Ancrene Wisse: Guide for Anchoresses: A Translation 0859897761, 9780859897761

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A n c r e n e Wi s s e Gu ide for A nchoresses

Ancrene Wisse, the early thirteenth-century West Midlands guide for female recluses, is not only one of the major works of early Middle English prose, but also a key document for our understanding of the development of medieval spirituality. • Bella Millett’s new translation is the first to be based on the full manuscript evidence. • The extended introduction covers the sources, contemporary context and textual transmission of the work. • The translation has been conceived as a companion volume to Millett’s edition of Ancrene Wisse for the Early English Text Society. The pages of the translation have been set to match the pagination of the text in that edition. • Careful use of footnotes and typography allows the reader to trace the different stages of the text’s evolution.

Bella Millett is Professor of English at the University of Southampton. Her most recent publication is the two-volume edition of Ancrene Wisse for the Early English Text Society (EETS O.S. 325, 326): Vol. 1: Textual introduction, text, and apparatus criticus; Vol. 2: General introduction, textual commentary, with a glossary and additional notes by Richard Dance. She has also edited Hali Meithhad (1982), co-edited Medieval English Prose for Women: Selections from the Katherine Group and Ancrene Wisse (1990) with Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, and jointly produced an annotated bibliography, Ancrene Wisse, The Katherine Group, and the Wooing Group (1996).

e x e t e r m e di e va l t e x t s a n d s t u di e s Series Editors: Vincent Gillespie and Richard Dance Founded by M. J. Swanton and later co-edited by Marion Glasscoe

Ancrene Wisse

※

Guide for Anchoresses A Translation based on Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402

by Bella Millett

L I V E R PO OL U N I V E R SI T Y PR E SS

Cover image: Detail from the De Braile Hours: London, British Library, MS add. 49999, f. 75 (courtesy of the British Library). First published in 2009 by University of Exeter Press Reed Hall, Streatham Drive Exeter EX4 4QR UK www.exeterpress.co.uk © Bella Millett 2009 The right of Bella Millett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Paperback ISBN 978 0 85989 776 1 Hardback ISBN 978 0 85989 775 4

Typeset in Adobe Garamond 10.5/12 by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd

Contents

Preface to this edition

vii

Introduction 1. Ancrene Wisse and its Contexts ix 2. Sources and Analogues xxvi 3. The Form of the Work xxix 4. The Textual History of Ancrene Wisse xxxvii 5. This Translation xlvii Guide for Anchoresses Preface Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Explanatory Notes

1 7 20 48 68 114 132 145 155 167

Bibliography 1. A Note on Further Reading 2. Abbreviations and Short Titles 3. Editions and Secondary Works

279 280 281

General Index Scriptural Quotations Index

295 324

Preface

This volume is designed for two purposes. The first is to serve as a selfcontained, up-to-date, and approachable introduction to Ancrene Wisse for a non-specialist audience. The second, for those who would like to study it in more depth, is to serve as a companion to the full-scale edition of the Middle English text recently published by the Early English Text Society (EETS) (Millett [2005–6]). The translation follows the edited text in the EETS edition; this is based (like most recent editions of Ancrene Wisse) on the text in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402, but also draws on the evidence of the other surviving manuscripts, using a combination of footnotes and typographical mark-up to show the relationship of the Corpus text to the broader textual development of the work (see pp. xlvii, xlix–l below). For the reader’s convenience, the page-numbering of the translation has been matched to that of the EETS edition. There is inevitably some overlap between the Introduction and Explanatory Notes of this volume and those of the EETS edition. The Explanatory Notes are mainly an abridged version of a selection of notes from the EETS edition; but all quotations in other languages have been translated, some notes rewritten and updated, and supplementary notes added. The Introduction, although it shares some of its content with the Textual Introduction and General Introduction of the EETS edition, has been wholly rewritten, and includes additional material on the broader historical and institutional context of Ancrene Wisse. One of its main aims is to outline a ‘unified theory’ of the still-disputed origins of this complex and original work, designed to explain—at least in general terms—why it appeared when it did, what kind of institutional environment it was produced in, and what connections can be traced between the apparently disparate traditions on which it drew. It focuses particularly on aspects of Ancrene Wisse that have been less fully explored in the past, such as its debt to recent developments in preaching techniques, and reads it not simply as a work of English literature, but as the product of a broader European movement of institutional and pastoral reform and religious revival, the ‘Medieval Reformation’.

viii p r e f a c e Anyone who edits or translates Ancrene Wisse must acknowledge their debts to the earlier work of scholars in the field. My own greatest debt is to my former supervisor, Professor Eric Dobson, whose partially completed edition of Ancrene Wisse for EETS I inherited at his death in 1984; his meticulous, intelligent, and sometimes audacious research made a major contribution to our understanding of its textual history and institutional context, and even where I have differed from his conclusions, my work is dependent on the foundations he laid. While preparing this translation, I have learnt much from the work of earlier translators of Ancrene Wisse, particularly Mary Salu, Anne Savage and Nicholas Watson, and Hugh White. I also owe a major debt to the expertise of my collaborator on the EETS edition of Ancrene Wisse, Richard Dance, who has resolved not only many of its linguistic difficulties but some previously intractable textual problems; and am grateful to Malcolm Parkes and Margaret Laing for their advice on the dating and localization of the Ancrene Wisse manuscripts. I would like to thank the Council of the Early English Text Society for permission to re-use some of the material from my recent edition of Ancrene Wisse [2005–6]. I also owe heartfelt thanks to my medievalist colleagues at the University of Southampton, John McGavin and Marianne O’Doherty, for their moral and practical support; to Cate Gunn, the first user of this translation, for her feedback and advice; and to Anna Henderson for seeing it through the press. Bella Millett, University of Southampton, April 2009

Introduction

1. Ancrene Wisse and its Contexts Ancrene Wisse 1 is an early thirteenth-century guide for anchoresses—that is, women who had adopted a solitary form of the enclosed religious life. It has been described as ‘the most important surviving work of early Middle English prose’.2 Written with unexpected skill and elegance at a time when English had not yet recovered its pre-Conquest status as a written language, its approachable style and variety of content attracted a range of users well beyond its original audience, including male and female religious, secular clerics, and, at a later stage, the laity as well; it continued to be copied and adapted throughout the Middle Ages, and was translated into Latin and (on two separate occasions) into French. The origins of Ancrene Wisse remain one of the unsolved mysteries of English literary history. Even after a century and a half of research, its date and place of composition, its author, and its audience have not been conclusively identified. The limitations of the available evidence make precise identification of this kind unlikely, ‘short of miraculous luck’ (as J.R.R. Tolkien put it);3 but fragmentary evidence can make better sense if it is seen as part of a larger pattern. If the broader contexts of Ancrene Wisse are taken into account, it may at least be possible to place it more firmly within a historical and institutional framework. The Ancrene Wisse Group The most immediate context of Ancrene Wisse is the larger group of religious prose works to which it belongs, called here the ‘Ancrene Wisse Group’. 1 The title (literally ‘Anchoresses’ Guide [or Rule]’) appears only in one medieval

manuscript, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402; the noun wisse, recorded only here, is probably related to the OE verb wissian ‘to rule, guide’ (see Dobson [1976], pp. 51–3). The alternative title Ancren(e) Riwle sometimes used by scholars was introduced by Morton in his 1853 edition; it is sometimes used, as in the EETS diplomatic editions, to distinguish other texts of Ancrene Wisse from the Corpus text, but has no medieval authority. 2 Heuser, p. 104. 3 Tolkien [1929], p. 116.

x i n t r o d u c t i o n These works tend to appear together, in various combinations, in the early manuscripts; their texts seem to go back to originals in a similar written form of West Midlands English; they are thematically connected, especially by a shared preoccupation with virginity; all of them, though to differing degrees, draw on a common tradition of rhythmical and alliterative prose going back ultimately to Anglo-Saxon models; and they are also linked by verbal parallels and a few apparent cross-references. Ancrene Wisse, the longest and most influential work of the group, combines detailed regulations on the anchoritic life with more general spiritual guidance. A short preface explains its division into eight parts: Part 1, which sets out the anchoresses’ devotional routine, and Part 8, which regulates their external way of life, make up the ‘Outer Rule’, framing a much more extended ‘Inner Rule’ of spiritual advice, dealing with the custody of the senses (Part 2), the solitary life (Part 3), the seven deadly sins and their remedies (Part 4), confession (Part 5), penance (Part 6), and love (Part 7). Of the nine shorter works of the Ancrene Wisse Group, five are sometimes called collectively the ‘Katherine Group’:4 three lives of virgin martyrs, Seinte Katerine, Seinte Margarete, and Seinte Iuliene, a letter on virginity, Epistel of Meidenhad,5 and a treatise (or possibly sermon) on the custody of the soul, Sawles Warde. Four others are usually referred to as the ‘Wooing Group’:6 Þe Oreisun of Seinte Marie, a free translation of a prayer to the Virgin in Latin verse by Marbod, bishop of Rennes (c.1025–1133); ‘On Lofsong of ure Louerde’,7 a prayer to Christ and the Virgin; and On wel swuðe god Ureisun of God Almihti (‘An excellent Prayer to God Almighty’) and Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd (‘The Wooing of our Lord’), two meditations on Christ as lover of the soul. Much of the evidence we have for the date, localization, authorship, and audience of this group of works is circumstantial rather than direct, and some criteria, such as manuscript dating and dialect localization, cannot be more than approximate. dat e The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Ancrene Wisse Group date from the the first half of the thirteenth century; Malcolm Parkes has recently dated 4 The name is derived from the first text in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 34,

in which all five works are collected.

5 More often called ‘Hali Meiðhad ’, but this title is editorial; Epistel of Meidenhad, in

Bodley 34, is the only recorded medieval title. 6 The name was first used in Thompson’s 1958 edition of these four works (which do not appear as a group in any single manuscript). 7 ‘A Song of Praise to Our Lord’; the title is editorial.

i n t roduc t ion xi the earliest manuscript of Ancrene Wisse, London, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra C. vi, to the early 1230s.8 Most of the works of the Group offer no internal clues to their date, but Epistel of Meidenhad and Sawles Warde make use of late twelfth-century sources,9 and the treatment of Christ as an eligible suitor in Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd, which is most closely paralleled in mid-thirteenth-century Parisian sermons, suggests a thirteenth-century date.10 The fuller internal evidence of Ancrene Wisse indicates a date of composition for the original version at some point after 1215. There is a reference in Part 1, § 16, to the solemn elevation of the consecrated Host at Mass, a practice first introduced in 1215,11 and the closest parallels to the legislative elements in Ancrene Wisse are in the earliest regulations of the Dominican friars, which were adopted in 1216.12 More generally, Morton W. Bloomfield commented that the treatment of the seven deadly sins in Part 4 made it ‘hard to date the work much before 1225’,13 and the treatment of confession in Part 5 is also consistent with a date of composition from the mid-1220s onwards.14 On the current evidence, Ancrene Wisse seems most likely to have been written in the later 1220s. l o c a l i z at ion The works of the Ancrene Wisse Group are linked to the West Midlands by the dialect and provenance of their earliest manuscripts and by internal evidence, including some distinctively West Midlands vocabulary and stylistic features. Most research on the language of the Group has focused on the exceptionally consistent scribal dialect (called by Tolkien ‘Language AB’) 15 shared by two manuscripts, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402 (‘A’), which contains the revised text of Ancrene Wisse translated here, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 34 (‘B’), which contains the five works of the ‘Katherine Group’. This dialect has been localized to northern Herefordshire or southern Shropshire.16 It is probable that the other texts of the Group go back to originals in the ‘AB’ language or ‘something very

8 For details of the manuscripts of Ancrene Wisse, see pp. xxxvii–xliii below. 9 Epistel of Meidenhad draws on Alan of Lille’s Summa de arte praedicatoria (1182 ×

1203) and possibly also Innocent III’s De Miseria humanae conditionis (1187 × 1198) (see Millett [1982], p. xvii); Sawles Warde borrows a passage from the Visio monachi de Eynsham, which describes a vision that took place in 1196 (see Dobson [1976], p. 164). 10 See fn. 66 below. 11 See Part 1, n. 92. 12 See Millett [1992] and Millett [2000]. 13 Bloomfield, p. 148. 14 See Millett [1999]. 15 See Tolkien [1929]. 16 See the comments by Jeremy Smith cited by Millett [1996a], p. 11, fn. 7.

xii i n t r o d u c t i o n like it’,17 and the possibly authorial corrections and additions made by a later hand (C2) in the Cleopatra manuscript of Ancrene Wisse are in a closely similar dialect. The localization of a written dialect, however, may give no more than an approximate indication of the localization of its users. M.L. Samuels has commented, ‘It is a commonplace of Middle English dialectology that scribes brought up in local country parishes that were not cultural centres would tend to migrate to the nearest source of work or patronage’,18 and Ludlow, the market town that was the largest centre of population in the ‘AB’ dialect area, was within twenty-five miles of two cathedral cities, Hereford and Worcester. au t hor s h i p In spite of their many connections, the works of the Ancrene Wisse Group vary quite widely in style and approach, so common authorship for the Group as a whole cannot be taken for granted. The only work of the Ancrene Wisse group that yields any clues to its authorship is Ancrene Wisse itself, and even these do not point to an identifiable individual, only to his likely educational and institutional context. There are some indications that he was trained in the Paris schools. Ancrene Wisse opens with a reference to university disciplines (Preface, § 1), there are numerous correspondences in his work to the pastoral literature produced by the Paris schools, particularly the Verbum abbreviatum of Peter Cantor (d. 1197),19 and some of the preaching material he uses is most closely paralleled in contemporary and later Paris sermons.20 His institutional affiliations have been much disputed. At different times he has been identified as a hermit, a secular cleric (bishop, archdeacon, canon, parish priest, and domestic chaplain have all been suggested), a regular canon (whether an ordinary Augustinian ‘black canon’, a Gilbertine, or a Victorine), and a Dominican friar. In some cases he has also been identified with a named individual, but a few of these nominations have to be ruled out on grounds of date, and none has been conclusively demonstrated.21 At present, the evidence seems on balance to connect him with the Dominicans. This link emerged from a line of research that seemed initially to lead in a different direction. Derek Brewer in 1956 drew attention to some See Dance [2003], p. 63. Samuels, p. 262. See Shepherd [1959], pp. xxviii–xxix. See Millett [2005–6], 2. xxxiv–xxxv. They include the hermit Godwine (fl. c.1130) (Allen), Gilbert of Sempringham (1089–1189) (Hall), a secular canon of Wigmore, Brian of Lingen (see Dobson [1976], ch. 6), the Dominican Robert Bacon (c.1170–1248) (McNabb [1916]), and three different Bishops of Salisbury, Herbert Poor (1194–1217) (Cockayne), his brother Richard Poor (1217–37) (Morton), and Simon of Ghent (d. 1315) (see p. xxxix below).

17 18 19 20 21

i n t roduc t ion xiii parallels in the ‘Outer Rule’ with the regulations of the Augustinian canons, and one in particular (the prohibition of meat except in case of illness) to the more austere practice of the independent Augustinian congregations, such as the Premonstratensians and Victorines. He suggested a connection with the house of Victorine canons at Wigmore Abbey in northern Herefordshire, which was in the right dialect area and had at one stage owned the Corpus manuscript of Ancrene Wisse (see pp. xxxvii–xxxviii below). Brewer’s hypothesis was pursued much more thoroughly in the ground-breaking 1976 study by Eric Dobson, The Origins of Ancrene Wisse, which added further evidence for the author’s debt to the Rule of St Augustine and the regulations of the independent Augustinian congregations. But Dobson’s research did not unambiguously support his argument for Victorine origin; he identified fewer and slighter parallels to Ancrene Wisse in the Victorine regulations (the Liber ordinis) than in another strand of the same monastic legislative tradition, linking the Premonstratensian canons and the Dominicans. In the third quarter of the twelfth century, the Premonstratensians had revised their regulations, grouping the chapters by topic into four major divisions (distinctiones), and adding a prologue explaining the new format. When the Dominicans adopted the Premonstratensian regulations in 1216 (see p. xx below), they reduced the distinctiones to two, but retained the prologue and the distinctio-based format. As Dobson was the first to note, this prologue and the structure it describes were taken over and adapted by the author of Ancrene Wisse. There are also some other apparent debts to the Premonstratensian/Dominican tradition, in the original version as well as in later additions. Sometimes these borrowings could be of either Premonstratensian or Dominican origin; but where the Premonstratensian and Dominican regulations differ, the prescriptions in Ancrene Wisse either share features of both or are closer to the Dominican regulations. Some of the links that Dobson identified with Victorine tradition have been broken by later research, and it now seems most likely that Ancrene Wisse is of Dominican origin.22 This does not, however, help us to localize the geographical context of Ancrene Wisse, or of the other works of the Ancrene Wisse Group, more precisely; at the time when the original version of Ancrene Wisse was written, the Dominicans had probably not yet established a base in the West Midlands (their earliest West Midlands priory was founded at Shrewsbury in 1232 or a little earlier), and any Dominican pastorally active in the West Midlands is likely to have been on temporary secondment there (see p. xxiii below). One aspect of Ancrene Wisse that Dominican authorship might help to account for is its radicalism—as a newly founded order with a mission of preaching and pastoral reform, the Dominicans had a sometimes difficult 22 See Millett [1992] and Millett [2000] for a fuller account of the evidence.

xiv i n t r o d u c t i o n relationship both with the ordinary secular clergy and with more traditional religious orders. The author seems to be dissatisfied with the state of the clergy in general: in Part 2, § 12, he warns his anchoritic readers against clerical visitors as wolves in sheep’s clothing (‘Trust seculars little, religious still less’), and although the warning is later qualified in a probably authorial addition (§ 13), this is only by an emphatic recommendation of the friars. He also seems to have mixed feelings about traditional monasticism: both in the Preface and in his adaptation of a sermon by Bernard of Clairvaux in Part 6, he modifies his monastic sources in a way that questions the status of the cloistered monk as the religious par excellence and reaffirms the value of extra-monastic forms of religious life, whether anchoritism or preaching and pastoral activity in the world.23 au di e nc e None of the works of the Ancrene Wisse Group is addressed to named individuals, but some include references to actual or potential audiences. Two of the three saints’ lives address a general audience of listeners: Seinte Iuliene introduces its narrative, ‘All lay-people (leawede men) who cannot understand Latin, listen and hear the life of a virgin, which is translated from Latin into English’ (SJ B 5–7), and Seinte Margarete, ‘Listen, all those who have ears to hear’, mentioning ‘the widowed and the married’ as well as virgins (SM 4/7–9). Some other works of the Group address a female audience of readers. Epistel of Meidenhad, which its author describes as a writ (‘letter’ or ‘treatise’), reassures a (probably generic) virgin who has chosen the religious life of the rightness of her choice;24 and Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd, a meditation whose speaker describes herself as a recluse, ‘transfixed between four walls’ (591–3), ends with the postscript, ‘Pray for me, my dear sister; I have written this for you because words often sway the heart to meditate on our Lord …’ (645–9). Ancrene Wisse offers more detailed information about its female readership. A passage that survives in full in only one manuscript, London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A. xiv, uses the situation of its immediate audience to illustrate a discussion of different kinds of temptation: You, my dear sisters, are the anchoresses that I know who have the least need of support against these temptations [i.e. those caused by external suffering], except only for illness; because I do not know any anchoress who has all she needs with more ease or more respect than you three have 23 See Preface, nn. 21–4, and Part 6, nn. 7, 12; these and other instances of reforming

sentiment in Ancrene Wisse are discussed in Millett [2002].

24 See Millett [1982], pp. xxii–xxiii.

i n t roduc t ion xv … Each of you has from one friend all that she needs; the maid does not have to look further for bread or other provisions than at his hall … You are much talked about, what well-bred women you are, sought after by many for your goodness and for your generosity, and sisters from one father and one mother, [who] in the bloom of your youth renounced all the joys of the world and became anchoresses. (Part 4, § 13 fn.) In all other manuscripts the passage is either cut to remove the more specific personal details or omitted altogether 25 (although a much briefer reference to the three sisters in Part 2, § 46, escaped deletion in most manuscripts). Even in the full version in Nero A. xiv, it is clear that the three sisters were not the only anchoresses known to the author. He identifies these other, less comfortably situated women as potential readers of his work: ‘God knows, many others have little experience of this ease, but very often suffer from need and humiliation and trouble. If this comes into their hands, it may be a comfort to them.’ Similar distinctions between actual and potential anchoritic readers can be found elsewhere in Ancrene Wisse, often, as here, stressing the special merits of its immediate audience.26 A later, probably authorial addition in Corpus 402 addresses directly a larger and more geographically scattered group of anchoresses: ‘You are the anchoresses of England, in such a large group (twenty now or more; may God increase you in grace), that most peace is among, most unity and unanimity and community of united life according to a rule’ (Part 4, § 71). This larger group may, as the phrasing ‘twenty now or more’ suggests, have developed from the original group; again they are presented as special, this time not only for their virtue but for their numbers, and for the quasi-regular way of life (the ‘rule’ is probably Ancrene Wisse itself) that distinguishes them from other English anchoresses. The addition was interpreted by Dobson as evidence that ‘the twenty or more anchoresses, though they did not live in one place, nevertheless constituted a single community under a prioress and subject to the Augustinian Rule’;27 but the revisions for a larger group of anchoresses in Part 8 mention only a male spiritual director (meistre), and their community is more likely to have been metaphorical than literal.28 The internal evidence of the text suggests that both the original group of anchoresses and the larger group referred to in Corpus 402 were ‘lay anchoresses’ unattached to any religious order (see p. xix below), under the direct supervision of the bishop 29 and dependent on (not necessarily 25 See Part 4, fn. 37. 26 e.g. Part 2, §§ 2, 46, and Part 6, § 14; on the rhetorical tradition underlying these

addresses, see Millett [2005–6], 2. lv–lvi.

27 Dobson [1976], p. 270. 28 See Part 4, n. 193, and Millett [2005–6], 2. xxii–xxiii. 29 See Preface, § 6, and the later addition on episcopal visits in Part 2, § 10.

xvi i n t r o d u c t i o n satisfactory) arrangements with the local clergy for their regular pastoral care;30 although two later additions mention visits from the friars,31 these seem to have been made only i­ntermittently, ‘out of charity’ (Part 2, § 13). Those works of the Group that do not include explicit addresses to an audience can sometimes be aligned with those that do; there are close similarities of style and content between Seinte Iuliene, Seinte Margarete, and Seinte Katerine, and between Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd and the remaining works of the Wooing Group. Sawles Warde is rather more difficult to place. Stylistically it falls between the saints’ lives at one extreme and Ancrene Wisse at the other; generically it could be classed as either treatise or sermon; and although its content is of general relevance, it expands the account of the reward of virgins in heaven in its Latin source. It may have been intended from the outset as a multi-purpose work, since there is some evidence in the works of the Ancrene Wisse Group of cross-over between different types of audience. Although the saints’ lives seem to have been intended for public delivery, they are considerably more sophisticated in content and style than other early Middle English saints’ lives,32 and the theme of virginity links them with the rest of the Group; Seinte Margarete addresses ‘virgins especially’ (SM 4/8–9), and Ancrene Wisse refers its readers at one point to ‘your English book of St Margaret’ (Part 4, § 55), possibly the same work.33 There is also some tension in Ancrene Wisse itself between content directly related to the anchoresses’ concerns and more general-purpose pastoral instruction. In particular, the material on the sins in Part 4 and confession in Part 5 has not been fully adapted for an anchoritic audience; in Part 5, § 34, the author comments, ‘My dear sisters, this fifth part, which is about confession, is relevant to everybody alike; so do not be surprised that I have not spoken to you in particular in this part’, adding only ‘a short final section’ addressed to their specific needs. The evidence discussed so far tells us something about the immediate context of Ancrene Wisse, but leaves some questions unanswered. Why did the works of the Ancrene Wisse Group appear when and where they did, and what was the institutional environment in which they were produced? Neither of these questions can be answered with certainty, but if the works of the Group are looked at in the broader context of twelfth- and thirteenthcentury ecclesiastical history, it may be possible to offer at least a provisional explanation of their origins.

30 31 32 33

See Part 5, § 36. See Part 2, § 13, and Part 8, § 9. See the discussion of their audience in Millett [1990]. See Part 4, n. 163.

i n t roduc t ion xvii The European Context The period from the late eleventh to the early thirteenth century saw a series of changes in the Church so fundamental that they have been described as the ‘Medieval Reformation’.34 The process of change was driven partly from above, by the institutional reforms of Popes Gregory VII (1073–85) and Innocent III (1198–1216), partly from below, by a sustained upsurge of spiritual enthusiasm across Europe. By the time of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which marked both the culmination and the conclusion of this process, the simple tripartite division of the early medieval church into monks, clerics, and laity 35 had been radically modified by the introduction of new institutional structures and the emergence of new forms of the religious life. Two developments in particular are relevant to the origins of Ancrene Wisse, the rise of the ‘new monasticism’ from the late eleventh century onwards, and the pastoral reform movement of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. In the late eleventh and early twelfth century, rising demand for the religious life was accompanied by a growing dissatisfaction with traditional monasticism. Reformers invoked instead the primitive simplicity of the early Church, drawing on earlier sources for their institutional models. Stephen of Muret (founder of the Grandmontine order) appealed directly to the Gospels, claiming that ‘There is no Rule other than the Gospel of Christ!’ 36 A further model was the ‘apostolic life’ described in Acts 4: 32–3, an ideal that combined community (‘the multitude of believers had only one heart and one soul’), poverty (through the renunciation of personal property), and preaching. The reformers also drew on the Vitae Patrum (Lives of the Fathers), accounts of eremitic and monastic life in the Egyptian desert during the third and fourth centuries ad, to exemplify the values of asceticism and withdrawal from the world. In some cases, this invocation of earlier traditions led to the modification of existing forms of the religious life: the Cistercian order offered a reformed version of Benedictine monasticism, based on stricter observance of the Rule of St Benedict and the foundation of abbeys at some distance from towns, ‘in the wilderness’. In others, at least initially, the new forms of living sometimes seem to have been defined against traditional monasticism; 34 Bolton [1983] takes The Medieval Reformation as her title; Constable’s The Reformation

of the Twelfth Century [1996], which focuses on changes in the monastic life, covers a more limited chronological range, up to the third quarter of the twelfth century. The ‘Medieval Reformation’ is illuminatingly set in the broader context of European history by Morris [1989]. 35 See Morris [1989], p. 318, citing the Apologeticus of Abbo of Fleury (d. 1004), PL 139. 463. 36 Liber de doctrina … beati viri Stephani patris religionis Grandimontensis, CCCM 8.5; see also Millett [2002], p. 68.

xviii i n t r o d u c t i o n many of the new religious orders that were to characterize the twelfth century developed from extra-monastic groups, living an eremitic life in small informally organized communities, with leaders who might also be actively engaged in itinerant preaching. Internal and external pressures, however, encouraged a general ‘slide into cenobitism’ (i.e. a monastic way of life) for these groups as they grew larger. The Church authorities, anxious about unsupervised and possibly unorthodox religious activity, pressed for their transformation into enclosed communities following an approved rule, and the groups themselves began to feel the need for more clearly defined organizational structures and greater financial security. The result was the formation of a wide variety of religious orders, not all of them based on the traditional model of Benedictine monasticism. Some followed the relatively recent model of the Augustinian canons (priests leading a communal life under the Rule of St Augustine); the independent congregations of Augustinian canons, including the Premonstratensians and the Victorines, supplemented the Rule of St Augustine by stricter regulations influenced by Cistercian practice. Some developed alternatives to existing organizational structures, including the Grandmontines and the Carthusians, whose members continued to lead a semi-eremitic life within enclosed communities. Although the Augustinian congregations in particular maintained some connection with preaching and pastoral care, the general tendency was for the new orders to be increasingly assimilated to a traditional monastic model; it was not until the emergence of the Franciscan and Dominican friars in the early thirteenth century that the fully ‘apostolic’ ideal of community, poverty, and itinerant preaching found its institutional embodiment. Although women played a significant part in these developments, they were more vulnerable to marginalization than their male colleagues; the standard survey of medieval monasticism by C.H. Lawrence includes only one chapter on women, and its opening section is headed ‘The Problem of the Sisters’. Throughout the Middle Ages, religious houses for women were fewer and, in most cases, less well resourced than those for men, and women were correspondingly more likely than men to turn to extra-monastic forms of the religious life. The eremitic groups that preceded the formation of the new orders often included female members; but the incorporation of women into the ‘new monasticism’ was uneven, and their position insecure. Welcomed initially by some of the new orders, and occasionally even given a dominant role (in the double houses of the Fontevrist and Gilbertine orders, communities of nuns were served by male clerics and lay brothers), they were excluded by others, such as the Carthusians and the Grandmontines; and even those orders that had willingly taken on the cura monialium (‘care of nuns’) sometimes withdrew their commitment at a later stage because of the financial, pastoral, and disciplinary problems involved in their support

i n t roduc t ion xix (as the Premonstratensians did at the end of the twelfth century, and the Cistercians and Dominicans in the late 1220s). Women’s access to the religious life in this period was also made more difficult by other factors: the high cost of entering a nunnery, a sharp decline (at any rate in England and France) in foundations of women’s religious houses from the mid-twelfth century onwards,37 and the prohibition of new religious orders by the Fourth Lateran Council. One result of these constraints was an increase in the number of women adopting extramonastic forms of religious life. On the Continent, the most important development was the appearance of the Beguines, who from the late twelfth century onwards created urban communities across Northern Europe, leading a quasi-religious life without taking formal vows. In England, the demand for an alternative form of religious life was reflected instead in a steep rise during the thirteenth century in the numbers of what Ann Warren calls ‘lay anchoresses’.38 These were recluses who lived a solitary life under the supervision of the local bishop, in a cell attached to a church; technically they counted as religious, having made formal vows and been enclosed by a prescribed ceremony, but they had entered the anchor-house directly from secular life, rather than (as had been more usual in the early Middle Ages) from a nunnery. Lacking the institutional affiliation and training of nun anchoresses, they occupied a marginal territory between the religious orders and the laity, and their history is linked not only with the new developments in the religious life that marked the early stages of the ‘Medieval Reformation’, but with the ‘pastoral revolution’ of its closing years. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, reformers within the Church increasingly turned their attention to the pastoral care of the laity. Towards the end of the twelfth century, two originally independent developments, the Church’s attempts to improve the morals and education of the secular clergy and the evolution of a new ‘scholastic’ style of preaching in the Paris schools, began to converge. A number of Paris schoolmen, mostly associated with the circle of Peter Cantor (d. 1197), became actively involved in popular preaching, and in the production of pastoral manuals and preaching aids for the use of the clergy. Pope Innocent III, who had himself studied theology at Paris, took these initiatives forward at a higher level, using the Fourth Lateran Council to set out a programme of pastoral reform for the entire Church. Canon 21 required all Christians to make their confession and take communion at least once a year, and canons 10 and 11 made provision for a considerably higher level of pastoral support and 37 See Venarde, pp. 6–12. 38 See Bolton [1981] (a comparison of English and Continental developments in this

period) and Warren [1985] , pp. 18–29.

xx i n t r o d u c t i o n education than in the past. Canon 11 demanded more effective implementation of canon 18 of the Third Lateran Council of 1179, which had required cathedral churches to provide free teaching for their own clergy and others, adding that this teaching should deal particularly with topics relevant to pastoral care; and canon 10 required them to appoint ‘suitable men whom the bishops can have as helpers and co-workers, not only in the office of preaching but in hearing confessions and imposing penances and other things that have to do with the salvation of souls’.39 Within a few years, the tasks defined in canon 10 began increasingly to be carried out by the members of two new religious orders, the Dominican and Franciscan friars. Although their papal confirmation postdated the Fourth Lateran Council, both managed to bypass its prohibition of new religious orders (canon 13): Innocent III had given oral approval in 1209 to a preliminary form of the Franciscan Rule confirmed in 1223, and in 1216 the Dominicans had, as required by canon 13, adopted ‘the rule and customs of an approved order’, taking over the Rule of St Augustine and the regulations of the Premonstratensian canons. Both Dominicans and Franciscans, however, differed radically from the existing orders in their way of life and their mission. They followed an ideal of the ‘apostolic life’ based on mendicancy and itinerant preaching; although they lived in community, they were active in the world, providing pastoral support and instruction not only to the laity in general, but to the growing numbers of men and women following extra-monastic forms of religious or semi-religious life. These developments were accompanied by an increase in the production of vernacular religious prose, designed for a growing audience of readers who were literate in their own language but not in Latin. Herbert Grundmann argued that ‘the breaching of the strict division between the Latintrained clergy and the laity in the religious movement of the twelfth and thirteenth century was the precondition and foundation for the rise of a religious literature in the vernacular’ (p. 188); he linked this rise with groups occupying an intermediate position, ‘religious communities of laity and women [who] … organized themselves into lasting, regulated forms of life without clerical Latin training, but with the need for contemplation and theological training’ (p. 195), and noted particularly the role of the Dominicans in providing them with reading material in the vernacular. The English Context The English seem to have been early adopters of the movement of pastoral reform. The recommendation by the Third Lateran Council that cathedral churches should offer free training for clerics had been successfully 39 For an interleaved translation of the canons of these councils, see Tanner [1990].

i n t roduc t ion xxi implemented by the end of the twelfth century; the Augustinian canon Alexander of Ashby, looking back about 1200 to ‘the time when I was a young student’ (probably in the 1160s or 70s), compared the scarcity of free instruction then with its current accessibility. Some of the earliest of the aids to preaching that began to be produced from the late twelfth century onwards were composed in England, including Alexander’s own guide to the new style of preaching, De artificioso modo predicandi (c.1200), and works by the Paris-trained masters William de Montibus, head of the cathedral school at Lincoln from the 1180s to his death in 1213, and Thomas of Chobham, subdean of Salisbury Cathedral, whose Summa de arte praedicandi was written c.1215 × 1222.40 The new preaching techniques were already being used in vernacular sermons before 1200; some of the Middle English sermons in the late twelfth-century East Midlands collection in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B. 14. 52 (335) (the ‘Trinity Homilies’) seem to be based on schematically structured Latin model sermons in the latest style of ‘scholastic’ preaching. Some English preachers of this period, however, drew not only on contemporary Latin models but on a native tradition of vernacular religious prose going back to the Anglo-Saxon period. In the West Midlands, the connection with this tradition had never been entirely broken. Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester 1062–95, one of the few English bishops not unseated after the Conquest, encouraged writing and preaching in the vernacular, and the monks of Worcester Cathedral continued to copy and annotate Anglo-Saxon material well into the early thirteenth century. The West Midlands sermon collection in London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 487 (the ‘Lambeth Homilies’), compiled probably in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, shares five sermons wholly or partly in ‘scholastic’ style, with the ‘Trinity Homilies’, but also incorporates lightly modernized material from the sermons of Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham (c.950–c.1010) and Wulfstan, archbishop of York (d. 1023). The ‘Trinity Homilies’ and the ‘Lambeth Homilies’, unlike earlier postConquest sermon collections, seem from internal evidence to have been intended for preaching to an audience of laity and—in a few instances— secular clergy. It is unlikely (although it has sometimes been assumed) that they were intended for use at parish level. Canon 27 of the Fourth Lateran Council, on the training of priests with the cure of souls, mentions only the administration of the sacraments, not preaching, and parish priests in this period do not seem to have been expected to provide more than the most 40 Thomas of Chobham’s treatise is edited in CCCM 82, Alexander of Ashby’s in

CCCM 188, pp. 1–104; selections from William de Montibus’s pastoral works are edited in Goering [1992]. The excellent studies of William by Goering [1992] and Thomas by Morenzoni [2001] place them within their broader context of pastoral reform.

xxii i n t r o d u c t i o n basic pastoral instruction; Joseph Goering has pointed out that ‘throughout most of [the thirteenth] century, many parish priests were scarcely literate, and, more pertinent, scarcely interested in using such new-fangled modes of education as the book.’ 41 It is probable that both collections were compiled to support vernacular preaching at diocesan level, as part of a broader movement of pastoral reform.42 A similar diocesan context, at a slightly later date, could have provided the necessary conditions for the production of the Ancrene Wisse Group. In the period immediately following the Fourth Lateran Council, a series of bishops active in pastoral reform occupied the West Midlands sees of Worcester, Hereford, and Coventry and Lichfield: William of Blois, Bishop of Worcester 1218–36, and his successor Walter Cantilupe, 1237–66; Hugh Foliot, Bishop of Hereford 1219–34, and his successor Ralph of Maidstone, 1234–9; and Alexander Stavensby, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield 1224–38. The earliest mendicant houses in the West Midlands were founded in this period, Franciscan houses in Worcester by 1227 and Hereford by 1228, and Dominican houses in Shrewsbury by 1232 and Chester by 1236 (Alexander Stavensby, in whose diocese the Dominican houses were founded, had met Dominic and some of his followers while lecturing at Toulouse in 1214, before the new order had received Papal approval, and remained an enthusiastic supporter of the Dominicans). A diocesan environment of this kind would help to explain some features of the Ancrene Wisse Group that are otherwise hard to account for: the different types of audience it addresses, its combination of older native and newer Continental preaching traditions, and the Dominican connections of Ancrene Wisse. The drive towards pastoral reform at diocesan level, especially after the Fourth Lateran Council, provided an incentive for the production of new religious works in the vernacular, whether as aids to preaching or as reading matter for an increasingly literate laity. The works of the Group address two types of audience for whose pastoral care and instruction the bishops were responsible, the laity and lay anchoresses; this might explain why some of them seem to have been composed with both audiences in mind, and in particular account for the otherwise rather baffling prominence given in Ancrene Wisse Parts 4 and 5 to general-purpose pastoral material on the seven deadly sins and confession. The reforming bishops of the West Midlands were in a position to draw on earlier English preaching materials (particularly at Worcester), but also on the newer preaching techniques of the increasing number of clerics trained in the schools—a combination of traditions already reflected in the ‘Lambeth 41 Goering [1981], p. 330. 42 On the stylistic traditions underlying the ‘Trinity Homilies’ and the ‘Lambeth

Homilies’, see Millett [2005]; on their pastoral context, Millett [2007].

i n t roduc t ion xxiii Homilies’. By the time when Ancrene Wisse was composed, they also had access to the professional preaching skills of the friars. In 1221, the year in which the Dominicans arrived in England, Pope Honorius III had issued a letter recommending archbishops, bishops, and other prelates to support and collaborate with them in their preaching mission, and the author of Ancrene Wisse could have been seconded to a local bishop’s household even before the foundation of Dominican houses in the West Midlands.43 Grundmann argued that one of the main factors in the emergence of vernacular religious prose across Europe was Dominican support for extramonastic religious groups. His theory, however, needs to be qualified for England, where there was an existing body of religious prose in English dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period, probably used not only as a preaching resource but for devotional reading in religious houses.44 What is new about the Ancrene Wisse Group is not its use of English but the institutional status of its readers. Ann Warren has commented on works of guidance for anchoresses produced in medieval England, ‘with the lone exception of … [Ancrene Wisse], all of the significant works of the genre were addressed to women who formerly had been nuns.’ 45 The women addressed in Ancrene Wisse are lay anchoresses, entering the anchor-house directly from the world,46 without the prior experience as a member of a religious community that St Benedict had seen as essential preparation for the solitary life.47 Lacking for the most part the educational, liturgical, and spiritual training of nun anchoresses, they are offered a guide adapted to their comparatively marginal position. Although the Preface refers to a potential audience of anchoresses ranging from the well-educated woman (clergesse) literate in Latin to the wholly illiterate,48 the immediate audience of Ancrene Wisse is assumed to 43 For later examples of this kind of secondment, see the repeated requests of Robert

Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln 1235–53, for Dominican and Franciscan friars to be sent to his household to provide administrative and legal support, as well as ‘preaching the word of God, listening to confessions, and imposing penances’ (see Millett [2005–6] , 2. xix, fn. 55). 44 On the uses of manuscripts containing Old English religious prose in the twelfth century, see Irvine. 45 Warren [1984], p. 202. 46 See Part 4, § 13 fn., and the more general address in Part 2, § 41. 47 The first chapter of the Rule of St Benedict praises only those ‘anchorites or hermits, who have come through the test of living in a monastery for a long time, and have passed beyond the first fervour of monastic life. Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against the devil. They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the ranks of their brothers to the single combat of the devil’ (trans. Fry, p. 169). 48 Preface, § 5.

xxiv i n t r o d u c t i o n fall between these two extremes. They are literate, capable of ‘reading in English or in French’ (Part 2, § 26), and able to cope with a devotional routine based on Latin psalms, hymns, and prayers, but other material in Latin is normally accompanied by a translation, and the anchoresses seem to have been most at home with English.49 The devotional routine prescribed in Part 1 similarly falls between the complex and variable ritual of the full canonical Hours, the ‘Divine Office’ recited daily by members of religious orders and secular clerics, and the much simpler routines, based on the repetition of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, recommended in this period for those who were illiterate but leading a religious or semi-religious life.50 Based on the shorter ‘semi-liturgical’ devotions that had grown up around the Divine Office, in particular the ‘Little Hours’ of the Virgin Mary, and supplemented by prayers in the vernacular, the routine set out in Part 1 of Ancrene Wisse anticipates the content of the ‘Books of Hours’ that offered a devotional routine for the pious laity in the later Middle Ages.51 The advice on the spiritual life given in Ancrene Wisse may also reflect the marginal status of its audience. Although its author is addressing women leading a contemplative life, scholars have had difficulty in relating it to the mainstream tradition of writing on religious experience running from the Cistercians and Victorines in the twelfth century to the fourteenth-century English works of Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing.52 Some, like David Knowles, have concluded that ‘it is not in any real sense a mystical book.’ 53 Others, more recently, have argued that it is ‘mystical’ but not in the usually accepted sense, since it is concerned less with the ascent of the soul through successive stages to experiential knowledge of God than with penitential suffering and devotion to Christ in his humanity.54 The few passages that mention union with God cannot be read with any certainty as referring to ‘mystical’ 49 See further Millett [1993]. 50 For examples, see Part 1, § 6 fn. (an addition to the original text where the writer

recommends the practice of the lay brothers of his own order), and Part 1, §§ 30–1. 51 On the relationship of Ancrene Wisse to the Book of Hours tradition, see further Millett [2000]. The earliest surviving English Book of Hours, the de Brailes Hours, produced in Oxford c.1240 for a female user, also seems to have been of Dominican origin; see Duffy, pp. 8–10. 52 See Millett [1996a], pp. 24–5. 53 Knowles, p. vii. 54 Watson [1987], p. 141, argues that the works of the Ancrene Wisse Group ‘envisage the spiritual life not as an ascent but an ascesis’; Edsall, p. 158, sees the author of Ancrene Wisse as opposing ‘a Passion-centered penitential asceticism focused on experiencing Christ, God in his humanity’ to the ‘elitist conceptions of the ascent of the mind to God’ in the tradition influenced by pseudo-Dionysian Neoplatonism.

i n t roduc t ion xxv experience in the modern sense;55 and at one point the author directly modifies the contemplative spirituality of a Cistercian source text for his readers. In Part 6, §§ 1–4, he adapts a short Lenten sermon by Bernard of Clairvaux, addressed to a monastic audience, which identifies three stages of the spiritual life. Bernard distinguishes between those who live as ‘strangers and pilgrims’ in the world, those who have died to the world, and those who are crucified to the world by actively embracing suffering; he defines the last and most exalted group as those who, like St Paul, have been ‘caught up to the third heaven’ (2 Cor. 12: 2). In Ancrene Wisse, however, the three groups are also related to different institutional contexts, secular, monastic, and anchoritic, and the reference to direct experience of God at the third and highest stage is dropped, leaving penitential suffering as the distinctive characteristic of the anchoritic life.56 Ancrene Wisse also actively discourages its audience of anchoresses from visionary experience, warning them not to assume that apparently revelatory dreams, waking visions, or unexpected fragrances are sent by God, but to regard them as delusions created by the devil.57 Cate Gunn, adapting Nicholas Watson’s concept of ‘vernacular theology’, has described Ancrene Wisse as an early work of ‘vernacular spirituality’, part of ‘a literature concerned mostly with how to live a life of perfection, whether or not within the limits of a religious order, and which, in the later Middle Ages, found a new readership among the educated, pious laity’.58 Its choice of language, its simplified devotional routine, and its emphasis on an affective and Eucharistic piety, focused on Christ in his humanity, reflect the democratization of spirituality that marked the later stages of the ‘Medieval Reformation’. The anchoresses for whom it was composed, following an extra-monastic form of the religious life and educated only (as a monastic chronicler said of Hildegard of Bingen) ‘in the manner of upper-class girls’,59 provided an incentive for the development of a new kind of vernacular religious literature; and from the later thirteenth century onwards, Ancrene Wisse also began to find readers among the pious laity, at first in French, later in English. In the later fourteenth century, the reformist elements in Ancrene Wisse, its criticisms of both secular and regular clergy 55 See Part 1, n. 100, on the anchoresses’ devotions at the moment of consecration of

the Host; Gunn [2008], ch. 8, examines the longer passage on contemplative experience in Part 2, §§ 32–6, as part of a more general discussion of the contemplative spirituality of Ancrene Wisse. 56 See Millett [2002], pp. 66–8. Bernard’s sermon is translated as an Appendix in Shepherd [1959], pp. 71–2. 57 See Part 2, § 38, and Part 4, §§ 39, 80. 58 Gunn [2008], p. 176. 59 More nobilium puellarum: see Millett [1993], p. 90 and n. 12.

xxvi i n t r o d u c t i o n and its reassertion of the value of extra-monastic forms of religious life,60 struck a particular chord with the reformers of the Wycliffite movement; Watson, noting the connection of a number of adaptations of Ancrene Wisse in this period with reforming circles, argues that it was seen as ‘a textual synecdoche for the life of holiness as it might be practised by women and other notionally uneducated Christian people’.61

2. Sources and Analogues Geoffrey Shepherd has said of Ancrene Wisse, ‘In the Rule there is scarcely a turn of thought which cannot be closely paralleled in books with which its author may well have been acquainted’.62 To a great extent Ancrene Wisse is a compilation, drawing together material from a wide variety of origins. Often its sources are not acknowledged, and even where they are, the acknowledgements are characteristically brief (‘as St Augustine says’), and not always accurate; sometimes the author seems to have been working from memory rather than directly from a source, and sometimes there appear to be no surviving sources, only analogues. The easiest sources to trace are those that carried sufficient authority in the early thirteenth century to be explicitly cited. In most cases, these are classical, Scriptural, and patristic works, but the Ancrene Wisse author also cites a few twelfth-century monastic writers.63 Unlike many of his contemporaries, he rarely cites classical authors; where he does use classical quotations, they are usually commonplaces. His Scriptural texts are normally accompanied by traditional moral, allegorical, or etymological interpretations. Sometimes they vary from the standard medieval Latin text of the Bible, the Vulgate; possible reasons for this include different wording in an intermediate source, quotation from memory (sometimes creating ‘portmanteau quotations’ where two similar texts are conflated), and adaptation of texts to fit the argument or the audience. The sources from the patristic period that he cites most often are the works of Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Jerome (c.341–420), and Gregory the Great (c.540–604); he also borrows some illustrative anecdotes from the Vitae Patrum, the collected lives and sayings of the third- and fourth-century ‘desert fathers’ (see p. xvii above). Most of his quotations from Augustine and Jerome are short, and some may have been derived See pp. xiii–xiv above. Watson [2003], p. 199. Shepherd [1959], p. xxv. On the medieval concept of literary auctoritas, which combines the concepts of ‘authorship’ and ‘authority’, see Minnis, pp. 10–12. Holdsworth, pp. 174–7, notes that the author of Ancrene Wisse is one of the earliest English writers to treat Bernard of Clairvaux as an auctor.

