Publisher's Synopsis
The Revelation of the Monk of Eynsham is a late fifteenth-century translation of the late twelfth-century Visio Monachi de Eynsham by Adam of Eynsham (later author of the Magna Vita Sancti Hugonis). The Revelation recounts a fascinating vision of purgatory and paradise experienced by Adam's brother Edmund at the monastery of Eynsham, while unconscious for two days at Easter 1196 and who encountered in purgatory a varied range of contemporary figures, including the soul of Henry II. The text survives in two copies of a version printed in London c. 1483 by William de Machlinia. This is the first modern edition of the Revelation since Edward Arber's reprint in 1869. The Middle English text is printed in parallel with an edited text of the version of the Latin source closest to that used by the translator, based on Bodleian Library MS Selden Supra.