The Northern Homily Cycle

Composed in rhyming English verse, the Northern homily cycle is the earliest and most complete work of its kind (Gospel paraphrases with homilies on the theme of the Gospel texts), its widespread and enduring popularity witnessed by three distinct recensions and twenty surviving manuscripts ranging from the early fourteenth to the mid-fifteenth centuries. The collection was intended to accompany the Gospel lessons that were read every Sunday as part of the mass.