60 61 62 63

i n t roduc t ion xxvii from intermediate sources; he makes much more thorough use of Gregory, particularly his extended commentary on the Book of Job, Moralia in Iob, and the model sermons in the third book of his Regula pastoralis, a handbook of advice for bishops. Although Ancrene Wisse also reflects the influence of other patristic sources, particularly the works of John Cassian (c.360–after 430) on the monastic life, there is no evidence that the author drew on them directly. The only later writers mentioned by name are Anselm, abbot of Bec and archbishop of Canterbury (c.1033–1109), and two Cistercians, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) and Aelred of Rievaulx (1110–67). Most of the handful of references to Anselm are to his first Meditation; an extract from it is given a spirited English rendering in Part 5, § 7. The references to Bernard are much more frequent and wideranging, and include some extended borrowings, such as the adaptation of Bernard’s sixth Lenten sermon in Part 6, §§ 1–4 (see p. xxv above). Aelred is mentioned only once by name, in a reference in Part 6, § 11, to the rule he wrote for his sister, De Institutione inclusarum (c.1160–2); but this work is one of the most important sources of Ancrene Wisse. Although designed for a rather different audience (the internal evidence of the text suggests that Aelred’s sister had entered the anchoritic life from a nunnery), it provided a general model for Ancrene Wisse as a work of guidance for anchoresses, influencing both its structure and its content.64 De Institutione inclusarum, however, was not the only model for Ancrene Wisse; its author also drew, though without explicit acknowledgement, on a wider range of monastic and anchoritic legislation.65 His main borrowings reflect the influence of the ‘new monasticism’. The connection of Ancrene Wisse with the tradition of monastic legislation running from the Premonstratensian canons to the Dominicans has already been discussed (see pp. 14–15 above); its Preface and distinctio-based structure follow the model of the later twelfth-century revision of the Premonstratensian regulations, probably in the form taken over by the Dominicans in 1216. This connection could also explain the occasional echoes of the Rule of St Augustine, which was followed by both orders. Another significant borrowing, first identified by Allen, is from the legislation of a semi-eremitic order, the Carthusians; the final chapter of the Carthusian regulations (c.1128) is used as the basis for the extended discussion of the advantages of the solitary life in Part 3, §§ 18–22, and they may also be echoed in the discussion of Martha and Mary in Part 8, § 7. 64 See the excellent discussion of the use of De Institutione inclusarum in Ancrene

Wisse in Ayto and Barratt, pp. xxxviii–xliii; Ayto and Barratt note particularly the ‘less extreme’ attitude of the Ancrene Wisse author to physical mortification. On its influence on the structure of Ancrene Wisse, see p. xxxii below. 65 For a fuller discussion of this tradition, see Millett [2003].

xxviii i n t r o d u c t i o n There remains a third category of borrowed material whose origins are more difficult to trace. Some aspects of the structure and content of Ancrene Wisse are most closely paralleled in the teaching and preaching of the Paris schools of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. There are echoes of Peter Lombard’s standard theological textbook, the Sententiae (c.1155–58), and his commentaries on the Psalms and the Epistles of St Paul, and numerous correspondences with the pastoral manuals, aids to preaching, and sermons produced by the Paris schoolmen from the late twelfth century onwards. It is easier, however, to identify analogues than direct sources. The author gives no references to recent works, and the content he uses may in some cases have been transmitted orally; in Part 4, § 95, he describes an otherwise untraced interpretation of Ps. 21: 17 as what ‘our masters say’, and some of his material, including the allegory of Christ as lover-knight and the list of qualities that make him an ideal suitor,66 is most closely paralleled in later thirteenth-century Paris sermons, suggesting a shared origin in the preaching of the schools. The Augustinian canon Guy of Southwick, writing a treatise on confession in the last decade of the twelfth century, makes a distinction between his older written sources and contemporary oral ones: ‘God is my witness that I have a firm intention of collecting opinions and rulings, now from authoritative texts (ex scriptis autenticis), now from the sayings (ex dictis) of the venerable and discreet fathers of our own time, whom I have heard speaking on this material in person, and of compiling them, like flowers gathered in various places, into a single honeycomb like a little bee.’ 67 The source-study of Ancrene Wisse suggests that the author drew thoroughly on a relatively small number of works—or, in some cases, parts of works. Although he cites quite a wide range of authors, many of the passages he quotes may have reached him through intermediate sources, such as Scriptural commentaries, sermons, and anthologies of quotations (florilegia); it is also likely that he derived at least some of his material from the oral culture of the schools. His originality lies less in his content than in the way in which he integrates material from different traditions, sometimes significantly modifying it, to produce a new kind of work for the needs of a new kind of audience.

66 Part 7, §§ 2–4, 11–12. The allegory of Christ as lover-knight is first recorded in Ancrene Wisse (see Part 7, n. 18); the theme of Christ as suitor is much older, but the stage of its development reflected in the lists of qualities in Ancrene Wisse Part 8 and Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd is probably early thirteenth-century (see Millett [2009]). 67 Tractatus de virtute confessionis, lines 46–52, ed. Wilmart [1935], p. 341.

i n t roduc t ion xxix

3. The Form of the Work Although Ancrene Wisse has most often been studied as a work of English literature, the traditions that influenced its form are, in Elizabeth Salter’s words, ‘only partly English, partly literary’.68 It draws on Latin as well as English models for its style, and its structure is largely determined by genres that a modern reader would see as either non-literary or only marginally literary: monastic and anchoritic rules, customaries (the supplementary collections of regulations followed by individual religious communities or orders), pastoral manuals, and sermons. Structure The most immediately obvious feature of the structure of Ancrene Wisse (not least because the author often draws attention to it explicitly, in the Preface and elsewhere) is its use of division. This reflects what David d’Avray has called the ‘passion for dividing and subdividing’ 69 that became a distinctive characteristic of the academic and pastoral works produced by the schools in the later twelfth century. The overall structure of the work is influenced by the academic strand of this tradition. The author tells us that it is divided into eight destinctiuns (from Latin distinctio). His use of the term has caused some confusion among Ancrene Wisse scholars, and it is true that in this period distinctio has a variety of possible meanings.70 The reference in this case, however, is to a specifically academic use, the grouping of chapters (or equivalent subdivisions) in a long work into larger sections for easier searchability. By the second half of the twelfth century, the first and third parts of the standard textbook of canon law, Gratian’s Decretum (c.1140), had been divided by its commentators into numbered distinctiones. It was probably this model that was followed by the Premonstratensian canons in the second version of their regulations (1154 × 1179), which had previously, like other twelfth-century monastic customaries, been divided only into chapters; an added preface explains that a structure of four distinctiones, subdivided into chapters, has been adopted ‘partly because of the variety of the material, partly for the convenience of the readers’, outlines their content, and lists 68 Salter, p. 3 (on the problems of establishing a context for some Middle English works

of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries).

69 D’Avray, p. 176. 70 It can be used more or less interchangeably with divisio in the general sense ‘division’;

for a structural subdivision of a work (as here); for a ‘biblical distinction’ (a list of the different senses of a word in Scripture, supported by quotations; see Rouse and Rouse [1974]); or for a ‘scholastic distinction’ (which uses the distinction of meanings to resolve apparent contradictions between authoritative texts; see d’Avray, pp. 172–7).

xxx i n t r o d u c t i o n the topics of the individual chapters ‘so that when anything is searched for by the reader, it can be found without difficulty’.71 This structural model (though with the four distinctiones reduced to two) was taken over in the earliest Dominican regulations of 1216 (see p. xx above), the route by which it probably reached Ancrene Wisse. The Preface to Ancrene Wisse similarly includes a discussion of its choice of format: the author introduces his English-speaking readers to the unfamiliar terms destinctiun and chapitre,72 explains the advantages of using distinctiones (‘each one deals separately with its own particular topics’), and outlines their content, sometimes subdivided into chapters (Preface, § 8). The second type of division used in Ancrene Wisse is derived from the preaching rather than the teaching of the schools. Shepherd notes the author’s liking for numbered lists (‘the three sorts of pilgrim, the two wheels of the chariot, the three baths, etc.’).73 Although these can be found in monastic sermons, they are used much more extensively in the new style of preaching developed in the Paris schools from the 1260s onwards. This method of division was initially used to structure topics rather than works; the typical structure of the late twelfth-century sermon has been described as ‘a sequence of lists, rather than an overall division subdivided internally’.74 Such lists may appear in different forms in different contexts. They may be reduced to a line or two of mnemonic Latin verse, or expanded to any length with the help of standard preaching devices of the kind summarized by William de Montibus: auctoritates (authoritative quotations, usually from Scripture and the Church Fathers), rationes (reasons or arguments), exempla (illustrative stories), and similitudines (comparisons).75 Although some of the more traditional lists have a fixed number of items (such as the five senses and the seven deadly sins), some are open-ended, and these have a tendency to acquire more points (membra) over time. The list of sixteen ‘conditions of confession’ in Part 5 has a history of this kind: a three-point list in Bernard of Clairvaux is expanded to five or six points in the later twelfth century, is more or less standardized on fifteen or sixteen points in the early thirteenth century, but peaks at twenty-seven points in the mid-thirteenth century.76 The 71 See Preface, nn. 29, 33. 72 Both words make their first recorded appearance in Middle English here, and are

not recorded again in the sense ‘division of a book’ before the fourteenth century.

73 Shepherd [1959], p. lxiii. 74 Rouse and Rouse [1979], p. 69. 75 Similitudinarium, ed. in Goering [1992], p. 313. For a case-study of this process,

working from the ‘conditions of confession’ used in Ancrene Wisse Part 5, see Millett [1999]; on exempla and similitudines, see further pp. xxxiv–xxxvii below. 76 See Millett [1999].

i n t roduc t ion xxxi process can be seen in action in Part 4 of Ancrene Wisse, where the lists of offspring of the Seven Deadly Sins are expanded by later additions (§§ 18, 20, 21). Some parts of Ancrene Wisse reflect the tendency from the late twelfth century onwards for these two types of division to converge, as topic-based divisions begin to be used as overall organizing devices (as in the ‘thematic’ sermons that appear c.1200), or are integrated more systematically into hierarchical structures of division and subdivision. This is most noticeable in the distinctiones influenced by recent pastoral literature, Part 4 and Part 5. The division and subdivision of the deadly sins in Part 4 reflects the hierarchically organized structure of manuals on the virtues and vices;77 and there are also contemporary parallels in sermons and treatises on confession to the structure of Part 5, where the theme of confession is divided into two parts (its powers and how it should be made), and then further subdivided: ‘Now these are like two branches (limen), and each of them is divided, the first into six parts, the second into sixteen’ (§ 1). This systematically hierarchical organization, however, is not characteristic of Ancrene Wisse as a whole. Anyone who has worked with Ancrene Wisse knows how hard it can be to locate a particular topic below distinctio level; the scholastic principle of structuring a work ‘so that when anything is searched for by the reader, it can be found without difficulty’ has been only partially implemented. The list of contents given in the Preface (§ 8) does not specify the subdivisions for every distinctio, and Alexandra Barratt has noted that in Part 2 the promised structure of five chapters based on the five senses competes in practice with an alternative and not entirely compatible structure based on the sins of the members.78 Part 1 similarly shifts between alternative organizing principles, chronological and topic-based: Roger Dahood comments, ‘the morning-to-night scheme makes an accommodating frame, and within it the author interrupts, suspends and abandons chronology according to the requirement of his topics.’ 79 The remaining distinctiones are relatively loosely organized. The overall division of Part 3 into three sections (corresponding to the three birds mentioned in the text chosen as its theme, Ps. 101: 7–8) is only minimally signposted, and within it the argument moves by free association from point to point; where topicbased divisions are used, they are free-standing rather than integrated with the main divisions of the theme. Part 6, which draws mainly on monastic 77 See Newhauser [1993], p. 58. 78 See Barratt [1987], who draws attention to the rather awkward transition in Part 2,

§ 36: ‘Now I have discussed three of the senses; let us now briefly discuss the two others. (Speech, however, is not the sense of the mouth, but taste is, although both are in the mouth).’ 79 Dahood [1987], p. 9.

xxxii i n t r o d u c t i o n sources, follows their method of structuring: apart from the adaptation of Bernard of Clairvaux’s sixth Lenten sermon, with its relatively well-defined tripartite structure, the style is discursive, and topic-based divisions are few and short. Part 7 again is often discursive, with no sharply defined overall structure. The author traces the stages of progression from carnal to spiritual love of Christ by the juxtaposition and ordering of his arguments rather than by explicit signposting; his occasional use of division (e.g. the four main loves, the seven ‘conditions of eligibility’ that Christ satisfies as a lover) draws on models from contemporary preaching.80 The less structured elements of Ancrene Wisse reflect the earlier tradition of monastic writing on which it also draws. Although its distinctio-based structure is determined by the model of the Premonstratensian/Dominican regulations, it is much more than a customary; external regulations are confined to the first and last distinctiones, which are defined by the author as an ‘outer rule’ enclosing an ‘inner rule’ of general spiritual advice. This combination links Ancrene Wisse with earlier monastic and anchoritic rules, which usually include both external regulations and more discursive spiritual guidance.81 In particular, Aelred of Rievaulx promises his sister in De Institutione inclusarum that he will provide her with both, and uses two of the three sections of his work (the third is a meditative exercise) to deal in turn—though with some overlap—with the conduct of the outer and the inner life: ‘You have now, as you requested, practical regulations, by which as an anchoress you may direct the conduct of the outer person (exterioris hominis); you have a prescribed form by which you may either purge your inner self (interiorem hominem) of vices, or adorn it with virtues …’.82 The structural framing in Ancrene Wisse of the ‘inner rule’ by the two distinctiones containing the ‘outer rule’ elegantly combines both models. The monastic sources that the Ancrene Wisse author uses also influence the ways in which he structures his argument. It would be misleading to draw too absolute a distinction between ‘monastic’ and ‘scholastic’ ways of writing, since Cistercian writers both anticipated and participated in the development of the ‘scholastic’ sermon, but the less tightly structured and more discursive passages in Ancrene Wisse often draw on monastic works. Jean Leclercq has noted that ‘many monastic authors … do not always compose after a logical pattern which has been definitely fixed upon in advance’, following instead the free association of ‘hook-words’ linking different Scriptural quotations.83 Considerable scholarly effort has been 80 On the four main loves, see Part 8, n. 30; on the ‘conditions of eligibility’, Millett

[2009].

81 See further Millett [2003]. 82 De Institutione inclusarum, § 33, CCCM 1. 681. 83 Leclercq, pp. 91–2.

i n t roduc t ion xxxiii invested in the analysis of those parts of Ancrene Wisse whose structural principles are not immediately clear, often developing further the comments by Shepherd on the ‘curious spiral quality’ of its structure, where themes are developed ‘by anticipation, by accumulation, and by recapitulation’;84 but at times the text seems to resist this kind of analysis, inviting the reader to focus on the surface flow of ideas rather than any underlying structure, and some at least of the echoes that Shepherd mentions may have been the product less of conscious planning than of a continuing process of free association. Style The style of Ancrene Wisse, like its structure, is derived from more than a single source. One influence less identifiable in translation than in the original is a native tradition of rhythmical and alliterative prose going back to late Old English models, particularly the sermons of Ælfric and Wulfstan. Its influence on the Ancrene Wisse Group is strongest in the three saints’ lives,85 but it is present to a greater or lesser extent in all the works of the Group. Prose writing in this tradition is based on a sequence of two-stress (or, occasionally, three-stress) phrases, which may be reinforced by internal alliteration, the formulaic pairing of words of related or opposing meaning (e.g. king ant keiser ‘king and emperor’, wa ant wunne ‘sorrow and joy’), or set formulas of other kinds (e.g. world abuten ende ‘world without end’); they may also be linked by alliteration into pairs or longer sequences. In some of the works of the Group, these materials can be used to create highly worked effects, as in this apostrophe to hell in Sawles Warde: ‘O helle, Deaðes hus, wununge of wanunge, of grure ant of granunge, heatel ham ant heard, wan of alle wontreaðes, buri of bale ant bold of eauereuch bitternesse, þu laðest lont of alle, þu dorc stude ifullet of alle dreorinesses, Ich cwakie of grisle ant grure, and euch ban schekeð me ant euch her me rueð up of þi munegunge …’ (ed. Millett and WoganBrowne, 94/1–5) (‘O hell, house of Death, habitation of lamentation, of horror and execration, harsh and hateful home and dwelling of all distresses, stronghold of sorrow and abode of every bitterness, most loathsome land of all, place of darkness and haunt of dreadful griefs, I tremble with terror and dread, and every bone shudders and every one of my hairs stands on end at your memory …’). There are some echoes of this kind of writing in Ancrene Wisse. In passages 84 Shepherd [1959], pp. lx–lxii. 85 See Millett [1988].

xxxiv i n t r o d u c t i o n used for persuasion rather than exposition, its prose tends to fall into a sequence of two-stress phrases, and occasionally there are more noticeable echoes of the native tradition. Anselm’s description of the Last Judgement, for instance, is expanded in translation partly by two-stress phrases paired by alliteration: so the Latin phrase illinc terrens Iusticia 86 is rendered ‘o þe oþer half stont Rihtwisnesse   þet na reowðe is wið, / dredful ant grislich   ant grureful to bihalden.’ 87 But Ancrene Wisse shows much less influence from the native tradition of religious prose than the other works of the Ancrene Wisse Group; a more important influence is the classical tradition of rhetoric that it shares with its patristic and medieval Latin sources. Geoffrey Shepherd and T.P. Dolan have analysed in detail the author’s use of the techniques of Latin rhetoric, in particular figures of repetition;88 Shepherd comments, ‘we must conclude that symmetry, parallelism, and antithesis are habits of his thought.’ The author’s use of rhythm and alliteration (which could themselves be seen as figures of repetition) are in most cases integrated into this broader repertoire of stylistic devices, occasionally borrowed from his Latin sources but more often independently deployed.89 A third influence on his style is the more informal and colloquial idiom of popular preaching. The prose of Ancrene Wisse is characteristically fluent and conversational, scattered with exclamations (‘Jesus, have mercy!’,‘Holy Mary!’), emphatic affirmations (‘God knows …’, ‘Yes, certainly!’), calls for attention (‘See here …’, ‘Now pay careful attention’), rhetorical questions (‘And what do you think came from that looking?’, ‘What on earth is he talking about?’), proverbs (‘as they say, “much grows out of little”’), and the lively imagined speech (sermocinatio) of sinners or potential objectors (‘Now perhaps someone may say, “I’m quite prepared to love his soul (or hers), but him as a person—no way!”’). Two devices characteristic of contemporary popular preaching, similitudines (comparisons) and exempla (illustrative narratives),90 contribute particularly to the ‘literary’ quality of Ancrene Wisse, since they are tools of communication designed to stimulate the audience’s imagination and make the preacher’s discourse more entertaining. The author of Ancrene Wisse makes frequent and lively use of ­similitudines, 86 ‘On the other [side], terrifying Justice’, Part 5, § 7. 87 ‘On the other side, Justice stands without any mercy, frightening and terrifying and

dreadful to see’, Part 5, § 7. For further examples, see Millett [2005–6], 2. xlix–lii.

88 See Shepherd [1959], pp. lxvi–lxviii, and Dolan [1990]. 89 See further Millett [2005–6], 2. l–lii, and the references given there. 90 Both appear increasingly frequently in sermons from the late twelfth century

onwards; see d’Avray [1985], ch. 4, on similitudines, and Le Goff in Bremond, Le Goff, and Schmidt, p. 54, on exempla.

i n t roduc t ion xxxv sometimes to reinforce his arguments, sometimes as arguments in themselves; some are brief, some more elaborately developed. He uses the analogy of ‘outward things’ (Part 4, § 69) to help the reader come to terms with moral and theological problems: ‘Consider that anyone who harms you or causes you any pain, shame, anger, annoyance, is God’s rod; God beats and chastises you with them as a father beats the son he loves with a rod … Again, think of it in this way. If a child falls over something or bumps into it, you beat what it bumped into, and the child is delighted, forgets all its pain, and stops crying. So be comforted; the just man will rejoice when he sees the vengeance. God will act on the Day of Judgement as if he were saying, “Daughter, did this person hurt you?”’ (Part 4, §§ 10, 11). He draws for his imagery not only on society but on the natural world, especially in Part 3, which is ‘about birds of a particular kind that David compares himself to in the Book of Psalms as if he were a recluse, and how recluses are similar in nature to those birds’ (Preface, § 8); he tells his readers, echoing Job 12: 7–8, ‘Learn wisdom and knowledge from dumb animals’ (Part 3, § 10). Studies of the imagery of Ancrene Wisse have tended to focus on its thematic continuities, sometimes relating them to its specific historical and social context; Linda Georgianna, for instance, sees the ‘reminders of medieval town life’ (p. 33) as evidence that the form of anchoritism envisaged by the author was relatively urban and social, and Elizabeth Robertson criticizes him for patronizing his female audience by the use of ‘concrete’ and ‘quotidian’ imagery (ch. 1). Many of the similitudines in Ancrene Wisse, however, seem to have been part of the common repertoire of preachers across Europe, and the variety of these images may be more significant than their continuity. D’Avray sees the Latin preachers of this period as having ‘an attitude to imagery which differs from our own so much in degree that it is almost a difference in kind’ (p. 234), using deliberately heterogeneous comparisons to illustrate their points from different angles, and the author of Ancrene Wisse sometimes draws attention to the multiplicity and variety of the images he is using.91 Ancrene Wisse is also one of the earliest Middle English religious works to make use of exempla.92 These illustrative narratives began to be used increasingly as a form of ‘rhetorical argument’ 93 by preachers from the late twelfth century onwards, a development initiated by the Cistercians, 91 e.g. Part 4, §§ 55, 60, Part 5, § 8. 92 Mosher sees the preaching of the friars as the main impetus behind the use of

exempla in this period, after a decline in vernacular use in the late Old English and early Middle English period: ‘But while, during the thirteenth century, the exemplum was being popularized in the pulpit, it was, apparently, little used elsewhere. A long time elapses after the Ancren Riwle (c.1225) before we reach another English work employing exempla’ (p. 89). 93 See Le Goff in Bremond, Le Goff, and Schmitt, p. 28.

xxxvi i n t r o d u c t i o n adopted by the preachers of the Paris schools, and later more thoroughly exploited by the Dominicans and Franciscans. Most of the exempla in Ancrene Wisse are historical—or ostensibly historical—narratives. Many are derived from the Vitae Patrum, whose accounts of the Desert Fathers provided appropriate narrative material for a group of anchoritic readers, but a few are of more recent origin, including two that have parallels in late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century Cistercian sources.94 Perhaps the most interesting exempla from a literary point of view, however, are not these narratives but what medieval writers sometimes classify separately as parabolae (‘parables’). These are defined by Thomas of Chobham, citing the parable of the wedding feast (Matt. 22) as an example, as narratives ‘where things are related which, even if they did not happen, nevertheless could have happened’.95 Unlike historical exempla, which persuade by example, these fictional narratives persuade by analogy, and the shorter ones occupy a borderline area between comparison and narrative: If a man had travelled a long way away, and someone came and told him that his much-loved wife missed him so much that she took no pleasure in anything without him, but was thin and pale from thinking about his love, surely he would be better pleased than if he was told that she was enjoying herself and having fun and running wild with other men, and was having a wonderful time? In the same way our Lord, who is the soul’s husband, who sees everything that she does although he sits on high, is very pleased that she misses him … (Part 6, § 10). The most fully developed narrative of this type in Ancrene Wisse is the allegorized story of the lover-knight in Part 7, §§ 3–4: A lady was completely surrounded by her enemies, her land laid waste, and she herself quite destitute, in a castle of earth. But a powerful king had fallen in love with her so passionately that he sent his messengers to woo her … This king is Jesus, Son of God, who in just this way wooed our soul, which devils had besieged. And he, like a noble suitor, after numerous messengers and many acts of kindness came to prove his love, and showed by feats of arms that he was worthy of love, as was the custom of 94 The tale of the monk reluctant to make a full confession to his abbot (Part 5, § 9)

is paralleled in the section on confession in a collection of exempla by the Cistercian Caesarius of Heisterbach (1219 × 1222), and the story of the monk too fussy about his own health (Part 6, § 11) in three Cistercian sources dating from the twelfth century onwards. The quotation misattributed to Jerome in Part 5, § 24, is probably derived from a late twelfth-century exemplum about a Cistercian abbot (see the notes on these passages). 95 Thomas of Chobham, Summa de arte praedicandi, ch. 7, CCCM 182. 272.

i n t roduc t ion xxxvii knights once upon a time. He entered the tournament and, like a bold knight, had his shield pierced through and through in battle for love of his lady. His shield, which hid his divinity, was his dear body …. Although it is unlikely to be original to Ancrene Wisse, since it also appears in later Continental sermons (see p. xxviii above), this is its first recorded appearance. It seems to have been based on a literary model, most probably the French courtly romances of the later twelfth century,96 and draws on the language and values of romance to create an emotional response in its female readers. Unlike Langland’s later comparison in Piers Plowman, Passus B. 18, of Christ entering Jerusalem to a knight coming to joust, it does not play on the tension between worldly and spiritual values; instead it exploits its audience’s uncomplicated pleasure in a familiar secular genre. The stylistic appeal of Ancrene Wisse is the product of an eclectic range of influences. It includes echoes of the native English tradition of rhythmical and alliterative prose that would have been familiar to its West Midlands readers, but also draws for its effects on the rhetorical techniques shared by its patristic and medieval Latin sources. The warmth and intimacy of its tone can be paralleled in a tradition of works of guidance for women going back to the patristic period,97 but the liveliness and approachability that helped it to reach a wider audience, lay as well as religious, owe much to the influence of recent developments in popular preaching.

4. The Textual History of Ancrene Wisse Manuscripts and Versions There are full or partial texts of Ancrene Wisse in seventeen medieval manuscripts. Nine of these are of the English version; one manuscript survives of the earlier French translation, three of the later French translation, and four of the Latin translation. The checklist below gives summary descriptions of both manuscripts and versions, arranged alphabetically under their sigla (i.e. the letters or combinations of letters used by editors for brief reference; these will be used in the following discussion, and in the Explanatory Notes). More detailed descriptions, with further references, are given in Millett [2005-6], 1. xi–xxviii. A: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402 A carefully produced manuscript of Ancrene Wisse, dated by N.R. Ker (in the diplomatic edition by Tolkien [1962], p. xv) to the first half of the 96 See Part 7, n. 22. 97 See Millett [2005–6], 2. liv–lvi.

xxxviii i n t r o d u c t i o n thirteenth century; Malcolm Parkes has suggested a later date, ‘probably 1270s or early 1280s’. The dialect of its scribe has been localized by Jeremy Smith to northern Herefordshire or southern Shropshire (see Millett [1996a], p. 11), and an ex libris inscription added towards the end of the thirteenth century records its presentation to the Victorine canons of Wigmore Abbey, Herefordshire, by a Shropshire landowner, John Purcel. The text in A incorporates most of the revisions and additions found in the early manuscript tradition, sometimes developed further, and some unique additional material (including an address to an expanded group of anchoresses, Part 4, § 71). Its textual quality is generally high, and the edited text in Millett [2005–6] that this translation uses is based on it. Bd: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 90 Two extracts (on the seven deadly sins, and on confession) from the later French translation (see S below) of Ancrene Wisse, followed by six short religious texts in Latin. Copied in England, and dated by Ker (see Trethewey, p. xv) to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. BN: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS fonds français 6276 Text of the ‘Compilation’ incorporating the later French translation (see S below) of Ancrene Wisse, followed by a Latin text of the Creed with a French translation and commentary, and an exposition of the Pater noster by Adam of Exeter. Dated by Ker to the early fourteenth century. C: London, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra C. vi Probably the earliest surviving copy of Ancrene Wisse, dated by Malcolm Parkes to the early 1230s; the dialect of the main hand has recently been localized by Margaret Laing to Herefordshire. An inscription records its presentation by Matilda of Clare, Countess of Gloucester (d. 1289), to the the abbey of Canonsleigh in Devon, which had been refounded as a house of Augustinian canonesses in 1284. The manuscript is carelessly copied, but is significant because of its early date and the extensive corrections and revisions by two thirteenth-century annotators, called ‘Scribe B’ and ‘Scribe D’ in the diplomatic edition by Dobson [1972], ‘C2’ and ‘C3’ here. C2’s hand has been dated by Parkes to the 1240s or 1250s, and his dialect localized by Laing to northern Herefordshire or Shropshire; he has been plausibly identified by Dobson with the author of Ancrene Wisse. C3, whose contribution is dated by Parkes to the third quarter of the thirteenth century, adds a vernacular sermon and some lyrics; it is possible that he was a Dominican friar (see Millett [2005–6], 1. xiv–xv).

i n t roduc t ion xxxix F: London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius F. vii The only surviving text of the earlier French translation of Ancrene Wisse, followed by miscellaneous devotional works in French; probably copied in the later thirteenth century (see Millett [2005–6], p. xv). The manuscript was damaged in the Cottonian fire of 1731, and Part 3, § 26–Part 4, § 26 is missing, probably because of the loss of a quire in its exemplar. Diplomatic edition by J.A. Herbert. The translation is generally a close rendering of what seems to have been a good early text of the English version; but it shares three substantial additions to Part 2 with A, and has a unique addition on the dietary regulations of different religious orders in Part 8, § 5. G: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 234/120 Extracts from Parts 2–7 of Ancrene Wisse (in apparently random order) and from the Vitae Patrum, in a hand dated by Malcolm Parkes to the third quarter of the thirteenth century; bound together with an originally separate collection of pastoral material. Diplomatic edition of the material from Ancrene Wisse by R.M. Wilson [1954]. The extracts usually reproduce the original version closely, but leoue sustren ‘dear sisters’ is regularly modified to leoue frend ‘dear friends’, references to anchoresses tend to be omitted or generalized to religiuse ‘religious’, and pronouns are sometimes altered from feminine to masculine. A comment in Part 6, § 6, on the shame of being obliged to beg for one’s living ‘as you are, dear sisters’, has been changed to ‘dear brothers’, possibly suggesting use by a mendicant house. H: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng. th. c.70 (the ‘Lanhydrock fragment’) A fragment from Part 3 of Ancrene Wisse, preserved on a single parchment leaf; sometimes given the alternative siglum O. Dated by Ker in Mack and Zettersten (which includes a facsimile and transcription), to the first half of the fourteenth century. L: Latin version of Ancrene Wisse The Latin translation survives in four manuscripts (Ma, Me, R 2, and V); a fifth manuscript, now lost, is mentioned in the medieval library catalogue of the Augustinian canons of Leicester Abbey. Me is edited by Charlotte d’Evelyn, with variants from the other manuscripts. Ma includes an attribution, ‘Here begins the preface of the venerable father Master Simon of Ghent, bishop of Salisbury [d. 1315], to the book on the solitary life that he wrote for his sisters, who were anchoresses at Tarrant [in Dorset]’, but the internal evidence of the text suggests adaptation for a wider audience of religious. The translation is free, with a tendency to minor abridgement, but generally accurate. It retains only §§ 16–17 of Part 1 (on devotions during Mass), and shares some revisions to Parts 4 and 8 found in A, P, and V.

xl i n t r o d u c t i o n Ma: Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Latin 67 Text of the Latin version of Ancrene Wisse, probably copied c.1400, with an attribution to Simon of Ghent (see under L above); bound together with a late fourteenth-century collection of Latin hymns. Part 8 is omitted (the copyist notes ‘let the eight [part] be passed over altogether’). Me: Oxford, Merton College, MS C. 1. 5 (Coxe 44) Text of the Latin version of Ancrene Wisse (see under L above), copied in the first half of the fourteenth century; bound together with other Latin religious works. The text has only the first few lines of Part 8. N: London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero A. xiv Text of the English version of Ancrene Wisse, followed (in a different hand) by an Ureisun of ure Lefdi in rhyming verse, three ‘Wooing Group’ works (Ureisun of God Almihti, ‘Lofsong of ure Lefdi’, and ‘Lofsong of ure Louerde’), the Apostles’ Creed in English, twelve lines of Latin verse on death, and a Latin prose meditation. The hand of the Ancrene Wisse text is similar in appearance and orthography to the early thirteenth-century ‘tremulous hand’ that annotated older English manuscripts in Worcester Cathedral Library (see Franzen); Malcolm Parkes has dated it to the 1240s, and Margaret Laing has localized its dialect to Worcester. The copyist has freely modified the language of the original, probably for greater intelligibility (see Dobson [1962], p. 133, and Scahill). The text preserves an address, abridged or cut in other manuscripts, to the original audience of three anchoresses (see Part 4, § 13 fn.), and an added passage recommending the lay brothers’ Hours of the writer’s order (see Part 1, § 6 fn.). O: see H (the ‘Lanhydrock fragment’) P: Cambridge, Magdalene College, MS Pepys 2498 Collection of religious works and Scriptural translations in Middle English, dated by Ralph Hanna to c.1365–75; the dialect of the scribe has been localized to the Waltham Abbey area of Essex (LALME, 1. 64). Diplomatic edition of its text of Ancrene Wisse by Arne Zettersten [1976]. This text, which incorporates revisions also found in A, L, and V, was also extensively (and probably repeatedly) reworked at a later stage; it addresses a general audience of both sexes, and emphasizes the value of the active rather than the contemplative life in a way that anticipates later Lollard teaching (see Colledge, Hudson, p. 28, and von Nolcken [2003]). The scribe seems to have had problems with both Latin and the difficult Middle English of Ancrene Wisse, and the quality of the text is very poor.

i n t roduc t ion xli R: London, British Library, MS Royal 8 C. i Collection of religious works in Latin and English, including a free adaptation of Parts 2 and 3 of Ancrene Wisse, both omitting and adding material, for a lay audience (see Watson [2003]). The adaptation is described in the table of contents as a ‘excellent treatise on the five senses by Lichfield’ (for whom various identifications have been suggested; see Millett [2005–6], 1. xxi). The manuscript has been dated by Doyle [1954] to the early or mid-fifteenth century. Diplomatic edition of the text of Ancrene Wisse by A.C. Baugh. R 2 London, British Library, MS Royal 7 C. x 98 Early sixteenth-century manuscript containing sermons by the Dominican St Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419) and a text of the Latin version of Ancrene Wisse (see L above); part of Part 4 has been lost, and (as in Me) the text includes only the first few lines of Part 8. S: later French translation of Ancrene Wisse Translations from all parts of Ancrene Wisse (apparently independent of the earlier French translation in F) incorporated in a larger French manual (called by Trethewey ‘The Trinity Compilation’) on confession and the religious life, probably of Franciscan origin, compiled not later than the last quarter of the thirteenth century. Although the translated text of Ancrene Wisse usually follows its content closely, the translation is free, and often notably more verbose than the original. Watson and WoganBrowne [2004] argue that the ‘Compilation’ was originally planned as ‘an expanded rewriting’ of Ancrene Wisse as a whole, but subsequently modified to accommodate more general pastoral aims. Parts of it address all kinds of religious, parts a still more general audience of religious and laity. Diplomatic edition of the material from Ancrene Wisse by Trethewey, based on Tr with variants from Bd and BN. T: London, British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. xviii A composite manuscript; the earlier section, which includes texts of Ancrene Wisse and other works from the Ancrene Wisse Group (Sawles Warde, Epistel of Meidenhad, Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd, and Seinte Katerine), has been dated by Malcolm Parkes to the 1240s, and Margaret Laing has localized the dialect of the scribe to the area where Cheshire, Shropshire, and northwest Staffordshire intersect. Diplomatic edition of the text of Ancrene Wisse by Frances Mack in Mack and Zettersten. The T text is incomplete, lacking the Preface and most of Part 1. It shows signs of modification for a male 98 D’Evelyn gives this manuscript the siglum R; it has been altered to R 2 to avoid

confusion with BL Royal 8 C. 1 (R) above.

xlii i n t r o d u c t i o n religious community, but also of an apparent attempt to reverse it (although it includes numerous substitutions of masculine for feminine pronouns, at some points it has feminine pronouns against all the other manuscripts running). Tr: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS 883 (R. 14. 7) Collection of works in French from Norwich Cathedral Priory, dated by M.R. James [1901] to the thirteenth or early fourteenth century; includes a text of the ‘Compilation’ incorporating the later French translation of Ancrene Wisse (see S above). V: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng. poet. a. 1 (the ‘Vernon manuscript’) Very large, handsomely illuminated manuscript containing religious and moral works, mainly in Middle English, produced in the West Midlands probably towards the end of the fourteenth century; facsimile edition by Ian Doyle [1987]. Internal evidence places it after 1384, and dialectal and other evidence link it with the area including South Staffordshire, North Worcester, and West Warwickshire. Doyle suggests tentatively that its production may have been initiated by the Cistercian abbey at Bordesley, North Worcestershire, for the house of nuns at Nuneaton, Shropshire, although an audience of pious laity cannot be ruled out. Diplomatic edition of the text of Ancrene Wisse by Zettersten and Diensberg [2000]; three folios have been lost, and the text lacks part of Part 6, all of Part 7, and most of what seems to have been a truncated version of Part 8. The text is of relatively high quality in spite of its late date, with only minor modifications, mostly modernizations of vocabulary; it shares a number of the revisions found in A, L, and P. V1: London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius E. vii Fragmentary manuscript, damaged in the Cottonian fire of 1731; dated by Macaulay [1914] to the early fourteenth century. According to the seventeenth-century catalogue of the Cottonian manuscripts, it was presented by a former prior, Robert of Thornton, to the monks of Bardney (Lincolnshire), and included three saints’ lives (in an earlier hand than the rest of the manuscript), Aelred’s De Institutione inclusarum, a service for the enclosure of anchoresses, and a text of the Latin translation of Ancrene Wisse (see L above). A pre-1731 annotator of one of the British Library copies of the catalogue identified two further items, another anchoritic rule (the ‘Dublin Rule’), and a treatise De Oculo (presumably Peter of Limoges’ thirteenth-century preaching manual Tractatus moralis de oculo). 34 parchment fragments of the text of Ancrene Wisse survive, dated by G.C. Macaulay to the early fourteenth century. Unlike the other

i n t roduc t ion xliii manuscripts of the Latin translation, it seems to have included a full text of Part 8; the surviving fragments of Part 8 are edited by d’Evelyn, with selected variants from other parts of the text. The Development of the Work From a very early stage, Ancrene Wisse began to be modified for different audiences and different purposes, both by its author and by others. Ian Doyle has said of its later transmission that the ‘social changes of ownership and the geographical movement of copies and versions of the Riwle, as well as the adaptations of it, throughout its history, between one sex and the other, one class and another, one region and another, and back again, manifest its exceptionally dynamic character.’ 99 The expansion of the original group of anchoresses, and their changing circumstances and needs, are reflected in a series of probably authorial revisions. An early casualty of this process was the address to the initial audience of three sisters, which is preserved in full only in N (see Part 4, § 13 fn.); in all the other surviving manuscripts it is either abridged and modified, dropping the sisters’ personal details, or (in the case of A and V) cut altogether. A later set of revisions, mainly to Part 8, survive as annotations to C by a second hand, C2, dated by Parkes ‘probably 1240s/50s’; they are consistent in language and style with the original text, three of them are in the first person, and Dobson has made a strong case for taking them as authorial.100 Apart from a lengthy denunciation of wimples (Part 8, § 19), these annotations show a tendency to modify the rigour of the original prescriptions. They indicate that the anchoresses are now geographically scattered, since they may invite each other’s maids to stay overnight (Part 8, § 8), and that they are less well-resourced than the original group: they may need to deal with a variety of patrons, not necessarily reliable (Part 8, § 10), and to supplement their income by their own work (Part 8, §§ 11–12). Further layers of revision, also apparently addressed to the expanding group of anchoresses, are incorporated in the text in A. Two sets of revisions, to Part 4 and Part 8, are shared by L and (where they are running) P and V. The Part 4 revisions are mainly expansions of the descriptions of the seven deadly sins. In Part 8, most of the C2 revisions are taken over, some of them are modified, and more revisions are added; there are further qualifications of the ascetism of the original version (‘I would rather have you bear a harsh word well than a harsh hair-shirt’, Part 8, § 18), but also further warnings against worldly preoccupations, including family visits and fancy needlework (Part 8, § 22). Four substantial additions are shared 99 Doyle [1954], 1. 234. 100 See Dobson [1962], pp. 158–62, Dobson [1966], pp. 199–202, and Dobson [1972],

pp. xciii–cxl.

xliv i n t r o d u c t i o n with F (the last also with V): some supplementary devotions to the Virgin Mary (‘This is how I sometimes begin my Hail Marys …’, Part 1, § 25), advice on the need for discretion in receiving visitors to the anchor-house (Part 2, § 10), an enthusiastic recommendation of ‘our Friars Preacher and our Friars Minor’ (i.e. Dominicans and Franciscans) with instructions on how to confess to them (Part 2, § 13), and a warning to the anchoresses against frivolous, arrogant, and malicious speech (Part 2, § 42). There is also some additional material unique to A: some further modifications of the revisions shared with L, P, and V, and five longer additions. All but one of these (a compliment on their sexual innocence, Part 4, § 25) deal with the specific concerns of the larger group of anchoresses. Two recommend that malicious gossip within the group should be referred to the man who has overall responsibility for them (him … þe lokeð ham alle, Part 8, § 37), its spiritual director (meistre, Part 4, § 72),101 and the Part 8 addition sets limits on the anchoresses’ social interaction not only with their own maids but with those who come on overnight visits from other anchoresses. A third (Part 4, § 77) encourages them to ask patrons for support more readily in case of need. The longest (Part 4, § 71) addresses the group directly, noting their increased numbers (‘twenty now or more’) and their geographical expansion (‘your community is beginning to spread towards the border of England’), and praising them for their unique combination of anchoritism with ‘community of united life according to a rule … as if you were a single religious community of London and of Oxford, of Shrewsbury or of Chester’. It is not easy to establish the dating, or even the relative chronology, of these additions. However, the ALPV additions that borrow or adapt the C2 revisions must postdate them, and A seems to reflect a later state of these additions than LPV. The reference to the friars in Part 2, § 13, must postdate their arrival in England in 1221, and probably also the foundation c.1232 of the earliest West Midlands Dominican house at Shrewsbury; if, as Vincent McNabb first suggested, the reference to ‘Shrewsbury and Chester’ in Part 4, § 71, is to Dominican houses,102 this addition must be later than the foundation of the Chester priory, c.1236; and a brief reference to the friars in Part 8, § 9, exempting them from the special permission required for other visitors, must also be later than the C2 revision that it modifies. Not all the changes in the textual tradition of Ancrene Wisse, however, can be attributed to its author, and not all were made for the group of anchoresses to whom it was originally addressed. As an anonymous vernacular work of practical religious instruction, it seems to have been regarded by at least some 101 On the implications of these references for the institutional context of the larger

group of anchoresses, see Millett [2005–6], 2. xxii–xxiii and xxviii–xxix.

