Hasenfratz, Robert,
ed. Ancrene Wisse.
TEAMS Middle English Text Series. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute,
2001. 692 pp.
"Ancrene
Wisse" or the 'Anchoresses' Guide' (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College,
MS 402), written sometime roughly between 1225 and 1240, represents
a revision of an earlier work, usually called the Ancrene Riwle or
'Anchorites' Rule,' a book of religious instruction for three lay
women of noble birth, sisters, who had themselves enclosed as anchoresses
somewhere in the West Midlands, perhaps somewhere between Worcester
and Wales. The author was apparently either an Augustinian canon or
a Dominican friar, and by the time of the revision, Ancrene Wisse's
readership had expanded to include a much wider community of anchoresses,
over twenty in number according to the text, scattered mainly in the
west of England.
This edition, with extensive introduction, notes, glossary, and other
aids, makes the Corpus text of this important work available to students
first time in a readable edition.
"Ancrene
Wisse" or the 'Anchoresses' Guide' (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College,
MS 402), written sometime roughly between 1225 and 1240, represents
a revision of an earlier work, usually called the Ancrene Riwle or
'Anchorites' Rule,' a book of religious instruction for three lay
women of noble birth, sisters, who had themselves enclosed as anchoresses
somewhere in the West Midlands, perhaps somewhere between Worcester
and Wales. The author was apparently either an Augustinian canon or
a Dominican friar, and by the time of the revision, Ancrene Wisse's
readership had expanded to include a much wider community of anchoresses,
over twenty in number according to the text, scattered mainly in the
west of England.