Description: This is an insight into the rich cultural canvas of the Middle Ages is granted by a host of texts: liturgical manuals; manuscripts of epic poetry, vernacular lyric, and music; paintings, and many more. Adopting a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-literary studies, liturgical studies, iconography, and musicology - this collection of essays reveals the two-fold performative nature of such texts: they document, mediate, or prefigure acts of performance, while at the same time taking on performative roles themselves by generating additional layers of meaning.