Anchoresses

Author: Anne Clift Boris
Publisher: CBE International

One of my spiritual mentors is a woman who lived six hundred years ago: Julian of Norwich. I admire her for the clarity of her descriptions of spiritual experience, her balanced and orthodox presentation of God as mother, and the divine comfort of her vi­sion of our sin and redemption.

From studying St Birgitta and the Norwich Benedictine, Cardinal Adam Easton, I came to see a cluster of texts of spiritual direction written in East Anglia, mainly to women contemplatives, also in this Continental framework and to glimpse how they could be related to each other. This will be a chapter in a forthcoming book, Julian Among the Books; Julian of Norwich's Theological Books.

Juliana z Norwich była żyjącą na przełomie XIV i XV wieku angielską pustelnicą. W Objawieniach Bożej Miłości opisała wizje, jakich miała doznać, a które dotyczyły poszczególnych Osób Trójcy Świętej, Matki Bożej, nieba, wydarzeń eschatologicznych, a także pozwalały jej na fizyczne doświadczanie Męki Chrystusa. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie dwóch najciekawszych aspektów objawień przedstawionych w pismach Juliany – pierwszym z nich jest wyraźne zaakcentowanie macierzyńskiego wymiaru Boga, drugim poglądy nawiązujące do idei powszechnego zbawienia – apokatastazy – występujące w kontrowersyjnej 13. wizji.

The paper looks at the visions of the Blessed Osanna of Kotor (1493–1565), a Dominican tertiary who came to adopt an austere
form of asceticism – reclusion. Recognisable in Osanna’s visions is a strong influence of the artistic images and religious
themes popular in contemporary Kotor, a coastal town at the far end of the Gulf of Kotor (Bocca di Cattaro), in modern day
Montenegro. The recognition of links between texts, mental images and visual art images makes it possible to embark upon
the study of the religious, social and historical context of the Blessed Osanna’s emergence and role in Kotor in the first half
of the sixteenth century.

Per le mie ricerche sulla reclusione urbana a Pisa tra la metà del XIII e la fi ne del XIV secolo che ho svolto per impulso di Mauro Ronzani, prima per la tesi di laurea e ora in vista della pubblicazione di una monografi a, ho utilizzato come fonte privilegiata i testamenti. In occasione di questo convegno rovescio il rapporto: non i testamenti come fonte per la storia della reclusione, ma la reclusione come uno dei poli d'attrazione del panorama testamentario pisano, con un occhio particolare (questo l'argomento della seconda parte della mia relazione) ai testamenti di donne. S'intende dunque che non tratterò dei testamenti nel loro complesso, ma solo dei legati ad pias causas -una componente peraltro essenziale e primaria del testamento medievale 1 -, e tra questi solo dei legati ai reclusi e recluse.

According to the hagiographical tradition recorded in Vita di beata Osanna by Florentine Dominican Serafino Razzi (1592), the Kotor santa viva is credited with a prominent role in the town's spiritual protection during the attacks of Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (1539). A somewhat different representation was depicted in the personal correspondence between town guardian, Captain Gian Matteo Bembo, and his cousin, the famous cardinal Pie-tro Bembo, during the Ottoman siege of Kotor. Their letters focused on spiritual protection with no mention of Osanna, but rather, a general debate about the prayers of holy nuns from Kotor and Zadar. One name stood out-santa monaca Franceschina from Zadar, whose prayers, advice and prophecies cardinal Pietro Bembo particularly revered. This paper explores the issue of the role of santa vi-va as a protector of Venetian Kotor by addressing the hagiographical tradition and written testimonies of participants in historical events.