102 See Part 4, n. 194.

i n t roduc t ion xlv of its users as an ‘open text’, whose form and content could be freely altered to maintain its functionality.103 From the second quarter of the thirteenth century to the Reformation it attracted a variety of audiences, and was modified in a variety of ways to meet their needs. For much of the thirteenth century, it seems to have reached mainly a wider audience of religious. Sometimes this simply involved a change of readership for the same text, as existing manuscripts were passed to new owners (C was presented in the 1280s to the house of Augustinian canonesses at Canonsleigh in Devon, and A towards 1300 to the Victorine canons of Wigmore abbey), but sometimes textual adjustments were made for new kinds of user. G, a pocket-sized collection of extracts from the ‘Inner Rule’ of Ancrene Wisse, generally reproduces the original text closely, but its modifications of pronouns and forms of address point to adaptation for use by a male, possibly mendicant, religious community (see p. xxxix above). Underlying the text in T (and also the later text in P) is an adaptation for an audience of male religious, with masculine pronouns and some minor modifications of content;104 but the T text also shows signs of an attempt to reverse this adaptation.105 The Latin translation (L), whose earliest manuscripts survive from the early fourteenth century, also modifies its text slightly to apply to male and female religious as well as anchoresses,106 and omits Part 1, apart from a short passage on devotions during Mass. From the late thirteenth century onwards, however, there are indications that Ancrene Wisse was beginning to be read by the laity as well, a development that sometimes led to much more extensive textual modification. The later thirteenth-century French translation, S, incorporates material from Ancrene Wisse into a longer and more general-purpose pastoral compilation; part of it, on the religious life, addresses all kinds of religious, ‘monk, or canon, or white or grey or black friar, or nun, or anchoress, or in any other kind of religious life, man or woman’, the remainder a general audience including both religious and laity.107 The heavily abridged (and often garbled) version in P, which dates from the third quarter of the fourteenth century, seems to have been produced for a lay audience of both sexes, probably members of the London bourgeoisie; its text shows signs of repeated revision, not only the thirteenth-century adaptations for male users shared with T, but at least two fourteenthcentury reworkings, adding new and sometimes unorthodox material 103 On the concept of the ‘open text’, see Thompson [1991], p. 180. 104 The most notable is the alteration of the regulations in Part 8 on haircutting and

bloodletting; see Part 8, § 27 and nn. 103, 105.

105 See Millett [2005–6], 1. xxiv. 106 See Millett [2005–6], 1. xviii. 107 See Watson and Wogan-Browne [2004], and Millett [2005–6], 1. xxii–xxiii.

xlvi i n t r o d u c t i o n (including praise of the active rather than the contemplative life).108 The fifteenth-century ‘treatise on the five senses’ in R draws only on Parts 2 and 3, abridging, rewriting, and adding new material to adapt its content for a lay audience.109 Material from Ancrene Wisse was also borrowed and adapted in a number of other late medieval works. Watson, investigating its use c.1370–1450, notes in particular its influence on five vernacular religious compilations: Pore Caitif (c.1370s), The Chastising of God’s Children (c.1395), and three closely related works, Book for a Simple and Devout Woman, Þe Pater Noster of Richard Ermyte, and Þe Holy Boke Gratia Dei, composed in the north-east Midlands between 1370 and 1400. Two, The Chastising of God’s Children and Þe Pater Noster, are addressed to nuns, the others to lay audiences: Book for a Simple and Devout Woman to a laywoman, Pore Caitif and Þe Holy Boke Gratia Dei to the laity in general.110 A later compilation made for an aristocratic female patron and published by Wynkyn de Worde, the Tretyse of Loue (1493),111 includes excerpts from Ancrene Wisse retranslated into English from the second French translation (S). This translation of Ancrene Wisse is based on the text in A. Since the diplomatic text edited by Tolkien was published by the Early English Text Society in 1962, A has normally been the preferred text of editors and translators.112 Its textual quality is markedly higher than that of the other surviving manuscripts, and its incorporation of most of the later revisions addressed to the original group of anchoresses gives it a particular interest. Dobson argued further that it was ‘a close copy of the author’s own final and definitive revision of his work’,113 but there are problems in treating it as a ‘second edition’ in the modern sense. In the original version of Ancrene Wisse, the author tells his audience of anchoresses that he hopes they will read his work often, given the time he has put into it: ‘As God is my witness, I would rather set out to Rome than start writing it again’ (Part 8, § 38). The evidence of the textual tradition suggests that his unwillingness to rewrite was more than a rhetorical flourish; his characteristic method of revision seems to have been piecemeal and unsystematic, either by annotation of individual manuscripts or by the circulation of longer additions on separate sheets. The A text of Ancrene Wisse lacks the coherence of structure and 108 See the references given at p. xl above. 109 See the discussion in Watson [2003], pp. 216–19. 110 See the references given in Watson [2003]. 111 The Tretyse is edited by John H. Fisher. 112 See Millett [1996a], pp. 34–41, for a historical survey of editions and translations

of the Ancrene Wisse Group. An exception is the translation of Ancrene Wisse Part 1 in Ackerman and Dahood, which is based on the text in the earliest surviving manuscript, C, as corrected by C2. 113 Dobson [1962], p. 163.

i n t roduc t ion xlvii content that might be expected from a hands-on authorial overhaul: some textual problems present in earlier stages of the text remain unresolved,114 inconsistencies and gaps in the argument caused by revision have not always been remedied,115 and the text of one long addition (Part 2, § 42) is of unexpectedly poor quality.116 It remains multi-layered, incorporating distinct and sometimes incompatible elements from different stages of its development, not all of them necessarily authorial.117 For these reasons, the edited text on which the translation is based treats A not as a ‘closed’ text, the ‘final and definitive’ version of Ancrene Wisse, but as part of an ‘open’ textual tradition, characterized by ongoing modifications of the original version.118 Its main aims are to present the A text to the reader in a way that makes its historical evolution clearer, and to use it as a point of entry to the broader textual tradition of Ancrene Wisse, relating it to the early development of the work as a whole. In the translation, as in the edited text, the relationship of A to other texts of the work is indicated on the page by a combination of footnotes and typographical mark-up: the footnotes record material from earlier forms of the work not found, or found in altered form, in A, and different sizes of bold type are used to alert the reader to later additions or annotations incorporated in the main text. The history, chronology, and authorship of these textual changes are discussed generally above (pp. xliii–xliv), and in more detail in the Explanatory Notes.

5. This Translation Translating the Middle English Text Any translation of Ancrene Wisse is necessarily a misrepresentation; partly because the semantic and grammatical structures of its time cannot always 114 A discrepancy in the numbering of the exempla in Part 4, §§ 60–8, has not

been picked up (see n. 189); and early marginal annotations and additions have sometimes been incorrectly or awkwardly incorporated (see Millett [2005–6], 1. xli, for references). 115 The damage to the argument caused by the cutting in A of the address to the original three sisters has not been repaired (see Part 4, § 13 and n. 37), the surviving reference to them in Part 2, § 46, has been missed, and the original numbering of the offspring of the seven deadly sins has not been adjusted to allow for the revisions in Part 4 (see Part 4, § 20, n. 59, and § 21, n. 65). 116 See Dobson [1962], pp. 152–5. 117 This applies particularly to shorter additions (e.g. glosses in Latin or English, theological qualifications, and supplementary Latin quotations), although some longer additions also lack any clear indicators of authorship; see Millett [2005–6], 1. lvi–lix. 118 For a full account of the editorial principles underlying the edited text, see Millett [2005–6], 1. xlv–lxi. On the author’s apparent acceptance of the ‘open’ nature of his work, see the discussion of the C2 corrections of C in Millett [2005–6], 1. li–lv.

xlviii i n t r o d u c t i o n be mapped exactly on to current English, but partly also because the author of Ancrene Wisse actively exploits the linguistic resources available to him, taking full advantage of the relative freedom of early Middle English word-order, and developing his argument through complex and sometimes multilingual word-play. Although I have tried where possible to prevent the distinctive features of his style from being lost in translation, my main aim has been to produce a clear and accessible version of Ancrene Wisse for modern readers. This has necessarily involved some departures from literal translation, including the modernization of word-order, the expansion of the more elliptically phrased sentences for clarity, and, in some cases, the substitution of modern for medieval idioms. A particular problem in translating this work (as noted by Savage and Watson, p. 38) is the politically and grammatically awkward question of how to render the Middle English ‘generic masculine’ pronouns, he (when used to cover both sexes) and mon/me ‘one’. Savage and Watson’s policy is ‘wherever possible to render what we think are generic masculine forms using gender-neutral language’ (most often ‘they’ as a singular form). I have often done the same (usually by translating he as ‘a person’, me by a generic ‘you’); but the evidence of the manuscripts suggests that the masculine overtones of these pronouns in a work addressed to women readers were strong enough to trouble some medieval copyists and translators (most notably the translator of S, who is meticulously gender-specific in his addresses to mixed audiences of men and women). For this reason, I have sometimes allowed generic masculine pronouns to stand, especially in passages (e.g. Part 5, § 29) where their use has led to later modifications of the text. More generally, the author’s wide, innovative, and inventively used vocabulary causes a variety of difficulties for the translator. Sometimes the Middle English text uses two different words where modern English uses only one, as when a native English word is used alongside the new Romance borrowing that would eventually replace it (e.g. in Part 3, § 20, Trinite (‘Trinity’) is explained as Þrumnesse ‘in English’, and in Part 5, § 7, conscience is glossed as inwit). Conversely, a single Middle English word may overlap or even incorporate the semantic fields of two different modern words. In Part 2, § 8, the woman who allows men to look at her is described metaphorically as leaving uncovered a put into which (like stray animals) they may fall; the word is normally translated by its modern descendant ‘pit’, but the Old Testament prohibition to which the passage refers uses the word cisterna (‘underground reservoir’), and the straying men in Ancrene Wisse are said to risk being drowned in sin. ‘Well’, another Middle English sense of put, might be a more accurate rendering; but the traditional association of ‘pit’ with the mouth of hell gives a more

i n t roduc t ion xlix r­hetorically effective translation. Still more problematic is the translation in Part 4 of the phrase unicorne of wreaððe. The usual translation, ‘unicorn of wrath’, which I have followed, is potentially misleading; since the author of Ancrene Wisse describes this creature in § 21 as as a savage beast with a horn on its nose, he is likely to have had the rhinoceros rather than the unicorn in mind. But it is not necessarily incorrect; the unicorn (monoceros) and rhinoceros were frequently confused by medieval writers, and he may not have thought of them as different animals. The most difficult problem of all, however, is finding a modern equivalent for the author’s word-play, from the untranslatable pun on eilþurles in Part 2, § 9, to the complex etymological patterning that connects Latin rectus, Middle English ‘riht’, and other related words at the beginning of the Preface. I have discussed these problems more fully in the Explanatory Notes. Other Languages Ancrene Wisse includes a considerable amount of material in Latin. Usually the author supplies a translation into Middle English, but sometimes the translation is free or a gloss is given instead; the Latin hymns and prayers recommended for the anchoresses’ use in Part 1 are not translated; and the text also incorporates some untranslated Latin passages that were probably originally marginal annotations. I have replaced the Latin throughout by an italicized English translation. Part of the text of an added passage in Part 2, § 10, survives, by an accident of manuscript transmission, only in Old French (see Part 2, n. 35); this has been translated, but not italicized. Scriptural References All Scriptural references are to the Latin Vulgate text of the Bible, following the Vulgate numbering of the Psalms and citing Kings 1–4 rather than Samuel 1 and 2 and Kings 1 and 2; the Song of Songs is referred to in the translation as Canticles, and the Book of Revelation as the Apocalypse. The names of Scriptural people and places, however, have been converted to the more familiar forms of the King James Version of the Bible. Layout and Typographical Conventions The translation follows the layout of the edited text in Millett [2005–6], 1. 1–165, and has been matched to the page numbering. It is divided into numbered paragraphs corresponding to those in the Middle English text, and uses the same typographical conventions (apart from its use of square brackets). Underlining indicates rubrication (i.e. the use of red ink for headings in the base manuscript). Bold type indicates significant alterations, additions, and revisions to the

l i n t r o d u c t i o n original text of Ancrene Wisse in the text of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402 (A) used as the basis for the translation. Small bold type indicates originally marginal annotations incorporated in

the A text.

[Square brackets] are used in the translation to indicate words necessary for the sense added to the original’s brief references to Latin texts; also (though very rarely) for explanatory glosses on the Middle English text. Italic type is used to indicate material translated from Latin. Footnotes are used for material from the earlier stages of the textual development of Ancrene Wisse that is either not found, or is found in altered form, in A. Normally only the more substantial variants (i.e. more than a few words long) are recorded.

PR E FAC E In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the ‘Guide for Anchoresses’ begins here. 1. ‘The righteous love you.’ 1 The bride says this to the bridegroom in Canticles. There is what is right in grammar, what is right in geometry, and what is right in theology; and each of these has its separate rules. Our subject is rightness in a theological sense, which has two rules: one is concerned with the direction of the heart, the other with the rectification of external things.2 2.  ‘The righteous love you’. ‘Lord’, says the bride of God to her beloved bridegroom, ‘the righteous love you.’ The righteous are those who live according to a rule. And you, my dear sisters, have been asking me for a long time for a rule.3 There are many kinds of rule; but there are two in particular that I will talk about because of your request, with the grace of God. 3.  One of them rules the heart, and makes it even and smooth without the bumps and hollows of a crooked and troubled conscience 4 that says, ‘You are committing a sin here’, or ‘This is not yet atoned for as well as it ought to be.’ This rule is always internal and directs the heart.a And this is the charity that the Apostle describes, ‘of a pure heart and a clear conscience and sincere faith’.5 This rule is the charity of a pure heart and a clear conscience and true faith. ‘Extend your mercy’, says the Psalmist, ‘to those who know you’ by sincere faith, ‘and your justice’—that is, rectitude of life—‘to those who are righteous in heart’—that is, those who direct all their intentions according to the rule of the divine will .6 These people are called ‘the good’ antonomastically :7 the Psalmist says: ‘Do good, O Lord, to those who are good and righteous in heart.’ 8 They are told that they should rejoice—that is, in the testimony of a clear conscience: ‘Rejoice, all you who are righteous in heart’,9 that is, those who have been set right by that supreme rule that rectifies everything, of which Augustine says, ‘Nothing should be sought after but the rule of the supreme authority’,10 and the Apostle, ‘Let us all remain in the same rule.’ 11

4. The second rule is completely external and regulates the body and physical acts, giving directions on all outward behaviour, how you should eat, drink, dress, say your prayers, sleep, keep vigil.12 And this is physical activity, which according to the Apostle is unimportant;13 and it is like the rule that regulates mechanics, which is part of the discipline of geometry. And this rule only exists to serve

C2 adds, ‘If the conscience—that is, your intellectual and emotional sense of right and wrong—bears witness against you internally that you are in a state of sin and are doing wrong in such and such a case, and practising such and such a vice, that conscience, that moral sense, is warped and uneven and full of bumps and hollows; but this rule levels it out and makes it smooth and soft’; similarly V, at the end of § 3. a

2

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the other. The other is like the lady, this one like her maid; because whatever is done according to the outer rule is done only to regulate the heart internally. 5.  Now you ask what rule you anchoresses should observe. You should in every way, with all your might, scrupulously observe the inner rule, and the outer for the sake of the inner. The inner rule is always the same, the outer varies; because everyone should observe the outer rule in the way that helps her best to follow the inner. Now, it is indeed the case that all anchoresses can observe a single rule as far as purity of heart is concerned, which is the objective of all forms of the religious life;14 that is, everyone can and should observe one rule concerning purity of heart, which is a clean and clear moral sense a (conscience) unaware of any sin that has not been atoned for through confession.15 This is the work of the lady rule, which rules and straightens and smooths away sin from the heart and the conscience; because nothing makes it crooked b apart from sin. Straightening and smoothing it is the virtue and the whole strength of every form of religious life and of every order. This rule is not a product of human invention, but of divine precept; therefore it is always the same without any change, and everyone should always observe it in the same way. But not everyone can observe a single rule, and they need not and should not observe the outer rule in the same way, that is, where physical observances are concerned:16 that is, physical observances according to the outer rule, which I called the maid, and which is a human invention, established for no other reason than to serve the inner, which c makes people fast, keep vigil, wear scanty and rough clothing, and similar hardships, which many can stand physically, many cannot. Therefore the outer rule must be modified in various ways according to each individual’s nature and her capacity.d For one person is strong, another is not and can reasonably be excused and please God with less. One is well-educated, one is not and must do more manual labour and say her prayers differently.17 One is old and unprepossessing and gives less cause for anxiety, another is young and beautiful and needs to be guarded more carefully. For this reason every anchoress should observe the outer rule according to her confessor’s advice, and do whatever he asks and orders her to do in obedience, being familiar with her nature and knowing her strength. He can modify the outer rule at his discretion, as he considers that the inner rule can best be observed. 6.  My advice is that no anchoress should make a profession—that is, C2 adds, ‘that is, a conscience that is not aware of, or a witness to, the presence of any great sin’; similarly F, after the following ‘sin’. b After ‘crooked’, C2 adds ‘rough and uneven’. c C2 replaces ‘which’ by ‘This outer rule, which is at the end of this book, the eighth distinction, that is, the final part.’ d C2 adds ‘as her director instructs her; because he carries this rule in his head, and depending on whether someone is ill or in good health, he must change this outer rule according to his discretion to suit each one’s capacity.’ a

p r e f a c e 3 promise as a vow—except for three things, which are obedience, chastity, and stability of abode (that she should never move elsewhere after being enclosed unless it is absolutely necessary, as in the case of violence and fear of death,a or obedience to her bishop or his superior b).18 For whoever undertakes something and promises God to carry it out as a vow binds herself to it, and commits a mortal sin if she voluntarily breaks her vow. If she does not promise it, she may do it even so and give it up whenever she wants to—as with food, with drink, abstaining from meat or fish, and everything of that kind, with clothing, with sleeping arrangements, with Hours, with other prayers, saying so many or in such a way. You are free to do all these things and others like them, or to give them up for as long as you want and when you want, unless they have been vowed. But charity (that is, love) and humility and patience, faithfulness and keeping all the ten commandments, confession and penance, these and others like them, some of which belong to the Old Law, some to the New, are not human inventions or a rule established by man, but are God’s commands, and therefore everyone is obliged to keep them, and you above all, because these rule the heart. Nearly everything that I write is about ruling the heart, except at the beginning of this book and at the very end. You already observe all the precepts of the outer rule that I am writing about here, my dear sisters, thanks be to God, and through his grace will do so still better as you go on. But even so, I do not want you to bind yourselves by a vow to observe them; because whenever you broke any of them after that, it would upset you too much and make you so anxious that you might soon—which God forbid!—fall into despair, that is, lose hope and belief in being saved. For this reason, my dear sisters, you should not make a vow to practise anything that I write for you about external observances in the first part of your book, on your devotions, and more particularly in the last, but keep it in your mind and practise it as if you had made a vow. 7.  If any ignorant person asks you what order you belong to—as you tell me some do, straining out the gnat and swallowing the fly 19—answer: of St James, who was God’s apostle and called God’s brother because of his great holiness.20 If such an answer seems strange and surprising to him, ask him what makes an order, and where he could find the religious life more clearly described and explained in Holy Scripture than it is in St James’s canonical epistle.21 He defines religious life and true order. Pure and immaculate religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their need, and to keep yourself unspotted from this world;22 that is, ‘Pure and immaculate religion is to visit and help widows and After ‘and’, C2 adds in the margin ‘as in the case of fire or of other danger’. After ‘superior’, C2 adds ‘You should not, I say, make any further vows with firm promises.’

a

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fatherless children, and keep yourself pure and unspotted from the world.’ This is how St James describes religious life and order.23 The second part of what he says applies to recluses; because there are two parts, corresponding to the two different kinds of religious. Each kind has its own part, as you can hear. Some people in the world are good religious, especially prelates and true preachers. The first part of what St James said applies to them; they are, as he says, those who go to help widows and fatherless children. The soul is a widow who has lost her husband, that is, Jesus Christ, through any mortal sin. Those are also fatherless who through their sin have lost the Father of heaven. Going to see such people and comforting them and helping them with the food of holy teaching—this is true religion, says St James. The second part of what he says applies to your kind of religious life, as I said before, keeping yourselves pure and unspotted from the world more than other religious.24 So the apostle St James, describing religion, mentions neither white nor black in his order.25 But many people strain out the gnat and swallow the fly—that is, attach great importance to what matters least. Paul the First Hermit, Anthony and Arsenius, Macarius and the others,a weren’t they religious and of St James’s order? Likewise St Sarah and St Syncletica, and many others like them, both men and women, with their coarse mats and their harsh hair-shirts; didn’t they belong to a good order? 26 And whether white or black—as ignorant people ask you, thinking that order consists in the outer garment—God knows; nevertheless, they were certainly both, not, however, in their clothes, but as God’s spouse sings of herself, I am black but comely.27 ‘I am black and yet white’, she says: unsightly outside, bright inside. This is how you should answer those people who ask about your order, and whether it is white or black: say that you are both through the grace of God, and of the order of St James b that he described next: To keep yourself unspotted from this world—that is, as I said before, to keep yourself pure and unspotted from the world. This is what the religious life consists in, not in the wide hood or the black cape, or in the white rochet or in the grey cowl.28 Where many people are gathered together, for the sake of unity importance must be attached to uniformity of clothing, and of other kinds of external observances, so that the outer uniformity should symbolize the inner unity of one love and one will that they all have in common. With their uniform habit, which they all have in common, and also in other things, they proclaim that all of them together share one love and one will (take care that they are not lying!).29 That is the nature of a religious community. But wherever a woman or a man is living on their own, as a hermit or recluse, it a b

C2 alters ‘others’ to ‘other holy men of that time’. C2 adds ‘and of that part’.

p r e f a c e 5 does not matter much about external things as long as they do not give rise to scandal. Listen to Micah: I will show you, man, what is good and what God requires from you: to judge rightly at all costs and walk carefully with the Lord your God.30 ‘I will show you, man,’ says the holy Micah, God’s prophet, ‘I will show you truly what is good, and the nature of religion and order, the kind of holiness God requires from you.’ It is this; understand it. ‘Do well at all times and deem yourself weak, and with dread and with love go with God your Lord.’ Where these things are, there is true religious life, there is true order; and to do all the rest and neglect this is nothing but fraud and hypocrisy. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside are full of every kind of uncleanness, like whited sepulchres.31 All that good religious

do or wear according to the outer rule is entirely for this purpose; it is all no more than a tool with which to build towards this, it is all no more than a maid to serve the lady in ruling the heart.32 This one book is divided into eight smaller books.

8.  Now, my dear sisters, I am dividing this book into eight ‘distinctions’,33 which you call parts; and each one deals separately with its own particular topics, and nevertheless each follows on logically from the one before, and what comes later is always linked to what precedes. The first part is all about your devotions. The second is about how you should use your five senses to guard your heart, in which are order and religion and the life of the soul. In this distinction there are five chapters, that is, five sections corresponding to the five senses, which guard the heart like watchmen wherever they are faithful; and it says something about each one separately in turn. The third part is about birds of a particular kind that David compares himself to in the Book of Psalms as if he were a recluse, and how recluses are similar in nature to those birds. The fourth part is about both physical and spiritual temptations, and comfort against them, and about their remedies. The fifth part is about confession. The sixth part is about penance. The seventh is about purity of heart, why Jesus Christ must and should be loved, and what deprives us of his love and prevents us from loving him. The eighth part is all about the outer rule: first about food and drink, and other related matters; then about the things you are allowed to receive, and what things you are allowed to guard or keep; then about your clothes

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and related matters; then about your handiwork; about haircutting and bloodletting; about your maids’ rule; finally, how you should teach them lovingly.

PA RT 1 The first book, about Hours 1 and prayers that are good to say, begins here. 1.  When you first get up, cross yourselves and say In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen, and immediately begin Come, Creator Spirit,2 with eyes and hands raised up towards heaven, kneeling forwards on to the bed, and so recite all the hymn straight through with the versicle Send forth your spirit,3 and the prayer O God, you who [have daily instructed] the hearts of the faithful.4 After this, while you are putting your shoes on and dressing say the Our Father and the Creed; Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on us; you who deigned to be born of a virgin, have mercy on us.5 Keep on repeating this last prayer until you are quite ready. (Use this prayer frequently, and have it often on your lips, whenever you can, whatever you may be doing.) 2.  When you are quite ready, sprinkle yourselves with holy water (which you should always have), and think of God’s flesh and of his precious blood, which is above the high altar,6 and prostrate yourselves towards it with these salutations: Hail, origin of our creation. Hail, the price of our redemption. Hail, support of our peregrination. Hail, reward of our expectation. Hail, our long wait’s consolation.7 O be our joy, you who will be Our payment in eternity, And may our glory rest in you, From age to age forever new.8 O Lord, depart not from our sight, Remove the darkness of the night, Wash off our sins to make us white, And grant us healing through your might.9 Born of a virgin, may you, Lord, Be always honoured and adored With the Father, etc.10 (You should do the same when the priest holds it up in the Mass, and before the Confiteor 11 when you are due to take communion.) After this, fall on

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your knees to your crucifix with these five salutations in commemoration of God’s five wounds:12 We adore you, O Christ, and bless you because through the holy Cross you redeemed the world. We adore your cross, O Lord; we commemorate your glorious Passion. Have mercy on us, you who suffered for us. Hail, holy Cross, O noble tree, Whose strength supported worthily The precious ransom of the world.13 Hail, O Cross, you who were consecrated in the body of Christ, and adorned with his limbs as if with pearls. Hail, Cross, the wood of victory, Who gave the world its liberty, Different from any other tree In leaf, in flower, and in your seed. O Christian medicine, sustain The healthy, save the sick from pain; (and as you say this beat your breast) What human powers cannot attain, May it in your name succeed.14 Anyone who does not know these five should say the first, We adore you, kneeling down five times. And cross yourselves with each one of these salutations, and with these words, Have mercy on us, you who suffered for us, beat your breast, and kiss the ground, having made the sign of the cross over it with your thumb. After that, turn to the image of our Lady and kneel down with five Hail Marys;15 finally kneel or bow to the other images and to your relics, especially to the saints you have dedicated your altars to out of devotion, all the sooner if any of them is consecrated.16 3.  Straight after that, say the Matins of our Lady as follows.17 Prostrating yourselves if it is a ferial day, bowing down slightly if it is a festal day,18 say both the Our Father and the Creed quietly. Then straighten up and say, O Lord, you will open my lips.19 Make the sign of the cross on your mouth with your thumb; at O God, [come] to [my] help,20 a large sign of the cross with the thumb and with the two fingers from above the forehead down to the breast;a and prostrate yourselves, if it is a ferial day, at Glory a

After ‘breast’, F has ‘and across, and from one shoulder to the other’.



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be to the Father,21 or bow down, if it is a festal day, until As it was [in the beginning]. Similarly, at each Glory be to the Father, and at the beginning of the Venite, and in the Venite at Come, let us adore,22 and at the Hail Mary, and wherever you hear Mary’s name mentioned, and at every Our Father that is part of your Hours, and at the Creed,a and at the collect 23 at every Hour,b and at the last verse of every hymn, and at the last verse but one of the psalm Bless all the works of the Lord, [praise] the Lord:c  24 at all these, if it is a festal day, bow down slightly; if it is a ferial day, prostrate yourselves. At the beginning of every Hour, at O God, [come] to [my] help, make the sign of the cross as I instructed earlier. At Come, Creator,25 bow or kneel according to what the day is. At Remember, author of salvation 26 always prostrate yourselves, and at these words, Through birth you assumed [our body’s] form, kiss the ground; and also in the Te Deum,27 at these words, You did not abhor the virgin’s womb, and at Mass in the Great Creed,28 at [was born] of the Virgin Mary, and became man. 4.  Each of you should say her Hours as she has written them down,29 and as far as you can, say every Hour separately at its own time, rather too soon than too late if you are ever unable to keep to the time. Matins at night in winter, in summer at dawn. This winter should begin at Holy Cross Day in autumn, and last until Easter.30 Prime early in winter, in summer well on in the morning; after that, Preciosa 31 (if you need to say something because of any emergency, you may say it beforehand, and immediately after Matins if necessary). Nones always after eating, and, when you have a daytime nap, after sleeping, while the summer lasts, except when you are fasting; in winter before eating when you are fasting continuously, but on the Sunday after eating, because you eat twice.32 You should stand up for one psalm, if you are in good health, and sit for the next; and always rise up and bow at Glory be to the Father. If anyone is able to stand throughout in honour of our Lady, let her stand by all means.33 At all the seven Hours recite Our Father and Hail Mary both before and after;34 [May] the souls of the faithful 35 after each Hour before the Our Father. At three Hours say the Creed with the Our Father, before Matins and after Prime and after Compline. From your Compline until after Preciosa keep silence. 5.  Say your Placebo 36 immediately after Vespers every night when you are able, unless it is a holy night because of a feast of nine lessons 37 the following morning. Before Compline or after Matins, Dirige 38 with three psalms and three lessons every night in turn;39 on the anniversaries of your dearest friends, say all nine. Instead of Glory [be to the Father] at the end of For ‘at the Creed’, N has ‘in the Creed at these words, “born of the Virgin Mary”’. After ‘Hour’, N has ‘and at the Litany’. c After ‘Lord’, N has ‘at this verse, “Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit.”’ a

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each psalm, Grant eternal rest to them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. At Placebo, sit until the Magnificat;40 also at Dirige except at the lessons,a and at the Miserere,41 and from Laudate 42 right to the end. At the end, say May they rest in peace instead of Let us bless [the Lord].43 In the morning or at night, after the suffrages of Matins,b 44 say Commendation;45 the psalms sitting, the prayers kneeling or standing. If you do so every night except for Saturday night,46 you are doing much better. On a one-meal day we say both Placebo and Dirige after the graces following the meal, on a two-meal day after Nones; and you may do the same.47 6.  Say the Seven Psalms 48 sitting or kneeling with the Litany. Say the Fifteen Psalms 49 as follows: the first five for yourself, and for all those who do good to you or wish you well; the second five for the peace of all Holy Church; the third five for all Christian souls. After the first five, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy;50 Our Father; And [lead] us not; My God, save your servants and your handmaids, who put their hope in you.51 Let us pray. O God, whose special nature it is.52 After the second five similarly: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy; Our Father; And [lead] us not; O Lord, may there be peace in your strength, and abundance in your towers.53 Let us pray. We beseech you, O Lord, [accept] gladly the prayers of your Church.54 After the third five (which you should say without the Glory be to the Father), Lord have mercy three times; Our Father; And [lead] us not; Free their souls, O Lord, from the gate of hell.55 Let us pray. O God, Creator of all the faithful.56 Say the Seven Psalms, and these fifteen in this way, about mid-morning, because at about that time that Mass is sung in all religious orders, and our Lord suffered torture on the cross,57 you should especially be at your prayers and supplications; and also from Prime to mid-morning, when secular priests sing their Masses.c 58 7.  You may say your Our Fathers, if you wish, in this way. ‘Almighty God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, as you three are one God, so you are one strength, After ‘lessons, C2 adds ‘There they should stand.’ Next to ‘suffrages’, C2 adds in the margin ‘which are the commemorations of the saints.’ c After ‘Masses’, N has ‘This is how our lay brothers say their Hours: before Matins on ferial days twenty-eight Our Fathers, on festal days, forty; before Vespers, fifteen; before every other Hour, seven. Before Matins, Our Father and the Creed, kneeling to the earth on a ferial day, and bowing on a festal day. And then anyone who knows it should say O Lord, you will open my lips; O God, come to my help; Glory be to the Father; As it was; Alleluia; and in Lent, Praise to you, O Lord, King of eternal glory; after the last [Our Father], Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy; Our Father; and after the Amen, Through [our] Lord; Let us bless the Lord; Thanks be to God. And at all the other Hours begin and end in the same way; but at Compline anyone who knows it should begin, Convert us, O Saviour God, and at all the other Hours, O God, [come] to [my] help without O Lord, [open] my lips. If any of you wishes to do it in this way, she is following here, as in other observances, much of the practice of our order, and I strongly recommend it.’ a

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one wisdom, and one love; and nevertheless strength is especially attributed in Holy Scripture to you, precious Father, wisdom to you, blessed Son, love to you, Holy Spirit. Give me,a 59 one almighty God, threefold in three persons, these three things: strength in order to serve you, wisdom in order to please you, love and desire to do it; strength so that I can do, wisdom so that I know how to do, love so that I desire to do always what pleases you most. As you are full of all good things, so nothing good is lacking where these three, strength and wisdom and love, are joined together. That you may grant me them, Holy Trinity, in your honour’,60 three Our Fathers, Creed. Versicle: Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit; let us praise and exalt them above everything for ever.61 Let us pray. O almighty and eternal God, who granted your servants in confession of the true faith to recognize the glory of the eternal Trinity.62 Anyone who wants may recite Alpha and Omega,63 if she has it, or something else on the Holy Trinity. 8.  ‘O Jesus, have mercy; Jesus, hanged on the cross for my sins, for those five wounds from which you bled on it, heal my bloodstained soul of all the sins that it is wounded with through my five senses. That it may be so in commemoration of them, precious Lord’, five Our Fathers. Versicle: May all the earth adore you and sing your praise; may it say a psalm in your name.64 Let us pray. O just Judge,65 if you know it, or something else about the cross. O God, who [wished] the standard of the holy Cross [to be sanctified] with the precious blood of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ 66—this is one of the best. 9.  ‘For the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit,67 that I may have them, and for the seven Hours 68 that Holy Church sings, that I may participate in them whether I am asleep or awake, and for the seven petitions in the Our Father against the seven capital and mortal sins,69 that you may guard against them and all the lesser sins that flow from them,70 and may grant me the seven blessed Beatitudes 71 that you have promised your elect, O Lord, in your blessed name’, seven Our Fathers. Versicle: Send forth your spirit. Let us pray. O God, to whom every heart is open.72 We beseech you, O Lord, [accept the prayers] of your Church. We beseech you, O Lord, listen to the prayers of your supplicants.73 10.  ‘For the ten commandments that I have broken, partly or wholly, and my failure to pay faithfully to you (whatever may be the case with other things) the tithe of myself,74 in recompense for these transgressions, to reconcile me with you, precious Lord’, ten Our Fathers. Versicle: I have said, ‘O Lord, have mercy on me. Heal my soul, because I have sinned towards you.’ 75 Let us pray. O God, whose special quality it is to have mercy. 11. ‘In the honour, Jesus Christ, of your twelve apostles, that I may follow their teaching in everything, that I may have through their prayers a

After ‘me’, C2 adds in the margin ‘Note the “thee”’ (see n. 59).

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the twelve branches that flower from charity,76 as St Paul writes,a glorious Lord’, twelve Our Fathers. Versicle: They have announced the works of God, and understood his deeds.77 Let us pray. Hear us, O God our Saviour, and guard us with the protection of your apostles.78 12.  In honour of the saints whom you love best, say either fewer or more as the spirit moves you, and the versicle afterwards with their collect. 13.  ‘For all those who have acted, spoken or felt kindly towards me, and for all those who carry out the six works of mercy,79 merciful Lord’, six Our Fathers. Versicle: He has distributed, he has given to the poor; his justice remains.80 Let us pray. Deign, O Lord, to grant.81 Anyone who wishes may say the psalm I have lifted up [my eyes] to you 82 before the Our Fathers, and Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. 14.  ‘For all the souls who have departed believing in the four Gospels, which support all Christianity on four sides, that you may give them the four morning-gifts 83 in heaven, merciful Lord’, four Our Fathers. If you say nine, as there are nine angelic hosts,84 so that God through his mercy may hasten them out of torment to their companionship, you are doing still better. And here also, if you want, say Out of the depths 85 before the Our Fathers, and Kyrie eleison three times. Versicle: From the gate of hell.86 Let us pray. [O God, creator and redeemer of all] the faithful.87 15.  At some time of the day or night gather into your heart all those who are ill and wretched, the misery that the poor suffer, the torments that prisoners endure where they lie heavily weighed down with iron (especially those of the Christians who are in heathen territory, some in prison, some in as much servitude as an ox or an ass is); feel compassion for those who are attacked by strong temptations. Take all their sorrows into your heart and sigh to our Lord, so that he may take pity on them and look towards them with the eye of his mercy;88 and if you have time, say the psalm I have lifted up [my] eyes.b 89 Our Father. Versicle: Return, O Lord: how long? And be open to your servants’ prayers.90 Let us pray. O Lord, hold out to [your] servants and handmaids.91 16.  In the Mass, when the priest raises up God’s body,92 say this verse standing up: See here the world’s salvation, true sacrifice, word of the Father, Flesh full of life, completely Deity, yet truly man,93 and then kneel down with these salutations: Hail, origin of our creation. After ‘writes’, C2 adds in the margin To the Corinthians: Charity is patient, etc. C2 completes the first half of the verse, and adds ‘and so the whole psalm right through’. a

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Hail, the price of our redemption. Hail, support of our peregrination.a Hail, reward of our expectation. Hail, our long wait’s consolation. O be our joy, you who will be Our payment in eternity, And may our glory rest in you, From age to age forever new. O Lord, depart not from our sight. Born of a virgin, may you, Lord. But what place is there in me where my God can enter, where God may enter and remain in me, God who made heaven and earth? O Lord, my God, is there then anything in me which can hold you? Who will grant it to me that you may enter into my heart and intoxicate it, and that I may embrace you, my only good? What are you to me? Take pity on me, so that I may speak. The house of my soul is narrow for you to enter; may it be enlarged by you. It is in ruins; rebuild it. It contains things that may offend your eyes, I confess and acknowledge it; but who will cleanse it, or who will I call on other than you? Cleanse me from my hidden sins, O Lord, and protect your handmaid from the sins of others.94 Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me, O God, through [your] great [compassion];95 and so the whole psalm through, with Glory be to the Father; Christ, hear us, twice; Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy; Our Father; I believe … [in] the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, Amen. Save your handmaid, O my God, who puts her hope in you.96 Teach me to do your will, because you are my God.97 O Lord, hear my prayer; and let my cry reach you.98 Let us pray. Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that in heaven we may see face to face him whom on earth we perceive dimly, and under the different form by which we are fed in the sacrament, and that we may deserve to enjoy him as he really and truly is. By that same Lord.99 17. After the kiss of peace in the Mass, when the priest is taking communion—there forget all the world, there be quite out of the body, there in burning love embrace your lover, who has descended from heaven into the chamber of your breast, and hold him tightly until he has granted you everything that you ask.100 18.  This sequence of prayers before the great cross is very effective. About midday whoever can (whoever cannot then, at some other time) should meditate on God’s cross, as far as she is best able to or may, and on his cruel suffering, and then begin those five salutations that are written a

After peregrination, N has Hail, solace of our tribulation.

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out above; and she should also kneel at each one, and make the sign of the cross as it says there and beat her breast, and pray as follows. We adore you, O Christ. [We adore] your cross. Hail, holy Cross. Hail, O Cross, you who [were consecrated in the body of Christ]. [Hail,] Cross, the wood b [of victory]. Then she should stand up and say the beginning of the antiphon,101 Save us, O Christ the Saviour, through the power of the holy Cross,102 with the sign of the cross; and say the psalm Rejoice [in the Lord] 103 standing, with Glory be to the Father; and then always say the antiphon as follows: Save us, O Christ the Saviour, through the power of the holy Cross, and make the sign of the cross at You who saved Peter in the sea, have mercy on us, and beat her breast, and then prostrate herself and say O Christ, hear us; Jesus Christ, hear us. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Our Father. And [lead] us not. Versicle: Behold, O God, our protector, and look on the face of your anointed one.104 Let us pray. O God, [who ascended] the holy Cross.c 105 Then begin the Adoramus as before, all five; Save us, O Christ, the antiphon as before; the psalm I have lifted up [my eyes] to you; the antiphon afterwards, right through; and then as before, to the ground; O Christ, hear us, twice. Lord [have mercy] three times. Our Father. And [lead] us not. Versicle: [Behold, O God,] our Protector, as before. Let us pray. Stand by us, we beseech you, O Lord our God, and [defend] those whom you cause to rejoice [in the honour] of the holy Cross.d 106 The third time in just the same way, and the fourth time and the fifth; nothing changes except the psalms and the prayers. The first psalm is Rejoice [in the Lord]; the second, I have lifted up [my eyes] to you; the third, Those who trust [in the Lord]; the fourth, O Lord, [my heart] is not raised up; the fifth, Praise the Lord in his holy ones; and in each there are five verses.107 The five prayers are: O God, who [ascended] the holy cross; Stand by us, we beseech you, O Lord; O God, who [wished] your son for our sake; O God, who [with the precious blood] of your only-begotten son; O just judge, with O blessed and chaste [Virgin];108 and anyone who does not know these five prayers should keep repeating one. And anyone who finds this too long should leave out the psalms. 19. ‘O Lady,109 holy Mary, for the great joy that you felt at that moment when Jesus, God and son of God, after the angel’s salutation received flesh and blood in you and from you, accept my salutation with that same Hail, and a

For ‘written out above’, V has ‘thirty-seven lines above in the same column, Hail, origin of our creation, etc.’ F has after it We adore you, O Christ, and bless you. b For Hail cross, the wood of victory, N has O glorious cross, cross worthy of adoration, precious wood and marvellous sign, by which the devil is overcome and the world is redeemed by the blood of Christ. c After Cross, F has ‘with this prayer, O God, who [wished] your son for our sake [to endure the suffering of the cross]; or this, O God, who [wished the standard of the life-giving Cross to be sanctified with the the precious blood] of your only-begotten son.’ d For Stand by us … Cross, N has O Lord, guard us in perpetual peace, whom you deigned to redeem through the wood of the holy Cross. You who live and reign with God the Father. a



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make me care little for all outward joys, but give me comfort inwardly, and by intercession gain for me those of heaven. And as truly as there was never sin in that flesh that he received from you, or in yours, as is believed, after that reception, whatever there may have been before,110 cleanse my soul from carnal sins.’ Say the beginning of the Hail Mary up to The Lord is with you, as the beginning of the antiphon is said, and then the psalm, and right through five times after the psalm, and so with each psalm. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; [My soul] magnifies [the Lord]; Hail Mary right through five times. 20.  ‘O Lady, holy Mary, for that great joy that you had when you saw that blessed child born from your chaste body for the salvation of humanity, without any loss of integrity, with intact virginity and the honour due to virgins, heal me, whose integrity has been violated, as I fear, through desire if not through action; and grant that in heaven I may see your joyful face, and at least gaze on the honour given to virgins, if I am not worthy to rejoice in their company.’ Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. [I cried out] to the Lord when I was afflicted.111 Hail Mary as before, five times. 21.  ‘O Lady, holy Mary, for that great joy that you had when you saw your dear, precious son after his cruel death rise up to joyful life, his body seven times brighter than the sun, grant that I may die with him and rise up in him, die to the world and live in spirit, share in his sufferings as a companion on earth to be his companion in joy in heaven. For that great joy that you had, Lady, from his joyful resurrection after your great grief, after the grief that I suffer in in this world, lead me to your joy.’ Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Give generously to your servant.112 Hail Mary five times. 22.  ‘O Lady, holy Mary, for that great joy that you had when you saw your radiant, joyful son, whom the Jews thought they would imprison a in a tomb, ascend so honourably and so powerfully on Ascension Day 113 to his joy, into his heavenly kingdom, grant that I may with him cast all the world underfoot, and ascend in heart now, in spirit when I die, fully in the body on Judgement Day, to heavenly joys.’ Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. When [the Lord] reversed [the captivity of Zion].114 Hail Mary five times. 23.  ‘O Lady, holy Mary, for that great joy that completed all the others, when he received you into incomparable joy, and with his glorious arms set you on a throne, and a queen’s crown on your head, brighter than the sun, high heavenly queen, receive these salutations from me on earth so that I may joyfully salute you in heaven.’ Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. I have lifted up [my eyes] to you. Hail Mary five times. 24.  And then the versicle: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.115 Let us pray. [O Lord, we beseech you, pour] your grace.116 Antiphon: After ‘ imprison’, N has ‘like any other mortal man without hope of resurrection’; similarly P.

