two different
manuscripts, is composed of large portions of On
Uriesun of ure Lourede and loe Wohunge of ure
Laured, along with SAINT ANSELM of Canterbury’s
Liber meditatio et orationum and original work.
Though the primary source materials for this
treatise were composed for women, evidence suggests
that A Talkyng was intended for a male
monastic audience.
To a great extent, traditional scholarship has
overlooked the Wooing Group in favor of its more
prominent companions, especially Ancrene Wisse.
The few early investigations focused primarily
upon philology, diction, and vocabulary.More recently,
scholars have begun investigating the implications
of gender and sexuality found in the
Wooing Group as well as its place in the anchoritic
context and the culture of late medieval piety.
More investigation into these texts is needed in the
future. These endeavors should be aided by the recent
translations of Wooing Group and A Talkyng
into modern English, making the texts accessible
to a wider audience.
Bibliography
Innes-Parker, Catherine. “Ancrene Wisse and loe
Wohunge of ure Lauerd: The Thirteenth-Century
Female Reader and the Lover-Knight,” in Women,
the Book, and the Godly: Selected Proceedings of the
St.Hilda’s Conference, 1993, edited by Lesley Smith
and Jane H. M. Taylor. Vol. 1 of 2. Cambridge:
Brewer, 1995.
Sauer, Michelle M. The Wohunge Group and A
Talkyng of the Loue of God: Translated from the
Middle English with introduction, notes, and interpretive
essay. Library of Medieval Women Series.
Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, forthcoming.
———.“ ‘Prei for me mi leue suster’: The Paradox
of the Anchoritic ‘Community’ in Late Medieval
England,” Prose Studies 26 (2003): 153–175.
Thompson,W.Meredith, ed. loe Wohunge of Ure Laured.
Edited from British Museum MS Cotton Titus
D.xviii, together with On Uriesun of Ure Lourerde;
On Wel Swu´∂e God Ureisun of God Almihti; On
Lofsong of Ure Louerde; On Lofsong of Ure Lefdi; loe
Oreisun of Seinte Marie. EETS 241. London: Published
for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford
University Press, 1958.
Westra, Salvina, ed. A Talkyng of the Loue of God.
Edited from MS Vernon (Bodleian 3938) and Collated
with MS Simeon (Brit.Mus. Add. 22283). The
Hague:Martinus Nijhoff, 1950.
Michelle M. Sauer