ABSTRACT
The Anchoresses’ Rule was prepared by an unknown cleric for a group of three aristocratic ladies who had decided to retire from the world into a life of spiritual contemplation. Usually such candidates would have joined a nunnery. The Benedictines had established convents for women in England even before the Norman Conquest and admitted new orders of nuns after the conquest; by 1200, the Gilbertines had admitted nuns to their order; and the Augustinians and Premonstratensians had founded orders for canonesses. The three anchoresses, however, had evidently decided to live by themselves, and their adviser therefore undertook to warn them of their duties and of what might be called the psychological hazards of their profession. Within the eight brief and clearly organized divisions of his manual the author (1) advocates observance of the divine services, (2) shows how the five senses may be directed toward the worship of God, (3) explains allegorically how the inner self should be controlled, (4) enumerates the temptations of the Seven Deadly Sins and prescribes remedies, (5) advocates confession, (6) advocates penance, (7) extolls the love of Christ as the highest form of love, and (8) appends some practical suggestions concerning the recluse’s everyday life.