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gu ide for a nchor esses Hail, the queen of heaven’s height, Hail, the lady of angels bright; Hail, sacred root from which there grew A light to shine the whole world through;a May you be ever glorious, And always pray to Christ for us.117

Versicle: A shoot will spring from the root of Jesse; and a flower will rise from his root.118 Let us pray. O God, who [deigned to choose] the virginal chamber.119 Antiphon: Rejoice, mother of God, immaculate virgin. Rejoice, you who received joy from the angel. Rejoice, you who gave birth to the radiance of eternal light. Rejoice, mother. Rejoice, holy virgin mother of God. You alone became a mother without a husband. May everything created by your son praise you, mother of light. Be a compassionate mediator for us.b 120 Versicle: Behold, a virgin will conceive and bring forth a son; and he will be called Emmanuel.121 Let us pray. O God, who from the womb of the blessed virgin Mary.122 Antiphon: Rejoice, virgin; rejoice, mother of God; and rejoice, Mary, joy of all the faithful. May the Church rejoice, assiduous in your praises; and, merciful lady, make us rejoice with you before the Lord.123 Versicle: Behold, you will conceive and bring forth a son; and you will call him Jesus.124 Let us pray. O God, who [offered the rewards] of eternal salvation through the fecund virginity of the blessed Mary to the human race.125 Antiphon: O beloved mother of the Redeemer, the constant Star of the sea, and gate that opens the way to heaven, Come to the help of your people, trying to rise but falling; You who to Nature’s amazement bore your holy begetter, A virgin before and since, from Gabriel’s mouth receiving That salutation of ‘Ave’, show compassion for sinners.126 This is where the Hail Marys go,c fifty or a hundred, either more or fewer depending on the time available. Finally, the versicle Behold the handmaid of the Lord; may it happen to me according to your word.127 Let us pray. O holy virgin of virgins.128 Anyone who wants can stop at an earlier point, After through, C2 adds Hail, brightest and best, / More beautiful than all the rest. Also in N and V. b For Rejoice, you who received … for us, F has ‘right through, as you have it elsewhere’. c C2 rewrites, ‘This is where to say your quota of Hail Marys.’ a



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immediately after the first prayer, [O Lord, we beseech you, pour] your grace, and she should then say her fixed number of Hail Marys after the last psalm, I have lifted up [my eyes] to you. She should always say the first part of a Hail Mary before the psalm, up to the Lord is with you, and say the psalms standing. The psalms are selected to correspond with the five letters of our Lady’s name,129 if anyone looks carefully;a and this whole sequence of prayers, based on her five greatest joys, runs in fives. Count in the antiphons, and you will find five salutations in them. Copies of the prayers that I have only referred to briefly, except for the last, are available everywhere. Have any that you do not know by heart copied on to a scroll. 25.  This is how I sometimes begin my Hail Marys.b 130 ‘Lady, sweet lady, sweetest of all ladies; Lady, dearest lady, most beautiful lady, O most beautiful of women;131 Lady, holy Mary, precious lady; Lady, queen of heaven; Lady, queen of mercy; Lady, show me mercy; Lady, virgin mother, virgin mother of God, mother of Jesus Christ, virgin of mercy, mother of grace, O virgin of virgins.132 Mother of mercy and of grace, Protect us, Mary, while we face The adversary, and stand by In the hour when we must die. We ask you, Virgin, by your Son, Father and Spirit, three in one, Be present at our final breath, And aid our journey after death.133 Born of a virgin, may you, Lord, Be always honoured and adored, etc., and anyone who is fit enough should prostrate herself and kiss the ground at this last verse; and then Hail Marys by decades,134 the tenth always as follows: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; you are blessed among women, and the fruit of your womb is blessed. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and therefore the Holy One to be born from you will be called the son of God. Behold the handmaid of the Lord; may it happen to me according to your word. And she should kiss the ground at the end, or a step or a bench or something higher, and begin, ‘O Lady, sweet lady’, as before. The first decade of the fifty kneeling up and down;135 the second, kneeling upright without moving, except that she should make a slight movement a After ‘carefully’, N has ‘at this word Maria, he can find in it the first five letters of these above-mentioned psalms.’ b For ‘This … Hail Marys’, F has the rubric ‘Here there begin some Hail Marys.’

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of one knee at the Hail; the third decade right down to the ground on the elbows, the fourth with the elbows on a step or on a bench, and she should always bow her head at the Hail; the fifth decade standing; and then begin the sequence again, as at the beginning. 26.  I am very happy if you say any other prayers of this kind, such as Our Fathers and Hail Marys in your own way, psalms, and prayers. Each of you should say them as seems best to her. Reciting versicles from the Psalter, reading in English or in French, pious meditations, your kneelings,136 whenever you can find time, before and after meals—may God always increase his precious grace further towards you, the more you do. But I ask you to make sure that you are never idle, but working or reading, or saying your prayers, and so are always doing something productive. 27.  If you want to say the Hours of the Holy Spirit,137 say each Hour before the corresponding Hour of Our Lady. Listen to the priest’s Hours as far as you can, but you should not say the responses or sing along with him so that he can hear it. 28.  Say your graces standing before and after meals as they are written out for you, and at the Miserere go in front of your altar and finish the graces there. Anyone who wants to drink between meals should say, Benedicite;138 May the son of God bless our drink; In the name of the Father, and make the sign of the cross over it. Afterwards, Our help is in the name of the Lord. Who made heaven and earth.139 May the name of the Lord be blessed. From this time forward and for evermore.140 Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.141 29.  At whatever time you go to bed, at night or in the evening, fall to your knees a and think in what ways you have offended our Lord during the day, and earnestly beg him for mercy and forgiveness. If you have done anything good, thank him, without whom we can neither act nor think rightly, for his gift; and say Miserere, and Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy; Our Father. And [lead] us not. Versicle: Save b your handmaids, O my God, who put their hope in you. Let us pray. O God, whose special nature it is; and standing, O Lord, visit this dwelling;142 and then finally, Christ conquers @ , Christ reigns @ , Christ rules @ ,143 with three crosses made with the thumb on the forehead, and then, Behold the Cross of the Lord, take flight, you hostile factions; the lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered, the root of David, Alleluia.144 A large sign of the cross, as at O God, [come] to [my] help, with Behold the Cross of the Lord, and then four crosses on four sides with these four clauses that follow,

a b

After ‘knees’, N has ‘to the ground’. For Save, CPT have Save your serving-men and.



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The Cross @ puts all evil to flight; the Cross @ puts everything right; By this sign of the cross @ may all evil things flee away; And by the same sign @ may whatever is virtuous stay;145 finally, make the sign of the cross on yourself and over the bed as well, In the name of the Father and the Son. In bed, as far as you can, do not do or think about anything other than sleeping. 30.  Whoever does not know any other form of Matins,146 or is unable to say it, should say for Matins thirty Our Fathers, and Hail Mary after every Our Father, and Glory be to the Father after every Hail Mary. Finally, for whoever knows it, Let us pray: O God, whose special quality it is. Let us bless the Lord. May the souls of the faithful. For Vespers, say twenty, for every other Hour fifteen, in the same way; except that at Matins whoever knows it should first say, O Lord, you will open my lips, And my mouth [will recite your praise]; O God, [come] to [my] help; and at Compline, Convert us, O Saviour God;147 O God, [come] to [my] help; at all the other Hours, O God, [come] to [my] help. 31.  Anyone who is unwell should cut ten from Matins, five from each of the other Hours; half of each one if she is more ill. Anyone who is seriously ill may be excused all of them; let her accept her illness not just patiently, but very gladly, and everything that Holy Church reads or sings is hers. 32.  Although you ought to be thinking about God all the time, even so you should above all in your Hours, so that your thoughts may not be wandering then. If out of carelessness you make a slip in the words, or recite the wrong versicle, say your Venia 148 touching the ground with your hand only; prostrate yourself fully for major errors, and frequently admit your carelessness about this in confession. 33.  This, now, is the first part, which so far has discussed your observances. Whatever may be the case with these, I would like the rules that follow to be kept by all as they are by you, through the grace of God.a 149

For ‘I would like … God’, T has ‘you need to study it carefully (may God give you grace), because it discusses the five guardians of the heart’; similarly S.

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PA RT 2 The second part, about the custody of the heart through the five senses, begins here. 1.  Guard your heart with every precaution, because it is the source of life.1 ‘Guard your heart well, daughter,’ says Solomon, ‘with every kind of precaution; because the life of the soul is in it, if it is well guarded.’ The guardians of the heart are the five senses: sight and hearing, taste and smell, and feeling in every part of the body.2 And we shall discuss all of them. For anyone who guards these well follows Solomon’s instruction: he takes good care of his heart and the health of his soul. The heart is a very wild animal, and keeps leaping up, as St Gregory says: Nothing is more eager to escape than the heart, ‘Nothing escapes from a man sooner than his own heart.’ David, God’s prophet, complained once that it had escaped him: My heart has deserted me: that is, ‘My heart has escaped from me.’ And later he rejoices and says that it had come home: Your servant has found his heart. ‘Lord,’ he says, ‘my heart has come back again, I have found it.’ 3 When such a holy man, and so wise and so cautious, let it escape, anyone else should be very anxious about its flight. And where did it escape from David, the holy king, God’s prophet? Where? To be sure, through the window of his eye, through a sight that he saw, through a look, as you will hear later.4 2. For that reason, my dear sisters, try to be as little fond of your windows as possible. They should all be small, that of the parlour smallest and narrowest. The curtain in them should be of double thickness. The curtain should be black, the cross white, inside and outside. The black curtain signifies that you are black and worthless to the outside world, that the true sun a has burnt you outside, and made you as outwardly unsightly as you are through the rays of his grace.5 The white cross belongs to you. For there are three crosses, red and black and white. The red belongs to those who are reddened with the blood they have shed for the love of God, as the martyrs were. The black cross belongs to those who are doing their penance for loathsome sins in the world. The white one properly belongs to white virginity and to chastity, whose preservation involves much suffering. Suffering is always signified by the cross. In this way the white cross signifies the custody of white chastity, which one must suffer a great deal to guard well. The black curtain also, in addition to its symbolism, hurts the eyes less, and is thicker against the wind and harder to see through, and keeps its a

After ‘sun’, NST have ‘which is Jesus Christ’; similarly P.



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colour better, against wind and other things. See that the parlour’s is made fast and firmly attached on each side, and keep custody of your eyes there, so that the heart does not escape and go out as it did from David, and your soul fall sick as soon as it is outside. I am writing a great deal for others that does not apply to you at all, my dear sisters, because you do not have a reputation—and will not have, by the grace of God—for being peeping anchoresses,a or for the seductive glances and gestures that others sometimes use, I am afraid, unnaturally; for it is against nature, and a quite extraordinary thing, that the dead should be infatuated b and behave foolishly, out of sinfulness, with men living in the world. 3.  ‘Why, dear sir,’ someone says, ‘and is it now so very harmful to peep out?’ Yes indeed, dear sister; because of the harm that comes from it, it is harmful and more than harmful to every anchoress, especially to the young—and to the old, because they give a bad example to the younger ones, and a shield to defend themselves with, since if anybody criticizes them, they say straight away, ‘But, sir, that woman does the same, and she’s better than I am and knows better than me what she ought to do.’ Dear young anchoress, often a very skilful smith forges a very poor knife. Follow the wise in wisdom, and not in folly. An old anchoress may properly do what would not be proper for you; but neither of you can peep out without harm. Now note carefully what harm has come from peeping out. Not one or two disasters, but all the misery that there is now, and has ever been up to now, and will ever be, came entirely from sight. Here is the proof that this is true. 4.  Lucifer, because he saw his own beauty and gazed on it, leapt into pride, and was turned from an angel into a hideous devil.6 5.  It is written about Eve, our first mother, that sin entered her first of all through her sight. And so the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and beautiful to the eyes and of pleasing appearance, and took some of its fruit and ate it, and gave it to her husband;7 that is, ‘Eve looked at the forbidden apple, and saw that it was beautiful and began to delight in gazing at it, and desire for it overcame her, and she picked it and ate some of it, and gave it to her husband.’ See what Holy Scripture says, and how penetratingly it describes how sin began. In this way sight went first and made a way for sinful desire, and afterwards came the act whose effect all humanity feels. 6.  This apple, dear sister, signifies all the things that desire inclines to, and delight in sin. When you look at the man, you are in Eve’s position: ‘I … sisters’ is omitted in T, and ‘because … anchoresses’ rewritten as a command, ‘See that you do not have the name and the desire of a peeping anchoress’; similarly S and (with further modification) P. b After ‘infatuated’, C2 adds in the margin ‘that is, an anchoress who is dead and, like a corpse, anointed and placed, as if in a coffin, inside the walls of her anchor-house. It is extraordinary that she should become infatuated and behave foolishly, out of sinfulness, with men living in the world.’ a

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you are looking at the apple. If anyone had said to Eve, when she first set eyes on it, ‘Oh, Eve, turn away, you’re looking at your death!’ what would she have answered? ‘Why, dear sir, you’re wrong! What are you accusing me of? I’m forbidden to eat the apple I’m looking at, not to look at it.’ That is what Eve would perhaps have answered.8 Oh, my dear sisters, how many daughters Eve has who follow their mother, who answer in this way! ‘Why, do you think’, someone says, ‘that I’m going to leap on him, even if I do look at him?’ God knows, dear sister, stranger things have happened. Your mother Eve leapt after her eyes, from the eye to the apple, from the apple in Paradise down to the earth, from the earth to hell. There she lay in prison four thousand years and more, she and her husband too, and condemned all her offspring to leap right down after her to eternal death.9 The origin and root of all this misery was a careless glance. Often in this way, as they say, ‘Much grows out of little.’ 10 Every weak woman, then, should be very much afraid, when the woman who had just been created by the hands of God was betrayed by a look and drawn out into a far-reaching sin that spread across the whole world. 7.  Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, went out to see the foreign women, etc.11 Similarly, a virgin called Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, as it says in Genesis, went out to look at foreign women; it does not even say that she looked at men. And what do you think came of that looking? She lost her virginity and became a whore. Later, for the same reason, the promises of great patriarchs were broken, and a great city destroyed by fire and the king and his son and the men of the city killed, the women led away, her father and her brothers—noble princes as they were—made into outlaws. That is how her sight went out. The Holy Spirit had all of this written down in a book in order to warn women about their foolish eyes. And note that this disaster was caused by Dinah not because she saw Shechem, Hamor’s son, whom she sinned with, but because she let him set eyes on her; for what he did to her was to begin with very much against her will. 8.  In the same way Bathsheba, by undressing herself in David’s sight, caused him to sin with her,12 even though he was such a holy king, and God’s prophet. Now along comes a man who is weak, but thinks he deserves respect if he has a wide hood and a closed cloak,13 and wants to look at young anchoresses, and absolutely has to see how the beauty of a woman whose face is not sunburnt appeals to him, and says she need not be afraid to see holy men—yes, someone like him, because of his wide sleeves! Why, you self-important fool, haven’t you heard that David, God’s own favourite, of whom he himself said, I have found a man after my own heart 14 (‘I have



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found’, he said, ‘a man after my own heart’)—this man, whom God himself declared by these marvellous words to be a king and prophet chosen above all the rest, this man, through a glance at a woman as she washed herself— let his heart escape and forgot himself, so that he committed three egregious capital and mortal sins: adultery with Bathsheba, the lady that he caught sight of; the betrayal and the manslaughter of his faithful knight Uriah, her husband.15 And you, a sinful man, are so excessively bold as to cast your foolish eyes on a young woman! a My dear sisters, if anyone is insistent on seeing you, be sure that no good will come of it, and trust him less for that reason. I do not want anyone to see you unless he has special permission from your director; since all the three sins that I just mentioned, and all the trouble caused by Dinah that I discussed above, happened not because the women looked indiscreetly at men, but 16 because they uncovered themselves where men could see them, and provided an occasion for them to fall into sin. That is why it was commanded in God’s name in the Old Law that a pit should always be covered,17 and if any were uncovered and an animal fell in, he who uncovered the pit had to pay for it.18 This is a very frightening saying for the woman who reveals herself to a man’s eyes. She is signified by the person who uncovers the pit. The pit is her beautiful face, her white neck, her roving eyes, her hand, if she holds it out where he can see it. Her words, too, are a pit, unless they are used with more care. Everything that makes her attractive, whatever it may be, through which foolish love might be encouraged to develop—all this our Lord calls a pit. He orders this pit to be covered so that no animal should fall into it and drown in sin. The animal is the animal man who gives no thought to God, and does not use his reason as a man ought to do, but does his best to fall into this pit that I mentioned if he finds it open. But the judgement on the woman who uncovers the pit is very harsh; because she must pay for the animal that has fallen into it. She is guilty of his death before our Lord, and must answer for his soul on Judgement Day, and pay for the animal’s loss when she has no other means of payment than herself. This is certainly a hard payment to make; and it is God’s judgement and his command that she should pay for it even so, because she uncovered the pit that it drowned in. You who uncover this pit, you who do anything so that a man is carnally tempted by you, even if you are unaware of it—be extremely afraid of this judgement. And if he is tempted so that he sins mortally in any way, even if it is not with you After ‘woman’, T has ‘What has just been said applies to women; but there is just as much need for a man to protect his gaze carefully from the sight of women’, similarly S.

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gu ide for a nchor esses but by desire for you, or if he tries to satisfy with someone else the temptation that arose through you and from you,19 be quite sure of the judgement; you must pay for the animal because of the opening of the pit, and, unless you have been absolved of it,a suffer for his sin. A dog will happily go in wherever he finds an opening.20 9.  The immodest eye is the messenger of the immodest heart.21 Augustine. What the mouth cannot say for shame, the roving eye expresses, and is (as it were) a messenger for the roving heart. But now there may be a woman who would not dream of feeling indecent desire for a man, and nevertheless she would not mind at all if he thought about her and was tempted by her; but St Augustine puts both these two on a par,22 desiring and wanting to be desired. It is sinful not just to desire, but also to want to be desired:23 ‘It is mortal sin either to desire a man or to want to be desired by a man.’ The eyes are the first weapons of the adulteress:24 ‘The eyes are the arrows and the first weapons of Lechery’s attacks.’ Just as men fight with three kinds of weapon, with arrows and with the point of the spear and with the edge of the sword, so with the same weapons—that is, with the arrows of the eye, with the spear of wounding words, with the sword of fatal touching—Lechery, the stinking whore, wages war against the lady Chastity, who is God’s spouse.25 First she shoots the arrows of the roving eyes, which fly quickly out like a feathered arrow and stick in the heart. After that she brandishes her spear and approaches her more closely, and gives her a spear-wound with piercing words. The final sword-stroke is touch; because a sword strikes at close quarters and gives the death-blow, and—sadly—those who get so close together that one of them touches or caresses the other are really more or less done for. Anyone who is wise and innocent should be on her guard against these arrows—that is, guard her eyes; because all the harm that follows comes from the arrows of the eyes. And surely that woman is too much of a fool, or too rash, who pokes her head out boldly from an opening in the battlements while the castle is being attacked from outside with crossbow bolts? 26 Certainly our enemy, the warrior of hell, shoots (as I believe) more bolts at one anchoress than at seventy-seven ladies in the world. The embrasures of the castle are her house windows. She should not look out of them in case she gets the devil’s bolts right in the eyes when she least expects it, since he is constantly attacking. She should keep her eyes inside, because if she is blinded first, she is easily knocked down; if the heart is blinded, it is easy to overcome, and quickly brought down by sin.27 Bernard: As death entered the world through

a

After ‘of it’, N has ‘as it is said, you must suffer the rod; that is’.



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sin, so through these windows it enters the mind.28 ‘As death came into the world through sin,’ says St Bernard, ‘so death through these windows gains entry to the soul.’ Lord Christ, how firmly a man would shut every window of his house 29 if only he could shut out death from it—yes, the death of life in the body—and an anchoress will not close her window [eilþurl] 30 against the death of the soul! And they may rightly be called eilþurles, because they have done a great deal of harm [eil] to many anchoresses. All Holy Scripture is full of warnings about the custody of the eyes. David: Turn away my eyes so that they do not see vanity.31 ‘Lord,’ says David, ‘turn away my eyes from the world’s vanity.’ Job: I have made a pact with my eyes, so that I should not think about a virgin.32 ‘I have made a pact’, says Job, ‘with my eyes, so that I may not have evil thoughts.’ What on earth is he talking about? Do people think with their eyes? To be sure, he is right; because the thought follows the eyes, and after that comes the act. That was well known to Jeremiah, who complained as follows: My eye has stolen my soul.33 ‘Alas!’ he says, ‘my eye has stolen all my soul.’ When God’s prophet made such a lament about his eyes, what kind of lamentation, do you think, and what kind of grief, has come to many men, and to many women, through their eyes? The wise man asks in his book whether anything harms a woman more than her eyes do. What is more depraved than the eye? It will make the whole face weep because of its gaze.34 ‘The whole face’, he says, ‘will stream with tears solely because of the eye’s gaze.’ 35 10.  Now for this reason all the openings of all your windows should be closed in the future, just as they have been in the past, so no men can see in. And if they can be more firmly closed, they should be more firmly closed. It is a general rule that all those who keep them well closed are well protected by God; and all those who reveal themselves to a man’s gaze so that he sins in his heart also cause the man to sin either with his lecherous eyes, or with his mouth, or with his hand. And he does this and many more such things, unbecoming and unnatural for an anchoress above all, which would never have come about if she had kept her window firmly sealed. And if anyone denies this, I call her own conscience as a witness against her, that through her own window she has received a look, or a kiss, or a touch,

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together with indiscreet talk, even though it might be embellished by a false colouring of pretended holiness. Oh, treacherous traitor! ‘Good heavens, I’m not doing this to you with anything sinful or filthy in mind’, he says, or she; and just by that they defile themselves and anger God, whose eyes see the 36 treason in the lecherous heart. Not only every physical contact, but also every lecherous word is loathsome wickedness, and deserving of God’s anger, even if things go no further between a man and an anchoress. Now, through the direct retribution of God, it goes further and further, and often develops, even when you least expect it, into that filthy sin. Regrettably, we have heard of plenty of cases of this. Nobody should trust an anchoress who allows a man to look in, in order to show herself off. More than anything else that you have written in your Rule about external matters, this point, this item on being properly enclosed is the one that I want to be best observed. Open up by all means to a woman who wants it; if she does not mention it, leave it at that, unless you are worried that her suspicion will be aroused. Sometimes a woman has been tempted by her own sister. Do not invite any man to look in towards your altar; but if his devotion requires it and he has permission, draw back well inside and lower your veil down towards your breast, and after a short time put the curtain back and fasten it very securely. If he looks towards the bed or asks where you sleep, answer lightly, ‘Sir, there’s no need for concern about that’, and say nothing further. If a bishop comes to see you,37 go quickly at once towards him; but if he asks to look at you, request politely that you may behave towards him in that respect as you have done, and do, to everyone else. If he insists nevertheless on having a look, see that it is very brief, lower your veil at once, and draw back. An anchoress humbly refused to let St Martin look at her, and because of that he did her greater honour than he ever did to anyone else. And that is why her fame has been handed down by Holy Church to the present day; for as we read of her, anyone who wants to guard her windows well against the evil must also guard them against the good.38 Whenever you have to give anything to any man, your hand should not come out—neither yours out nor his in. And if it has to come in, neither should touch the other. ‘That woman is safe’, Holy Scripture says, ‘who keeps her distance from traps; and the woman who is fond of danger will fall into danger.’ Whoever avoids traps is safe; and whoever is fond of danger will fall into it.39 The devil’s trap is often laid where you least expect it. The woman who is not afraid is bound to be caught



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sooner or later; because God will not protect anyone who is so foolhardy that she does not co-operate with him in guarding herself carefully. 11.  Now enough has been said about this sense at present to warn the innocent; we will, however, say more about it shortly.40 Speech and taste both belong to the mouth, as sight does to the eye; but we will leave taste until we discuss your food, and talk now about speech, and later about hearing—sometimes about both combined, since they go together. 12.  First of all, when you have to go to your parlour window,41 find out from your maid who it is that has come, because it may be the kind of person to whom you should make your excuses. If you absolutely have to come forward, make the sign of the cross assiduously over mouth, eyes, and ears, and your breast as well, and come forward in the fear of God. To a priest, first the Confiteor, and after that the Benedicite, which he should say. Listen to what he says and keep quiet yourself, so that when he leaves you he knows nothing about you, either good or bad, and cannot either criticize you or praise you. A woman may be so well-educated, or so intelligent in discussion, that she would like the man who sits down and talks to her to know it, and gives him back word for word, and degenerates into a teacher when she is supposed to be an anchoress, and instructs the man who has come to instruct her; she would like to gain an instant reputation and be recognized as an intellectual because of her conversation. She is recognized all right—because by the very fact that she hopes to be thought clever, he understands that she is foolish. For she hunts after praise and catches blame; since at the very least, after he has left he will say, ‘This anchoress talks a lot.’ Eve had a long talk in Paradise with the serpent; she told him all the instructions that God had given her and Adam about the apple, and so the devil understood her weakness straight away from what she said, and found a way to get at her to lead her to perdition.42 Our Lady, holy Mary, behaved quite differently. She did not tell the angel anything, but asked him briefly about what she did not know.43 You, my dear sisters, are following our Lady, and not the chattering Eve. And so an anchoress, whatever she may be, however much she knows, should remain silent. She should not have the nature of a hen. The hen, when she has laid an egg, can do nothing but cluck. But what does she gain from it? Along comes the jackdaw straight away and steals her eggs, and feeds on what should have hatched out living chicks. In just the same way, the jackdaw devil steals and devours all the good works that clucking anchoresses have produced, which should have carried them up like birds towards heaven, if they had not been clucked over.a The After ‘clucked over’, V has ‘The pedlar goes along calling out ‘Needles!’ and ‘Soap!’; the rich merchant travels very quietly.’

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wretched poor pedlar makes more noise advertising his soap than the rich mercer all his valuable goods, as is mentioned later. It is a good idea for you to ask some spiritual man that you trust—and there are few that you can—to give you advice, and to teach you a remedy against temptations; and reveal to him in confession, if he is willing to hear it, your greatest and your most despicable sins, so that he may feel pity for you, and because of that pity call more fervently on Christ to have mercy on you, and put you in his prayers.44 But many people come to you in sheep’s clothing, while inside they are ravening wolves.45 ‘But guard yourselves and be wary,’ our Lord says, ‘because many people come to you wearing lambs’ fleece, and are ravening wolves.’ Trust seculars little, religious still less.46 Do not wish too much for their acquaintance. Eve talked fearlessly with the serpent; our Lady was frightened by Gabriel’s speech. 13.  Our Friars Preacher and our Friars Minor 47 are of such an order that everyone might be amazed if any of them allowed his eyes to rove ‘towards the woodland ways’.48 And so whenever any of them comes out of charity to instruct you and to give you comfort in God, if he is a priest 49 say before he leaves,‘ Mea culpa:50 I confess to almighty God 51 and to you that, as I fear, I have never been truly penitent for my greatest sins, which I have declared to my confessors, and though my intention is to atone for them in here,52 I do it very poorly, and have been sinning in other ways daily since I was last confessed, and that was at such-and-such a time, and by so-and-so’, and give the name; ‘I have sinned as follows’, and say in what way, as it is written down for you towards the end of your book on confession,53 and finally say ‘This and much more, I confess’; and ask him to show special goodwill towards you, and thank him for his visit, and finally ask him to give your regards to particular people, and that they should pray for you. 14.  Unless you have as a witness a woman or a man who can hear you, do not talk with any man often or for a long time; and even if it is for confession, the third person should still sit in the same house, or where he can see you both, unless there is no room for a third. This is not mentioned on your account, dear sisters, or for others like you; nevertheless, the virtuous are often suspected, and the innocent slandered, as Joseph was in Genesis by the lustful lady,54 for lack of a witness. Malicious people are easily believed, and the wicked rejoice in slandering the good. Some wretched women, when they claimed they were making their confession, have made it in a quite inappropriate way.55 And so the good should always have a witness, for two reasons in particular. The first is that malicious people cannot slander them without the witness proving that they are lying.



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The second is to set others an example, and deprive the bad anchoress of that wretched ruse that I mentioned. 15.  Do not talk a with anyone through the window opening on to the church, but show reverence towards it because of the holy sacrament that you see, and sometimes receive, through it. Speak to your women through the house window; to others, through the parlour window. You should speak only at these two openings.56 16.  Always observe silence at meals. If other religious—as you know— do it, you ought to above all. If anyone has a valued guest, she should see that her maids, as it were in her place, entertain her well; and she shall have permission to open her window once or twice, and make gestures of welcome towards her. Sometimes a woman’s courtesy has been her undoing. Sin is often concealed under the appearance of virtue. There should be a great difference between an anchoress and the lady of a house. Keep silence on every Friday of the year (unless it is a double feast,57 and then keep it it on some other day in the week); during Advent and in the Ember Weeks,58 Wednesday and Friday; in Lent, three days,59 and all of Holy Week 60 until Nones on Holy Saturday. You can say to your women in a few words, however, whatever you want. If any good man has come from a distance,b listen to what he has to say and answer his questions briefly. 17.  Anyone who had the choice of grinding sand or wheat for his own benefit would be an idiot if he ground the sand and left the wheat. Wheat is holy speech, as St Anselm says.61 The woman who gossips is grinding sand. The upper and lower jaw are the two grindstones, the tongue is the clapper.62 Dear sisters, see that your jaws never grind anything but food for the soul, and that your ears never drink in anything but medicine for the soul—and do not just shut fast your ears, but your windows, against idle talk. Do not let any gossip or news from the world reach you. You should not curse or swear on any account, unless you say ‘surely’ or ‘certainly’, or something of that kind.63 18.  You should not preach to anyone; and men should not ask you for advice or confide in you. Only counsel women. St Paul forbids women to preach: I do not permit women to teach.64 You should not rebuke any man, or reproach him for his sin, unless he is over-familiar. Holy old anchoresses may to some extent, but it is not a safe thing to do, and is not appropriate for the young. It is the job of those who are placed over others and are responsible for them as teachers of Holy Church.65 An anchoress is responsible for

a b

After ‘talk’, N has ‘except in case of need’. After ‘distance’, F has ‘and wants to talk to you on these days’.

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no-one but herself and her maids. Each should keep to their own job, and not take over the other’s. Often someone who means well does a great deal of harm;66 for as I said before, sin is often hidden under the appearance of virtue. Through rebukes of this kind an anchoress has sometimes aroused between herself and and her priest either a treacherous love or a bitter feud. 19.  Seneca: To sum up, I want you to speak rarely, and then briefly.67 ‘To sum things up’, says the wise Seneca, ‘I want you to speak rarely, and then briefly.’ Often someone dams up her words in order to let more out, as water is dammed at a mill.68 That is what the friends of Job did when they came to comfort him: they sat in silence for a week, but once they had begun to speak, they simply could not stop talking.69 Gregory: The constraint of silence nurtures speech.70 That is the case with many people, as St Gregory says: ‘Silence is the foster-mother of speech, and produces chatter.’ On the other hand, as he says, Constant silence enforces meditation on heavenly matters,71 ‘Long silence, well observed, forces the thoughts up towards heaven.’ Just as you can see that when water is dammed up and its course thoroughly blocked so that it cannot flow downwards, it is forced back to rise upwards, you too similarly should dam up your words, block off your thoughts, if you want them to climb and rise up towards heaven, and not stream downwards and flow out over the world, as much talk does.72 When you absolutely have to, open up the floodgates of your mouth a little, as they do at the mill, and lower them again immediately. The word is deadlier than the sword. Death and life are in the hands of the tongue;73 ‘Life and death’, says Solomon, ‘are in the hands of the tongue.’ Whoever guards his mouth guards his soul;74 ‘Whoever guards his mouth well’, he says, ‘guards his soul.’ Like a town that is open and without a circuit of walls, etc.75 If anyone does not have a wall of silence, the city of his mind is open to the spears of the enemy;76 ‘If anyone does not restrain his words,’ says Solomon the wise, ‘he is like the city without a wall that an army can enter from every side.’ The devil of hell with his army passes straight through the mouth that is always open into the heart. In the Lives of the Fathers there is the story of a holy man who said, when some brethren whom he had heard talking a lot were praised, They are good men, to be sure, but their house has no door; anyone who wants to goes in and lets out their ass.77 ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘they are good, but their house has no door’, their mouths are always chattering; ‘anyone who wants to can go in and lead out their ass’, that is, their unwise soul. That is why St James says, If anyone thinks that he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, that man’s religion is worthless;78 that is, ‘If anyone thinks that he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, his religion is false, he is deceiving his heart.’ He puts it very well, ‘does not bridle his tongue.’ The bridle is not just in the horse’s mouth, but is partly placed over the eyes~



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and goes round the ears, because it is essential that all three of them should be bridled. But the bit is placed in the mouth, and on the quick tongue, because that is where there is most need of restraint, when the tongue is in motion and has started to gallop. 20. Often when we start talking, we mean to say a few well-chosen words; but the tongue is slippery because it wades in water, and glides on easily from a few words into many,79 and then, as Solomon says, Where there is plenty of talk, there will be no shortage of sin.80 Too much talk, however well it begins, cannot be without sin; because it slips from true to false, out of virtue into some kind of evil, from moderation into excess, and grows from a drop into a great flood that drowns the soul; for with the flow of speech the heart flows away, so that it cannot be properly collected together for a long time afterwards. And the nearer our mouth is to the world, the further it is from God; and the more it is polluted in speech, the less it is heard in prayer.81 These are the words of St Gregory in his Dialogue: ‘The nearer our mouth is to worldly speech, the further it is from God when it speaks to him and prays to him for anything.’ That is why often we call on him but he turns away from our voice and will not listen to it, because all it does is stink to him of the world’s chatter and babble. Anyone, then, who wants God’s ear to be near her tongue should turn away from the world. Otherwise she may cry out for a long time before God hears her; and he says through Isaiah, When you stretch out your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you, and when you redouble your prayers, I will not listen to you;82 that is, ‘Even if you redouble your prayers to me, you who take your pleasure in the world, I will not listen to you, but I will turn away when you lift up your hands towards me.’ 21. Our precious Lady, holy Mary, who should be an example to all women, spoke so little that nowhere in Scripture do we find that she spoke more than four times;83 but because she spoke so seldom, her words were weighty and had great power. Bernard to Mary: We were all created in the eternal word of God, and look, we are dying; we must be revived in your brief answer in order to be recalled to life. Answer with a word and receive the word, offer your own and conceive the divine.84 The first words of hers that we read about were when

she answered the angel Gabriel; and those were so powerful that when she said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; may it happen to me according to your word,85 at these words the son of God and true God became man, and the Lord whom all the world could not contain enclosed himself inside her virgin womb. Her second speech was when she came and greeted her kinswoman Elizabeth; and what power was shown in these words? Why,

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that a child began to leap for joy in response to them—that was St John— in his mother’s womb.86 The same: Her voice made John leap for joy in the womb.87 The third time that she spoke was at the wedding-feast; and there at her request water was turned into wine.88 The fourth time was when she had lost her son and found him again; and how great a marvel followed these words? That almighty God submitted to man, to Mary and to Joseph,89 to a workman and to a woman, and followed them as theirs wherever they wanted.90 Now pay attention here, and be willing to learn from this how infrequent speech has great power. A talkative man will not be directed on earth.91 ‘A talkative man’, the Psalmist says, ‘will never lead a good life on earth’. That is why he says elsewhere, I have said, ‘I will guard my ways so that I do not transgress through my tongue’ 92 (hypallage);93 and it is as if he were saying, ‘I will protect my ways by guarding my tongue; if I guard my tongue well, I may well keep on the way towards heaven.’ For as Isaiah says, Silence is the cultivation of righteousness,94 ‘Silence is the cultivation of righteousness.’ Silence cultivates it, and when it is cultivated it produces everlasting food for the soul, because it is immortal, as Solomon testifies: Righteousness is immortal.95 That is why Isaiah couples hope and silence together, and says that spiritual strength will consist in both: Your strength will be in silence and hope,96 that is, ‘Your strength will be in silence and in hope.’ Note how well he expresses it. For anyone who is often quiet, and keeps silence for long periods, can certainly hope that when she speaks to God, he will listen to her; she can also hope that, because of her silence, she will sing sweetly in heaven.97 This, now, is the reason for the linkage, why Isaiah links hope and silence and couples both together. In addition to that, he says in the same text that our strength will be in silence and hope in the service of God against the devil’s tricks and his temptations. But look at the reason why. Hope is a sweet spice inside the heart, which sweetens all the bitterness that the body suffers. But anyone who is chewing on a spice must keep her mouth shut so that its fragrance and strength stay inside; whereas the woman who opens her mouth with a lot of chatter, and breaks silence, spits out hope and its fragrance completely with worldly talk, and loses spiritual strength against the devil. For what makes us strong in the service of God and in temptations, to suffer hardship,98 to wrestle strongly against the devil’s throws, other than hope of great reward? Hope keeps the heart sound, whatever the flesh may suffer; as they say, ‘But for hope, the heart would break.’ 99 Oh, Jesus, have mercy! What is it like for those who find themselves suffering every kind of torment, with no hope of release, and their hearts cannot break? For this reason, if you want to keep hope inside you, and its sweet fragrance that gives spiritual strength, keep your



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mouth shut and chew it in your heart. Do not puff it out with chattering mouths, with wide-open lips. You should not have either tongue or ears that itch;100 ‘See to it’, says St Jerome, ‘that you do not have either tongue or ears that itch’, that is to say, that you do not want either to speak or to listen to worldly speech. 22. Up to this point your silence has been discussed, and how you should speak rarely. Contraries belong to the same discipline;101 silence and speech belong to the same branch of study, and so they are written about together. Now we shall say something about your hearing, against sinful speech, so that you should close your ears against it, and, if necessary, bar your windows. 23.  Block your ears, my dear sisters, against all sinful speech, and feel disgust for the mouth that vomits out poison. For every idle word, etc.102 Sinful speech is of three kinds: poisonous, filthy, and idle. Idle speech is bad, filthy speech is worse, poisonous is the worst. All speech that no good comes from is idle and useless, and every word of such speech, our Lord says, must be accounted for, and a reason given why one person said it and the other listened to it; and yet this is the least evil of the three evils. Well then, how is anyone to account for the worse, let alone for the worst, that is, for poisonous and for filthy speech? 103—not only the one who utters it, but the one who listens to it. 24. Filthy speech is about lechery, for instance, and other indecent things that dirty mouths sometimes talk about. These are all scratched out of the anchoress’s rule.104 Anyone who spits out filth like this into any anchoress’s ears should have his mouth stopped not with sharp rebukes, but with hard fists. 25.  Poisonous speech is heresy, outright lying, backbiting, and flattery; these are the worst. Heresy, thank God, is not prevalent in England. Lying is such a wicked thing that St Augustine says that you should not lie to save your father’s life.105 God himself says that he is truth,106 and what is more opposed to truth than falsehood? The devil is a liar and the father of lies,107 ‘The devil is false and the father of falsehood.’ Anyone, then, who exercises her tongue in lying makes a cradle out of her tongue for the devil’s child, and rocks it willingly as its nurse. 26.  Backbiting and flattery and incitement to do wrong are not human speech, but are the devil’s breath and his own voice. If they ought to be far from all those in the world, how much more should anchoresses hate them, and avoid listening to them? ‘Listening’, I say; because anyone who utters them is no anchoress. Solomon: If the snake bites in silence, the man who backbites in secret is no better.108 The snake, says Solomon, bites quite silently;

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and the woman who says behind someone’s back what she would not to their face is no better. Do you hear how Solomon compares the backbiter to a biting snake? So it is, certainly; the woman who speaks evil has a snake’s nature, and carries poison in her tongue. 27.  The flatterer blinds a man, and drives a spike into the eye of the person he flatters. Gregory: The flatterer drives a spike, as it were, into the eye of the person he talks with.109 The backbiter often eats human flesh on Friday,110 and pecks with his black beak at living carcases, like the raven of the devil of hell. Solomon: Do not be present at the feasts of those, etc., who club together to eat meat, etc.111 If he would pull and tear apart rotten stinking flesh with his beak, as is the nature of a raven, that is, if he would speak ill only of those who are thoroughly rotten and stinking in the filth of their sin, it would be less shocking. But he descends on living flesh, dismembers it and tears it apart, that is, slanders the kind of person who is alive in God; he is too greedy a raven, and altogether too bold. In addition, look closely now at the two jobs by which these two officials serve their lord, the devil of hell. It is disgusting to talk about, but more disgusting to do it, and in any case that is how it is. So that this moralization may not seem less than decent, it should be remembered that in Ezra Malchia built a dung-gate. For ‘Malchia’ is interpreted as ‘a north-west wind for the Lord’, the son of Rechab, that is, ‘of a gentle father’. For ‘The north wind drives away showers, and a stern countenance a slanderous tongue.’ 112 They are the devil’s

lavatory attendants, and are always in his lavatory.a 113 The flatterer’s job is to cover the hole in the lavatory seat; he does that as often as he as often as he conceals someone’s sin (which stinks more foully than anything else) from him with his flattery and his praise; and he hides it and covers it up in such a way that he does not smell it. The backbiter uncovers it and reveals the filth so that it stinks far and wide. So they are always occupied in this filthy job, and each is the other’s rival in doing it. People of this kind stink of their stinking job, and stink out every place that they come near. May our Lord prevent the breath of their stinking throats from ever coming near you. Other words defile, but these poison both the ears and the heart. So that you can recognize them better if any of them approaches you, here are their types. 28.  Flatterers are of three kinds. The first are pretty bad, but the second are worse; the third, however, are the worst. ‘Woe to those who place cushions’, etc.114 ‘Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good, representing light as darkness and darkness as light’ 115 (note that this applies to detractors and flatterers). The first,

if a man is good, praises him to his face, and perhaps makes him out as even better than he is, and if he says or does anything well, exaggerates its value with fulsome praise. The second, if a man is bad and says and After ‘lavatory’, V has ‘and make a ladle out of their mouths to draw up that stinking muck, when the backbiter vomits out filth about another person’; similarly F.

