Anonymous
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By: Penguin Classics
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
A masterpiece of history, literature and religion 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.
An anchoress was a woman who dedicated herself to God by spending her life in a tiny cell attached to a church. A small window and a handmaid provided her only contact with the world. Often when an anchoress died, her cell was filled with dirt and became her tomb.This anonymous guide was written for three anchoresses in western England in the first half of the thirteenth century. The author - believed to have been a Dominican friar - gives some advice on the proper daily routine for an anchoress to follow. Most of the book, however, deals with the inner, spiritual life - prayer, the love of God, and the way to resist temptation.
As translator Hugh White points out, `the extremity of the anchoritic life was the extremity not of a margin but of a peak.' Through this guide written for an especially devoted few, through it we get an idea of how ordinary medieval people viewed their God and their destiny.
The book is also one of the finest examples we have of Middle English writing. Rarely has belief been expressed in such vivid metaphor. A woman who prays while angry is a she-wolf howling to God; a liar `makes of her tongue a cradle for the devil's child and rocks it diligently, as if its nurse'; but repentance will cause Christ to return to the heart, just as a husband hurries back to his pining wife.
Ancrene Wisse is no mere historical document. When the author describes the excuses that people make for sin, or discusses the various types of flattery and slander, modern readers will recognise behaviour they witness - or engage in -- every day. From a seemingly bizarre ancient group comes wisdom for our time.
Editorial Review:
This work of English devotional literature was written for three anchoresses by a chaplain in about 1230 and is divided into eight sections, each dealing in an accessible way with one divison of the religious rule.
