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Much of the research into medieval anchoritism to date has focused primarily on its liminal and elite status within the socio-religious cultures of its day: the anchorite has long been depicted as both solitary and alone, almost entirely removed from community and living a life of permanent withdrawal and isolation, in effect dead to the world. Considerably less attention has been afforded to the communal sociability that also formed part of the reclusive life during the period, The essays in this volume, stemming from a variety of cross-disciplinary approaches and methodologies, lay down a challenge to this position, breaking new ground in their presentation of the medieval anchorite and other types of enclosed solitary as playing a central role within the devotional life of the communities in which they were embedded. They attest also to the frequent involvement of anchorites and other recluses in local, national and, sometimes, international matters of importance. Overall, the volume suggests that, far from operating on the socio-religious periphery, as posited previously, the medieval anchorite was more often found at the heart of a sometimes intersecting array of communities: synchronic and diachronic; physical and metaphysical; religious and secular; gendered and textual. Cate Gunn has taught in the Continuing Education and Literature Departments of the University of Essex; Liz Herbert McAvoy is Professor of Medieval Literature at Swansea University. Contributors: Diana Denissen, Clare Dowding, Clarck Drieshen, Cate Gunn, Catherine Innes-Parker, E.A. Jones, Dorothy Kim, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Godelinde Perk, James Plumtree, Michelle Sauer, Sophie Sawicka-Sykes, Andrew Thornton OSB,

Anchors --- Ships --- History. --- Equipment and supplies --- Hermits --- Church history --- History --- Anchorites --- Eremites --- Persons --- Hermitages --- Recluses

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Religious studies --- anno 1200-1499 --- Christian literature, English (Middle) --- Hermits --- Mysticism --- Church history --- Anchorites --- Eremites --- Persons --- Hermitages --- Recluses --- History and criticism --- History

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Hermits. --- Monastic and religious life. --- Monastic and religious life --- Hermits --- Monastic life --- Spirituality (in religious orders, congregations, etc.) --- Monasticism and religious orders --- Spiritual life --- Vows --- Anchorites --- Eremites --- Persons --- Hermitages --- Recluses --- Christianity

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Anchorites and their texts, such as Ancrene Wisse, have recently undergone a reevaluation based on material circumstances, not just theological import. The articles here address a variety of anchoritic or anchoritic-adjacent texts, encompassing guidance literature, hagiographies, miracle narratives, medical discourse, and mystic prose, and spanning in date from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Exploring reclusion and materiality, the collection addresses a series of overlapping themes, including the importance of touch, the limits of religious authority, and the role of the senses. Objects, metaphorical and real, embodied and spiritual, populate the pages. These categories are permeable, with flexible and porous boundaries, demonstrating the conflation of ideas, concepts, and manifestations in medieval materiality. In fact, the permeability of these categories demonstrates how materiality can reshape our approach to medieval texts. It leaves room for directions for future study, including the application of material analysis to previously unstudied objects, spaces, and literary artifacts.

Material culture in literature. --- Christian literature, English (Middle) --- History and criticism. --- Christian literature, English --- Christian literature, Middle English --- English Christian literature, Middle --- Middle English Christian literature --- English literature --- Middle English literature. --- anchorites. --- ancrenne wisse. --- embodiment. --- medieval materiality. --- medieval relics. --- reclusion.

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Essays suggesting new ways of studying the crucial but sometimes difficult range of medieval mystical material. This volume seeks to explore the origins, context and content of the anchoritic and mystical texts produced in England during the Middle Ages and to examine the ways in which these texts may be studied and taught today. It foregrounds issues of context and interaction, seeking both to position medieval spiritual writings against a surprisingly wide range of contemporary contexts and to face the challenge of making these texts accessible to a wider readership. The contributions, by leading scholars in the field, incorporate historical, literary and theological perspectives and offer critical approaches and background material which will inform both research and teaching. The approaches to Middle English anchoritic and mystical texts suggested in this volume are many and varied. In this they reflect the richness and complexity of the contexts from which these writings emerged. These essays are offered aspart of an ongoing exploration of aspects of medieval spirituality which, while posing a considerable challenge to modern readers, also offer invaluable insights into the interaction between medieval culture and belief. Contributors: E.A. Jones, Dee Dyas, Valerie Edden, Santha Bhattachariji, Denis Renevey, A.C. Spearing, Thomas Bestul, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Barry A. Windeatt, Alexandra Barratt, R.S. Allen, Roger Ellis, Ann M. Hutchison, Marion Glasscoe, Catherine Innes-Parker

Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern) --- Christian literature, English (Middle) --- Mysticism --- Hermits --- History and criticism. --- History --- Anchorites --- Eremites --- Persons --- Hermitages --- Recluses --- Study and teaching. --- Anchoritic Texts. --- Medieval English. --- Middle Ages. --- Mystical Literature.