Includes bibliographical references.

"A prostitute become hermit, Mary of Egypt has been held up, especially to monks, as the quintessential example of compunction and conversion. First written down around AD 600, her story was translated, first into Latin by Paul the Deacon in the ninth century, and then into vernacular languages. Three metrical versions of her Life are translated here: that of Flodoard of Reims in the tenth century, Hildebert of Lavardin in the twelfth century, and an anonymous Spanish poet of the thirteenth century." "Although these vernacular versions seem to have been directed in part at monks, they also envisaged a larger audience. For most of her life Mary of Egypt was a pilgrim; her story has travelled from Palestine to Europe, from Greek to Latin to French to Spanish, and from the monastery to the secular world."--BOOK JACKET.