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does so much that is wrong that the sin is too blatant for him to deny it outright, nevertheless minimizes the man’s wickedness when talking to him. ‘Now it isn’t so very bad as people make out’, he says. ‘You’re not the first or the last in this business; you have plenty of company. Don’t worry, dear boy, you’re not on your own; lots of people do much worse.’ The third kind of flatterer is worst, as I said, because he praises the bad man and his wrongdoing, like the one who says to the knight who robs his poor men, ‘Oh, sir, you’re doing just the right thing! Because the peasant should always be plucked and picked clean, since he’s like the willow, which puts out more shoots if it’s often pollarded.’ 116 The sinner is praised in the desires of his heart, and the wicked man is blessed .117 Augustine: The tongues of flatterers bind a man in sins.118 That is how these deceitful flatterers blind those who listen to them, as I said before,119 and hide their filth so that they cannot smell it; and that is their great misfortune, because if they smelt it, they would be sickened by it, and hurry to confession and vomit it out there, and avoid it afterwards. 29.  Clement: Blessed Peter said that there were three kinds of murderer, and wanted their punishment to be equal: the one who kills physically, and the one who slanders his brother, and the one who envies him.120 Backbiters,121 who snap at others behind

their backs, are of two kinds, but the latter is worse. The former comes quite openly and criticizes someone else, and spews out whatever poison comes into his mouth, and vomits up everything that the poisonous heart sends to the tongue. But the latter comes forward in a completely different way, a worse enemy than the other is, but under a cloak of friendship. He hangs his head, begins to sigh before he says anything, and pulls a long face. He spends a long time glossing over it, to make it more convincing. When it actually comes out, it is yellow poison. ‘Oh, dear,’ a woman says, ‘I’m very sorry that he or she has got such a reputation. I did my very best, but it was no good, I couldn’t put it right. I’ve known about it for a long time, but even so, it would never have got out because of me; but now it’s been circulated so widely by other people that I can’t deny it. They say that it’s bad, but it’s even worse. I regret very much that I have to say it. But it’s definitely true, and that’s a great pity; because in a lot of other things he or she is really praiseworthy, but in this case, I’m afraid, nobody can defend them.’ These are the devil’s snakes that Solomon talks about.122 May our Lord through his grace keep your ears far from their poisonous tongues, and never let you smell the foul pit that they uncover—just as the flatterers cover and conceal it, as I said. It is a great virtue to uncover it to the people themselves, those

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whom it concerns, and hide it from others, not from those who ought to smell it and hate the filth. 30. Now, my dear sisters, keep your ears far from all sinful talk, which takes these three forms, idle, filthy, and poisonous. They say about anchoresses that practically every one has an old woman to feed her ears, a female chatterbox who passes on every story in the country, a gossip who cackles over everything that she sees and hears;123 so that there is a proverb that goes, ‘News is carried from mill and from market-place, from smithy and from anchor-house.’ 124 This is a sad comment, to be sure, that an anchor-house, which should be the most solitary place of all, should be linked with these three places where there is most gossip. But may God grant all others to be as free as you are of that sort of thing, dear sisters. 31.  Now I have spoken separately of these three organs, of the eye, of the mouth, of the ear. All this last part about the ear is relevant to the anchoress, since it is unbelievable that an anchoress should talk like this, but it is much to be feared that she may incline her ear sometimes to those who do. Sight, speech, and hearing have each been discussed separately in turn. Let us now turn back and talk about them all together. 32.  I have been jealous of Zion with great jealousy.125 In the prophet Zechariah. You should understand, anchoress, whose spouse you are, and how he is jealous of everything you look at. I am a jealous god.126 In Exodus. ‘I am’, he says of himself, ‘the jealous god.’ I have been jealous, etc. ‘I am jealous of you, Zion, my beloved, with great jealousy.’ It did not seem to him enough to have said that he is jealous of you, but he added, ‘with great jealousy’. The ear of jealousy hears everything,127 says Solomon the wise. Where the heart is, so is the eye.128 Now guard yourself very carefully: his ear is always turned towards you, and he hears everything. His eye is always watching you if you give any sign of favour, cast any loving glances towards vices. I have been jealous of Zion. ‘Zion’ means ‘mirror’.129 He calls you his mirror, his in such a way that you are no-one else’s. That is why he says in Canticles, Show me your face.130 ‘Show your face to me’, he says, ‘and to no-one else. Look at me if you want to see clearly with the eyes of your heart. Look inwards, where I am, and do not search for me outside your heart. I am a diffident suitor,131 and will not embrace my beloved anywhere except in a secret place.’ This is how our Lord speaks to his spouse. She should not be at all surprised, if she is not alone a great deal, that he avoids her—and alone in such a way that she puts every worldly pressure, and every earthly disturbance, out of her heart, because she is God’s chamber. Disturbance only enters the heart through something that has been either seen or heard, tasted or smelt, or felt externally. And be quite sure of this, that always the more these senses are scattered outwards, the less they turn inwards. Always the more an anchoress looks outwards, the less light she



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has from our Lord inwardly, and similarly with the other senses. Whoever uses the outer eye negligently is blinded, by the just judgement of God, in the inner.132 See what St Gregory says: ‘Whoever is negligent in guarding her outer eyes is blinded in the inner by God’s righteous judgement, so that she cannot see God with spiritual sight’, or know him through such sight, and through that knowledge love him above all things. For it is to the extent that you know his great goodness, and to the extent that you experience his fragrant sweetness, that you love him more or less. 33. For this reason, my dear sisters, be blind outwardly, as the holy Jacob was, and the virtuous Tobit,133 and God will give you, as he gave them, inward light to see and know him, and through that knowledge to love him more than anything. Then you will see how all the world is nothing, how its comfort is false. Through that sight you will see all the devil’s wiles, how he deceives wretches. You will see in yourself which of your own sins still need to be atoned for. You will look sometimes towards the pains of hell, so that you may be terrified by them and try harder to escape them. You will see in spirit the joys of heaven, so they may inflame your heart to hurry towards them. You will, as if in a mirror, see our Lady with her virgins, all the host of angels, all the assembly of saints, and above them him who makes them all rejoice, and is the crown of all of them. This sight, dear sisters, will comfort you more than any worldly sight. Holy men who have experienced it know well that every earthly joy is worthless compared with this. It is a hidden manna, etc.; a new name that no-one knows except the one who receives it.134 ‘It is a secret remedy’, says St John the Evangelist in the Apocalypse; ‘It is a secret remedy that no-one knows who has not tasted it.’ This taste and this knowledge come from the spiritual sight, from the spiritual hearing, from the spiritual speech that those people will have who abstain for the love of God from listening to worldly things, speaking earthly words, seeing physical sights. For ‘we see as if in a mirror, dimly.’ 135 And after that sight, which is dim now in this world, you will have in the next the clear vision of the face of God, the source of all joy, in the bliss of heaven, far more than the others. For God, who is just, has decreed that everyone’s reward in the next world should correspond to the labour and the affliction that they patiently suffer in this world for his love. That is why it is proper that anchoresses more than others should have these two morning-gifts,136 swiftness and the light of clear sight: swiftness in return for their being so closely confined now, the light of clear sight in return for making themselves obscure now in this world, and refusing either to see anyone or to be seen by them. All those in heaven will be as swift as human thought is now, as the sunbeam is that darts from east to west, as the eye opens.137 But anchoresses who are enclosed in this world

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will be, if anyone can, both lighter and swifter in the next, and range at will in the wide pastures of heaven, so loosely tethered (as they say) that the body will be wherever the spirit wishes in a moment. Now this is one of the morning-gifts that I said anchoresses would have before others. The other is of sight. Gregory: For what is there that they do not know where they know him who knows everything? 138 All those in heaven see everything in God, but anchoresses who are not concerned now with learning about outward things through the ear and the eye will, because they are blindfolded in this world, see and understand God’s hidden secrets and his mysterious judgements more clearly in the next. 34.  And so, my dear sisters, if any man asks to see you, ask him what good could come of it; because I see many dangers in it, and no advantage. If he is over-insistent, trust him even less. If any man gets so carried away that he reaches out towards the window-curtain, quickly shut the window at once, and leave him alone. Similarly, as soon as any man starts on any indecent talk hinting about illicit love, close the window at once, and do not give him the slightest answer, but turn away with this verse, so that he can hear it, Keep away from me, you wicked men, and I shall study the commandments of my God;a 139 Wicked men have told me stories, Lord, but not according to your law;140 and go up to your altar with the Miserere. Never rebuke a man of this sort in any other way, because in the course of the rebuke he might answer in such a way, and blow so gently, that some spark might be kindled. No advance is so underhand as when it comes in the form of a complaint; so someone might take this line, ‘I’d rather die than have lustful intentions towards you’ (and he swears great oaths),141 ‘but even if I’d sworn not to, I can’t help loving you. Can there be anyone in a worse state than me? I’m losing so much sleep over it. Now I’m sorry that you know about it; but forgive me now for having told you about it. Even if it drives me mad, you’ll never know what I’m feeling any more.’ She forgives him for it because he talks so persuasively. Then they change the subject; but The eye still turns its gaze Towards the woodland ways,b 142

Followed in F by ‘or with this’. After ‘woodland ways’, C has And the lame goat-buck Goes climbing up. Two and three, How much would that be? Three halfpennies make a penny. Amen. and N ‘ in there is what I love.’ a

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the heart is always recalling what was said earlier. Even when he has gone, she often turns over this kind of talk in her mind, when she should be concentrating on something else. Later he looks for his moment to break the promise,a swears that he cannot help it,b and so the damage gets steadily worse;c 143 because no enmity is as bad as false friendship. An enemy who seems to be a friend is the worst traitor of all.144 And so, my dear sisters, do not give a man of this sort any opening to speak, because as Holy Scripture says, ‘Their speech spreads like a cancer’;145 but respond to any overtures by turning away from him, just as I said above. There is no better way for you to save yourself or defeat him. 35.  Now look how properly the lady in Canticles, God’s dear spouse, teaches you by her words how you should speak. See, my beloved speaks to me: ‘Arise, hasten, my beloved, etc.’ 146 ‘See!’ she says, ‘Listen! I hear my beloved speaking. He is calling me, I must go.’ You too should go straight away to your dear beloved, and make your complaint to his ears who lovingly calls you to him with these words: Arise, hasten, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. Show me your face. Let your voice sound in my ears.147 That is, ‘Rise up, hasten from this world, and come to me, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and my radiant spouse.’ Show me your face. ‘Show me your dear face and your lovely countenance. Turn away from others.’ Let your voice sound in my ears. ‘Say who has harmed you, who has hurt my beloved, sing to my ears. Since you want to see only my face, to speak only to me, your voice is sweet to me and your face beautiful.’ Hence there is also added, ‘Your voice is sweet and your face beautiful’.148 Now these are two things that are highly valued, a sweet voice and a beautiful face, if they are combined in one person. Jesus Christ chooses such people as lover and as bride. If you want to be like this, do not show your face to any man, or willingly let your voice be heard; but direct both of them to Jesus Christ, to your precious spouse, as he asks above, if you want your voice to seem sweet to him and your face beautiful, and to have him as a lover who is a thousand times brighter than the sun. 36.  Now listen carefully, my dear sisters, to a quite different speech,149 and the opposite of this earlier one. Listen now to how Jesus Christ speaks as if in anger, and says as if in harsh mockery and scorn to the anchoress who should be his lover and nevertheless looks for outward pleasure and comfort

After ‘promise’, V has ‘that he promised earlier’; similarly L. After ‘he cannot help it’, C has ‘and so I must go on an errand down in the town; even if it should rain arrows, I must go on my errand.’ c After ‘worse’, C has ‘A blind horse looked, and a woodman’s eye popped right out.’ a

b

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with her eye or her tongue. In Canticles, ‘If you do not know yourself, O beautiful among women, go out and follow the tracks of your herds, and pasture your kids by the herdsmen’s tents.’ 150 These are his words: ‘If you do not know yourself, O beautiful among women, go out and follow the herds of goats, and pasture your kids by the herdsmen’s huts of branches and leaves.’ This is a cruel saying, a harsh saying indeed, which our Lord utters as if in anger and scorn to anchoresses who are fond of looking out and listening and talking too much. It is wrapped up and hidden, but I will unfold it. ‘If you do not know yourself,’ our Lord says (now pay careful attention):151 that is, ‘If you do not know whose spouse you are, that you are queen of heaven if you are faithful to me as a spouse ought to be, if you have forgotten this and do not care about it, go out and leave’, he says. Where to? Out from this high status, from this great honour, ‘and follow the herd of goats’, he says. What are the herd of goats? They are the desires of the flesh, which stink like goats in the presence of our Lord. If you have now forgotten your honourable rank as lady, go and follow these goats, follow the desires of the flesh. Now there comes after that, ‘and pasture your kids’. These kids are your five senses. ‘Pasture your kids’: that is, as if he were saying, ‘Feed your eyes with looking outside, your tongue with chattering, your ears with talking,a your nose with smelling, your flesh with fondling.’ These five senses he calls kids; because just as from a kid that has sweet flesh there comes a stinking nanny-goat or a rank billygoat, so from an early tender glance, or from hearing sweet talk, or from a gentle touch, there grows a stinking desire and a rank sin. Has any curious anchoress, always poking her nose outside like an untamed bird in a cage, ever found this out? Has the cat of hell ever snatched at her, and seized the head of her heart with its claws? Yes, certainly, and dragged out the whole body after it with the claws of hooked and sharp temptations,152 and made her lose both God and man with immense shame and sin, and deprived her at one stroke of earth and heaven too. A sad loss indeed! It has always turned out badly for any anchoress who looked out like this. ‘Go out’, he says in anger. ‘Go out’, as Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, did, ‘to the herdsmen’s huts’;153 that is to say, ‘Leave me and my comfort, which is in your heart, and go outside to look for the world’s worthless comfort, which will always end in pain and grief. Follow it and leave me if you prefer it like that; because there is no way that you can have these two comforts together, mine and the world’s, the joy of the Holy Spirit and the comfort of the flesh as well. Choose now one of these two, because you must give up the other. O beautiful among women: ‘If you do not know yourself, O beautiful

For ‘talking’, TV have ‘listening’ (similarly FNS), followed in T by ‘your mouth with talking’, and in S by ‘your mouth with tasting’.

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among women’, says our Lord. ‘O beautiful among women’—yes, now in this world; add to that that you will, if you really want to, be beautiful in the next world not only among women, but among angels. ‘You, my noble spouse,’ our Lord says, ‘will you follow goats in the field?’ (which are the desires of the flesh; the field is the free range of the will). ‘Will you follow goats over the field in this way?—you who should be asking me for kisses in the chamber of your heart, as my lover who says to me in that book of love,154 Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth’;155 that is, ‘Let my beloved kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, the sweetest of mouths.’ This kiss, dear sisters, is a sweetness and a delight of the heart so immeasurably sweet that every pleasant taste in the world is bitter compared with it. But our Lord does not kiss with this kiss any soul that loves anything but him, and those things for his sake that help towards gaining him.156 And you then, the spouse of God, who can hear above how sweetly your spouse speaks, and calls you to him so lovingly, and after that how he changes tack, and speaks very harshly if you go out—stay in your bridal chamber! Do not feed the kids of your goats outside, but keep your hearing, your speech, and your sight inside, and close their gates firmly, mouth and eye and ear; it is pointless for people to be confined inside a wall or enclosure if they open these gates, except to receive God’s message, and sustenance for the soul. Guard your heart with every precaution: above everything, therefore, as Solomon teaches you and I said a long way back at the beginning of this part, my dear sisters, guard your heart. The heart is well guarded if mouth and eye and ear are prudently locked up; because they, as I said there, are the guardians of the heart, and if the guardians go out, the home is poorly protected. Now I have discussed three of the senses; let us now briefly discuss the two others. (Speech, however, is not the sense of the mouth, but taste is, although both are in the mouth).157 37.  Smell is the fourth of the five senses. St Augustine says of this sense, I’m not overly concerned about pleasant smells; if they are there, I don’t dislike them, if they aren’t, I don’t seek them out.158 ‘I’m not much bothered about pleasant smells’, he says; ‘if they’re close at hand, fine; if they’re far off, I don’t mind.’ However, our Lord through Isaiah threatens with the stench of hell those people who take pleasure in this world in physical scents: Instead of a sweet smell, there will be stench.159 Conversely, those people will have heavenly scents who in this world sometimes have to endure stench and a foul smell from the sweat caused by the mail-coats or hair-shirts that they wear,160 or from sweaty clothes, or from stuffiness in their house and things going mouldy. 38.  Be warned of this, my dear sisters, that sometimes the devil makes something stink that you should make use of, because he would like you to avoid it. Sometimes the trickster makes a sweet smell come from

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something hidden that you cannot see, such as the dust of hidden seeds, as if it were from heaven, so that you should think that God has sent you his consolation because of your holy life, and think well of yourself and fall into pride. Fragrance that comes from God comforts the heart more than the nose. These and other tricks, with which he deceives many, should be brought to nothing by holy water, and by the holy sign of the cross. Anyone who considered how God himself was made to suffer through this sense would bear suffering from it patiently. The place of execution was on the hill of Calvary, where our Lord hung on the cross. Often rotting bodies lay there above ground, and stank abominably; he, as he hung on the cross, could smell their stench, among all his other suffering, full in his nostrils. 39.  Similarly he was made to suffer in all his other senses. In his sight, when he saw the tears of his beloved mother, and of St John the Evangelist, and of the other Marys;161 and when he saw how his dear disciples all fled from him and left him alone. He wept himself three times 162 with his beautiful eyes. He endured being blindfolded with great patience. When his eyes were humiliatingly blindfolded like this, in order to give you, anchoress, the clear vision of heaven, it would not be very surprising if you were to blindfold your eyes on earth, for his love and in memory of this, to keep him company. 40.  He was probably sometimes hit full in the mouth as they struck his face and spat at him in contempt—and an anchoress is driven out of her mind by a single word! When he endured it patiently that the Jews, as they punched him, shut his precious mouth with their cruel fists, you too, for love of him and to your own great advantage, must shut your chattering mouth with your lips. 41.  In addition to that,a he tasted gall on his tongue,163 in order to teach the anchoress that she should never again complain about any food, or about any drink, however poor the quality. If she can eat it, she should eat it and thank God sincerely; if she cannot, she should be sorry that she has to ask for something more palatable. But rather than have that request cause any scandal, she should die as a martyr in her distress. Death should be avoided as far as one can without sin; but you should die rather than commit any mortal sin.164 And surely it is a great sin to make people say, ‘This anchoress likes her comforts; she’s very demanding’? It is even worse if they say that she is a complainer and undisciplined, difficult and hard to please. If she were out in the world, she would perhaps sometimes have to be satisfied with less and with worse. It is quite ridiculous to come into an anchor-house, into God’s prison, voluntarily, into a place of discomfort, a

After ‘that’, F has ‘among all the other sufferings’.



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to look for comfort there, and status, and the respect due to a lady—more perhaps than she might have had in the world. Consider, anchoress, what you were looking for when you renounced the world at your enclosure: to weep for your own sins and others’, and abandon all the joys of this life in order to embrace your joyful lover joyfully in the eternal life of heaven. 42.  Oh, says Jeremiah,165 how the best gold has been darkened, etc.166 ‘Oh, alas, alas! How the gold has been darkened, how the most beautiful colour has been altered and faded!’ The Apostle 167 addresses such people harshly, as if in anger:a Who has bewitched you, etc., so that while you began in the spirit, you are ending in the flesh? 168 ‘Why, what evil spirit has so bewitched you that you began in the spirit and want to end in the flesh?’ Those who began spiritual life in the Holy Spirit have become altogether carnal—giggling, frivolous, sometimes talking carelessly, at other times maliciously, comfort-loving and querulous, complainers and whiners, and even (which is worse) scolds and bitches, bitter and venomous, with swollen hearts. It would not be proper for a woman like this to be the lady of a castle; it is a shameful and ridiculous thing for an anointed anchoress—and a buried anchoress, for what is the anchor-house but her grave?—to be more puffed up, put on more ladylike airs, than a mistress of estates. If she feels angry at sinful behaviour, she should express herself so calmly that she does not seem emotional or unreasonable; rather she should speak sincerely and fairly, without haste and arrogance, in a quiet voice. A foolish daughter will be diminished.169 This is what Solomon says; God forbid that it should ever apply to any of you. ‘A foolish daughter becomes like the moon on the wane’; like an idiot child, she deteriorates as time goes on. As for you, if you want to grow further and not go backwards, you must certainly row against the current, make headway with great effort, pull strongly with your spiritual arms—and so should we all, because we are all in this current, in the world’s raging water that overwhelms many. Every time we get tired and relax into idleness, our boat goes backwards,170 and we are the foolish daughter who is on the wane, the lukewarm people whom God vomits out 171 (as is written later),172 who began in the spirit and end in the flesh. No, no! rather, as Job says,173 if anyone is digging for treasure, the closer he gets to it, the more the excitement in his heart makes him eager and energetic in digging, and makes him delve deeper and deeper until he finds it.

a

After ‘anger’, F has ‘as we read’, V ‘but not without sorrow’.

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Your treasure is not on earth; and so you do not have to dig downwards, but raise your heart upwards. For that is what it is to row upstream against the current of this world—when the heart would like to go down easily with the current, to drive it back to dig for the treasure that is up in heaven. And what is that digging? Eager, searching meditation on where it is, what it is like, how it can be found. This is the digging: to be always busily and eagerly occupied with this, with single-minded desire, with the ardour of a hungry heart, to make your way upwards out of vices, to divest yourself of the flesh, to escape from it, to rise above yourself with lofty meditation towards heaven—which is all the more necessary because your weak, tender flesh cannot bear hardship. Now, therefore, to make up for this, give God your heart in gentleness, in sweetness, in all kinds of meekness, and the mildest humility, rather than being the kind of woman who starts by sighing and complaining, then raises her voice, gets irrationally angry, emphasizes her words by gestures, twists violently away, turns her back, tosses her head, so that God detests her and men despise her. No, no; mature words, mature manners and behaviour are appropriate for an anchoress. When words are humbly and sincerely spoken, not in an ill-mannered or childish way, they have the weight to be properly understood. Now all this has been said so that you, following Jesus Christ, who was struck in the mouth and given gall to drink, should guard yourselves against the sin of the mouth, and endure some suffering in that sense, as he suffered through it. 43.  In his ears the heavenly Lord had all the blame and the reproach, all the scorn and all the shame that ears could hear; and he says of himself, to teach us, And I became like a man who does not hear, and has no reproofs in his mouth.174 ‘I kept quiet’, he says, ‘like a deaf-mute, who does not respond even if people mistreat him or abuse him.’ This is what your lover says; and you, innocent anchoress, who are his beloved spouse, should be willing to learn it from him, so that you know it and can truthfully say it. 44.  Now I have discussed four of your senses, and God’s comfort—how he comforts you through his senses whenever you feel any distress in yours. Now hear about the fifth, which needs most support, because most pain is felt in it, that is, in feeling—and pleasure too, if it comes to that. 45.  The fifth sense is feeling. This one sense is present in all the others, and through the whole body, and for this reason it needs to be most closely guarded. Our Lord guarded it well; and that is why he wanted to suffer most in that sense, simply in order to comfort us if we are suffering distress through it, and to turn us away from the pleasure that carnal desire demands, more especially in touch than in the others. Our Lord did not suffer pain in this sense just in one place, but everywhere; he had it not



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only throughout his whole body, but even in his blessed soul. Through it he felt the pang of sharp and painful grief, which made him groan deeply. This pang was a triple one, which pierced him to the heart like three spears. The first was the weeping of his mother and the other Marys,175 who were in floods of tears; the second, that his own dear disciples no longer believed in him or thought of him as God because he did not help himself in his great suffering, and that they all fled from him and abandoned him like strangers.176 The third was the great sorrow and regret that he felt for the loss of those who put him to death, that in their case he saw that he had lost all the hard work he had done on earth. These three pangs were in his soul. In his body each limb, as St Augustine says,177 suffered a separate pain, and he died through all his body, as he had earlier sweated the sweat of death through all his body. And here St Bernard says that he did not just weep with his eyes, but wept, as it were, with all parts of his body. ‘It appears that he wept’, he says, ‘as it were, with all parts of his body’.178 For that sweat of desperation that ran from his body at the thought of the agonizing death he was about to suffer was so full of anguish that it appeared to be red blood. His sweat became like drops of blood running down to the ground .179 What is more, that bloody sweat flowed so freely and so swiftly from his blessed body that the streams ran down to the ground. That was the kind of fear that his human flesh had of the cruel sufferings it would have to endure; it was no great wonder, because always the more sensitive the flesh is, the more pain touching or hitting it causes. A small wound in the eye hurts more than a large one in the heel does, since the flesh is more dead. Every man’s flesh is dead flesh compared with what God’s flesh was, since it was taken from the tender virgin, and there was never anything in it which might deaden it, but it was constantly alive from that living Deity that inhabited it. That is why the pain in his flesh was more intense than any human being ever suffered in theirs.180 That his flesh was more alive than any other flesh, you can see from this analogy.181 A man who has something wrong with him does not have blood let from the part that is unhealthy, but from one that is healthy, to heal the unhealthy one. But in all the world that was suffering from fever, not one healthy part was found among the whole of humanity that could be bled other than the body of God, who had his blood let on the cross. He had this done not only from the arm, but from five parts of the body,182 to heal humanity of the sickness that the five senses had caused. And in this way, you see, the healthy and living part drew out that bad blood from the unhealthy one, and so healed the sick part. In Holy Scripture sin is signified by blood;183 the reasons why will be clearly shown later. But take careful note of this,

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my dear sisters, that your beloved spouse, the Lord who deserves love, the Saviour of heaven, Jesus, God and son of God, the ruler of all the world, when he was let blood in this way—understand what his diet was that day, in that bloodletting that was so cruel and so bitter. The very people that he bled for did not bring him either wine or beer or water as an offering, even when he said I am thirsty,184 and complained of thirst as he bled on the cross, but gave him bitter gall.185 Where was such a poor pittance 186 ever given to someone who had been let blood? And yet he did not complain, but accepted it humbly to teach his own. And he did still more as an example to us: he put his precious mouth to it and tasted it, although he could not drink it. Who is there, then, after this—and especially an anchoress—who will complain if she does not have either food or drink to her satisfaction? And certainly anyone who complains is still offering our Lord this wretched pittance, as the Jews did then, and is the Jews’ partner in offering him in his thirst a drink of sour gall. His thirst is nothing but desire for the salvation of our souls, and complaint from a bitter and sour heart is more sour and bitter to him now than the gall was then. And you, his dear spouse, do not be the Jews’ partner 187 in serving this sort of drink to him, but keep him company, and be willing to drink 188 with him everything that seems sour or bitter to your flesh, that is, suffering and deprivation and all kinds of discomfort, and he will repay you for it, as his faithful companion, with the healing drink of heaven. 46.  In this way Jesus Christ, the almighty God, was cruelly tortured in all his five senses; and especially in this last one, that is, in feeling, because his flesh was fully alive, like the sensitive eye. You, too, should guard this sense—that is, physical touch—more than all the others. God’s hands were nailed to the cross; by those nails I entreat you, anchoresses (not you, my dear sisters, because there is no need, but I do others), keep your hands inside your windows! Fondling or any kind of touching between a man and an anchoress is such an indecent thing, and such a shameless act, and such naked sin, so hideous to all the world and such a great scandal, that there is no need to speak or write against it, because its obscenity is only too obvious without writing. God knows how much I would prefer to see all three of you, my dear sisters, the women dearest to me, hanging on a gallows in order to avoid sin, rather than see one of you give a single kiss to any man on earth in the way that I mean—I say nothing about more than that. Not just holding hands, but putting a hand outside unless you need to, is courting God’s anger and attracting his wrath. Admiring their own white hands is bad for many anchoresses who keep them too beautiful, such as those who have too little to do; they should scrape up the earth every day from the grave in which they will rot.189 Certainly that grave does a great deal of good to many anchoresses; for as Solomon says,



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Remember your last things and you will never sin again.190 The woman who always keeps her death (of which the grave is a reminder) as it were before her eyes, if she reflects on the judgement of Doomsday, where the angels will tremble, and the eternal and terrible pains of hell, and above all on the Passion of Jesus Christ, how he was tortured (as has been described to some extent) in all his five senses, will not lightly follow the pleasure of the flesh after the will’s desire, or bring any mortal sin on herself through her five senses. 47. Enough has been said now about the five senses, which are like external guardians of the heart, which contains the life of the soul, as we mentioned above at the beginning that Solomon said: Guard your heart with every precaution, because life issues from it.191 Now, Christ be thanked, the first two parts have been dealt with; let us now embark, with his help, on the third.

PA RT 3 1.  My dear sisters, just as you guard your senses well outwardly, see to it above all that you are kind inwardly, even-tempered and modest, gentle and good-hearted, and patient with offensive remarks that are made to you and wrongs that are done to you, so you do not lose everything. Against embittered anchoresses David says this verse: I have become like a pelican in the wilderness, etc.1 ‘I am like a pelican’, he says, ‘that lives in solitude.’ The pelican is a bird that is so quick-tempered and irascible that it often kills its own chicks in anger when they annoy it; and then soon afterwards it is overcome by regret and laments bitterly, and strikes itself with its beak, with which it has just killed its chicks, and draws blood from its breast, and with that blood brings its dead chicks back to life. This bird, the pelican, is the quick-tempered anchoress. Her chicks are her good works, which she often kills with the beak of sharp anger. But when she has behaved in this way, she should do as the pelican does: she should regret it immediately, and peck at her breast with her own beak—that is, by confession with the mouth that she sinned with, and killed her good works, she should draw that blood of sin out of her breast, that is, from the heart, where the life of the soul is; and so her dead chicks, which are her good works, will come back to life again. Blood signifies sin;2 because just as a man covered in blood is ghastly and hideous to human eyes, so is the sinner to God’s eyes. Furthermore, nobody can judge blood properly before it has cooled.3 The same applies to sin. While the heart is boiling inwardly with anger, good judgement is impossible; indeed, while the desire for any sin is hot, you cannot judge properly in the meantime what it is, or what will come of it. But ‘Let desire pass over, and you will be glad.’ 4 Let that heat cool, like someone who wants to judge blood, and you will judge rightly that the sin that seemed desirable to you is vile and disgusting, and that you must have been mad to consider it, so much harm would have come from it if you had committed it while the heat lasted. This reason why blood signifies sin is true of every sin, and especially of anger. Anger obstructs the mind so it cannot see what the truth is;5 ‘Anger’, it says, ‘while it lasts, blinds the heart so much that it cannot recognize the truth.’ It is a kind of witch, transforming human nature.6 Anger is a shape-changer, of the kind described in stories, since it takes people’s reason away and changes their whole appearance, and transforms their nature from human into animal. An angry woman is a she-wolf; a man is a wolf or a lion or a unicorn.7 Whenever there is anger in a woman’s heart, whether she chants versicles or



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recites her Hours, Hail Marys, Our Fathers, she does nothing but howl. As someone who has been turned into a she-wolf in God’s eyes, she has only a she-wolf’s voice to his acute ears. Anger is a brief madness;8 ‘Anger is a madness.’ Isn’t an angry man mad? How does he look? How does he speak? What is going on inwardly in his heart? What is his outward behaviour like? He does not recognize anyone. How is he a human being, then? For man is a peaceable creature by nature;9 ‘Man is naturally even-tempered.’ As soon as he loses his temper he loses human nature, and anger, the shapechanger, transforms him into an animal as I said before. And what if any anchoress, the spouse of Jesus Christ, is transformed into a she-wolf? Isn’t that a great pity? The only thing to do is to throw off that rough hide 10 around the heart at once, and with gentle reconciliation make it as smooth and soft as a woman’s skin is naturally; because with that she-wolf’s hide nothing that she does is pleasing to God. 2. Here are plenty of remedies against anger, a large number of consolations and various medicines. If you are insulted, bear in mind that you are earth. Isn’t the earth trampled on? Isn’t it spat on? Even if you were treated in the same way, it would be the proper treatment for earth.11 If you react by barking, you have the nature of a dog; if you react by stinging,a 12 you are a snake’s offspring, and not the spouse of Christ. Think, did he act like this who like a sheep was led to the slaughter and did not open his mouth? 13 After all the shameful tortures that he suffered over the long night before Good Friday, he was led out in the morning to be hanged on the gallows, and iron nails were driven through his four limbs; but, as Holy Scripture says, he made no more sound than a sheep. 3. Again, consider it from another point of view: what is speech but wind? 14 The woman who can be blown over by a puff of wind, a word, and tumbled into sin, is too weakly supported. And who wouldn’t be amazed at an anchoress blown over by the wind? What is more, doesn’t she prove that she is dust, and unstable, if she is instantly blown about by a little gust of words? That very puff from someone’s mouth, if you put it beneath you, should carry you upwards towards the bliss of heaven. But now our complete madness is a matter for amazement. Let me explain. St Andrew 15 could bear the cruel cross raising him towards heaven, and lovingly embraced it. St Laurence 16 similarly bore the gridiron raising him upwards with burning coals. St Stephen 17 bore the stones that he was stoned with, and accepted them gladly, and prayed on bended knees for those who threw them at him. And we cannot bear it that the wind of a word should carry us towards heaven, but are furious with those that we should thank After ‘stinging’, all manuscripts running except AR have variations on the reading ‘with poisonous words’; R has ‘doing a worse turn for a bad turn’.

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as the very people who are doing us a great service, even if it is not their intention. The impious man lives for the pious, whether he wants to or not.18 Everything that the wicked and evil man does to cause harm is for the good of the good man; everything is to his advantage, and a preparation for heavenly joy. Allow him—and gladly—to weave your crown. Think how the holy man in the Lives of the Fathers 19 kissed and blessed the hand of the other man who had done him an injury, and said with such feeling, kissing it eagerly, ‘May this hand always be blessed, because it has prepared the joys of heaven for me.’ You should say the same kind of thing about the hand that injures you, and also about the mouth that slanders you in any way. Say ‘May your mouth be blessed, because you are using it as a tool to prepare my crown. I am happy about my good, but sorry about your harm; because you are doing me a favour and damaging yourself.’ If any man or woman should slander or injure you, my dear sisters, that is what you should say. But now it is extraordinary, if we look at it properly, how God’s saints suffered wounds on their bodies, and we are maddened if a wind blows a little in our direction—and the wind wounds nothing but the air. For the wind—that is, the spoken word—cannot either wound your flesh or defile your soul, even if it blows against you, unless you yourself make it. Bernard: Why are you stirred to anger, why are you inflamed at the breath of a word, which neither wounds the flesh nor defiles the mind? 20 You might easily tell that there was little of the fire of charity there, which is all ablaze with our Lord’s love; little of its fire was there if a puff of wind blew it out, because where there is a large fire, it increases with wind. 4.  Finally, here is the best remedy against injury and slander, and you should study this analogy. A man who was in prison and owed a huge ransom, and had no way of getting out, unless it were to be hanged, before he had paid his ransom in full—wouldn’t he feel really grateful to someone who threw a bag of money at him to ransom him with and release him from confinement? Even if he threw it very hard against his heart, all the pain would be forgotten because of the joy. In the same way, we are all in prison here, and owe God huge debts of sin. That is why we cry to him in the Our Father, And forgive us our debts.21 ‘Lord,’ we say, ‘forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.’ The harm that is done to us, either through words or through actions, is our ransom, which we should redeem ourselves with, and settle our debts to our Lord, which are our sins; because without a discharge, no-one is taken up out of this prison except to be hanged immediately, either in Purgatory or in the torment of hell. And our Lord himself says, Forgive and you will be forgiven,22 ‘Forgive and I will forgive you’, as if he were saying, ‘You are heavily indebted to me with sins, but do you want a good bargain? Everything bad that is said or



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done to you I will accept on account for the debt that you owe me.’ Now then, even if something that is said really hurts you, and, as it seems to you at first, gives pain to your heart, think as the prisoner would, the one that the other man hurt badly with the money-bag, and accept it gladly to buy yourself out, and thank whoever who sends it to you—even though God may never thank him for sending it. He harms himself and helps you, if you can bear it; since as David puts it so well, God stores the wicked and the evil in his treasury, in order to hire with them, as one does with treasure, those who fight well, laying up the depths in storehouses 23 (Gloss: The cruel, with whom he rewards his soldiers).24 5. And furthermore, this bird the pelican has another characteristic, that it is always thin.25 And so, as I said,26 David compares himself to it in the persona of an anchoress (in an anchoress’s voice):27 I have become like a pelican in the wilderness, ‘I am like a pelican that lives in solitude.’ An anchoress, too, should speak like this, and be like a pelican in its thinness. Judith, enclosed in her bedroom, fasted every day of her life, etc.28 Judith, enclosed indoors, as it says in her book, led a very hard life, fasted and wore a hair-shirt. Judith enclosed indoors signifies the enclosed anchoress, who ought to lead a hard life, as the lady Judith did, according to her ability—not like a pig penned into a sty to be fattened up and gain weight for the blow of the axe. 6.  Our Lord refers in the Gospel to anchoresses of two kinds, false and true, and says of them, Foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven nests;29 that is, ‘Foxes have their holes, and birds of heaven have their nests.’ The foxes are false anchoresses, as the fox is the falsest animal. These women have holes, he says, who burrow into the earth with earthly vices, and drag into their hole everything that they can seize and carry. This is why acquisitive anchoresses are compared by God in the Gospel to foxes. The fox is also a very greedy and ravenous animal; and the false anchoress drags both geese and hens into her hole and bolts them down greedily, as the fox does. Like the fox, they look guileless sometimes, and yet are full of guile. Like the fox, which is a hypocrite, they pretend to be something other than they are; they think they can deceive God as they fool ordinary people, but deceive themselves most. They bark like the fox, and boast about their assets wherever they dare and can. They gossip about trivialities, and become so very worldly that in the end their reputation stinks, like the fox, wherever it travels; because if they do wrong, worse is said about them. 7. These have gone into the anchor-house as Saul did into the cave, not like the virtuous David. Both of them went into the cave, Saul and David, as it says in Kings,a  30 but Saul went in there to use it as a latrine, as some wretched anchoress (among many) may: she goes into the cave of a

After Kings, C has ‘went in to cleanse himself ’.

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the anchor-house to foul the place, and to indulge in carnal filthiness there more secretly than she could if she were in secular life. After all, who has more opportunity to practise her vices than the false anchoress? In this way Saul went into the cave to foul the place. But David only went in there to hide himself from Saul, who hated him and was searching for him to kill him. That is what is done by the good anchoress, who is hated and hunted after by Saul, that is, the devil. She goes in to hide herself from his sharp claws; she hides herself in her hole from both worldly people and worldly sins, and so in a spiritual sense she is David, that is, ‘strong’ against the enemy and her beauty ‘desirable’ to our Lord’s eyes—because that is what this word ‘David’ means in Hebrew.31 The false anchoress is Saul, according to what his name means: Saul: ‘abusing’ or ‘abuse’.32 For ‘Saul’ in Hebrew is ‘abuse’ in English, and the false anchoress abuses the name of the anchoress and everything that she does. The good anchoress is Judith, as we said before; she is enclosed as Judith was and, just as she did, fasts, keeps vigil, works hard, and wears rough clothing. She belongs to the birds that our Lord mentions after the foxes, which do not burrow downwards with their desires like the foxes, which are false anchoresses, but, like a bird of heaven, have placed their nests—that is, their restingplace—high up.33 True anchoresses are called birds because they leave the earth, that is, the love of all worldly things, and through their heart’s desire for heavenly things fly upwards towards heaven. And although they may fly high with their exalted and holy life, nevertheless they hold their heads low through meek humility, as a bird in flight lowers its head. They think that everything that they do well is worthless, and say, as our Lord taught all his own: When you have done everything well, say, ‘We are useless servants.’ 34 ‘When you have done everything well,’ our Lord says, ‘say that you are useless servants—fly high, but nevertheless always keep your heads low.’ The wings that carry them upwards are virtues, which they must stir towards good works as a bird stirs its wings when it is about to take flight. Furthermore, the true anchoresses that we are comparing to birds (it is not us, however, but God who does this) spread their wings and make a cross of themselves as a bird does when it flies:35 that is, in inner contemplation and in outer affliction they carry God’s cross. 8.  Those birds fly well that have little flesh, as the pelican has,36 and a lot of feathers. The ostrich, because it has so much flesh, and other birds of that kind, go through the motions of flying and flap their wings, but their feet always stick to the ground.37 Similarly, a carnal anchoress who indulges her physical desires and pursues her comfort finds that the heaviness of her flesh and carnal vices deprive her of her power of flight, and although she goes through the motions with a noisy flapping of wings (others’, not her own),38



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that is, acts as if she were flying and a holy anchoress, any close observer will laugh her to shame, because her feet (which are her desires), like the ostrich’s, always stick to the ground. These are not like the thin bird, the pelican, and do not fly high, but are ground-birds and nest on the ground. But God calls the good anchoresses birds of heaven, as I said before:39 Foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven nests, ‘Foxes have their holes, and birds of heaven have their nests.’ True anchoresses are truly birds of heaven, which fly high and sit singing joyfully on the green branches (that is, lift up their thoughts to the bliss of heaven, which never fades but is always green),40 and perch on this greenery singing joyfully (that is, find rest in such contemplation and, like those who sing, have joy in their hearts). Sometimes, however, a bird comes down to earth for its physical needs, to look for its food. But while it stays on the ground it never feels secure, but often turns around and always keeps a careful lookout in all directions. Similarly the good anchoress, however high she flies, must sometimes come down to the earth of her body, eat, drink, sleep, work, speak, hear what she needs to about earthly matters. But then, as the bird does, she must look around carefully, keep watch on every side so that she does not put a foot wrong anywhere, in case she should be caught by one of the devil’s snares, or hurt in some way while she stays so low. 9.  ‘These birds have nests’, our Lord says, the birds of heaven, nests. A nest is hard on the outside with piercing thorns, smooth and soft inside. In the same way, an anchoress should bear physical hardship and keen sufferings externally. However, she should mortify the flesh with such discretion that she can say with the Psalmist, I will guard my strength for you,41 that is, ‘I will guard my strength, Lord, for your use.’ For this reason, the body should suffer according to each one’s capacity. That nest should be hard outside, and the heart inside soft and gentle. Those who are bitter or hard-hearted and treat their bodies gently are making their nest the wrong way out, soft outside and thorny inside. These are the quicktempered and comfort-loving anchoresses, bitter inside where the sweetness should be, and comfortable outside where the hardship should be. Those in such a nest may have their rest disturbed when they consider things seriously, because it will be a long time before they produce chicks from that kind of nest—that is, good works that should fly towards heaven. Job calls the anchor-house a nest, and says as if he were a recluse, I shall die in my nest,42 that is, ‘I shall die in my nest, be as if dead in it (for that is proper for a recluse), and live in it until death, so that I shall never slacken, while the soul is in the body, from suffering what is hard outwardly, as a nest is, and being soft inwardly.’

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10.  Learn wisdom and knowledge from dumb animals.43 The eagle puts in his nest a precious stone called agate,44 because no poisonous thing can come near the stone, or harm its chicks while it is in the nest. This precious stone is Jesus Christ, true as stone and full of all powers, above all precious stones; he is the agate that the poison of sin never came near. Put him in your nest, that is, in your heart; think what kind of pain he suffered in his body outwardly, how tender-hearted he was, how soft inwardly, and so you will drive out every poison from your heart and bitterness from your body. For with this kind of thought, the pain that you suffer, however bitter it may be, for the love of him who suffered more for you will seem sweet to you. This stone, as I said, drives away poisonous things. If you have this stone in your heart, where God’s nest is, you need not be afraid of the poisonous snake of hell. Your chicks, which are your good works, will be quite safe from his poison. 11.  Anyone who cannot keep this precious stone in the nest of her heart should at least have its image—that is, the crucifix—in the nest of her anchor-house. She should often look at it, and kiss the places of the wounds in sweet remembrance of the real wounds that he patiently suffered on the real cross. As far as she can, she should be Judith: that is, she should live a hard life, often acknowledge to God his great goodness towards her and her faults towards him in repaying him badly for it, call on him urgently for mercy and forgiveness for this, and make her confession frequently. Then she is Judith, who killed Holofernes, because ‘Judith’ in Hebrew means ‘confession’ in English,45 which in a spiritual sense kills the devil of hell. Judith: confession. That is why the anchoress says I confess first of all to every priest 46 and makes her confession often, in order to be Judith and kill Holofernes, that is, the devil’s strength; because this name ‘Holofernes’ means ‘stinking in hell’. According to the etymology of the name: ‘Olofernus’, ‘stinking in hell’.47 According to its interpretation: ‘weakening the fatted calf.’ In the Hebrew language, ‘Holofernes’ is the devil, who weakens and enfeebles the calf that is fat and too wild—that is, the flesh, which runs wild as soon as it grows fat through comfort and through pleasure. My beloved has grown fat, and kicked out:48 ‘My beloved has grown fat,’ our Lord says, ‘and kicks me with his heel.’ As soon as the flesh has its will, it starts kicking at once, like a fat and idle horse. The devil has the strength to weaken this fat calf and to turn it towards sin; because that is what this name ‘Holofernes’ means. But an anchoress should be Judith through a hard life and through true confession, and, as Judith did, kill this wicked Holofernes. She should tame her flesh well, as soon as she feels that it is running too wild, with fasting, with keeping vigil, with hair-shirts, with heavy labour, with hard scourgings—wisely, however, and with discretion. Be seasoned with salt,49 he



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said. Also: In every sacrifice you will offer me salt,50 that is, ‘In every sacrifice’, our Lord says, ‘always offer me salt.’ Fasting, keeping vigil, and other things of the kind I have just mentioned, are ‘my sacrifices.’ Salt signifies wisdom, because salt gives food flavour, and wisdom gives flavour to everything that we do well.51 Without the salt of wisdom, everything we do seems flavourless to God. Furthermore, without salt meat breeds worms, stinks horribly, and soon rots. Similarly, without wisdom flesh eats away at itself like a worm and destroys itself, falls apart like something rotting, and kills itself in the end. But this kind of sacrifice stinks to our Lord. 12.  Although the flesh is our enemy, we are told that we should support it. We can make it suffer, as it very often deserves, but not destroy it completely; because however weak it may be, it is still so coupled and so closely linked to our precious soul, God’s own image, that we might easily kill the one along with the other. Augustine: Only God is greater than the nature of the human mind that is created in the image of God and is without sin.52 And this is one of the greatest marvels on earth, that the highest thing under God, which as St Augustine testifies is the human soul, should be so closely linked to the flesh, which is nothing but mud and a filthy mass of earth, and because of that bonding should love it so much that in order to please it in its foul nature she abandons her sublime heavenly nature, and to give it pleasure angers her Creator, king and emperor of earth and of heaven, who created her in his own image. Marvel upon marvel, and a shameful marvel, that something so immeasurably low—almost nothing, ‘practically nothing’, says St Augustine—should draw into sin such an immeasurably high thing as the soul, which St Augustine calls almost the highest,53 that is, ‘practically the highest thing’ other than God alone. But God was unwilling that she should leap up in pride, or that she should want to climb and then fall, as Lucifer did 54 because he was unburdened; and so he tied a clod of heavy earth to her, as one does a block of wood to the cow or to any other animal that is straying and wandering about too much. This is what Job said: ‘You who have made a weight for the winds’—that is, for spirits.55 ‘Lord,’ he says, ‘you have made a weight to weigh down the souls with’, that is, the heavy flesh that drags her downwards. But through her exalted nature it will become very light, lighter than the wind is and brighter than the sun, if it follows her in this world, and does not drag her down too much into its low nature. Dear sisters, treat her with respect for the love of him whom she resembles; do not let the base flesh gain too much control over her. She is in a strange land here,56 put in a prison, confined in a death cell, and it is not easy to see how noble she is, how high her rank is, or how she will appear later in her own kingdom. The flesh is at home here, as earth that is on earth,57 and so is bold and

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vicious, as it is said that ‘a dog is bold on his own dunghill.’ 58 It has too much power, unfortunately, over many people. But an anchoress, as I have said, ought to be completely spiritual if she wants to fly well, like a bird that has little flesh and a lot of feathers. And not only this, but as well as thoroughly taming her undisciplined flesh, and supporting and honouring the noble soul—as well as this, she must in addition, through her example and through her holy prayers, give strength to others, and support them so that they do not fall into the dung of sin. And that is why David, immediately after he has compared the anchoress to a pelican, compares her to a night-bird that is under the eaves. I have become like a pelican in the wilderness; I have become like a night-bird in the house.59 13. The night-bird 60 in the eaves signifies recluses, who live under the eaves of the church so they may understand that they ought to lead such a holy life that all Holy Church—that is, Christian people—can lean on them and be supported by them, and that they should hold it up with their holiness of life and their blessed prayers. That is why the anchoress [ancre] is called an ‘anchor’ [ancre],61 and anchored under the church like an anchor under the side of a ship to hold the ship, so that waves and storms do not capsize it. Just so, all Holy Church (which is described as a ship) should anchor on the anchoress, for her to hold it so that the devil’s blasts, which are temptations, do not blow it over. Every anchoress has a commitment to this, both because of the name of ‘anchoress’ and because she lives under the church, as if to prop it up if it should begin to collapse. If she breaks that commitment, she should consider who she is defrauding, and how persistently—because she never stops; the anchor-house and her name are constantly proclaiming this commitment, even when she is asleep. 14.  Furthermore, the night-bird flies by night and gathers its food in darkness. In the same way, an anchoress should fly by night towards heaven with contemplation (that is, with elevated thought) and with holy prayers, and gain food for her soul by night. By night an anchoress ought to be wakeful, and busily occupied with spiritual gain. This is why there follows immediately afterwards, I have watched, and have become like a solitary sparrow in the roof.62 ‘I have stayed awake,’ says David in the persona of an anchoress, ‘and been like a solitary sparrow under the roof.’ I have watched, ‘I have stayed awake’, because that is an anchoress’s duty, to keep long vigils. Ecclesiasticus: Watching for riches will dissolve the flesh.63 Nothing subdues wild flesh more, or makes it tamer, than much watching. Watching is praised in Holy Scripture in many places. Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation.64 ‘If you do not want to fall into temptation,’ our Lord says, ‘stay awake and pray’; that will make you stand firm. Again he says, Blessed is the one he finds watching,65 ‘Blessed is the one our Lord finds awake when he comes.’ And he himself sometimes spent the night in prayer, ‘stayed