Julian among the Books: Julian of Norwich’s Theological Library brings together innovative research on aspects of the Showing of Love, especially the Pan-European background of its manuscripts, and their contexts, arguing for the concept of ‘Holy Conversations’ in a mise en abyme, where her readers, breaking the frame, participate in her contemplative visions. It discusses the three versions of her text, her knowledge of Hebrew, and her Benedictine context and its lectio divina, including textual and actual links with the Norwich monk, Cardinal Adam Easton, OSB, his collegial friendship with St Catherine of Siena and St Catherine of Sweden, and his support for St Birgitta of Sweden’s canonisation. The book also explores the library of texts of the ‘Friends of God’ movement, including the Mirror of Simple Souls of Marguerite Porete, presents the texts of Julian’s conversation with Margery Kemp, and discusses the exiled Brigittine and Benedictine nuns who continued to treasure and copy Julian’s text on the Continent following England’s Reformation.

Scholarly methods used in this study include palaeography, codicology, iconography, reader reception, discourse on the Body, use of Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and the concepts of ‘Holy Conversation’ and ‘Textual Communities’. It gives much of the text of the Westminster Manuscript in translation, along with many quotations from the Westminster, Paris and Sloane manuscripts in their original layout and spelling. Illustrated with colour plates of the Julian manuscripts in the centrefold and other images, and black and white figures throughout the body of the text, it brings the reader as close as possible to Julian’s writing, her context, and her preservation by other women contemplatives throughout time.

--- Proposal of a new translation of two Middle English terms within the frame of Julian od Norwich's long text (ca. 1393): it helps to clarify Julian's showing and meditation about Christ's side wound and Julian's originality compared to the literary and iconographic tradition.
--- Proposta di traduzione di due termini dell'inglese medio nel contesto delle Rivelazioni di Giuliana di Norwich (ca. 1393) che può chiarire la visione e il discorso di Giuliana intorno alla ferita del costato di Cristo e l'originalità di Giuliana rispetto alla tradizione letteraria e iconografica.
https://www.nuovomedioevo.it/attivita-2/1466-2/

Author: Eliza Stiles
Publisher: CBE International

Julian of Norwich, in her Revelations of Divine Love, recounts and meditates on her revelations of Christ dying and the significance of his body and blood in his work of salvation and continued work of sustaining us. In these revelations, she appropriates this salvific work to Christ, our true mother. Using Julian’s imagery of the maternal Christ, this article argues that the inclusion of embodied female experiences in how the church understands the Eucharist is necessary for the eucharistic celebration to truly unite the whole body of Christ.

« Les recluses de Montpellier du XIIIe au XVe siècle : une institution urbaine »
À la fin du Moyen Âge, se trouvent dans les grandes villes européennes et les communautés d’habitants de taille plus réduite des reclus et des recluses, souvent en grand nombre. À Montpellier, l’un des centres urbains d’importance du Midi, les recluses ne sont que trois ou quatre. Elles sont attestées dans les sources à partir du milieu du XIIIe siècle et en disparaissent assez tôt. Les recluses sont pourtant l’objet d’attentions nombreuses et répétées de la part des habitants et des consuls de la ville. Cette recherche, appuyée la chronique du Petit Thalamus, les testaments, des archives consulaires – telle que la comptabilité urbaine – et l’étude géographique des lieux de la réclusion, vise à analyser les rapports entretenus par la communauté d’habitants avec ses recluses, à comprendre pourquoi si peu de reclusoirs avaient ouvert dans la ville et à interroger les raisons de leur fermeture précoce. Cette spécificité montpelliéraine pourrait être justifiée par plusieurs facteurs, dont la réticence envers la réclusion de l’évêque de Maguelone, seigneur de Montpellier jusqu’en 1293. Une autre explication viendrait de l’hérésie de l’une des recluses, qui finit ses jours sur un bûcher en 1417, un événement qui fit forte impression dans la ville.

