ABSTRACT
In the Author’s Note that prefaced the 1981 edition of Caritas, 1 Arnold Wesker formally thanked the touring theatres of Norway and Sweden who, together with Det Danske Teater of Denmark, had commissioned the play. He also acknowledged the help of Professor Paul Levitt of the University of Colorado who had urged him to explore the world of anchoresses and, in particular, the ‘scant story’ of Christine Carpenter. Finally, Wesker appended the briefest of biographical notes about the real-life model for his main character, and mentioned some recently discovered documents that revealed ‘that the original Christine was immured [in 1329], broke out three years later and then seems to have been persuaded by the authorities to reenter her cell’. 2