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awake in prayer all night’, and so he taught us to be wakeful, not only by his advice, but by his actions.66 Eight things in particular encourage us to be always vigilant and active in some good work: (i) this short life; (ii) this difficult path; (iii) our merit, which is so meagre; (iv) our sins, which are so many; (v) death, which we are certain of, but uncertain when; (vi) that stern judgement on Doomsday, so very strict that every idle word will be called to account there, and idle thoughts that were not atoned for beforehand in this world. Our Lord in the Gospel: ‘For every idle word’, etc. Also: ‘And the hairs on your head will not perish’, that is, thought will not escape unpunished. Anselm: ‘What will you do on that day when you are asked how you spent all the time you were lent, even down to the smallest thought?’ 67 Consider now the consequences of wicked desires and

sinful acts. (vii) And the seventh thing that reminds us to keep watch is the misery of hell. Contemplate three things there: the unspeakable torments, the eternity of each one, the unbounded bitterness. (viii) The eighth thing: how great the reward is in the bliss of heaven, world without end. Anyone who keeps watch well for a short time here, anyone who often reflects on these eight things in her heart, will shake off her sleep of harmful sloth. In the silent night, when nothing can be seen, or heard either,68 which would hinder prayer, the heart is often very pure; because nothing is witness of what is done then, except for the angel of God which at such times is busily occupied in encouraging us to virtue,69 since nothing is lost there as often happens during the day. Listen now, dear sisters, to what a bad thing it is to reveal good works, and what a good thing it is to conceal them, and fly by night like a night-bird, and gather food for the soul in darkness—that is, privately and in secret. 15.  Esther’s prayer was pleasing to King Ahasuerus:70 that is, Queen Esther’s prayer was acceptable and pleasing to King Ahasuerus. ‘Esther’ in Hebrew is ‘hidden’ in English, and signifies that prayer and other good works that are done in secret are pleasing to Ahasuerus, that is, the King of heaven; because ‘Ahasuerus’ in Hebrew is ‘blessed’ in English, that is, our Lord who is blessed above all.71 David addresses the anchoress who has been in the habit of doing good in secret and later reveals and displays it in some way: Why do you take your hand, and your right hand at that, out of your breast in the end? 72—that is, ‘Why do you take your hand, and your right hand at that, out of your breast in the end, in the end?’ The right hand is good works, the breast is secrecy; and it is as if he were saying, ‘The right hand that you held in your breast, anchoress (that is, your good works that you had done in secret, as something is hidden in the breast), why do you take it out in the end, in the end (that is, so that your reward should come to an end so soon, your reward that would be endless if your good works were concealed)? Why do you reveal it and accept such a brief reward, a payment that is gone in a moment?’ Amen, I tell you, they have received their reward.73 ‘You have

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revealed your good works’, our Lord says; ‘be assured, you have received your reward.’ St Gregory marvels, and says that people who make such a poor exchange are mad: It is absolute madness to do great things and pant for praise, seeking the small change of transitory applause for something by which heaven can be earned.74 ‘It is absolute madness’, he says, ‘to do well and want a reputation for it, to do something through which the kingdom of heaven can be bought and sell it for a puff of wind from the world’s praise, from human applause.’ And so, my dear sisters, keep your right hand in your breast, so that endless reward should not come to a sudden end. We read in Holy Scripture that the hand of Moses, God’s prophet, as soon as he had taken it out of his breast, had the appearance of leprosy and looked diseased, by which it is signified that good works, once disclosed, are not just lost through that disclosure, but even look repulsive to God’s eyes, as leprosy is repulsive to human sight. Here is a wonderful comment that the holy Job makes: This hope of mine is stored up in my breast.75 ‘In my breast’, he says, ‘all my hope is stored’, as if he were saying, ‘Whatever good I do, if it were disclosed and let out from my breast, all my hope would have slipped away. But because I conceal it it and hide it, as it were, in my breast, I hope for reward.’ And so if anyone does any good, she should not reveal it or boast of it at all, because with a little puff, with the wind of a word, it may be all blown away. 16.  Our Lord in Joel complains bitterly about those who lose and destroy all their good works out of desire for praise, and says as follows: He has stripped the bark from my fig-tree; he has laid it bare and thrown it away. Its branches have been made white.76 ‘I am afraid,’ our Lord says, ‘that this woman who discloses her good works has stripped my fig-tree, torn all the bark off, laid it bare and thrown it away, and the green branches are withered and reduced to dry white sticks.’ This text is obscure, but pay attention now to how I will make it clearer. A fig-tree is a kind of tree that bears sweet fruits that are called figs.77 The fig-tree is stripped and the bark torn off when good works are revealed. The life is gone, the tree dies, when the bark is off; and after that it does not either bear fruit or grow green with beautiful leaves, but the branches dry up and turn into white sticks, good for nothing more than feeding the fire. When the branch dies, it turns white on the outside and dries up on the inside, and sheds its bark. In the same way, good works that are about to die shed their bark—that is, uncover themselves. The bark that covers the tree is its protection, and keeps it strong and alive. In the same way, concealment is the life of good works and keeps them strong; but when this bark is off, they turn white on the outside, as the branch does, through wordly praise, and dry up inside and lose the moisture of God’s grace,78 which made them green and pleasant for God



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to look at—because green refreshes the eyes more than any other colour. When they are dried up like this, they are fit for nothing so much as the fire of hell; because the first uncovering, from which all this harm comes, is solely from pride. And surely this is a great pity, that the fig-tree that was supposed to feed God, the Lord of heaven, spiritually with its sweet fruit (that is, good works) should dry up without its bark because it is uncovered, and be used to feed hell-fire into eternity? And surely anyone who buys hell for herself with the price of heaven has made a disastrous choice? Our Lord himself in the Gospel compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure, which is hidden, as he says, by anyone who finds it: The person who finds it hides it.79 The treasure is good works, which are compared with heaven because people buy it with them; and this treasure, unless it is very well hidden and concealed, is soon lost, since as St Gregory says, Anyone who carries treasure publicly on the road is asking to be robbed:80 anyone who carries treasure openly on a road that is crowded with bandits and thieves is asking to lose it and be robbed. This world is no more than a road to heaven or to hell, and is constantly under attack from the thieves of hell, who steal all the treasures that they can see being displayed by a man or woman on this road; because that is equivalent to someone crying out as he goes along, saying, ‘I’m carrying treasure! I’m carrying treasure! Look, here it is—red gold,81 lots of pure silver, and precious stones!’ A soap-seller who only carries soap and needles cries out loudly what he is carrying; a rich cloth-merchant travels very quietly. Ask what happened to Hezekiah, the good king, because he showed off the store-rooms of his spices, his great treasure, his precious things.82 It is not for nothing that it is written in the holy Gospel of the three kings who came to offer Jesus Christ the three precious gifts, They fell down and worshipped him, and opened their treasures and offered, etc.83 What they wanted to offer him, they kept hidden at all times until they came into his presence; only then did they unwrap the presents they were carrying. And so, my dear sisters, be willing to be active at night, like the night-bird to which the anchoress is compared. I am calling secrecy ‘night’. You can have this ‘night’ at any time of the day, so that all the good that you ever do may be done as if by night and in darkness, out of people’s sight, out of people’s hearing. Keep flying by night in this way, and searching for your soul’s heavenly food. Then you will be not only a pelican in the wilderness but also a night-bird in the house. 17.  I have watched, and have become like a solitary sparrow in the roof.84 The anchoress is further compared here to a sparrow, which is alone under a roof like an anchoress. The sparrow is a talkative bird; it is always chattering and chirping. But because a lot of anchoresses have precisely that fault,

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David does not compare them to a sparrow that has a mate, but to a solitary sparrow. Like a solitary sparrow: ‘I am’, he says of the anchoress, ‘like a sparrow that is on its own’, for in just this way an anchoress on her own, in a solitary place as she is, should constantly chirp and chatter her prayers. And you should understand readily, my dear sisters, that I am writing about the solitary life to encourage anchoresses, and you above all. 18.  How good it is to be alone 85 is made clear in both the Old Law and the New; for you will find in both that God revealed his hidden counsels and his heavenly secrets to his dearest friends not in a crowd of people, but where they were alone by themselves. And you will always find that they themselves too, whenever they wanted to think clearly about God and offer pure prayers, and to be raised spiritually in their hearts towards heaven, fled from the disturbance of people, and went off on their own; and there God appeared to them and revealed himself to them, and granted them their prayers. Since I said that you will find this both in the Old Testament and also in the New, I will give examples from both. 19.  Isaac went out into the field to meditate, which it is believed was his habit.86 Isaac the patriarch, in order to think deeply, looked for a solitary place and went off on his own, as Genesis recounts; and so he met with the blessed Rebecca, that is, with God’s grace.87 For ‘Rebecca’ is interpreted as ‘she has given much’, and Whatever merit you have is the gift of prevenient grace.88

Similarly with the blessed Jacob: when our Lord showed him his glorious face and gave him his blessing, and changed his name for the better, he had fled from people and was completely on his own—he never gained so much from human company.89 It is clear and obvious from Moses and Elijah, God’s beloved friends, how much disturbance there always is in a crowd, and what a dangerous life it is, and how God reveals his secrets to those who are in seclusion on their own. Someone will tell you these stories, dear sisters, because they would be too long to write down here; and then you will understand all this clearly. But Jeremiah also sits alone. The blessed Jeremiah says he sits alone, and gives the reason why, Because you have filled me with your threats: our Lord had filled him with his threats.90 What God threatens is pain and suffering in body and in soul into eternity.91 For anyone as thoroughly filled with these threats as he was, there would be no empty space in the heart open to carnal laughter. That is why 92 he asked for a well of tears for his eyes—Who will give me a well of tears? 93—so that they would never dry up, any more than a well, in order to weep for those who were killed (that is, almost all the world, which is spiritually killed by mortal sins), So that I may weep for my people’s dead .94 And look now, the holy prophet asks for a solitary place (Who will give me a shelter for travellers in the wilderness, so



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that, etc.) 95 for this weeping, to show clearly that whoever wants to weep for her own sins and others’, as an anchoress ought to do, and whoever wants to be granted mercy and grace by the strict Judge, the one thing that hinders them most is dwelling (that is, living) 96 among people, and what furthers it most is a solitary place for either a man or a woman to be alone. And Jeremiah has more to say about the solitary life: He shall sit alone and keep silence.97 ‘One must sit alone’, he says, ‘and be silent.’ He talks about this silence a little earlier: It is a good thing to wait in silence for God’s deliverance; he is blessed who has carried the Lord’s yoke from his youth.98 ‘It is good to wait for God’s grace in silence, and to carry God’s yoke from one’s youth onwards.’ And then there follows,a He shall sit alone and keep silence, so as to raise himself above himself: whoever wants to do this must sit alone and keep silent, and so raise herself above herself—that is, raise herself above her nature through exalted life towards heaven. Apart from this, the other kind of benefit that may come from this sitting alone that Jeremiah mentions, and from this blessed silence, follows straight afterwards: He will offer his cheek to the striker, and be overwhelmed with reproaches.99 The woman who lives like this, he says, ‘will offer her cheek to the striker, and be overwhelmed with insults.’ Here in this text there are two blessed virtues to be carefully noted that properly belong to an anchoress: patience in the first part, the humility of a meek and mild heart in the second. For anyone who bears patiently the injury that is done to him is patient; anyone who can tolerate being slandered is humble. These that I have mentioned here were from the Old Testament; let us come now to the New. 20.  St John the Baptist, about whom our Lord said No-one greater than John the Baptist has arisen among the children of women,100 that no-one greater ever arose among the children of women, teaches us clearly by his own behaviour that a solitary place is both safe and advantageous. For although the angel Gabriel had foretold his birth, although he was already filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb, although he was born by a miracle from a barren woman, and at his birth released his father’s tongue into prophecy,101 in spite of all this he still did not dare to live among men because he saw it as such a dangerous life, even where nothing other than speech was concerned. And so what did he do? At an early age he retreated into the wilderness rather than pollute his pure life through speech. For so it says in his hymn:

Tender in years, you fled the crowds of cities, Caves in the desert were your chosen refuge, Lest you should stain your purity by lightness Even in speaking.102 a

After ‘follows’, C has ‘what I said before’, S ‘the aforesaid words’.

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He had, as it seems, listened to Isaiah, who made his complaint and said, Woe is me, because I am a man with polluted lips.103 ‘Alas, woe is me,’ the holy prophet says, ‘because I am a man with polluted lips’, and gives the reason why: Because I live among a people that has polluted lips. ‘And the reason for that’, he says, ‘is that I live among people who pollute their lips with sinful speech.’ Look how God’s prophet says that he was polluted by dwelling among men. That is certainly the case: there is no metal so bright (metal: gold, silver, iron, steel) 104 that it will not attract rust from another that is rusty, if they lie together for a long time. That is why St John fled from the company of vile men, so that he should not be defiled. But more than that, to show us that it is impossible to flee from the wicked without fleeing the good, he fled from his holy family, chosen by Our Lord, and went into solitude and lived in the wilderness. And what did he gain there? He gained the privilege of baptizing God. What a great honour, to hold under his hands in baptism the Lord of heaven, who holds up the entire world with his own power. There the Holy Trinity (‘Threeness’ in English),105 revealed itself completely to him:106 the Father in his voice, the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, the Son under his hands. In the solitary life he gained three distinctions:107 the privilege of a preacher, the merit of martyrdom, the reward of a virgin. These three kinds of people have crown upon crown in heaven, with an overflowing reward. And the blessed John, in solitude as he was, achieved the status of all three single-handed. 21.  Didn’t our blessed Lady lead a solitary life? Didn’t the angel find her alone in solitude? She was not anywhere outside, but was strictly enclosed. For so we find: The angel went in to her and said, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, you are blessed among women’;108 that is, ‘The angel went in to her.’ Therefore she was inside, alone in solitude. An angel has rarely appeared to a human being in a crowd. Furthermore, the fact that her speech is mentioned only four times in Holy Scripture, as was said earlier,109 is a clear proof that she was much alone, since she maintained such silence. 22.  Why should I look for any other? God alone would provide a good enough example for everyone, since he himself went into a solitary place and fasted there, where he was alone in the wilderness, to show by that means that nobody can do true penance among a crowd of people. There in solitude he was hungry, it says,110 as an encouragement to the anchoress who is suffering hardship. There he allowed the devil to tempt him in many ways, but he overcame him, again to show that the devil tempts strongly those who lead a solitary life, because of the envy he feels towards them, but he is overcome there; since our Lord himself stands there beside them in battle, and gives them the courage to resist strongly, and gives them some



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of his strength. As Scripture says,111 although no noise or press of people could distract him from his prayers or trouble his virtue, nevertheless when he wanted to pray, he fled not only from other people, but even from his holy, beloved apostles, and went up alone into the hills, as an example to us that we should go off on our own and climb with him into the hills: that is, to lift up our minds and leave all earthly thoughts far beneath us while we are praying. Paul and Anthony, Hilarion and Benedict, Syncletica and Sarah, and many others like them, both men and women, really experienced and truly understood the benefit of solitary life, in that they could do all that they wanted with God.112 Furthermore, St Jerome says of himself, As often as I was among men, I came away less a man:113 ‘Whenever I was among men,’ he says, ‘I left them less a man than I was before.’ That is why the wise Ecclesiasticus says, Do not take pleasure in crowds, because they are full of iniquity:114 that is, ‘You should never take pleasure in being in a crowd of people, because there is always sin there.’ Didn’t the voice from heaven say to Arsenius, Arsenius, flee from people and you will be saved, ‘Arsenius, flee from people and you will be saved’? And it came again and said, Arsenius, flee, be silent, be still: that is, ‘Arsenius, flee, be silent, and settle down somewhere away from the press of people.’ 115 23.  Now, my dear sisters, you have heard examples from the Old Law, and also from the New, of why you should be strongly attached to the solitary life. After the examples, listen now to reasons why one ought to flee from the world, at least eight of them. I will describe them briefly, so pay all the more attention. 24.  The first is security. If a raging lion were running through the street, wouldn’t a sensible woman shut herself in at once? And St Peter says that the lion of hell is always prowling and roaming about looking for an opening to devour the soul, and tells us to be watchful and occupied in holy prayers so he does not catch us. Be prudent and watchful with prayers, because your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is roaming about looking for someone to devour 116—these are St Peter’s words, which I said before. Therefore those anchoresses are wise who have enclosed themselves well against the lion of hell to be more secure. 25. The second reason is: if someone were carrying a valuable liquid, a precious fluid such as balsam,117 in a frail vessel, an ointment in fragile glass, surely she would head out of a crowd unless she was stupid? We have this treasure in earthen vessels, the Apostle says.118 This frail vessel is woman’s flesh, although nevertheless it contains the balsam, the ointment that is virginity, or, after the loss of virginity, chaste purity. This frail vessel is as fragile as any glass, because if it is once broken, it will never be mended or as whole as it was before, any more than glass. But even so it breaks more easily

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than fragile glass would, because glass does not shatter unless something touches it, but where loss of virginity is concerned, the flesh can lose its integrity with a stinking desire, if it goes far enough and lasts long enough. However, this kind of breach can be repaired again to be just as sound as it ever was, through the medicine of confession and contrition.119 Now the proof of this. Hadn’t St John the Evangelist brought a bride home? Hadn’t he intended then, if God had not prevented him, to lose his virginity? 120 However, he was no less fully a virgin afterwards, but as a virgin had a virgin commended to his care: He commended a virgin to a virgin.121 Now as I am saying, this precious ointment in a frail vessel is virginity and purity in your frail flesh, more fragile than any glass, so that if you were in the world’s crowd, you might lose everything through a little jostling, like the wretched people in the world who jostle together and break their vessels and spill their purity. That is why our Lord calls as follows: In the world you will have pressure, but in me, peace.122 ‘Leave the world and come to me, because there you will be in a crowd, but in me there is rest and peace.’ 26.  The third reason for flight from the world is to gain heaven. Heaven is very high; if anyone wants to gain it, and to succeed in reaching it, it is little enough for her to cast all the world under her feet. For this reason all the saints made the whole world into a kind of footstool to reach heaven. Apocalypse: I saw a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet.123 This is what St John the Evangelist says in the Apocalypse: ‘I saw a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet.’ The moon wanes and waxes and is never stable, and so signifies worldly things, which like the moon are always in a state of change. The woman who wishes to reach heaven, and to be clothed there with the true Sun, must hold this moon under her feet—that is, trample down and despise worldly things. 27.  The fourth reason is proof of nobility and of generosity. Noble and and well-bred people do not carry packs, or go around loaded with bundles or purses; it is proper for a beggar-woman to carry a bag on her back, for a townswoman to carry a purse, not for God’s spouse, who is the lady of heaven. Bundles and purses, bags and packs are worldly things—all earthly riches and worldly income. 28.  The fifth reason is: noble men and women make generous legacies; but who can make a more generous one than the man or woman who says with St Peter, Look! we have left everything and followed you,124 ‘Lord, in order to follow you we have left everything’? Isn’t this a generous legacy? Isn’t this a massive bequest? My dear sisters, kings and emperors depend for their livelihood on the generous legacy that you have left behind.



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‘Lord,’ says St. Peter, ‘we have left everything to follow you’; as if he were saying, ‘We want to follow you in the great nobility of your generosity. You left all kinds of riches to other people, and made a most generous legacy and bequest of everything. We want to follow you; we want to do the same, leave everything as you did, follow you on earth in that and in other things, in order to follow you too into the bliss of heaven, and even there follow you everywhere, wherever you go, as no-one may but virgins alone.’ These follow the Lamb wherever he goes, that is to say, with both feet, that is, with integrity of heart and body.125 29.  The sixth reason why you have fled from the world is intimacy (close friendship),126 in order to be in our Lord’s confidence. For this is what he says through Hosea: I will lead you into the wilderness and there I will speak to your heart.127 ‘I will lead you’, he says to his lover, ‘into a solitary place, and there I will lovingly speak to your heart, since I hate the crowd.’ I am the Lord, and I do not enter the city.128 30.  The seventh reason is to shine more brightly, and to see God’s bright face more clearly in heaven because you have fled the world and hide yourselves from it in this life; and in addition to that, to be as swift as a sunbeam, because you are enclosed with Jesus Christ as if in a sepulchre, pinned down as he was on the precious cross, as has been said earlier.129 31.  The eighth reason is to have the power of fervent prayer; and look carefully at why. The humble queen Esther signifies the anchoress, because her name means ‘hidden’ in English. As one reads in her Book, she pleased King Ahasuerus above everything, and through her prayer saved the lives of all her people, who were condemned to death. This name ‘Ahasuerus’ means ‘blessed’, as was said earlier,130 and signifies God, blessed above everything. He grants Esther the queen—that is, the true anchoress who is truly Esther, that is, truly hidden—he hears and grants her all her prayers, and through them she saves many people. Many who would otherwise be lost are saved through the anchoress’s prayers, as they were through Esther’s, as long as she is an Esther and behaves as Mordecai’s daughter did. ‘Mordecai’ is interpreted as bitterly crushing the shameless man,131 that is, ‘bitterly trampling down the shameless man’. That man is shameless who says or does anything indecent in the presence of an anchoress. But if anyone does this, and she bitterly crushes his indecent remarks or his improper behaviour, tramples them down at once with contemptuous words, then she is Esther, Mordecai’s daughter, bitterly crushing the shameless man. She can never crush him more bitterly, or effectively, than has been shown above,132 with [Wicked men] have told me, or with this verse, Keep away from me, you wicked men, and I shall study the commandments of my God; and she

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should turn away at once in towards her altar and keep herself at home, like Esther, ‘the hidden’. Shimei in Kings 133 had deserved death, but he cried for mercy, and Solomon pardoned him; however, it was on the agreement that he would stay at home in Jerusalem, where he lived, and conceal himself in his house. If he went out anywhere, the agreement was that he would once again be judged guilty, and under sentence of death. He broke the agreement, though, through his bad luck: his servants ran away and escaped from him, and he followed them and went out after them—what more do you want? He was immediately denounced to King Solomon, and because of the broken agreement was sentenced to death. Understand this clearly, my dear sisters. Shimei signifies the outward-looking anchoress, not Esther the hidden. For ‘Shimei’ means hearing,134 which is ‘hearing’ in our language: that is, the recluse who has ass’s ears, long for hearing at a distance, that is, listening out for rumours. The place where Shimei had to hide himself if he wanted to live was Jerusalem. This word ‘Jerusalem’ means ‘sight of peace’,135 and signifies the anchoress’s house; because in it she does not need to see anything but peace. However much Shimei (that is, the recluse) may have offended against the true Solomon (that is, our Lord), if she stays at home in Jerusalem, so that she knows nothing about the world’s tumult, Solomon gladly grants her his mercy. But if she involves herself in outside affairs more than she needs to and her heart is outside, even if a clod of earth, that is, her body, may be inside the four walls, she has gone out of Jerusalem with Shimei, just as he did after his servants. These servants are our five native wits,136 which should be at home and serve their lady. They serve the anchoress, their lady, well when she uses them well for the needs of her soul: when the eyes are occupied with the book or some other good thing, the ears with God’s word, the mouth with holy prayers. If she guards them badly, and out of carelessness lets them escape from her service, and follows them outwards with her heart—as it practically always happens, that if the senses go out, the heart goes out after them—she breaks the agreement with Solomon, along with the wretched Shimei, and is condemned to death. 32.  And so, my dear sisters, do not be Shimei, but be Esther the hidden, and you will be exalted in the bliss of heaven; because the name ‘Esther’ means not only hidden (that is, not only ‘hidden’) but also elevated among the nations 137 (that is, ‘raised up among the people’), and so Esther, as her name indicates, was raised from a poor girl to a queen. In this word ‘Esther’ ‘hiding’ and ‘elevation’ are combined; and not only ‘elevation’, but ‘elevation above the people’, to show clearly that those who hide themselves well in their anchor-house will be raised up with honour in heaven above



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other kinds of people. Both Esther’s name and her elevation prove what I am saying. Furthermore, understand that you are in Jerusalem, you have fled to sanctuary, because there has not been one of you who has not stolen from God at some point. A close watch is being kept for you outside, be sure of that, as is done for thieves who have escaped to a church.138 Keep yourselves safely inside—not just the body, because that is the least important thing, but your five senses, and above all the heart and everything there that is the life of the soul, because if it is trapped outside, there is no alternative to being led to the gallows, that is, the gibbet of hell. Be afraid of every man, just as the thief is, in case he should entice you out—that is, deceive you in some way—and lie in wait to get you in his clutches. Pray urgently to God, like a thief escaped to a church, that he will guard and protect you against all those who lie in wait for you. Chatter your prayers constantly, as the solitary sparrow does—for this word ‘solitary’ 139 refers to the solitary life, the solitary place where you can be Esther, hidden away from the world, and make every spiritual gain more easily than in a crowd. That is why David compares the anchoress to a pelican, which leads a solitary life, and to a solitary sparrow. 33.  The sparrow has a further attribute that is useful to an anchoress, although it is hated, that is, the falling sickness;140 because it is essential that an anchoress who leads a holy and exalted life should have the falling sickness. I do not mean the illness that is so called [i.e. epilepsy], but use the term ‘falling sickness’ for physical illness or trials from carnal temptations, through which it seems to her that she is falling downwards from her holy elevation. Otherwise she would grow unruly or think too well of herself, and so come to nothing. The flesh would grow unruly and become too insubordinate to its lady if it were not beaten, and make the soul sick if sickness did not tame it. If neither of them were sick with suffering or with sin, the body or the soul 141—as rarely happens—pride would develop, which is the most dangerous sickness of all. If God tests an anchoress externally with any illness, or the devil internally with spiritual vices—such as pride, anger, envy—or with the desires of the flesh, she has the falling sickness, which is said to be a disease of the sparrow. God consents to it so that she should always be humble, and, by having a low opinion of herself, fall to the ground so as not to fall into pride. 34.  Now, dear sisters, we are coming to the fourth part, which I said would be about many temptations; because there are outer and inner ones, and each is of many kinds. I promised to give instructions on a remedy and help against them, and on how whoever has them may draw comfort and support against them all from this part. May the Holy Spirit grant me through your prayers to keep that promise with his guidance.

PA RT 4 1.  No-one who leads an exalted life should imagine that she will not be tempted. The virtuous who have climbed high are tempted more than the weak; and that is reasonable, because the higher the hill, the stronger the wind is against it. The higher the hill of holy and exalted life, the stronger and fiercer are the devil’s blasts against it, the winds of temptation.1 If there is any anchoress who feels no temptations, she should be very much afraid in that case that she is being tempted too much and too severely. For as St Gregory says, You are most under attack when you do not feel that you are being attacked.2 A sick man has two very dangerous conditions. One is when he is unaware of his own illness, and so does not consult a doctor or seek treatment, or ask anyone for advice, and dies suddenly and unexpectedly. This is the anchoress who does not recognize temptation. It is to her that the angel in the Apocalyse is speaking: You say, I am rich and in need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and naked and poor and blind;3 ‘You say that you have no need of medicine, but you are blind in your heart, and do not see how you are poor and stripped bare of holiness and a spiritual outcast.’ The other dangerous condition that the sick man has is quite the reverse of this: that is, when he feels so much pain that he cannot bear anyone touching him where it hurts or treating him. This is any anchoress who feels her temptations so acutely, and is so overcome with fear, that no spiritual comfort can reassure her or make her understand that she can and should be more easily saved through them. Doesn’t it say in the Gospel that the Holy Ghost led our Lord himself into a solitary place to lead the solitary life, for him to be tempted by the enemy from hell? Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit so that he might be tempted by the devil .4 But his temptation, since he could not sin, was only external. 2.  Understand then first of all, dear sisters, that there are two kinds of temptation,5 two kinds of trial, external and internal, and both are of many kinds. 3.  From external temptation 6 comes pleasure or suffering, external or internal. External suffering: such as illness, discomfort, disgrace, misfortune, and every physical hardship that troubles the flesh. Internal: grief, anger, and resentment too of suffering as a punishment.a External pleasure: physical health, plenty of food, drink, clothing, and all carnal enjoyment of such things. Internal pleasure: such as some false happiness, either in people’s a

After ‘punishment’, V has ‘that is, what sin has deserved’.



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praise, or in being liked more than someone else, more flattered, better treated or given more respect. This part [i.e. pleasure] of the temptation called ‘external’ is more treacherous than the other part. Both constitute a single temptation, and each of its two parts is both internal and external; but it is called ‘external’ because it is always either in something external or from something external, and the external thing is the temptation. This temptation comes sometimes from God, sometimes from man. From God: such as the death of friends, their illness or your own, poverty, misfortune, and similar things; also good health and comfort. From man: such as various kinds of injury, either in word or action, to you or yours; also praise or kindnesses. These too come from God, but not, like the others, without any intermediary. But with all of them he is testing people to see how they fear and love him. 4.  Internal temptations are various vices, or desire leading to them, or treacherous thoughts that nevertheless seem virtuous. This inner temptation comes from the devil, from the world, from our flesh sometimes.7 5.  Against external temptation, patience (that is, forbearance) is necessary; against internal temptation, wisdom and spiritual strength. 6.  We will now discuss external temptation, and teach those who have it how they can, with God’s grace, find a remedy (that is, support) against it to comfort themselves. 7.  Blessed is the man who suffers temptation, because when he has been tested he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.8 Happy and blessed is the woman who bears temptation patiently, because when she has been tested, it says, she will be crowned with the crown of life that God has promised to his beloved elect. ‘When she has been tested’, it says. It is well said; because God tests his beloved elect as the goldsmith tests the gold in the fire.9 The false gold is destroyed there, the real thing comes out brighter. Illness is a hot fire to bear, but nothing purifies gold as it does the soul. Illness that God sends—not what a woman may come down with through her own foolishness a 10—does these six things:11 (i) washes away the sins that have already been committed, (ii) protects against those that were about to be, (iii) tests patience, (iv) maintains humility, (v) increases the reward, (vi) makes whoever bears it patiently equal to a martyr. In this way illness is the soul’s salvation, an ointment for its wounds, a shield against its receiving more, as God sees that it would if illness did not prevent it. Illness causes a man to understand what he is, to know himself, and, like a good master, beats him to drive home the lesson of how powerful God is, how transitory worldly pleasure is. Illness is your goldsmith, who is After ‘ foolishness’, N (and, with some variation, P) have ‘ because many women make themselves ill through their foolish rashness, and this displeases God. But illness that God sends …’.

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gilding your crown in the bliss of heaven; the worse the illness, the busier the goldsmith, and the longer it lasts, the more he burnishes it. What is a greater grace, to a woman who had deserved the torments of hell for all eternity, than to become the equal of the martyrs through a brief spell of suffering? Surely a man would be seen as the biggest fool in the world if he rejected a slap for a spear-thrust, the prick of a needle for a beheading, a beating for a hanging on the gallows of hell for ever and ever? God knows, dear sisters, all the suffering of this world, compared with the very least torment of hell, is only a ball-game; the whole of it is not so much as a little drop of dew compared with the broad sea and all the waters of the world. Anyone, then, who is able to escape that terrible suffering, those fearful torments, through a passing illness, through any suffering in this world, may count herself lucky. 8.  In addition, here are numerous remedies for you to learn against the external temptation that comes from harm caused by other people—because the kind that I have just been describing is sent by God. 9.  If anybody slanders you or does you an injury, you must understand that he is your file 12 (which metal-workers have),13 and is filing away all your rust and your roughness of sin; because he wears himself away, I’m afraid, as the file does, but he makes your soul smooth and bright. 10. Alternatively, consider that anyone who harms you or causes you any pain, shame, anger, annoyance, is God’s rod; God beats and chastises you with them as a father beats the son he loves with a rod.14 For so he says that he does through St John’s mouth in the Apocalypse, Those whom I love, I accuse and punish.15 He does not beat anyone except the one he loves and considers his daughter, any more than you would beat a strange child, however naughty it was. But anyone who is God’s rod should not be at all proud of himself; because just as the father, when he has beaten his child enough and disciplined it properly, throws the rod into the fire, since it is of no further use, so the Father of heaven, when he has beaten his dear child with a bad man or a bad woman for its own good, throws the rod,a 16 that is, the bad person, into the fire of hell. That is why he says elsewhere, Vengeance is mine, I will repay,17 that is, ‘The vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ As if he said, ‘Do not avenge yourselves, or complain or curse when someone does you harm, but remember that he is your Father’s rod, and that he will repay him for his service as a rod.’ And isn’t it a badly-brought-up child who responds by scratching and biting at the rod? When a well-behaved child is beaten, it kisses the rod 18 if its father orders it to; and you should do the same, my dear sisters, because that is what your Father orders, that you

All manuscripts running except AN have The rod of my fury, the Assyrian, either after ‘rod’ (C), or at the end of the sentence.

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should kiss—not with the mouth, but with the love of the heart—those that he beats you with. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you.19 This is God’s commandment, which he cares much more about than if you were to eat coarse bread or wear a harsh hair-shirt:20 ‘Love your enemies,’ he says, ‘and do good’, if you can, ‘to those who are hostile to you’; if you cannot do anything else, ‘pray earnestly for those who do you any harm or slander you.’ And the Apostle teaches,21 ‘Never return evil for evil’, but always do good in return for evil, as our Lord himself did, and all his holy saints. If you keep God’s commandment in this way, then you are his dutiful child and kiss the rod that he has thrashed you with. Now perhaps someone may say, ‘I’m quite prepared to love his soul (or hers), but him as a person 22—no way!’ But you must not say that. The soul and the body make up one human being, and the same judgement will be passed on them both. Do you want to divide in two what God has joined together as one? He forbids it, and says, What God has joined together, no human being should separate.23 No-one should be so mad as to separate what God has joined together. 11.  Again, think of it in this way. If a child falls over something or bumps into it, you beat what it bumped into, and the child is delighted, forgets all its pain, and stops crying. So be comforted; the just man will rejoice when he sees the vengeance.24 God will act on the Day of Judgement as if he were saying, ‘Daughter, did this person hurt you? Did he make you stumble into anger, or into grief, into shame, or into any annoyance? Look, daughter, look!’ he says,25 ‘how he will pay for it!’ And there you will see him being beaten with the devil’s sledge-hammers so that he wishes he had never been born. You will be delighted by that, because your will and the will of God will be so united that you will want everything that he wants, and he will want everything that you want. 12.  Above all other thoughts, in all your sufferings always reflect devoutly on God’s sufferings, that the ruler of the world was willing to bear such humiliations for his servants: insults, blows, spitting, blindfolding, crowning with thorns that pierced his head so that the streams of blood ran downwards and flowed down to the ground;26 his sweet body bound naked to the hard pillar, and beaten so that the precious blood flowed on every side; the bitter drink that he was given when he was thirsty on the cross; the way they shook their heads at him 27 when they shouted so loudly in mockery, ‘Look! here’s the man who healed others; see how he’s healing and saving himself now!’ 28 Turn back to where I described how he was tortured in all his five senses,29 and compare all your suffering, illness and other things, harm caused by words or actions, and everything a human being can endure, to what he endured, and you will easily see how little

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it is in comparison, especially if you bear in mind that he was completely innocent, and that he suffered all this through no fault of his own, since he never did wrong.30 If you endure suffering, you have deserved worse, and everything that you suffer is entirely your own fault. 13.  So travel now more gladly by the hard and difficult path towards the great feast of heaven, where your joyful friends wait for your arrival, than foolish worldly people go by the green way 31 towards the gallows and the death of hell. It is better to travel in poor health to heaven than in good health to hell, to joy in discomfort than to misery in comfort. Solomon: The way of the wicked is set about with stones—that is, with hard afflictions.32 Nevertheless, wretched worldly people in fact buy hell more dearly than you do heaven. Be sure of one thing: a single sharp word that you suffer, a single day’s weariness, a single hour’s sickness—if you were made an offer for one of these on the Day of Judgement (that is, for the reward that comes from it), you would not sell it for a whole world of gold. For that will be your song before our Lord: We have rejoiced for the days in which you brought us low, for the years in which we saw troubles 33—that is, we are glad of the days in which you brought us low through injuries caused by others, and we are glad now, Lord, of those years when we were ill, and experienced pain and grief. Every earthly suffering is God’s messenger. A nobleman’s messenger should be nobly received and made welcome, especially if he is in his lord’s confidence; and who was closer to the king of heaven while he lived on earth than this messenger, that is, earthly suffering, which never left him till the end of his life? What does this messenger tell you? He comforts you in this way: ‘Since he loved me, God sends me to his dear friends. My coming and my staying may seem bitter, but it is healing. Surely that thing would be terrible whose shadow you could not look at for terror? And if that shadow were so sharp or so hot that you could not touch it without being hurt, what would you say about the terrifying creature that it came from? You should know for certain that all the suffering of this world is no more than a shadow of the suffering of hell.34 I am the shadow,’ says this messenger, that is, earthly suffering; ‘you have no choice but to accept either me or that terrible suffering that I am the shadow of. If anyone receives me gladly and makes me welcome, my lord sends her word that she is released from that thing of which I am the shadow.’ That is what God’s messenger says. Therefore St James says, Consider it all happiness, brothers, when you fall into various temptations;35 consider it all happiness to fall into some of those temptations that are called external. And St Paul: Every trial at present seems to be a cause not of joy but of sorrow; later, however, it [returns] fruit, etc.36



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All those temptations that we are beaten with now seem to be a reason for weeping, not happiness, but later they turn to joy and eternal bliss.a  37 14.  Internal temptation is of two kinds, just as the external is; because the external is in adversity and prosperity, and these give rise to the internal: adversity to displeasure, prosperity to pleasure, of a sinful kind (I say this because there is some pleasure and some displeasure that deserves a great reward, such as pleasure in God’s love and displeasure at sin). Now, as I say, After ‘bliss’, N has the following passage: ‘You, my dear sisters, are the anchoresses that I know who have the least need of support against these temptations, except only for illness; because I do not know any anchoress who has all she needs with more ease or more respect than you three have, our Lord be thanked for it. For you have no worries about food or clothing, either for yourselves or for your maids. Each of you has from one friend all that she needs; the maid does not have to look further for bread or other provisions than at his hall. God knows, many others have little experience of this ease, but very often suffer from need and humiliation and trouble. If this comes into their hands, it may be a comfort to them. You may have more to fear from the soft side of those temptations that are called ‘external’ than the hard; because the devil would like to please you, to see if he can make you go astray with flattery, if are lacking in obedience. You are much talked about, what well-bred women you are, sought after by many for your goodness and for your generosity, and sisters from one father and one mother, [who] in the bloom of your youth renounced all the joys of the world and became anchoresses.   All this is strong temptation, and might easily deprive you of much of your reward. O my people, those who call you blessed are deceiving you. This is what God says through Isaiah [see Isa. 3: 12]; if anyone says in your presence, ‘Blessed is the mother who bore you, and it is fortunate that you were born’ [cf. Luke 11: 27], she is deceiving you and is a traitor to you. Enough has been said above about flattery [see Part 2, §§ 25–8]. This world’s flattery is abundance of worldly things. When you are not short of anything, then it courts your favour, then it offers you a kiss. But its kiss is to be abhorred, because it is the kiss of Judas that it kisses you with. Be wary against these temptations, dear sisters. Whatever comes to tempt you externally, with pleasure or displeasure, constantly guard your heart internally, so that the outer temptation should not kindle the inner.’   C has a shortened version of the first sentence of this passage: ‘You, my dear sisters, are the anchoresses who have the least need of support against this temptation, except only where illness is concerned, that I know.’ It omits the remainder of the first paragraph and the first sentence of the second; then runs (with minor variants from N) from O my people to ‘within’, omitting the final clause of the paragraph.   T omits the beginning of the first paragraph in N (up to ‘comfort to them’), and has a shortened and rewritten version of the remainder: ‘My dear children, the soft side of these temptations that are called external is to be greatly feared, as is the hard; such as plenty of food or clothing, and things of that kind. Flattery or praise might easily make some of you go astray, if you are unwise enough. The amount of talk there is about you, how well-bred you are, [who] while still young surrendered yourselves and became anchoresses, renounced the joys of the world …’. In the second paragraph, it runs (with minor variants) with N.   SLP reflect the version in T, although each rewrites it differently. A and V omit the passage altogether.

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the internal temptation is of two kinds, physical and spiritual: physical, as from lechery, from gluttony, from sloth; spiritual, as from pride, from envy, and from anger (anger is an internal temptation, although it is the external temptation that gives rise to the anger), also from avarice. So the internal temptations are the seven capital sins, and their filthy offspring.38 15.  Physical temptation can be compared to a wound in the foot; spiritual temptation, which is more to be feared, can be called a wound in the chest because of its danger. But physical temptations seem greater to us because they are easily perceived. Although we may have the others, often we do not realize it; nevertheless, they are great and terrible in the clear sight of God, and so are much more to be feared. For the others, which are easily perceived, demand a doctor and a remedy; the spiritual wounds do not feel sore, and do not heal themselves through confession or penance, and drag people down to eternal death when they least expect it.39 16.  Holy men and women are often most severely tested by all kinds of temptation—and to their advantage, because through the struggle against them, they win the glorious victors’ crown. Look, though, how they complain in Jeremiah: Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in ambush for us in the wilderness.40 That is, ‘Our enemies, swifter than eagles, climbed the hills after us and fought with us there; and in the wilderness too they lay in wait to kill us.’ We have three enemies: the devil, the world, our own flesh, as I said before.41 Sometimes it is not easy to tell which of these three is attacking us, since each helps the other—although the devil by his nature encourages us to bitterness, as for instance to pride, to arrogance, to envy, and to anger, and their bitter cubs, which are named below; the flesh entices by its nature towards sweetness, ease, and softness; the world asks us to covet worldly prosperity and honour, and other such vanities, which delude foolish people into loving a shadow.42 These enemies, it says, follow us on the hills, and lie in wait in the wilderness to see how they can harm us. The ‘hill’ is the holy life, where the devil’s assaults are often strongest. The ‘wilderness’ is the solitary life of the anchoress’s cell. For just as in the wilderness all the animals are wild and cannot bear the approach of men, but take flight when they hear them, so anchoresses, above all other women, should be wild in this way, and then they are more valued than others by our Lord, and seem sweetest to him—since a wild animal’s flesh is the most valued and sweetest of all. 17. Through this wilderness our Lord’s people travelled, as Exodus relates,43 towards the blessed land of Jerusalem 44 that he had promised them. And you, my dear sisters, are travelling by the same route towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom that he has promised to his elect. However, you must go with great caution, as there are many dangerous animals in this wilderness: the lion of pride, the serpent of poisonous envy,



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the unicorn of wrath, the bear of mortal sloth, the fox of avarice, the sow of gluttony, the scorpion with its tail of stinging lechery, that is, lust.45 Now the seven capital sins 46 have been listed here in order. 18. The lion of pride has a great many cubs, and I will name some. Vainglory: that is if anyone is proud of anything that she does or says or has—beauty or talent, good connections or a better reputation than someone else, family or status, and more of her own way. But what is beauty worth in this world? A gold ring in a sow’s snout.47 Good connections in the religious life often do harm.48 It is all vainglory, if someone is proud of anything,49 and would like to have a reputation for it, and is very pleased if she is praised, displeased if she is not valued as highly as she would like. A second is Disdain: that is, anyone who feels contempt for anything that she sees or hears concerning someone else, and is scornful of correction, or the advice of any subordinate. The third cub is Hypocrisy: anyone who pretends to be better than she is. The fourth is Presumption: anyone who takes on more than she can handle, or interferes in something that is none of her business, or is over-confident in God’s grace, or in herself, too bold towards any man who is flesh and blood like her and can be tempted.50 The fifth cub is called Disobedience (not just anyone who refuses to obey, [but who] either does it with a bad grace, or puts it off for too long):51 the child that disobeys its parents, the subordinate his prelate, the parishioner his priest, the maid her mistress, every inferior his superior. The sixth is Loquacity. This cub is fed by anyone who is very talkative, boasts, passes judgement on others, lies on occasion, jeers, criticizes, complains, flatters, raises a laugh. The seventh is Blasphemy: the nurse of this cub is anyone who swears great oaths, or curses vehemently, or speaks ill of God or his saints because of anything that he suffers, sees, or hears. The eighth is Impatience: this cub is fed by anyone who does not show patience towards all troubles and in all sufferings. The ninth is Obstinacy, and this is fed by whoever persists obstinately in anything that she has undertaken to do, whether it is good or bad, so that no wiser advice can rein her in. The tenth is Contention:52 that is, struggling to win so that the other person should appear to be put down and crushed, and she herself the winner of the argument, so she can swagger like a champion who has won the field. Included in this vice is criticism and blame for every fault that she can find to disapprove of in someone else; and always the worse it stings, the better she is pleased, even if it is about something that has already been put right long ago. Sometimes words of this kind are not only bitter, but foul, stinking, shameless, and shameful, sometimes with excessive swearing, much arrogant talk, with imprecations and lies. Under this heading comes comparison of themselves, of their families, of what they say or do (this is among nuns).53

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And then they go with their mouths in this state, before confession has washed them, to honour God with songs of praise, or pray to him in private. Why, wretched creatures! don’t they realise that their singing and their prayers to God 54 stink more vilely to him and to all his saints than any rotting dog? The eleventh cub 55 is fed by affectations, by gestures and by signs: such as carrying the head high, arching the neck, glancing sidelong, staring rudely, winking, pursing the lips, making derisive gestures with the hand or head, crossing the legs, sitting or walking as stiffly as if she were tied to a stake, looking flirtatiously at a man, talking like an ingénue and affecting a lisp. Under this heading 56 come too much embellishment of veils, head-coverings, or any other garment, either by dyeing 57 or by pleating;58 belts, and wearing them in the style of a teenage girl;a plastering on creams; vulgar artifices, dyeing the hair, tinting the complexion, plucking the eyebrows or arching them upwards with moistened fingers. 19.  There are plenty of others, which come from prosperity, from wellbeing, from high birth, from fine clothing, from intelligence, from good looks, from strength. Pride develops from an exalted life, and from holy virtues. The lion of pride has many more cubs than I have mentioned; but reflect very carefully on these, because I am passing over them quickly, and just mentioning their names. But wherever I move on more rapidly is where you should pause the longest, since there I am compressing ten or twelve words into one. Whoever has any vice from those I have mentioned here, or anything like them, is certainly proud, however her outer garment is cut or coloured. She is the mate of the lion that I have been talking about, and feeds its raging cubs in her breast. 20. The serpent of poisonous envy has seven b 59 young. Ingratitude: this offspring is nurtured by anyone who does not acknowledge kindness, but has little regard for it or forgets it completely—I mean not only the kindness that people show him, but that God shows him or has shown him—either him or her, more than she realizes if she would consider it properly. People pay too little attention to this vice, and yet of them all it is the one most hateful to God, and most against his grace. The second offspring is Rancour or Odium, that is, hatred or an angry heart. If anyone nurtures it in his breast, whatever he does is noxious to God. The third offspring is Displeasure at someone else’s good fortune. The fourth, Pleasure at his misfortune.c 60 The fifth, Denunciation. The sixth, Backbiting. The

After ‘girl’, PV have ‘painting the face’; similarly L. For ‘seven’, PLV have ‘these’. c After ‘misfortune’, T has ‘laughing or mocking if anything bad happens to him’; similarly NP, (after ‘good fortune’) VL, (after ‘is’) G, (after ‘Derision’) C. a

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seventh, Recrimination or Derision. The eighth 61 is Suspicion: that is, false suspicion of a man or woman without firm evidence, thinking, ‘She’s acting like this, she’s doing or saying this, in order to annoy me, to put me down or hurt me’—and that when the other person has no intention of the kind. Under this heading comes misjudgement, which God strictly forbids, such as thinking or saying, ‘Yes, she doesn’t like me; she accused me of this; look! now they’re talking about me, those two, those three, or more who are sitting together; she’s this or that kind of person, and she did it to annoy.’ We are often mistaken when we think like this, because often what looks bad is good; and so people constantly make wrong judgements. Also under this heading come malicious inventions and vicious lies caused by hatred and envy. The ninth offspring is Sowing of dissension, of anger, and of discord. Whatever woman sows this devil’s seed is cursed by God. The tenth is Sulking, the devil’s silence, when one person will not speak to the other because of envy; and this species is also an offspring of wrath, because their young are often mingled together.62 Where any of these has been, there was the offspring (or the ancient mother) of the poisonous serpent of envy.63 21.  The unicorn of wrath, which carries on its nose the horn with which it gores everything it can reach,64 has six a 65 offspring. The first is Conflict or Strife. The second is Fury. Watch the eyes and the face when someone feels furious anger; watch her behaviour, see her expression, listen to how the mouth goes, and you might think her quite out of her mind.66 The third is Invective. The fourth is Cursing. The fifth is Violence. The sixth is wishing that harm would come to someone, either to them personally, or to their friends, or to their property. The seventh offspring is doing wrong out of anger, or failing to do good; refusing to eat or drink; avenging herself with tears if she cannot otherwise, and with curses; tearing her hair with anger, or harming herself in any other way in both soul and body—this is homicide, and suicide as well.67 22. The bear of heavy sloth has these cubs. Torpor is the first: that is, a lukewarm heart (lack of enthusiasm for anything) 68 that should be all ablaze with the love of our Lord. The second is Pusillanimity: that is, a heart that is just too wretched and too cowardly to take on any lofty enterprise hoping for God’s help and confiding in his grace rather than in her own strength. The third is Heaviness of Heart. This belongs to anyone who does good, but nevertheless does it with a dead and heavy heart. The fourth is Idleness—anyone who comes to a

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complete standstill. The fifth is Inner Reluctance. The sixth is a mortal resentment about the loss of any worldly thing,a or doing anything against one’s will, with the sole exception of sin. The seventh is Negligence either in speech or in action, either in planning ahead or in remembering, or in not looking properly after anything that she has to take care of. The eighth is Despair. This last bear-cub is the most savage of all, since it worries and tears to pieces God’s gentle pity and his great mercy and his immeasurable grace. 23. The fox of avarice has these cubs: Fraud and Deception, Theft, Plunder, Extortion and Coercion, Perjury, Covert Simony, Moneylending, Usury, Meanness, Reluctance in giving or lending (this is a tight-fisted nature, a vice most hateful to God, who gave himself entirely to us),69 sometimes Manslaughter. This vice is compared with the fox for many reasons; I will mention two. There is a great deal of cunning in the fox, and so there is in coveting worldly gain. A second: the fox worries a whole flock, although, greedy as he is, he cannot eat more than one. In the same way an avaricious person covets what many thousands could live on, but even if his heart should burst, he can only make use of one person’s share for himself. All that a man wants, or a woman, over and above what they can properly70 lead their life on, according to each one’s status, is avarice and the root of mortal sin. It is true religious life when each one, according to their status, borrows from this frail world as little as she possibly can of food, of clothes, of property, of all its goods. Note that I say ‘Each one according to their status’, because that word is loaded. You must pay close attention—understand this—to many of these words, reflect on them for a long time, and understand from that single word many that are connected with it; since if I were to write everything, when would I come to an end? 24.  The sow of gluttony has piglets with the following names. The first is called Too Early, the second Too Delicately, the third Too Greedily; the fourth is called Too Much, the fifth Too Often.71 These piglets are farrowed more in drink than in food. I mention them briefly because I am not afraid, my dear sisters, that you will nurture them.b 72 25.  The scorpion of lechery (that is, of lust) has the kind of offspring whose names cannot all be decently mentioned in refined speech, since even the name might offend all well-bred ears, and pollute pure hearts.73 However, those can certainly be mentioned whose names are well known, and, regrettably, are all too familiar to many: Fornication, Adultery, Seduction of Virgins, and Incest (which takes place between those who are related physically or spiritually).74 It is divided into many parts: a foul After ‘thing’ NP have: ‘or of a friend’ [or ‘friends’]; similarly T. For ‘because … nurture them’, G has ‘though I am much afraid that too many of you feed them delicately.’