« The recluses of Montpellier, from the 13th to the 15th century: an urban institution»
At the end of the Middle Ages, European cities, small towns, and villages were home to reclus and recluses, often in large numbers. However, in Montpellier, one of the main cities of Mediterranean France, there were only three or four recluses. They were mentioned in the archives from the mid-13th century and disappeared after a relatively short period of time. Nonetheless, the people of Montpellier and the consulate expressed their attachment to the recluses on a regular basis. This research, based on the Petit Thalamus municipal chronicle, wills, consulate’s archives – such as accounting records – and on a geographical study of reclusion, seeks to analyze the relationship between the inhabitants and the recluses, to understand why so few reclusoirs had opened in the city and why they closed as early as they did. The uniqueness of Montpellier’s situation could be explained by the misgivings of the bishop of Maguelone – lord of Montpellier until 1293 – towards the practice of reclusion. Another explanation would owe to the heretical orientation of one of the recluses who burned at the stake in 1417, an event that deeply marked the inhabitants.

Author: Linda Marion Montgomery
Publisher: CBE International

An anchoress was a woman vowed to chastity and stability of abode. She was enclosed in an anchorhold for life. There was no release from her cell until death, on pain of excommunication. The object of her life was contemplation, the unceasing concentration upon God in prayer.

What changed in the course of the twelfth century from the standpoint of women as readers, writers, and participants in literate culture? This article offers three interrelated answers: (1) the emergence of the anchoress as a figure of idealized interiority, and thus an ideal reader; (2) the development of new styles of relationship between religious men and women, along with new literary genres to express them; and (3) the transition from an older monastic humanism to a new culture of vernacular mysticism and prophecy. Liminality, or "standing on the threshold," serves as a crucial metaphor because enclosure, the marking and sealing of boundaries, was such a vital symbolic practice in women's religious life.

This paper studies the development of the word "flesh" in the Ancrene Wisse, a 13th c. guide for anchoresses living the contemplative life. Through "flesh," I argue, the Wisse prescribed a particularly affective and absorptive manner of reading that, in the end, acknowledged the creative capacities of allegory and metaphor.

I begin with the early descriptions of the anchoress' own body as "brittle flesh," as fragile "vessels" that are in turn receptive to the word of God. Then, I turn to the body of Christ described in several Passion scenes (particularly Parts Two and Four), a body marked with "holes" and suffering, and that which anchoresses are called to identify with in an affective practice of piety. Lastly, I turn to the image of "shield"--a form of flesh--that appears in Part Seven, in the allegory of Christ as the pursuing Knight and the anchoress as a guarded lady. Here, I conclude, the "shield" refers to the "flesh" of the allegorical page itself, and draws the reader into fleshly union with the text. As such, I maintain, the crucial image appearing at the end of Part Two--of the anchoress scraping the earth out of her own grave every day--is a call for her to read with attention to the body, to figurative language, and to metamorphosis.

I developed this paper at a talk given at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan (2017), and later worked with the advice of Prof. Audrey Walton (2019). The version included here is a draft only. Please contact me if you wish to view a good copy, which is not included here for copyright reasons.

Many late medieval devotional texts, such as the Middle English translations of Aelred of Rievaulx’s 'De Institutione Inclusarum' ('A Rule of Life for a Recluse'), urge the reader to ‘haunte ryueres of cler water’. When such water is found, however, the reader is frequently advised to remain beside it, rather than venture into it. Such instruction, this paper will suggest, was partly inspired by biblical tradition, and partly by the fact that, for various reasons, water was a far more threatening element in medieval England than it is today. Nevertheless, such advice is complicated by conflicting imagery of immersion. Readers are warned about the dangers of drowning in dangerous water, which is used as a metaphor for drowning in sin. Yet authors, paradoxically, deliberately describe positive spiritual experience in terms of direct interaction with water, even drowning.

