Edward Alexander Jones

The solitary life of the recluse or enclosed anchorite was one of the most extreme, and remains one of the most fascinating, forms of religious life of the Middle Ages. Leaving the world behind, anchorites submitted themselves to a life of perpetual enclosure, locked - or even walled - into a small cell, usually attached to a church. They were enclosed to the accompaniment of the Office of the Dead, and they expected to die and be buried in their cells. Why did people choose to become anchorites? What did they do all day? What rewards did they hope for, in return for the sacrifice they had made? These are the questions addressed and answered in the 'Speculum Inclusorum', a 'rule' for male anchorites dating from the early years of the fifteenth century, and its English translation, designed for an audience of women anchorites, 'A mirror for recluses.' This edition prints the Latin 'Speculum Inclusorum' in parallel with the 'English mirror', and supplies a modern English translation for those parts of the 'Speculum' that are - whether by accident or design - absent from the Middle English. It offers the first edition of the Latin since the 1930s, and the only available translation of the entire text. -- Publisher's description.

Speculum Inclusorum

Interest in the anchoritic life in Europe, and medieval England in particular, has never been greater. And yet almost all the recent discussion tends to concentrate on the same texts - De Institutione inclusarum and Ancrene Wisse. Considerations of gender and anchoritism have been limited by the assumption that the reclusive life was 'a feminine phenomenon' pursued almost exclusively by women. This critical edition of a late-medieval English 'rule' for male anchorites will be a timely intervention in - and stimulus to - an already exciting field. The Speculum Inclusorum is an early 15th-century Latin rule or guide. It is notable particularly for the careful attention it gives to discernment and the probation of the prospective anchorite's vocation; for its frank discussion of the temptations and dangers of the reclusive life, including sexual sins; its deep consideration of the anchorite's spiritual life of prayer, meditation and reading; its anticipation of the joys of contemplatio...

A Mirror for Recluses : a Late-medieval Guide for Anchorites and Its Middle English Translation

The fifteenth-century English compilation Disce Mori begins as an almost archetypal manual of religious instruction in the tradition of the Somme Le roi/Miroir du monde. However, in its concluding part, or 'Exhortacion', it turns to the more specific concerns of its female dedicatee (probably a vowess or recluse, although the text also has some connection with Syon Abbey). In lively and well-organized prose, the compiler moves from a consideration of his reader's vow, through love of God and the experience of contemplation, before closing with a call for perseverance in the life of perfection. He includes substantial excerpts from the works of Richard Rolle and Walter Hilton, and allusions to and quotations from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. This is the first edition of any significant portion of Disce Mori, and includes an introduction and notes detailing the sources of the work, and its relationship with its derivative, Ignorancia Sacerdotum.

Edited from Oxford, Jesus College, MS 39

The "exhortacion" from Disce Mori

Alexandra Walsham

Essays on the turbulent history of Syon Abbey, focussing on the role played by reading and writing in constructing its identity and experience.

Edward Alexander Jones

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