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desire for that filth with the consent of the reason; helping others towards it; knowing about it and being an onlooker; hunting after it with flirtation, with horseplay, or with any enticement, with giggling, wanton glances, any seductive gestures, with presents, with provocative words or talk about love, kissing, indecent fondling (which can be a mortal sin);75 being fond of the time or the place conducive to such behaviour, and other occasions that must be avoided by anyone who does not want to slip muddily into that great swamp of filth. As St Augustine says, If those occasions that tend to open the door to sins are avoided, the conscience can be secure;76 that is, ‘Anyone who wants to keep her conscience healthy and sound must avoid the occasions whose custom it has often been to open the door and let in sin.’ I do not dare to mention by name the unnatural young of this devil’s scorpion with its poisonous tail; but that woman may be sorry who, with or without a partner, has nurtured like this the young of her lechery, which I cannot discuss for shame, and dare not for fear, in case someone might learn more wickedness than she knows already and be tempted by it. But she should think about the wicked ways she has devised herself to satisfy her lust; because however it is slaked with physical pleasure when she is awake and willing, except only within marriage, it tends towards mortal sin.77 People do extraordinary things when they are young. Anyone who feels she is guilty should vomit it out openly in confession just as she did it, or she is condemned for quenching that foul burning to the everlasting burning of hell. She must shake out by confession the scorpion’s brood that she is nurturing in her bosom, and kill it with penance. Those of you who know nothing about such things need not wonder or speculate on what I mean, but should give thanks to God that you have not experimented with such filthy practices, and feel sorry for those who have fallen into them.78 26.  It is obvious enough why I have compared pride to a lion, envy to a serpent, and all the rest of them, apart from this last one—that is, why lechery should be compared with a scorpion.79 But here is the reason for it, clear and obvious.b 80 The scorpion is a kind of snake that has a face, so it is said, rather like a woman, and is a snake behind. It attracts and beguiles with its head, and stings with its tail. This is lechery; this is the devil’s livestock, which he leads to market and to every gathering and offers for sale, and deceives many people, because they only look at the beautiful face, or the beautiful head. That head is the beginning of the sin of lechery, a

After ‘reason’ NT have (with minor variants): ‘that is, when the reason and the heart do not refuse, but are much attracted by and long for everything that the flesh incites to’; similarly P. b All manuscripts running apart from A incorporate (with minor variants) Solomon: Picking up a woman is like picking up a scorpion, either after ‘obvious’ (CN) or after the following ‘tail’ (GLPSTV). a

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and the pleasure, which while it lasts seems very sweet. The tail, which is its end, is painful remorse, and stings in this world with the poison of bitter repentance and penance. And those who find out what the tail is like can count themselves lucky, because that poison dissipates; but if it does not sting here, the tail and the poisonous end is the eternal torment of hell. And surely it is a stupid dealer who, when he wants to buy a horse or an ox, will only look at the head? And so, when the devil puts this animal on show, offers it for sale, and asks your soul for it, he always hides the tail and shows off the head. But you should walk all round it, and completely expose the end, the way the tail stings, and retreat from it quickly before you can be poisoned. 27.  So, my dear sisters, in the wilderness you are travelling in with God’s people towards the land of Jerusalem, that is, the kingdom of heaven, there are animals of this kind, snakes of this kind; and I do not know of any sin that cannot be traced back either to one of those seven or to their offspring. Insecure faith in God’s teaching—isn’t this the species 81 of pride, Disobedience? Under this heading come spells, fraudulent charms, belief in dreams, in sneezing,82 and in all kinds of witchcraft. Taking communion while in any mortal sin, or any other sacrament—isn’t this the species of pride that I called Presumption, if it is known what kind of sin it is? If not, then it is Negligence, under accidie,83 which I called ‘sloth’. If anyone doesn’t warn someone else of something to his disadvantage or advantage, isn’t this idle negligence or poisonous envy? Not paying tithes properly, withholding a legacy, lost property, or a loan, or misusing it—isn’t this a species of avarice and a kind of theft? Withholding someone else’s wages after the due date—isn’t this outright robbery (for anyone who can pay),84 which comes under avarice? If less good care is taken of anything that has been lent or given to be looked after than the person who owns it expects, isn’t this either fraud or the negligence of sloth? The same applies to a thoughtless order or a rash promise, delaying being confirmed, making a false confession or putting it off for too long, not teaching a godchild the Our Father or Creed; these and everything of the kind can be traced back to sloth, which is the fourth mother of the seven sins. If any woman has drunk a potion or done anything to prevent the conception of a child, or to abort it once it has been conceived, isn’t this outright murder incited by lechery? 85 Nobody could list all sins separately by their specific names, but all the rest are included under those that I have mentioned. And I do not think there is anyone who cannot recognize his special sin under one of those general types of sin described here. 28. So far an account has been given of these seven beasts and their offspring in the wilderness of the solitary life, who try to kill all those who go astray. The lion of pride kills all the proud, all those who are arrogant



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and contemptuous; the poisonous snake, the envious and the ill-disposed;a the angry, the unicorn; and so with the others in turn. As far as God is concerned, they have been killed; but they live for the devil, and are all in his retinue and serve him in his court, each in the role that fits him best.86 29.  The proud are his trumpeters. They draw in the wind of worldly praise,87 and then with idle boasting puff it out again, as trumpeters do. They make a noise and a loud clamour to show off their pride; but if they gave serious thought to God’s trumpeters, to the angels’ trumpets that will sound the alarm from the four corners of the earth before the fearful judgement,88 ‘Arise, you dead, arise! Come to the Lord’s judgement to be judged’,89 where no proud trumpeter will be saved—if they gave serious thought to this, they would perhaps trumpet more faintly in the devil’s service. Jeremiah says of these trumpeters, The solitary wild ass in the desire of its heart drew in the wind of self-love;90 he is saying the same as I have about the drawing in of wind for the love of praise. 30.  There are some entertainers whose only skill is in making faces— twisting their mouths, crossing their eyes. This is the job of the wretched envious in the devil’s court, to make their envious lord laugh. If anybody says or does something well, they are quite unable to look at them with the right eye of a good heart, but wink on that side and look to the left to see if there is anything to criticize, or squint horribly towards them with both eyes. When they hear about anything good, they flap down their ears; but their hearing is always wide open for anything bad. The envious person twists his mouth when he twists good into bad; and if it is bad to some extent, he twists it into something worse by harsher criticism. These are fortune-tellers, their own prophets; they anticipate how the hideous devils will terrify them in future with their grimaces, and how they themselves will grimace and wrinkle up their noses and make wry faces because of the extreme pain in the torment of hell. But they are the less to be pitied in that they are learning in advance their job of making ugly faces. 31.  The angry person juggles in front of the devil with knives, and is his knife-thrower, and plays with swords, balancing them by the sharp point on his tongue. Both sword and knife are sharp and cutting words that he throws out and tosses towards other people; and he anticipates how the devils will play with him with their sharp flesh-hooks, juggle around with him and toss him like a scrap of hide from one to another, and stab him through and through with the swords of hell, which are sharp and terrible and piercing tortures.

After ‘ill-disposed’, F has ‘towards their benefactors’; T has ‘who are malicious and hostile towards others’, similarly S.

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32.  The lazy person 91 lies and sleeps in the devil’s lap, as his favourite; and the devil puts his snout down to his ear and pipes to him as much as he wants. For that is certainly how it is with anyone who is lacking in good works: the devil babbles on eagerly, and the idle person listens willingly to his advice. The sleep of this devil’s child is idleness and negligence; but he will have a grim awakening on the Day of Judgement with the fearful clamour of the angels’ trumpets, and lie awake for ever in the torments of hell. Arise, they say, you who are dead,a arise and come to the judgement of the

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33.  The covetous person is his cinderjack.93 He busies himself with the ashes, and works hard at piling up plenty of large heaps; he blows on them and blinds himself, stirs them and draws Arabic numerals in them, like those reckoners who have a lot to calculate.94 This is all the fool’s delight; and the devil watches this game and splits his sides laughing. Anyone with sense knows well that both gold and silver, and every earthly possession, are nothing but dust and ashes, which blind anyone who blows on them—that is, who puffs himself up in pride of heart because of them. And all that he heaps up and gathers together and holds back of anything that is no more than ashes, if it is beyond his needs, will turn into toads and snakes for him in hell; and, as Isaiah says, anyone who would not feed or clothe the needy with it will have worms for both his bedcover and his underblanket. Maggots will be spread underneath you, and worms will be your covering.95 34.  The greedy glutton is the devil’s manciple;96 but he is always hanging around in the cellar or in the kitchen. His heart is in the dishes, his mind entirely on the cups, his life in the barrel, his soul in the pot. He appears in front of his lord covered in smuts and grease, a dish in one hand, a large drink in the other. He stumbles over his words, he staggers like a drunk about to fall over, he stares at his vast belly, and the devil laughs. God threatens these people through Isaiah as follows: My servants will eat and you will go hungry, etc.97 ‘My men will eat and you will always be hungry; and you will be the devil’s food for all eternity.’ Inflict as much torment and grief on her as she indulged in honours and luxuries.98 In the Apocalypse: For one cup that she mixed, mix her two.99 ‘Give the drunkard boiling brass to drink, pour it into his gaping throat so that he burns inside, give him two in exchange for one’: such is God’s judgement against the greedy and drunken in the Apocalypse. 35.  The lechers in the devil’s court rightly keep their own name; because in great courts those people are called lechers who are so lost to shame that shame means nothing to them, but rather they seek out ways of behaving

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as badly as possible.   100 The lecher in the devil’s court soils himself disgustingly, and all his companions; he stinks of that filth, and pleases his lord better with that foul smell than he would with any sweet incense. How he stinks to God was shown by the angel in the Lives of the Fathers,101 who held his nose when the proud lecher came riding by, and not for the rotting body that he was helping the holy hermit to bury. These, then, have a filthier job than any of the others in the devil’s court, soiling themselves like this; and he will soil them, torment them with eternal stench in the pit of hell. 36.  Now you have heard one part, my dear sisters, about what are called the seven mother-sins, and about their offspring, and about what functions are served in the devil’s court by those men who have married those seven hags,b and why they are very much to be hated and avoided. You are far removed from them, our Lord be thanked; but the foul smell of this last vice—that is, of lechery—stinks so very far, because the devil spreads it and blows it everywhere, that I am rather afraid that it might sometimes rise into your heart’s nose. Stench rises upwards; and you have climbed high, where the wind of fierce temptations is strong. May our Lord give you strength to stand firm against them! 37.  An anchoress may think 102 that she will be most strongly tempted in the first year that she has entered the anchoritic life, and in the next one following. And when after many years she feels temptations strongly, she is really surprised, and is afraid that God may have abandoned her altogether. No, this is not the case. In the early years it is as easy as playing ball for many people in the religious life.103 But look at the way it goes, with the help of an analogy. When a sensible man has just brought home a wife, he quietly takes note of the way she behaves; even if he sees something in her that he dislikes, he lets it pass for the time being, is pleasant to her, and does everything he can to make her love him deeply with all her heart. When he is certain that her love is firmly fixed on him, he can safely reprove her openly for her faults, which he previously refrained from as if he had not noticed them. He puts on a very stern manner and acts harshly towards her, to see whether he can still weaken her love for him. Finally, when he is sure that she is thoroughly well-trained, and does not love him less for anything that he does to her, but more and more, if she can, from day to day, he shows her that he loves her tenderly, and does everything that she a

After ‘possible’, GLPTV have (with minor variants) ‘It is said of the continent: These are they who were not defiled with women, etc.’ b For ‘who have … hags’, T has ‘to create chaos in this way’. a

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wants, since he knows her intimately. Then all that misery is turned into happiness. If Jesus Christ, your spouse, does this kind of thing to you, my dear sisters, do not be at all surprised. At the beginning there is nothing but compliments to attract love; but as soon as he is sure that he is on intimate terms, he will spare you less. Finally, after the trial, there comes great happiness. In just the same way, when he wanted to lead his people out of slavery, out of Pharaoh’s power, out of Egypt, he did everything for them that they wanted, many wonderful miracles; he dried up the Red Sea and cleared them a path through it, and where they went dry-footed, he drowned Pharaoh and all their enemies. Later on in the desert, when he had led them far into the wilderness, he allowed them to suffer severe hardship—hunger, thirst, and hard labour, and many great wars. Finally he gave them rest, and every kind of prosperity and happiness, all their heart’s desire, and bodily comfort and pleasure, a land flowing with milk and honey.104 In the same way our Lord at first spares the young and the weak, and draws them out of this world gently and subtly. As soon as he sees that they are hardened he lets battle commence, and teaches them to fight and to endure suffering. Finally, after long effort, he gives them pleasant rest—here, I say, in this world, before they come to heaven. And then the rest seems so good after the effort, great comfort after great discomfort seems so pleasant. 38. Now in the Psalter, under the two temptations that I mentioned earlier 105 (which are the external and the internal, which give rise to all the others), there are four categories divided as follows: slight and hidden temptation, slight and open temptation, strong and hidden temptation, strong and open temptation; as is understood from the text, You shall not fear the night-time terror, the arrow flying in daylight, the creature that walks in darkness, the assault of the noonday demon.106 Job has this to say about slight and secret temptation: Waters hollow out stones, and little by little the land is eroded by floods.107 Little drops pierce the flint if they fall on it often, and slight hidden temptations that go unnoticed make a true heart false. Slight open temptations, of which he also says, A path will shine after him,108 are not so much to be feared. Job also complains about strong temptation that is nevertheless hidden: They lay in ambush for me and overcame me, and there was no-one to help,109 that is, ‘My enemies lie in wait for me with treachery and with treason, and they have overpowered me, and there was no-one to help me.’ Isaiah: Evil will come upon you and you will not know its source.110 ‘Harm will come to you and you will not know where from.’ As for the fourth temptation, which is strong and open, he (the holy Job) 111 complains about his enemies, and says, They rushed in on me as if through



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a breached wall and an open door,112 that is, ‘They burst in on me as if the wall were breached and the gates open.’ 39.  The first and the third temptation of these four belong mainly to the internal type. The second and the fourth fall under the external, and are practically all physical and so easily sensed; the other two are spiritual, from spiritual vices, and are often hidden, and concealed when they do most harm, and so are much more to be feared. Often a woman, without realizing it, is nurturing in her breast some lion cub, some baby viper, which eats away the soul; about which a Hosea says, Strangers devoured his strength and he did not realize,113 that is, ‘Enemies ate away the strength of his soul and he did not realize it.’ But the danger is greatest when the traitor of hell urges her towards something that seems very good indeed, but nevertheless is the death of the soul, and the way to mortal sin. He does this whenever he cannot show his strength by open wickedness. ‘No,’ he says, ‘I can’t make this woman sin through gluttony; so, like a wrestler, I’ll pull her in the direction she leans towards most, and throw her on that side and suddenly give her a fall when she least expects it’, and he encourages her towards so much abstinence that she is weaker in God’s service because of it, and to lead such a hard life, and treat her body so harshly, that the soul dies. He looks at another 114 whose heart is so loving and compassionate he cannot make her at all uncharitable. ‘I’ll make her’, he says, ‘altogether too charitable; I’ll do so much to her that she’ll come to love possessions, think less about God, and lose her reputation.’ And then he puts this kind of thought into her soft heart: ‘Holy Mary! That man, or that woman, is in such distress, and no-one will do anything for them. They would for me if I asked; and so I would be able to help them and give them alms.’ He leads her on to start collecting, and to give everything at first to the poor, later on to other friends, at last to entertain guests and become completely worldly, transformed from an anchoress into the housewife of a hall. God knows, this kind of entertainment can make a woman into a whore. She thinks that she is doing good, as silly and infatuated people give her to understand. They flatter her for her generosity; they praise her charitable work, her widespread reputation, to the skies; and she is proud of this, and leaps into vainglory. Another may happen to mention that she is collecting funds, so that her house and she herself are at risk of being attacked—shame added to shame! 115 In this way the traitor of hell makes himself into a faithful counsellor; you should never believe him. David calls him the noonday demon, ‘bright shining devil’, and St Paul an angel of light,116 All manuscripts running but AF cite, with minor variations of reference, a further text, They mauled me and I felt no pain, they wounded me and I did not feel it, either after ‘which’ (LPTV) or after the following realize (CN).

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that is, ‘angel of light’, because he often makes himself into one, and manifests himself to many people. You should not regard any vision that you see, whether in a dream or while you are awake, as anything but a delusion, since it is nothing but his trickery. He has often deceived wise men, leading holy and virtuous lives, in this way: like the one that he visited in the desert in the form of a woman, claiming that she had lost her way and begging tearfully for shelter;117 and the other holy man whom he convinced that he was an angel and that his father was the devil, and made him kill his father—he had always told him the truth so many times before in order to betray him cruelly in the end.118 There was also the holy man that he made come home to distribute his father’s property to the poor and needy, and who stayed so long that he sinned mortally with a woman, and so fell into despair, and died in mortal sin.119 Listen to stories like this from those men who talk to you—how you must guard yourselves against this devil’s wiles so that he does not deceive you. He has sometimes made one of you believe that it would be flattery if she spoke politely and if she humbly complained of her needs, if she thanked someone for his kindness; and this was arrogance, discouraging charity, rather than righteousness. He tries to make another avoid human comfort so much that she falls into terminal depression, which is spiritual sloth, or obsessive thoughts, so that she goes mad. Another hates sin so much that she despises someone else who falls when she should weep for her, and be much afraid that the same kind of thing will happen to her, and echo the holy man who sighed and wept when he was told about the fall of one of his brethren, and said, ‘Him today, me tomorrow. I’m afraid he was strongly tempted before he fell like that. Just as he fell today,’ he said, ‘I too may fall tomorrow.’ 120 40.  Now, my dear sisters, I have listed many temptations for you under the seven sins; not, however, the thousand times more that people are tempted by. Nobody, I think, could list them all by name; but they are all included under those that have been mentioned. There are few people in this world, or none at all, who are not tempted by one of them at some point. He has so many jars full of his medicines, the wicked doctor of hell, that if someone refuses one, he offers another straight away, a third, a fourth, and keeps going until he comes on the one that is finally accepted, and then he pours him more than one drink from it. Reflect here on the story of his little bottles.121 41. Now listen, as I promised, to many kinds of comfort against all temptations, and, with God’s grace, the remedy afterwards. 42. Anyone who lives an exalted life should be certain she will be tempted. And this is the first comfort; because always the higher the tower, the more it is buffeted by winds.122 You are a tower yourselves, my dear sisters; but do not be afraid while you are so truly and firmly fixed



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together with the cement of shared love, each of you to the other. You need not be afraid of any devil’s puff unless that cement gives way—that is to say, unless love between you breaks down because of the devil. As soon as anyone unfixes herself, she will be swept away instantly; unless the others hold on to her, she will be thrown down at once like a loose stone from the top of the tower, into the deep ditch of some filthy sin. 43.  Now a second comfort. It should reassure you a great deal when you are tempted. A tower is not attacked, or a castle or a city, when it has been captured. In the same way, the warrior of hell does not use temptation to attack those he has in his power, but those he does not have. So, dear sisters, anyone who is not attacked should be very much afraid that she has been captured. 44.  The third comfort is that our Lord himself in the Our Father teaches us to pray, And lead us not into temptation, that is, ‘Lord, Father, do not allow the enemy to lead us completely into temptation.’ Now, take note: he does not want us to pray that we should not be tempted, since that is our purgatory, our cleansing fire, but that we should not be led into it completely with the consent of the heart, with the assent of the reason. 45.  The fourth comfort is the certainty of God’s help in fighting against it, as St Paul testifies: God is faithful; he does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can endure, but, etc.123 ‘God’, he says, ‘is trustworthy; he will never allow the devil to tempt us beyond what he sees clearly that we can endure.’ But in that temptation he has set a limit for the devil, as if he were saying, ‘Tempt her so far, but you are not to go any further’, and to that extent he gives her strength to resist; and the devil cannot advance the smallest bit further.a 124 46. And this is the fifth comfort, that he cannot do anything to us except with God’s permission. That was clearly shown, as the Gospel relates, when the devils that our Lord cast out of a man pleaded with him and said, If you cast us out of here, send us into the pigs;125 ‘If you drive us out, put us into these pigs here’, which were grazing there in a herd.126 And he granted their request—see how they could not afflict filthy pigs without his permission. And the pigs straight away rushed headlong to the sea to drown themselves. Holy Mary! he stank so much to the pigs that they would rather drown themselves than carry him; and a wretched sinful man, the image

After ‘further’, all manuscripts running except AF have (with minor verbal variants, and the omission of a clause in CN): Gregory: Although the devil is always striving to afflict the virtuous, if he does not receive the power from God he is unable to reach the point of temptation. So there is no need to fear him, since he cannot do anything unless he has permission.

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of God,127 carries him in his heart and never even notices. For everything that he did to Job, he first had permission from our Lord. See that you are familiar with the story in the Dialogue, how the holy man used to say to the devil’s snake, If you have had permission, I do not forbid you,128 ‘If you have leave, go on, bite me if you can’, and offered his cheek. But then he had none, except solely to frighten him if his faith deserted him. And when God gives him licence over his dear children, what else is it for but their great advantage, even if it causes them extreme distress? 47.  The sixth comfort is that when our Lord allows us to be tempted, he is playing with us like the mother with her little darling.129 She runs away from him and hides herself, and leaves him sitting on his own, looking around anxiously, calling ‘Mummy! Mummy!’ and starting to cry; and then she jumps out laughing with open arms, hugs and kisses him and wipes his eyes. In the same way our Lord sometimes leaves us on our own, and withdraws his grace, his comfort, and his support, so that we find no pleasure in anything that we do well, or joy in our hearts; and yet in that very respect our Lord does not love us any the less, but does it out of great love. And David understood that well when he said, Do not abandon me altogether;130 ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘do not abandon me altogether.’ See how he was willing for God to leave him, but not altogether. And note six reasons why God sometimes withdraws himself for our good. One is that we should not become proud. Another, that we should recognize our own weakness, our great lack of strength and our frailty. And this is a very great virtue, as St Gregory says. Recognizing one’s imperfection is a great perfection;131 that is, it is a great virtue to have a good understanding of one’s wretchedness and one’s frailty. Ecclesiasticus: What can anyone know who has not been tempted? 132 ‘What does that person know’, says Solomon, ‘who has not been tempted?’ And St Augustine backs up St Gregory with these words: The mind that knows its own weakness is better than one that investigates the heights of the heavens and the foundations of the earth,133 ‘Someone who tracks down and thoroughly hunts out his own weakness is better than someone who measures the height of the heaven and the depth of the earth.’ When two people are carrying a burden and one of them lets go of it, the one who is supporting it can feel how much it weighs. In the same way, dear sister, while God is bearing your temptation with you, you have no idea how heavy it is; and for that reason he sometimes leaves you on your own, so that you may understand your own weakness and call for his help, and cry out loudly for him if he takes too long. Support it well in the meantime, however much it oppresses you. Anyone who is certain of help that will come to him shortly, and nevertheless surrenders his castle to his enemies, is much to be blamed. Think here of the story 134 of how



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the holy man in his temptation saw a huge host of demons confronting him in the west, and lost the strength of his faith through sheer terror, until someone else said to him, ‘Look towards the east. There are more on our side than on theirs,135 we have more than them as support on our side.’ As for a  136 the third point, it is so that you should never feel completely safe; because security breeds carelessness and arrogance, and both these breed disobedience. The fourth reason why our Lord hides himself is so that you should look for him more eagerly, and call and cry for him as the little baby does for its mother. The fifth point follows: so that you should welcome his return more. The sixth: so that after that you should guard him more carefully when you have caught him, and hold him more tightly, and say with his lover, I have taken hold of him, and I will not let him go.b  137 These six reasons come under the sixth comfort that you can have against temptation, my dear sisters. 48.  The seventh comfort is that all the holy saints were fiercely tempted. Take the greatest first of all. Our Lord said to St Peter, Look, Satan has asked for you in order to sift you like wheat, etc.138‘Look,’ he said, ‘Satan is trying hard to sift you out of my elect; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail completely.’ St Paul, as he says himself, had goadings of the flesh—There was given to me a goading of my flesh 139—and pleaded with our Lord to take it away from him; and he would not, but said, My grace is enough for you; strength is made perfect in weakness:140 that is, ‘My grace will protect you so that you are not defeated; being strong in weakness is a great virtue.’ All the others are crowned for battling against temptation. Wasn’t St Sarah 141 tempted through her flesh for a full thirteen years? But because she knew that great reward came from great suffering, not once would she ask our Lord to deliver her from it completely, but this was her prayer: O Lord, give me the strength to resist, ‘Lord, give me strength to resist.’ After thirteen years the accursed spirit who had tempted her appeared, black as a black man,142 and began to cry out, ‘Sarah, you have defeated me.’ And she answered him, ‘You’re lying, you filthy creature; it wasn’t I who did it, but Jesus Christ, my Lord.’ Look how the deceiver wanted to make her finally leap into pride; but she was well aware of that, and ascribed all the victory to God’s strength. You know well how St Benedict, St Anthony, and the others were tempted,143 and through those temptations were proved as true champions, and so rightly deserved the victors’ crown.

LPTV add, with varying forms of reference to the Gloss on the Epistle to the Romans, Relaxed security breeds contempt, before ‘As for’ (V), after ‘safe’ (L), or after ‘disobedience’ (PT). b After ‘let him go’, F has ‘That is: I have seized and held on to him; from now on I will not let him go.’ a

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49.  And this is the eighth comfort: that just as the goldsmith purifies the gold in the fire, so God does the soul in the fire of temptation.144 50.  The ninth comfort is that if the devil makes you suffer greatly with temptation, you make him suffer a hundred times more when you resist, for three reasons in particular. The first is that afterwards, as Origen says,145 he permanently loses his power to tempt you with that kind of sin. The second is that he increases his punishment still further. The third,146 that he eats his heart out with rage and humiliation, because in spite of himself he is increasing your reward through the temptation that you resist, and instead of the torment that he hoped to draw you towards, is preparing a crown of bliss for you, and not only one or two, but as many crowns as the number of times you defeat him—that is to say, as many honours of various kinds of bliss. For as St Bernard says, As often as you conquer, you will be crowned.147 This is borne out by the story in the Lives of the Fathers 148 about the disciple who was sitting in front of his master, and his master fell asleep while he was teaching him, and slept until midnight. When he woke up, he said, ‘Are you still here? Go to bed at once.’ The holy man, his master, fell asleep again at once, as if he had kept a long vigil beforehand, and saw a very beautiful place, and a throne set out there, and seven crowns on it. And a voice came and said, ‘Your disciple has earned this seat and these crowns this very night.’ And the holy man woke up and called him to him. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘what was going on in your mind as you were sitting in front of me while I was asleep?’ ‘I often thought of waking you up,’ he said, ‘but because you were sleeping peacefully, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. And then I thought of going off to bed, because I really wanted to, but I didn’t like to without permission.’ ‘How often did you suppress your wishes like this?’ said his master. ‘Seven times’, he said. Then his master realized what the seven crowns were: seven kinds of bliss, which his disciple had earned every time that he resisted the devil and overcame himself. 51.  In just this way, dear sisters, the profit comes from wrestling with temptation. No-one will be crowned unless he has competed according to the rules;149 ‘No-one will be crowned’, says St Paul, ‘except whoever fights strongly and faithfully’ against the world, against himself, against the devil of hell.150 Those people fight faithfully who, however much they are attacked by these three enemies, especially by the flesh, whatever the desire is, resist it more firmly the more extreme it is, and resolutely refuse to consent to it, however much it goads them. Those who act like this are Jesus Christ’s companions, because they do as he did hanging on the cross: When he had tasted the vinegar, he would not drink,151 that is, he tasted that bitter drink and drew back at once, and would not drink it even though



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he was thirsty. The woman who acts like this is with God on his cross. Even though she may be thirsty with desire, if the devil offers her his sweet drink, she should still understand and bear in mind that there is gall underneath;a  152 and although it may be a torment, it is better to suffer from thirst than to be poisoned. ‘Let desire pass over, and later you will be glad.’ 153 While the itching lasts, it feels good to scratch; but afterwards you feel it smarting painfully. And I am afraid that often a woman may become so very thirsty through excessive heat that while she is drinking that drink, however bitter it is she never notices it, but gulps it down greedily without paying attention. When it is all over, she spits and shakes her head, starts to grimace and pull hideous faces—but it is too late then. Nevertheless, repentance is good after evil; the best thing, then, is to vomit it out at once with confession to the priest, because if it stays inside, it will breed death. So, my dear sisters, be cautious beforehand; and after the comforts written down here, follow these remedies against all temptations. 52.  Against all temptations, and especially those of the flesh, there are remedies and medicines, subject to God’s grace. Pious meditations, fervent and incessant and ardent prayers, firm faith, reading, fasting, keeping vigil, and physical labour, the comfort of someone else to talk to just when the pressure is greatest, humility, patience, a generous heart, and all the virtues are arms in this battle, and unity of love above everything else. Anyone who throws away his weapons is asking to be wounded. 53.  There is a summary of pious meditations in a rhyme 154 that you were taught some time ago, my dear sisters: Your death, the death of Christ, sin’s stain, heaven’s joys,    and the wrathful Judgement you have to fear should be fixed in the minds    of the faithful.155 That is: Think often with regret of what you have done amiss, Think of the pain of hell, and of heaven’s bliss, Think of God’s death on the cross, your own death on its way, Remember the harsh judgement there will be on Judgement Day, Think how false the world is, how its joys undo you, Think what you owe to God for his goodness to you. Each one of these sayings would need a long time to be properly developed; but if I hurry forward, you should dwell on them all the longer. One thing

a

After ‘underneath’, V has Job: Who will taste what brings death when tasted?

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I will say. Whenever you meditate,156 after your sins, on the pain of hell and the joys of heaven, you should understand that God wished to reveal them to some extent to people in this world through earthly sufferings and earthly joys, and represents them as a shadow—for they are no more like the bliss of heaven or the pain of hell than a shadow is like that thing of which it is a shadow.157 You are above the sea of this world on the bridge of heaven.158 See that you are not like the skittish horse that shies at a shadow, and falls down into the water from the high bridge. Those who run away from a picture that seems to them frightening and horrible to look at are too childish. All the pain and joy in this world is nothing but a picture, nothing but a shadow. 54. Not only pious meditations, such as on our Lord, and on all his works and on all his sayings, on the dear Lady, and on all holy saints, but other thoughts have sometimes helped in extreme temptations—four kinds in particular for those who are attacked violently by temptations of the flesh,159 frightening, astounding, cheering, and distressing, aroused deliberately and spontaneously in the heart. Thinking, for instance, what you would do if you saw the devil from hell standing openly in front of you with his jaws gaping widely to swallow you, as he does invisibly in temptation; if someone were shouting ‘Fire, fire!’, that the church was burning; if you heard burglars breaking through your walls—these and similar frightening thoughts. Astounding and cheering: as if you saw Jesus Christ and heard him ask you what you would like best, after your salvation and that of your dearest friends, out of the things of this life, and offer you the choice provided that you resisted; if you saw quite clearly the inhabitants of heaven and of hell during the temptation watching you alone; if someone came and told you that the man who is dearest to you, through some miracle such as a voice from heaven, had been elected Pope; and all similar thoughts. Astounding and distressing: as if you heard that the man who is dearest to you had unexpectedly been drowned, killed, or murdered,a 160 that your sisters had been burnt alive in their house. With carnal souls,161 thoughts of this kind often drive out temptations of the flesh more quickly than any of the others mentioned earlier. 55. Fervent, incessant, and anxious prayers quickly gain support and help from our Lord against temptations of the flesh; however anxious or disorderly they may be, the devil of hell fears them greatly, since apart from drawing down help against him, and God’s hand from heaven, they harm him in two ways, binding him and burning. Here is proof of both. Publius, a holy man, was at his prayers, and the devil came flying through

a

After ‘murdered’, C has ‘such as the man who wrote this book.’



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the air above him, heading in a great hurry towards the western side of the world at the command of the emperor Julian, and was trapped securely by the holy man’s prayers, which overtook him as they flew upwards towards heaven, so that he could not move in any direction for a full ten days.162 Don’t you have a similar story about Ruffin the devil, Belial’s brother, in your English book about St Margaret? 163 We read about another that he cried out loudly to St Bartholomew, who spent a lot of time in prayer, Your prayers are burning me, ‘Bartholomew, I can’t stand it, your prayers are burning me up.’ a  164 Whoever can have the gift from God of tears in her prayers can do everything with God that she wants;165 because as we read, Prayer softens, weeping coerces; the first anoints, the second stings.166 Devout prayer softens and pleases our Lord, but tears put pressure on him. Prayers anoint him with soothing flattery, but tears prick him and never give him peace until he grants them all that they ask. When strongholds or a castle are being attacked, the people inside pour out scalding water, and in that way defend the walls. You should do just the same whenever the devil attacks your castle and the stronghold of the soul; with fervent prayers pour out scalding tears over him, so David may say of you, You have crushed the heads of the dragons in the waters,167 ‘You have scalded the dragon’s head with boiling water’, that is, with hot tears. Where this water is, the devil is sure to take flight to avoid being scalded. Or again: a castle with a moat around it, if there is water in the moat, has nothing to fear from its enemies. The castle is every good man that the devil attacks; but if you have a deep moat of profound humility,168 and wet tears to go with it, you are a strong castle. The warrior of hell can attack you for a long while and get nowhere. Again, they say—and it is true—that a great wind is laid by a little rain, and afterwards the sun shines all the brighter.169 In the same way, a great temptation—that is, the devil’s blast—is laid by the gentle rain of a few tears, and afterwards the true sun b shines more brightly on the soul. So tears are effective with fervent prayers; and if you are following, I have mentioned four great powers for which they should be valued.170 In all your emergencies, send this messenger quickly at once towards heaven; for, as Solomon says, The prayer of one who humbles himself penetrates the clouds, etc.,171 that is, ‘The prayer of the humble pierces the sky.’ And St Augustine says in that connection, Great is the power of virtuous prayer, which enters the presence of God, and delivers messages where the flesh cannot gain access.172 ‘How great is the power of pure and virtuous prayer, which flies up and enters the presence of almighty God, and delivers the message so well’ that God has everything that she says written down in

a b

After ‘burning me up’, C has ‘the devil said’. After ‘sun’, N has ‘that is, Jesus Christ’; similarly P.