This paper will suggest that the reader is offered a choice: they can remain safely ‘beside still waters’ – and in many cases they are pressed to do so. Or, they can throw themselves into the water – be it clean or polluted - and thereby risk drowning in order to gain a deeper relationship with God, and a more sublime state of perfection. Although this paradox appears in a number of late medieval texts, I will focus on one fifteenth-century example: the Vernon version of 'A Rule of Life for a Recluse' written, significantly, for a female audience in Middle English.
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It has been suggested that entrances and interiors are gendered female and that the surveillance of women concentrated upon areas of the mouth, chastity and the threshold of the house. The three categories merge into one another through their connection to enclosure. In medieval moral and didactic literature there are two dominant configurations of the window: a site of chastity or a threshold for transgression. In rules for enclosed women, the window was regulated. Shutters and grills concealed women and controlled speech. On the occasions that men were situated at the window they tended to be in possession of the gaze. The biblical narrative of King David, who spied on the bathing Bathsheba outside of his palace window, filtered into medieval imaginings of the erotic potential of the male gaze.
This chapter explores the physical and figurative boundaries of windows, gates and doorways in thirteenth-century vitae from the Low Countries. The Low Countries’ vitae, particularly those of beguines and holy laywomen, are often considered through the lens of late thirteenth-century canonical decrees and institutionalisation. This can distort interpretations of gendered space and enclosure. As physical and symbolic boundaries with a multitude of purposes, windows, gates and doorways were constantly renegotiated and redefined through everyday movement and behaviour. While the window concealed the women’s corporeal shape from visitors, holy women were rendered visible through holy speech. Holy speech was not just the literal configuration of words and grammar but the allegorical and spiritual word of God. In the vitae, holy speech could enter the listener’s body and have a transcendental effect. Open windows and mouths worked to differentiate or, in moments of mutual edification, blur the boundaries between sacred inner and exterior. Rather than zones of danger, the women exhibited control of a ‘vocal gaze’. As a comparison, in the vitae of men, gates and doorways replaced the window as the central physical entry point. Men moved between such physical boundaries in order to display public charity and penance. Their example of sanctity was corporeal and visual.
The purpose of this chapter is twofold: To challenge the dominant configuration of windows using the Low Countries’ vitae and to note the importance of sensory perception to the construction of space. Following Michel de Certeau’s notion that ‘space’ is composed through the ‘intersections of mobile elements’, speech can be considered as a form of spatial movement. The window provided a channel between the sacred inner and outside space. In the Low Countries’ vitae the permeability of windows, doors and gateways was not configured according to a static gendered paradigm of enclosure; physical and figurative thresholds were gendered through visibility, movement and behaviour.

Robert I. Moore, Celibacy, Marriage and Reform: the problem in the Midi.
Hermits and holy men and women were present and influential everywhere in eleventh- and twelfth-century Europe, but treated as heretics only rarely, and in exceptional circumstances. Yet comparison between (for example) those of Anglo-Norman England in the 1130s and ‘40s and the « good men » and « good women » of the Midi in the later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries suggests that their spirituality and social demeanour were in essence very similar, though very differently perceived and recorded. It is argued here that the difference in their fates is to be accounted for not by the religiosity of the ‘Cathars’ but by the diverging social and governmental trajectories of the midi and northern Europe in the twelfth century, and especially in the failure of the church to forge an alliance with the nobility of the region through the new structures of marriage and sexuality on which the success of the Gregorian reforms elsewhere were founded.

Robert I. Moore, Célibat, mariage et réforme : le problème dans le Midi
Les ermites, les saints hommes et les saintes femmes étaient présents et exerçaient une influence à peu près partout dans l’Europe des XIe et XIIe siècles, mais ils ne furent traités comme hérétiques que rarement et dans des circonstances exceptionnelles. Pourtant, la comparaison entre (par exemple) ceux de l’Angleterre anglo-normande des décennies 1130 et 1140 et les bons hommes et bonnes femmes du Midi à la fin du XIIe et au début du XIIIe siècle suggère que leur spiritualité et leur place sociale étaient pour l’essentiel très semblables, quoique perçues, puis gardées en mémoire, de façons très différentes. On soutient ici que la divergence de destin entre les uns et les autres ne s’explique pas par le type de religion des « cathares », mais par la divergence des trajectoires sociales et gouvernementales du Midi et de l’Europe septentrionale au XIIe siècle – tout spécialement par l’incapacité de l’Église à passer une alliance avec la noblesse de la région par le biais des nouvelles structures du mariage et de la sexualité sur lesquelles, ailleurs, le succès de la réforme grégorienne se fonda.