THE MANY MISATTRIBUTIONS OF CATHERINE OF SIENA: BEYOND THE ORCHARD IN ENGLAND

Texts concerning Catherine of Siena are many and varied. In addition to her legend, there are many prayers and sermons about her, as well as letters to and from the saint. Very few of these were translated into English, however. The two main English texts that survive, and which are indeed substantial, are Catherine's Dialogue-known as The Orchard of Syon-surviving in manuscript and printed form, and a translation of her Legend, surviving as a printed text. There also survives one Middle English copy of Stephen Maconi's letter in support of her canonization and an additional manuscript with identified excerpts from her vita. Other than these, all other Middle English excerpts concerning Catherine that have survived have in most cases been traced back to the Dialogue. However, nearly all of these excerpts have been misidentified. The purpose of this article is to trace the misidentified texts to their authentic sources and suggest the implications of these corrections.