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"The writer of the texts edited and translated here (Miracles of the Virgin; Tract on Abuses; and The Life of Saint Paul, the First Hermit) is often labeled Nigel of Canterbury. Nigel's second-longest poem is the Miracles of the Virgin. These seventeen episodes, divided into three books, are the oldest extant collection of versified miracles of the Virgin in Latin. To go a step further, they count among the earliest such assemblages in any language, including the vernaculars. The stories that make up Nigel's Miracles show that heinous sins-incest, drunkenness, broken vows-can be washed away through devotion to the Virgin. Women and men, old and young, laity and clergy count on Mary to intercede with her son Jesus and forgive every sin, no matter how grave, as long as the sinner shows faith in her mercy. Just as she saves souls, so she repairs bodies. Even without Christ's involvement, she nurses the ill back to health with her milk. Merely displaying her clothing routs armies of foes. Her enemies? Obdurate nonbelievers, in this period often Jews. The tales give voice to the anti-Semitism that was widespread in England as in most of then-contemporary Europe and anticipate the Edict of Expulsion, by which King Edward I expelled all Jews from the country in 1290. Between 1193 and 1194, Nigel composed the letter whose length, tenor, and tone have elicited the editorial title Tractatus contra curiales et officiales clericos (A Tract against Courtiers and Clerical Officials), here, more concisely, Tract on Abuses. The letter resembles a religious pamphlet. It excoriates ecclesiastical abuses, denounces secular activities of prelates and clergy, and summons its episcopal addressee to reform. It expresses sentiments amply supported by scriptural authority, historical sources, contemporary examples, and anecdotes, all graced by classical allusions and an appealing Latin style. The Vita sancti Pauli primi eremitae (The Life of Saint Paul, the First Hermit) comprises 747 rhymed dactylic hexameters. The poem is based on Jerome's prose life of Paul. But, as a poet and author with his own purpose, Nigel departed from his model's plain, straightforward story by amplifying and embellishing descriptions and details in the prose piece. In short, The Life of Saint Paul is more ornate, more didactic, than its prose exemplar"--
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