This source book offers a comprehensive treatment of solitary religious lives in England in the late Middle Ages. It covers both enclosed recluses (anchorites) and free-wandering hermits, and explores the relationship between them. Although there has been a recent surge of interest in the solitary vocations, especially anchorites, this has focused almost exclusively on a small number of examples. The field is in need of reinvigoration, and this book provides it. Featuring translated extracts from a wide range of Latin, Middle English and Old French sources, as well as a scholarly introduction and commentary from one of the foremost experts in the field, Hermits and anchorites in England is an invaluable resource for students and lecturers alike.

Reviews

'Hermits and Anchorites in England, 1200-1550, the latest addition to the Manchester Medieval Sources series, serves as a complement to this literary and spiritual emphasis (11), presenting an extraordinarily rich range of extracts translated from Latin, French and Middle English primary sources, which collectively illuminate the more external and material aspects of the solitary vocation. [.] . This unparalleled command of the field makes him the ideal expositor of these complex, often obscure sources, allowing him to shape them into a series of coherent narratives. The international community of anchoritic scholars will be indebted to this work and the insights it enables for many decades to come.'
TMR - Christiania Whitehead

Introduction
I Becoming an anchorite
II A cell of one's own
III A day in the anchoritic life
IV For the whole term of this life
V Scenes of eremitical life
VI Rules and regulations
VII Renegades, charismatics and charlatans
VIII Dissolution
Index