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the book of life.173 As St Bernard testifies,174 he keeps her with himself, and sends down his angel to do everything that she asks. I will not say anything more about prayer at this point. 56.  Firm faith puts the devil to flight at once. That is confirmed by St James: Resist the devil and he will fly from you,175 ‘Just make a stand against the devil, and he will take to flight.’ Make a stand—with what support? St Peter gives instructions: Resist him, steadfast in faith,176 ‘Make a stand against him with firm faith’, be confident in God’s help, and realize how weak he is, since he has no power over us except what comes from us. All he can do is display a selection of his counterfeit goods, and flatter or threaten people into buying them. Whichever he does, treat him with contempt; laugh the old fraud loudly to shame with firm faith, and he is discomfited and beats a hasty retreat. The holy conquered kingdoms through faith;177 that is, through faith the holy saints all overcame the devil’s rule, which is nothing but sin, because he only rules in anybody through sin. Now pay careful attention to how all the seven deadly sins can be driven away by firm faith—pride, now, first of all. 57.  Who thinks himself great, as the proud man does, when he sees how small the great Lord made himself inside a poor virgin’s womb? 58.  Who is envious who sees with the eyes of faith how Lord Jesus, not for his own good but for the good of others, did and said and suffered all that he suffered? The envious man would not like anybody to share in his possessions; but almighty God, even after everything else, descended into hell to look for companions, and to share what he possessed with them. See now how different the envious are from our Lord. The anchoress who refused another the loan of a booklet 178 would have her eye of faith turned far away from this. 59.  Who can still feel anger when they see that God came down to earth to make a triple peace—between man and man, between God and man, between man and angel? And after his resurrection, when he came and revealed himself, this was his greeting to his dear disciples: Peace be with you,179 ‘May there be peace among you.’ Now pay careful attention. When one good friend leaves another, the last words that he says should be most taken to heart. Our Lord’s last words, when he ascended into heaven and left his good friends in an alien land,180 were about tender love and peace: I leave peace to you; I give my peace to you,181 that is, ‘I set peace among you; I leave peace with you.’ This was the love-token that he left behind, and gave to them at his departure. You will recognize from this that you are my disciples, if you love one another.182 Now look carefully at what a mark he set



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on his elect, because of his precious love, when he ascended to heaven: You will recognize from this, etc. ‘You will recognize from that’, he said, ‘that you are my disciples, if there is always tender love and peace among you.’ May God be my witness (and he can be), I would rather that you all had leprosy than that you were envious or malicious; because Jesus is all love,183 and it is in love that he rests and makes his home. His dwelling-place was made in peace. There he destroyed powers, bow, shield, sword, and battle.184 That is, God’s dwelling-place is in peace, and wherever there is peace and love, he brings all the devil’s strength to nothing. There he breaks his bow, it says, which is secret temptations that he shoots from a distance; and his sword, too, which is sharp and piercing temptations at close quarters. 60. Now note carefully from several examples the importance of community of love and unity of heart. For there is nothing under the sun that I value more, or that I would rather you have. 61.  Surely you know that where men are fighting in strong armies, those who stand firmly together are impossible to defeat? It is the same in spiritual battle against the devil. His whole aim is to separate hearts, to take away the love that holds people together; because when love fails, they are separated, and the devil gets between them at once and cuts them down on either side. 62.  Dumb animals also have this sense of self-protection, so that when they are attacked by a wolf or by a lion, the whole flock huddle together closely and make a shield of themselves, each one protecting the other, and are safe while they do this. If any unfortunate creature goes out, it is torn to pieces at once. 63.  The third: where someone is walking alone on a slippery path, he soon slips and falls. Where many people are walking together, and each holds the other’s hand, if anyone starts to slip, the other one pulls him up before he has finished falling. If they get tired, each one leans on the other. Slipping is temptation; getting tired signifies the vices under Sloth, which are listed above.185 This is what St Gregory says: When we join ourselves to each other through the power of prayer, let us, as it were, hold each other’s hands as we walk the slippery path, so that each one may become stronger the more he leans on the other.186 64. Similarly, in strong wind and fast-flowing waters that have to be waded over, each of many people supports the other; anyone who gets separated is swept away and is bound to be lost.187 65.  We know only too well how the path of this world is slippery, how the wind and the stream of temptation are strong. It is important that each of us should hold the others’ hands with assiduous prayers and with love, since, as Solomon says, Woe to the one who is alone; because when he falls, he has nobody to lift him up,188 ‘It is always hard for the one who is alone; because when

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he falls, he has nobody to lift him up.’ No-one is alone who has God as a companion; and that is everyone who has true love in his heart. 66.  The seventh example is this, if you are counting correctly.189 As you see, where dust and sand is scattered and in separate particles, a little gust of wind blows it all away; where it is bound together in a lump, it lies quite still. 67.  A handful of sticks are difficult to break while they are together; when separated, each one breaks easily. 68.  Prop up a tree that is about to fall with another, and it stands firm; separate them, and both fall down. Now you have nine. 69.  In this way, use outward things as an example of the importance of unity of love and concord, which holds the good together so that none of them can be lost. And anyone who, with true faith, carefully observes and understands Jesus Christ’s precious words and deeds, which all came from love and tenderness, will surely want to have this. More than anything else I would like anchoresses to learn properly what this lesson teaches; because many, unfortunately, are Samson’s foxes, which all had their heads turned away from each other, and were tied together by the tails, as Judges says,190 and in each one’s tail a blazing firebrand. I talked about these foxes a long way back,191 but not in this way. Pay careful attention to what this means. People turn their heads willingly towards what they like, and away from what they hate. These women, then, have their faces turned in the wrong direction, each away from the other, when none of them loves the other. But they are joined by the tails, and carry the devil’s torches, the flames of lechery. In another sense, ‘tail’ signifies ‘end.’ At their end they will be tied together like Samson’s foxes by the tails, and torches fixed to them—that is, the fire of hell. 70.  All this has been said, my dear sisters, so that your dear faces may be always turned to each other lovingly and affectionately, so that you may always be bound together with the unity of one heart and of one will, as is written about our Lord’s dear disciples: The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul.192 71.  Peace be with you:193 this was God’s greeting to his dear disciples, ‘May there be peace among you.’ You are the anchoresses of England, in such a large group (twenty now or more; may God increase you in virtue), that most peace is among, most unity and unanimity and community of united life according to a rule, so that you all pull together, all turned one way and none away from each other, so it is said. For that reason you are advancing well and making good progress; because each of you is turned towards the other in one way of living, as if you were a single



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religious community of London and of Oxford, of Shrewsbury or of Chester,194 where all are united in one common way of life, and without singularity,195 which is individual waywardness, a shameful thing in the religious life, because it disrupts the unity and common way of life that there should be in an order. Now this, then, that you are all like one community, gives you your high reputation; this is pleasing to God; this has recently become widely known, so that your community is beginning to spread towards the border of England. You are like the mother-house from which they are generated. You are like a spring; if the spring is polluted, the streams are polluted too. Oh, if you became polluted I could not bear it. If there is anyone among you who takes the path of singularity, and does not follow the community, but goes out of the flock, which is as if in a cloister over which Jesus is the high prior,196 goes out like a straying sheep and wanders on her own into the thicket of brambles, into the wolf’s mouth, towards the throat of hell—if there is anyone like that among you, may God turn her back to the flock, guide her back into the community, and grant to you who are in it so to keep yourselves inside that God, the high prior, may finally take you up from it into the cloister of heaven. 72.  While you stay united, the devil may frighten you if he is allowed to, but cannot do you any harm. He knows that very well, and so tries day and night to prise you apart by anger or malicious envy, and sends a man or a woman to pass on to one of you some spiteful gossip about another that no sister should repeat about a sister. I forbid any of you to believe the devil’s messenger; but see that each of you can clearly recognize when he is speaking through a malicious person’s tongue. And say straight away, ‘Our director has given us written instructions to tell him everything that each of us hears about the other; and so you should see that you don’t tell me anything that I can’t tell him, as he can correct the problem and do it in such a way that neither of us, if we’re in the right, will be open to criticism.’ 197 Nevertheless, each of you should warn the other through a thoroughly reliable messenger, kindly and affectionately as her dear sister, about anything she is doing wrong, if she knows it for a fact. And she should make whoever is carrying the message rehearse it several times with her before she goes, as she wants to have it said, so that she does not say it in any other way, or tack on more; because a small patch can ruin the appearance of a whole large piece of cloth. Anyone who receives this medicine of love from her sister should thank her with a good grace, and say with the Psalmist, The just man will correct me in mercy and reproach me, but the oil of the sinner will not anoint my head,198 and then with Solomon, The wounds

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of the corrector are better than the kisses of the flatterer.199 ‘If she didn’t love me, she wouldn’t warn me out of sympathy; I prefer her wounds to flattering kisses.’ She should always reply in this way; and if the situation is not what the other understands it to be, she should send a message in return in mild and friendly terms, and the other should accept her word at once—because that is another thing I want, that each of you should trust the other like herself. If the devil blows up any anger or resentment between you—which Jesus Christ forbid!—none of you, before it is properly settled, should be foolish enough, not just to receive God’s body and his blood, but even (which is less) 200 to take a single glance at it, or look in shameful anger towards him who came down to humanity on earth from heaven to make a triple peace, as is mentioned above.201 Each one, then, should send the other word that she has humbly made her Venia 202 to her, as if she were in her presence; and whoever is the first to win the love of her sister in this way, and brings about peace, and takes the guilt on herself even though the other may be more at fault, will be my favourite and my dear daughter. For she is the daughter of God; he himself says so. Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called the children of God.203 73.  So pride and envy and anger are driven away everywhere that there is true love and firm faith in God’s merciful works and loving words. Let us now go on to the others in turn. 74.  Who would not be ashamed to be slack, sluggish, and slow when they see how very busy our Lord was on earth? a He went about doing good and healing everyone.204 After everything else, look at how, in the evening of his life, he laboured on the hard cross. Others take a rest, avoid the light, hide themselves in their bedroom when they are let blood from a single vein in the arm;205 and he, on Mount Calvary, climbed still higher on the cross, and no-one ever laboured as hard or as painfully as he did on that day when he bled streams of blood in five places from very broad and deep wounds, not counting the head-veins that bled under the sharp crown of thorns on his head, and not counting the grievous cuts from the cruel scourging all over his precious body, not just on the legs.206 A very clear reproach to the slow and sleepers is his early rising from death to life.207 75.  Against avarice is his great poverty, which steadily increased for him as time went on. For when he was first born, he who made the earth did not find enough space on earth for his little body to be laid on. That place was so narrow that there was barely room for his mother and Joseph to sit in it; and so they laid him high up in a crib, wrapped in rags, as the Gospel says: She wrapped him in rags.208 That is how finely he was clothed, the

After ‘earth’, all manuscripts running but ACFN have (with minor variants) He rejoiced like a strong man who is to run a race.

a



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heavenly Creator who clothes the sun. Then the poor Lady of heaven nourished and fed him with the little milk a virgin might be expected to have. This was great poverty, but more came later; because at least then he still had the kind of food that he needed, and instead of an inn, his cradle gave him lodging. Later, as he complained, he had nowhere that he could lay his head: The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.209 He was so deprived of lodging, so short of food, that when he had preached all day in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and it was approaching nightfall, he looked around (it says in the Gospel) 210 to see if anyone would invite him to eat or to stay, but there was no-one; and so he went out from the great city into Bethany, to the house of Mary and Martha. Once, when he was walking with his disciples, they broke off the ears of corn along the way, and rubbed the grains out between their hands and ate them out of hunger, and were harshly criticized for it.211 But the greatest poverty of all came even later than this. For he was stripped stark-naked on the cross; when he complained of thirst, he was not allowed any water; furthermore, which is the most remarkable thing, of all the broad earth he was not allowed the smallest piece to die on. The cross had a foot or a little more, and that was for his torture. When the ruler of the world was willing to be so poor, anyone who is too fond and covetous of the prosperity and pleasure of the world is lacking in faith. 76.  Against gluttony is the poor pittance that he had on the cross.212 Two kinds of people need to eat well, those who are labouring and those who have been let blood. On the day that he was both doing hard labour and being let blood, as I just said, his pittance on the cross was only a sponge of gall. Look now, who will complain, if she reflects seriously on this, about a scanty meal, tasteless dishes, a poor pittance? 77.  You should not express concern 213 about any man or woman, or complain about any shortage, except to some good friend who can put things right, and benefit them or you; and that should be said secretly, as if under the seal of confession, so that you may not be criticized. If you are short of anything, and some friend keeps asking you if there is anything you need, if you expect kindness from him, answer as follows: ‘May the Lord God repay you! I’m afraid that I have more than I deserve, and suffer less hardship than I need to.’ If he presses you further, thank him gratefully, and say, ‘I don’t dare to lie about myself; I am in need, as is only right. What anchoress goes into an anchor-house to take her ease? But now you want to know all about it—may our Lord repay you!— there is one thing that I could do with at present.’ And that is what our rule tells us, that we should reveal our hardship to good friends, as others

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of God’s poor 214 do theirs, with modest humility. And we should not reject the grace sent by God, but thank him gratefully, so that he does not become angry with us and withdraw his generous hand, and after that beat down our pride with too much hardship. And isn’t it quite unreasonable, when God stretches out his hand, to push it away and say, ‘I’m not interested in it; you can keep it. I’ll see if I can live without it’? I have heard of some who because of this came to a bad end. 78.  Against lechery is his birth from the pure Virgin, and all the pure life that he led on earth, and all who followed him. 79.  In this way, you see, the articles, which are, so to speak, the joints of our faith concerning God’s humanity 215 for anyone who contemplates them devoutly, combat the devil who is tempting us with these deadly sins. That is why St Peter says, Since Christ suffered in the flesh, may you too be armed with the same thought.216 ‘Arm yourselves’, he says, ‘with the thought of Jesus Christ, who was tortured in our flesh.’ And St Paul: Consider what opposition he endured within himself, so that you may not grow weary.217 ‘Think, think,’ says St Paul, ‘when you grow weary in the fight against the devil, how our Lord himself denied the desire of his flesh, and deny yours.’ For you have not yet resisted to the point of blood;218 ‘You have not yet resisted as far as the shedding of your blood’, as he did with his for you, against himself, insofar as he was a human being sharing our nature. You still have that same blood, that same glorious body that came from the Virgin and died on the cross, beside you night and day. There is only a wall in between;219 and every day he comes out and reveals himself to you physically and bodily in the Mass—changed, however, into the appearance of something else, under the form of bread, because in his own our eyes could not tolerate the dazzling vision. But he reveals himself to you in this way as if he were saying, ‘Look, here I am; what do you want? Tell me what you would like. What do you need? Make your complaint about it.’ If the devil’s army—which are his temptations—are attacking you fiercely, say to him in reply, We set up camp beside the stone of help. And then the Philistines came to Aphek.220 ‘Yes, Lord, it is strange; we are encamped here beside you who are the stone of help, the tower of true support, the castle of strength, and the devil’s army is attacking us more furiously than anyone else.’ I am taking this from Kings, because there it tells in just this way how Israel, the people of God, came and set up camp by the stone of help, and the Philistines came into Aphek. The Philistines are devils. ‘Aphek’ in Hebrew means ‘a new madness’. This is actually the case: the first thing that happens when you set up camp by our Lord is that the devil



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is driven into a frenzy. But it says there that the Israelites soon turned to flee, and four thousand were slaughtered in the rout. Do not turn to flee, my dear sisters, but resist the devil’s army face to face, as is said above,221 with firm faith; and, with the good Jehoshaphat,222 send the messenger of prayer quickly after help to the prince of heaven. In Chronicles: Indeed we do not have enough strength to be able to resist this multitude that is advancing on us. But since we do not know what we should do, all that is left to us is to turn our eyes to you.223 There follows: These are the words of the Lord to you: do not be afraid, and do not be frightened of this multitude. For it is not your fight, but God’s.224 Just stand with confidence, and you will see the Lord’s protection over you.225 Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be safe.226 This is the English: ‘Dear Lord, we do not have enough strength to be able to resist the devil’s army that is attacking us so violently. But when we are so besieged, so hard-pressed, that we have no idea at all what we should do, this one thing we can do, lift up our eyes to you, merciful Lord. You must send us help, you must scatter our enemies, because we are looking to you.’ So, like the good Jehoshaphat, when God appears before you and asks you what you want, and at any time when you need help, disclose it lovingly in this way to his loving ears. If he does not listen to you at once, cry out more loudly and unrestrainedly, and threaten to surrender the castle unless he sends you help more promptly, and moves faster. But do you know how he answered Jehoshaphat the good? In this way: Do not be afraid, etc. This is how he will answer you when you call for help: ‘Do not be afraid. Do not be at all frightened of them, even though they are strong and there are many of them; the battle is mine, not yours. Just stand firm, and you will see my help. Only have confident belief in me, and you will be quite safe.’ 80.  Now see what kind of a help firm faith is; for all the help that God promises, the strength to stand firm, consists entirely in this. Firm faith makes you stand upright, and there is nothing the devil hates more. That is why he says in Isaiah, Bow down so that we may go over.227 ‘Bow down’, he says, ‘so that I may go over you.’ Anyone who inclines her heart to his temptations is bowing down; because while she stays upright, he cannot either sit or ride on her. Look at the traitor, how he says, Bow down so that we may go over. ‘Bow down, let me jump up; I don’t want to ride you for long, but to go on over.’ He is lying, St Bernard says; do not believe the traitor. He does not want to go over, but to stay,228 ‘He doesn’t want to go over, he wants to sit tight.’ There was this woman who believed him, who thought that he would get straight down, as he always promises. ‘Do this just the

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once,’ he says, ‘and confess it tomorrow. Bow down your heart, let me up, shake me off with confession if I try to ride you for any length of time.’ This woman, as I said, believed him and bowed down to him; and he jumped up, and rode her both day and night for a full twenty years—that is, she committed a sin that very night through his incitement, thinking that she would make her confession in the morning, and committed it again and again, and fell so much into the habit of sin that she lay and rotted in it 229 for as long as I said. And if it had not been for a miracle that blew down the devil who sat so firmly on her, she would have tumbled with him, horse and load together, down into the depths of hell. And so, my dear sisters, keep yourselves absolutely upright in true faith. You must believe firmly that all the devil’s strength melts away through the grace of that holy sacrament, the most exalted of all, which you see as often as the priest celebrates Mass—the child of a virgin, Jesus, God and God’s son, who sometimes comes down physically to your inn, and humbly takes up his lodging in you. God knows, those who will not fight bravely having such a guest are too weak and too wicked at heart. You must have faith that everything that Holy Church does, reads, or sings, and all its sacraments, strengthen you spiritually; but none as much as this, because it brings all the devil’s wiles to nothing. It does this not only with his brute force and his powerful throws, but also with his cunning tricks, his artful sorceries, and all his deceptions; such as misleading dreams, false visions, fearful terrors, flattering and treacherous advice, as if something were for God’s sake and a good thing to do. For that is the trick of his, as I said before,230 that holy men fear most, with which he has cruelly deceived many of them. When he cannot persuade to anything obviously evil, he incites to something that seems good. ‘You should be kinder,’ he says, ‘and give up scolding, not get upset and angry.’ He says this so that you should not correct your maid when she does something wrong, or discipline her properly, and to lead you into neglectfulness rather than kindness. Or again, the exact opposite: ‘Don’t let her get away with anything’, he says. ‘If you want her to be afraid of you, keep her on a tight rein. Righteousness’, he says, ‘must necessarily be strict.’ And so he paints cruelty with the colour of righteousness. But one can be altogether too righteous a (‘Do not be too righteous’, in Ecclesiastes);231 ‘Wise cunning is better than brute strength.’ 232 When you have stayed up late and ought to be going to bed, he says, ‘It’s virtuous to stay up now, when it’s hard for you. Say one more nocturn.’ 233 Why does he do this? So that you should sleep later when it is time to get up. Or again, the exact opposite: if you could very well stay awake, he makes you feel drowsy, or puts the thought into your mind, ‘It’s best to be sensible. I’ll go to bed now, and get up in a bit and do what I should be doing now more quickly than I would at the moment’—and so often, perhaps, you do a

After ‘righteous’, F has ‘that is, too rigid in uprightness’.



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not do it at either time. I said a great deal on this subject above.234 There is no-one so wise or so cautious, unless God gives them warning, that they are not often deceived by temptations of this kind. But more than anything else this noble sacrament, with firm faith, uncovers his tricks and destroys his powers. Certainly, dear sisters, when you feel him near you, provided that you have firm faith, you will just laugh him loudly to scorn for being such an old fool that he is coming to increase his punishment and prepare a crown for you.235 As soon as he sees you bold and confident in God’s grace, his power melts away and he takes to flight at once. But if he can sense that your faith is failing, so that it seems to you that you might be quite won over if you were strongly tempted on the spot, you start to weaken and his power increases. 81.  We read in Kings 236 that Ishbosheth was lying asleep, and had left a woman as doorkeeper who was winnowing wheat. And Rechab’s sons, Rimmon and Baanah,237 arrived, and found the woman had given up her winnowing and fallen asleep; and they went in and killed the wretched Ishbosheth, who had guarded himself so poorly. It is very important to understand the significance of this.238 ‘Ishbosheth’ in Hebrew is ‘a man confused’ in English; and isn’t anyone who lies down to sleep among his enemies really confused, and quite out of his mind? The doorkeeper is the power of understanding, which ought to winnow the wheat, to separate the awns and the chaff from the clean grains (that is, to distinguish good from evil through assiduous prudence), put the wheat in the granary, and constantly blow away the devil’s chaff, which is fit for nothing but the smoky fire of hell. But look how confusedly the confused Ishbosheth acted; he left a woman as doorkeeper, that is, weak security. Sadly, how many people do the same! Woman is the reason, that is, the power of understanding, when it weakens where it should be manly, stalwart, and fierce in true faith. This doorkeeper lies down to sleep as soon as someone begins to consent to sin, to let desire enter and the pleasure increase. When Rechab’s sons, who are the children of hell, find such a careless and vulnerable doorkeeper, they go in and kill Ishbosheth, that is, the confused spirit, who in drowsy carelessness fails to take care of himself. It should not be forgotten that, as Holy Scripture says, ‘They stabbed him right through the groin.’ 239 St Gregory says on this, To stab in the groin is to pierce the life of the spirit with the pleasure of the flesh.240 The devil stabs through the groin when the pleasure of lechery pierces the heart; and this only happens in the sleep of carelessness and sloth, as St Gregory testifies. The ancient enemy, as soon as he finds the mind idle, takes various opportunities to come and talk to it, and reminds it of certain things done in the past, indecently echoes words formerly heard.

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And below: My scars have festered and got worse.241 For a scar is the sign of a wound, but one that has healed. The scar, then, starts to fester again when the wound of sin, which has been healed by penance, stirs up the soul to take pleasure in it.242 This is the English. When the ancient enemy sees that our reason is drowsy, he closes in on her at once and falls into conversation with her. ‘Do you remember,’ he says, ‘how that man or that woman talked about carnal lechery?’ And so the old deceiver recalls to her heart words that she once heard indecently spoken, or something she saw, or the shameful things she did herself in the past. He displays all this before the eyes of the heart to pollute it with the thought of old sins, when he cannot with new ones. And so he often reintroduces into the infatuated soul through pleasure the very sins that were long ago atoned for by contrite suffering, so that she can weep and make a sad complaint with the Psalmist, My scars have festered, etc. ‘Alas! My wounds, which had healed cleanly, are filling with new matter, and starting to fester again.’ The healed wound begins to fester when a sin which had been atoned for comes back with pleasure into the memory, and kills the unwary soul. Gregory: Ishbosheth would certainly not have succumbed to an unexpected death if he had not put a woman, that is, weak security, at the entrance of his mind.243 All this misfortune happened through the sleep of the doorkeeper, who was not wary and vigilant, and was not manly, but was womanly, easy to overcome. Whether it is a woman or a man, all their strength depends then on faith, and on having trust in God’s help, which is near at hand; unless faith fails, as I said before,244 it weakens the devil and puts him to flight at once. And so always be as bold as a lion against him in true faith, especially in the temptation that Ishbosheth died from, which is lechery.245 82.  See how you can tell that he is cowardly and weak when he strikes in that direction. Isn’t it a cowardly fighter who slashes at the feet, who attacks his opponent below the belt? Carnal desire is a wound to the foot, as was said a long way back.246 And this is the reason: as our feet carry us, so our desires often carry us to something we lust after. Now then, even if your enemy should hurt you in the feet, that is to say, tempts you with carnal desires, do not be too anxious about such a low wound, unless it swells up too far with the consent of the reason, with too much pleasure rising towards the heart. But then drink an antidote, and drive that inflammation down from the heart; that is to say, think of the bitter pain that God suffered 247 on the cross, and the inflammation will go down. 83. Pride and envy and anger, heartache about any earthly thing, the wretchedness of longing,248 and avarice for possessions—these, and everything that issues from them, are wounds to the heart, and give the



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death-blow at once unless they are treated. When the devil strikes in that direction, there is real cause for fear, but not with wounds to the foot. 84. The remedy for pride is humility; for envy, love of one’s fellowbeings; for anger, patience; for sloth, reading, various kinds of work, spiritual comfort; for avarice, contempt of earthly things; for meanness, a generous heart. 85.  Now about the first, first of all a (that is to say, about humility).249 If you want to be humble, keep thinking about what you lack in holiness, and in spiritual virtues. Think about what you have of your own. You are made up of two parts, of body and soul. In each of these are two things that can humble you a great deal if you look at them carefully. In the body, there is filth and weakness. Surely what comes out of that vessel must be the kind of thing there is inside? Does the smell of spices, or of sweet balsam, come from the vessel of your flesh? Hardly, any more than dry twigs produce grapes, or brambles roses! 250 What fruit does your body produce from all its orifices? 251 In the middle of your noble face, the most beautiful part of the body, between the mouth’s taste and the nose’s sense of smell, don’t you have, as it were, two privy-holes? Haven’t you come from foul slime? Aren’t you a vat of filth? Won’t you be food for worms? The philosopher: You are slimy sperm, a vessel of dung, food for worms.252 Now a fly can trouble you, make you flinch—you may well be proud! Look at the holy men there were once, how they fasted, how they kept vigils, what suffering, what labours they went through, and in that way you might realize your own frail weakness. But do you know what makes a man’s weak eyes swim when he has climbed high up? That he looks downwards. In the same way, if anyone looks down on those who live an inferior life, it makes him think that his standards are high. But keep looking upwards towards the heavenly people who climbed so high, and then you will see how low you stand. Augustine: Just as the sight of an inferior is an encouragement to pride, so the thought of a superior is a warning to humility.253 Fasting for a week on water and bread, keeping

vigils for three nights in a row—how would it undermine your physical strength? So consider these two things in your body, filth and weakness. In your soul, another two, sin and ignorance (that is, lack of wisdom and understanding); because often what you think good is bad, and the death of the soul. Contemplate your shameful sins with tears. Be constantly afraid of your weak nature, which is easily overthrown; and follow the example of the holy man who, when he was told that one of his companions had fallen into carnal filthiness with a woman, began to weep and said, Him today, me tomorrow, that is, ‘Him today, and me tomorrow’ 254—as if he were saying, ‘I have as weak a nature as he had, and the same may happen to me, unless God supports me.’ So you see how the holy man did not feel a

After ‘first of all’, C2 inserts ‘that is, about humility’.

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excessive contempt for the other’s fall, but wept for his misfortune and feared that a similar fate might happen to him. Make yourselves humble and meek in this way. 86.  Bernard: Pride is the desire for one’s own pre-eminence; humility, contempt for it 255—that is, just as pride is the desire for honour, so on the other hand humility is the rejection of honour, and the love of obscurity and low status. This virtue is the mother of all virtues,256 and breeds them all. Anyone who tries to accumulate virtues without her is carrying dust in the wind, as St Gregory says. Whoever accumulates virtues without humility is like someone carrying dust in the wind .257 Only this will be saved, only this will escape the traps of the devil of hell, as our Lord revealed to St Anthony, who saw the whole world full of the devil’s traps. ‘Ah, Lord,’ he said, ‘who can guard himself against these so as not to be caught by one of them?’ ‘Only the meek’, our Lord said.258 Humility is such a small a thing, and so gracefully slender 259 and so agile, that no trap can restrain her. And this is really remarkable: although she makes herself so small and so meek, she is stronger than anything else, so that every spiritual strength comes from her. St Cassiodorus affirms it: All strength comes from humility.260 But Solomon explains it: Where there is humility, there is wisdom.261 Where there is humility, there, he says, is Jesus Christ, who is his father’s wisdom and his father’s strength.262 It is no wonder, then, if there is strength where he is through his indwelling grace.263 87.  Through the strength of humility he overthrew the demon of hell. The cunning wrestler 264 notes what throw the opponent he is wrestling with does not know, because with that throw he can bring him down unexpectedly. Our Lord did just this, and saw how many people the grim wrestler of hell lifted up on his hip and threw with the haunch-throw into lechery, which rules in the loins. He lifted many up high and turned around with them and hurled them through pride down into the depths of hell. Our Lord thought, as he watched all this, ‘I will use a throw on you that you never knew, and can never know, the throw of humility, which is the falling throw’; and fell from heaven to earth, and stretched himself out on the earth in such a way that the devil thought that he was entirely earthly, and was tricked by that throw, and still is every day by humble men and women who know it well. 88. Furthermore, as Job says, because of pride he can still only look high up: His eyes see all that is high.265 Holy men who consider themselves unimportant, and of humble life, are out of his line of sight. The wild boar

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cannot bend down to strike. Anyone who falls down, and through meek humility stretches himself out on the earth, need not worry about his tusks. This is not inconsistent with what I have said before, that it is always essential to stand against the devil; for that standing is true confidence from firm faith in God’s strength, this falling is humble recognition of your own weakness and of your frailty. And nobody can stand in that way unless he falls in this way, that is, thinks himself of little account, and unworthy and valueless. He should look at his blackness and not his whiteness, because white dazzles the eye. 89.  Humility can never be praised enough; for that was the lesson that our Lord taught his elect most earnestly, in both actions and words:a Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart.266 He does not just let the springs of his graces flow into it drop by drop, but pours them down in torrents, as the Psalmist says: You who send forth springs in the valleys.267 ‘You make springs flow in the valleys’, he says. A heart that is puffed up and raised high as a hill does not retain any moisture of grace. A bladder blown up with air does not sink into these healing waters; but the prick of a needle lets all the air out, a trivial pain or ache makes it clear how little pride is worth, how foolish arrogance is. 90.  The remedy against envy, I said,268 was love towards one’s fellowbeings, and benevolence and goodwill where the power to act is lacking. Love and goodwill have so much power that it makes someone else’s good action as much ours as it is his who does it. All you have to do is love the good he does, be pleased and happy about it; in this way you attract it to yourself and make it your own. St Gregory attests it: If you love other people’s good works, you make them your own.269 If you are envious of another’s good action, you are poisoning yourself with medicine, and wounding yourself with ointment. If you love it, it is your ointment against wounds of the soul; and your strength against the devil is all the good that another person does, if you are pleased with it. I am absolutely sure that carnal temptations will never defeat you, any more than spiritual ones, if you are kind-hearted, humble, and gentle, and love all men and women—and especially anchoresses, your dear sisters—so devotedly that you are sorry for their troubles, and as glad of their good as of your own. You should wish that all who love you loved them as they do you, and supported them as they do you. If you have a knife or a piece of cloth, or food or drink, a scroll or a booklet, the comfort of holy men, or anything else that would be of service to them, you should be willing to do without it yourself, as long as they had it. If there is anyone who cannot find it in her heart to do this, she should call on our Lord both day and night with deep sighs, and never leave him in peace until he has changed her accordingly through his grace. a

After ‘words’, F has ‘of which he says in the Gospel’.

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91.  The remedy against anger, I said, is patience, which has three grades: high, and higher, and highest of all and nearest high heaven. The grade is high if you suffer for your guilt; higher if you are not guilty; highest of all if you suffer for the good you have done. ‘No!’ some confused creature may say, ‘If it were my fault, I wouldn’t complain at all.’ Are you out of your mind, talking like this? Would you rather be a partner of Judas than of Jesus Christ? Both were hanged, but Judas for his guilt; Jesus was hanged on the cross without guilt, for his great goodness. Whose partner would you rather be? a Which one would you rather suffer with? There is a great deal written above 270 about how the person who slanders you or does you an injury is your file. ‘Lime’ is the French for ‘file’;b  271 surely that metal c  272 is debased that becomes blacker and rougher the more it is filed, and rusts all the more if it is scoured hard? Gold, silver, steel, iron, are all metals.273 Gold and silver are purified of their dross in the fire; if you accumulate dross in it, that is against nature. The chalice that has been melted down in it and boiled fiercely, and afterwards, through so much beating and polishing, so beautifully fashioned into God’s cup—if it could speak, would it curse its purifying fire and its maker’s hands? Call them debased silver.274 All this world is God’s smith to forge his elect. Do you want God not to have any fire in his smithy, or bellows or hammers? The fire is shame and suffering; your bellows are those who slander you, your hammers, those who injure you. Consider this example. When a day for judgement has been fixed, surely a man is showing contempt of the judge if he breaks the truce before the day fixed, and takes his revenge on the other person on his own account? Augustine: Why does the impious man boast of it if my Father makes a whip of him? 275

And who does not know that Judgement Day is the day fixed for doing justice to everyone? Keep the peace in the meantime, whatever harm is done to you. The righteous Judge has fixed the day to see justice done between you; do not insult him by showing contempt for the vengeance of his judgement and resorting to your own. There are two things that God has reserved for himself, which are glory and vengeance, as Holy Scripture testifies. I will not give up my glory to another. Also: Vengeance is mine, I will repay.276 Anyone who takes either of these two on himself is robbing and plundering God. Are you really so angry with a man or with a woman that you are willing to commit robbery with violence against God in order to get your revenge?

After ‘rather be’, F has ‘Judas or Jesus Christ?’ ‘Lime … file’ is in AGV only. C has ‘Lime is what the file scrapes off the iron’; C2 alters the first part of the sentence (‘Lime is what the’) to ‘“Lime” is the French for “file”’, and modifies the second part to ‘The file scrapes the rust and the roughness off the iron and makes it white and smooth.’ c In the margin opposite ‘metal’, C2 adds ‘Gold, silver, steel, iron, copper, maslin, brass, are all described as metal.’ a

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92.  The remedy for sloth is spiritual joy and the comfort of joyful hope, through reading,a through holy meditation, or by word of mouth.b Often, dear sisters, you should pray less in order to read more. Reading is a good way of praying. Reading teaches you how to pray, and for what, and prayer obtains it afterwards. During reading, when it satisfies the heart, a devotion arises that is worth many prayers. That is why St Jerome says: Jerome: Holy reading should always be in your hand; sleep should steal over you as you hold the book, and the holy page should support your drooping head .277 ‘Holy reading

should be always in your hands; sleep should overcome you as you look at it, and the holy page should support your drooping head.’ So you should read assiduously and at length. Anything, however, can be overdone; moderation is always best. 93. Against avarice, I wish that others would avoid acquisitiveness as you do. Often it is too much generosity that gives rise to it. You should be generous-hearted; from other kinds of liberality, an anchoress has sometimes been too liberal with herself.c 278 94. Lechery comes from gluttony, and from physical comfort; since, as St Gregory says,279 food and drink in excess produce three offspring, reckless words, reckless acts, and the desires of lechery. May our Lord be thanked for having saved you completely d from gluttony; but the physical temptation of lechery will never be completely extinguished. You should be quite clear, however, that there are three stages involved, as St Bernard testifies.280 The first is cogitation; the second is inclination; the third is consent. Cogitations are fleeting thoughts, which do not last; and these, as St Bernard says,281 do not harm the soul, but nevertheless they bespatter her so much with their black spots that she is not fit to be kissed or embraced by Jesus her lover, who is entirely beautiful,e before she is washed. This kind of filth, just as it comes easily, goes away easily with Venias, with Confiteor,f with all good deeds. Inclination is when the thought gets under the skin, and pleasure arises, and the desire grows; then, where there was previously a spot on the white skin, a wound develops and deepens inwards towards the soul as the desire, and the pleasure in it, go further and further. Then you have to cry out, Heal me, Lord;g 282 ‘Ah, Lord, heal me, because I am wounded.’ Reuben, my first-born, do not grow;283 ‘Reuben, you red thought, After ‘reading’, F has ‘of Holy Scripture’. For ‘by word of mouth’, F has ‘through virtuous speech’. c After ‘herself ’, C2 adds ‘that is, liberal with her own body to a lecher because of her hospitality’. d For ‘completely’, N has ‘my dear sisters’. e After ‘beautiful’, F has ‘without a spot’. f After Confiteor, V has ‘with psalms, with Our Fathers’. g Heal me, Lord is altered in N to Lord, heal my soul. a

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you bloodstained pleasure, do not ever grow.’ Consent is the agreement of the reason, when the pleasure in the desire has gone so much too far that there would be no refusal if there were the opportunity to carry out the act. This is when the heart follows her lust as if she were reconciled to it, and begins, so to speak, to turn a blind eye, to leave the devil to his devices, and lays herself down. She bows down to him as he asks, and cries out, ‘I give in! I give in!’ as if in a pleasurable swoon. Then the former cur becomes bold; then, instead of standing at a distance, he leaps forward, and gives God’s dear spouse a mortal bite. A mortal bite indeed; because his teeth are poisoned, like a mad dog’s. David in the Psalter calls him ‘dog’: God, deliver my soul from the sword, my only possession from the power of the dog.284 95.  And so, my dear sister,285 as soon as you ever notice this dog of hell 286 come slinking around with his bloody fleas of stinking thoughts, do not lie there quietly, or sit either, to see what he will do, or how far he will go; do not say drowsily, ‘Oh dear, dog, do get out of here, what do you want in here now?’ This encourages him to come in. Instead, take up the staff of the cross at once by invoking it with your mouth, by making the sign with your hand, by thinking of it in your heart; and tell him angrily to get out, the filthy mongrel, and beat him cruelly with the staff of the holy cross, with hard blows on his back. That is, get up, get moving. Raise your eyes and hands up towards heaven. Cry for help:287 God, come to my aid. Lord, [make haste] to help [me].288 Come, Creator Spirit.289 May God rise up and his enemies be scattered.290 God, save me in your name.291 Lord, why are they multiplied [who persecute me]? 292 Lord, I have raised my soul to you.293 I have raised my eyes to you.294 I have raised my eyes to the hills.a 295 If help does not come to you immediately, cry out more loudly and passionately, How long, Lord, will you forget me, to the end? How long will you turn away your face from me? 296 and so right through the Psalm; Our Father, the Creed, Hail Mary, with supplicating prayers in your own language. Hit the ground hard with your knees, and raise up the staff of the cross and swing it in four directions against the dog of hell—all that means is that you should bless yourself all around with the sign of the holy cross. Spit right in his beard, to show scorn and contempt for the creature who gets round you in this way and pretends to fawn like a dog. When he offers such a low price, the momentary pleasure of a desire, for your soul, God’s precious purchase, which he bought with his blood, and with his hard-earned death on the precious cross, always consider the price that he paid for her, and judge her worth accordingly and value her more highly. You should never sell his precious spouse, who cost him so dearly, to his enemy, and yours too, at such a low price. It is

After ‘hills’, N has ‘all the psalms through; and’, T ‘Say the psalms right through’; similarly PS.

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utterly shameful to make her into the devil’s whore. Anyone who can overcome her enemy by lifting up three fingers, and is unwilling to out of laziness, is altogether too weak. And so lift up your three fingers with true and courageous faith, and beat the dog-devil with the staff of the holy cross, which is the cudgel he hates most. Call frequently on Jesus by name; invoke the help of his Passion; implore him by his suffering, by his precious blood, by his death on the cross; flee to his wounds. He must have loved us very much to let such holes be pierced in him to hide us in. Creep into them with your thought—are they not all open?—and drench your heart with his precious blood. Enter into the rock, hide yourself in the pit.297 ‘Go into the rock,’ says the prophet, ‘and hide yourself in the earth that has been dug’, that is, in the wounds of our Lord’s flesh, which was, so to speak, dug into by the blunt nails, as he said in the Psalter long before: They have dug into my hands and my feet,298 that is, ‘They dug into both my feet and my hands.’ He did not say ‘pierced’; because according to the literal sense, as our masters say, the nails were so blunt that they dug into his flesh and shattered the bone rather than piercing it, to cause him more intense suffering.299 He himself calls you towards these wounds. My dove, in the clefts of the rocks, in the niches of the wall:300 ‘My dove,’ he says, ‘come and hide yourself in the holes in my limbs, in the opening in my side.’ He showed great love to his beloved dove, for whom a he made such a hiding-place. Now see that you, whom he is calling ‘dove’, have the nature of a dove—that is, without gall—and come to him boldly, and make a shield of his Passion; and say with Jeremiah, You will give a shield for the heart, your labour 301—that is, ‘Lord, you will give me a shield for the heart against the devil, your laborious suffering.’ That it was laborious he showed clearly enough when he sweated what appeared to be drops of blood that ran to the ground.302 A shield in battle should be held up above the head, or in front of the chest, not dragged behind. In just the same way, if you want the shield of the cross and God’s cruel Passion to foil the devil’s weapons, do not drag it behind you, but raise it high up above the head of your heart, where the eyes of the heart 303 can see it. Hold it up against the devil; show it to him clearly. Just the sight of it will put him to flight, because he is both humiliated by it and scared out of his wits since that time when our Lord used it to defeat his crafty villainy and his proud strength so completely. If through your negligence you defend yourself weakly at first, and let the devil advance too far to begin with, so that you cannot drive him back because of your extreme weakness,

For ‘he showed … whom’ (A), most manuscripts have ‘He loves [or ‘loved’] greatly the dove for whom’.

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but are so hard-pressed that you cannot hold this shield over your heart or force your heart underneath it away from the devil’s arrows, as a last resort bring out St Benedict’s medicine 304 for yourself—although it need not be as drastic as his was, when he was drenched with streaming blood, back and side and belly, from rolling [in thorns]. But at least give yourself a sharp scourging when you are most strongly under pressure, and drive that sweet delight into suffering as he did. If you do not act like this, but defend yourself drowsily, he will advance too far on you when you least expect it, and lead you on from unclean thoughts to the enjoyment of unclean desire; and so he brings you round completely to the consent of the reason, which is mortal sin without the act—and so too is the enjoyment of that stinking desire without assent to the act, if it lasts long enough. For enjoyment should never be judged to be prolonged while the reason resists and denies its consent;305 it lasts too long when the reason no longer resists it. Therefore, dear sister, as our Lord teaches, trample on the serpent’s head 306—that is, the beginning of his temptation. Blessed is he who will take his little ones and dash them against the rock.307 ‘She is blessed’, says David, ‘who restrains herself at the beginning, and dashes against the rock the first stirrings, when the flesh is rising, while they are young.’ Our Lord is called a rock because of his trustworthiness.308 And in Canticles: Catch for us the little foxes that destroy the vines.309 ‘Beloved,’ our Lord says, ‘take and catch for us at once the young foxes that destroy the vineyards’; these are the first incitements that destroy 310 our souls, which need a great deal of husbandry in order to bear grapes. The devil has the nature of both a bear and an ass, since he is strong in the hindquarters and weak in the head,311 like the bear and the ass 312—that is, in the beginning. Never allow him entry, but tap him on the skull, because he is as weak there as a bear, and hustle him out so fast, and drive him off so ignominiously as soon as you notice him, that he feels he has been humiliated, and is terrified of the place that you live in, since he is the proudest of creatures, and humiliation is what he hates most. 96. And so, dear sister, as soon as ever you feel that your heart is inclining towards excessive love for anything, beware of the serpent’s poison straight away, and trample on its head. The old woman who set fire to her whole house with a straw said quite rightly that a lot comes from a little.313 And take note now how it happens. The spark that flies up does not set the house all ablaze immediately, but lies there and gathers more fire and feeds it, and grows from less to more, until the whole house goes up in flames quite unexpectedly. And the devil blows on it from the moment it first kindles, and steadily increases the blast of his bellows as it grows. Understand how this relates to you. If a sight that you see, or a single word that you should not have listened to, stirs you at all, quench it with the water of tears and with the blood of Jesus Christ while it is only a



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spark, before it grows and sets you so much on fire that you cannot quench it. For often it so happens, and it is God’s just decree, that anyone who does not act when she can, cannot when she would like to.314 Ecclesiasticus: Fire grows out of a single spark.315 97.  This fourth part covers temptation of many kinds, various comforts and numerous remedies. May our Lord give you grace so they can help you. Now confession is more necessary than any of the others. That is what the fifth part will be about, as I promised above;316 and note how each individual part leads into the next, as I said there.

PA RT 5 1.  There are two things you should note first of all about confession: the first, what kind of power it has; the second, how it should be made.1 Now these are like two branches, and each of them is divided, the first into six parts, the second into sixteen. What follows now is about the first. 2.  Confession has many powers, but out of all of them I will only talk about six, three against the devil and three affecting us. Confession defeats the devil, cuts off his head, and scatters his army.2 Confession washes away all our filth, gives us back all we have lost, and makes us God’s children. Each of these has its three divisions. Let us demonstrate them all. 3. The first three are all shown in Judith’s actions. Judith—that is, confession, as was mentioned much earlier—killed Holofernes, that is, the devil of hell (turn back to where we discussed the nature of birds that are compared with the anchoress).3 She cut off his head and afterwards came and showed it to the priests of the city. The devil is defeated when all his crimes a 4 are revealed. His head is cut off and he is killed in a man as soon as he is truly sorry for his sins and has confession in his heart.5 But he is not yet defeated while his head is concealed b 6—as Judith did at first—before it is revealed: that is, before the mortal sin 7 is spoken of in confession, not just the sin itself but all its origins and the circumstances that led to it.8 That is the devil’s head, which must be trampled on at once, as I said before.9 Then his army runs away at once as Holofernes’ did: the tricks and ruses that he attacks us with all take to flight, and the city they had besieged is liberated, that is to say, the sinner is set free. Who could stand against Judas Maccabeus? 10 Also, in Judges, when the people asked after Joshua’s death who was to be their general and lead them into battle—Who will be our general? c 11—our Lord answered them, ‘Judah will go before you, and I will deliver your enemy’s land into his hands.’ 12 Now pay careful attention to what this means. ‘Joshua’ means ‘health’, and ‘Judah’, like ‘Judith’, means ‘confession’. Joshua is dead when the soul’s health is lost through any After ‘crimes’ (GNTV), ‘confessing’ (SP), or ‘Judith’ (L), all manuscripts running except ACF have (with minor variants) of remorseful conscience; for which reason she cut off his head in the bedchamber. b After ‘concealed’ (GPV), ‘Judith’ (T), or ‘before’ (LNS), all manuscripts running except ACF cite (with minor variants), Jud. 14: 15, A Hebrew woman has caused confusion in the house of King Nebuchadnezzar. c After ‘general’, CGPTV have (with minor variants), Judg. 1: 2, Judah will go up, etc. a



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mortal sin. The sinner himself is the land of the devil, who is our mortal enemy; but our Lord promises to deliver this land into Judah’s hands, provided that he goes before. Confession, you see, is a standard-bearer, and carries the banner before the whole of God’s army, which is made up of virtues. Confession deprives the devil of his land, that is, the sinful man, and puts Canaan completely to flight, the army of the devil of hell. Judah did this physically, and confession, which he represents, does the same thing spiritually. Now these are the three effects that confession has on the devil. The other three effects, which it has on ourselves, are the ones that follow. 4.  Confession washes away all our filth, because that is what is written: Everything is washed by confession 13 (the gloss on ‘We will confess to you, O God, we will confess’ ).14 And that was signified when Judith washed herself, and took off her widow’s clothing; that was a sign of sorrow, and sorrow comes only from sin. She washed her body and took off the garments of her widowhood.15 Furthermore, confession makes a complete return of all the virtue that we had lost through mortal sin and pays it back in full. Joel: I will return to you the years that the winged and wingless locust, blight, and canker have devoured.16 This was signified by Judith’s dressing herself in holiday clothes, and adorning herself outwardly, as confession adorns us inwardly, with all the splendid jewellery that signifies bliss. And our Lord says through Zechariah: They will be as they had been before I had rejected them:17 that is, confession will make a man just as he was before he sinned, as clean and as handsome and as rich in every virtue belonging to the soul. The third effect confession has on ourselves is the product of these other two, and completes them both: that is, it makes us children of God. This is signified by the fact that Judah in Genesis gained Benjamin from Jacob.18 ‘Benjamin’ is the equivalent of ‘son of the right hand’.19 ‘Judah’ means ‘confession’, just as ‘Judith’ does, because they both mean the same thing in Hebrew. This spiritual Judah was allowed by his father Jacob—that is, our Lord—to become the son of his right hand, and enjoy for ever the inheritance of heaven. 5. Now we have discussed the effectiveness of confession and what powers it has, and named six of them. Let us now look carefully at what confession must be like to be so effective; and to demonstrate it better, let us now divide this part into sixteen sections.20 6.  Confession must be accusatory, bitter with regret, complete, naked, frequently made, prompt, humble, shameful, fearful, and hopeful, discreet, truthful, and voluntary, one’s own, resolute, and well thought out beforehand. Now these are, as it were, sixteen points that are linked with confession, and we will say something separately about each one. 7.  Confession must be accusatory. You must accuse yourself in confession,

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not excuse yourself and say, ‘It was someone else’s fault’, ‘I was forced to’, ‘The devil made me do it.’ That is how Adam and Eve excused themselves, Adam by blaming Eve and Eve by blaming the serpent.21 The devil cannot force anyone to sin, although he may give encouragement; but he is very pleased when anybody claims that he made him commit sin, as if he had the power, when he has none at all except from us. But you ought to say, ‘My own sinfulness caused it, and I gave in to the devil of my own free will.’ If you blame anything but yourself for your sin, you are not making a confession at all. If you say that your weakness meant that you could not do anything else, you are diverting the blame for your sin to God, who made you (by your account) in such a way that you could not resist.22 Let us accuse ourselves, then, seeing that St. Paul says: If we passed judgement on ourselves, we would certainly not be judged.23 That is, if we accuse ourselves properly and pass judgement on ourselves here in this world, we will be spared from accusation at the great Judgement, about which St Anselm says these dreadful words: On one side there will be accusing sins, on the other terrifying Justice; the angry Judge above, the hideous chaos of hell gaping below; inside, a burning conscience, outside, a world in flames. Where is the sinner caught in this way to hide himself? 24 On the one side on Judgement Day our black sins will forcefully accuse us of the murder of our souls; on the other side, Justice stands without any mercy, frightening and terrifying and dreadful to see; above us the angry Judge—since he will be as harsh in the next world as he is gentle in this, as stern then as he is mild now, a lamb here, a lion there, as the prophet testifies: The lion will roar; who will not be afraid? 25 ‘The lion will roar’, he says; ‘who will not be afraid?’ We call him a lamb here as often as we sing Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world.26 Now, as I said, we will see above us that angry Judge who is also a witness and knows all our crimes; below us the wide throat of hell gaping open; inside us our own conscience (that is, our sense of right and wrong) 27 being consumed with the fire of sin; outside us the whole world blazing in dark flames up into the clouds. How will things stand then for the wretched sinner hemmed in like this? Which of these four is he to turn to? He can only listen to those harsh words, those bitter words, those terrifying words, most dreadful of all: Go, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.28 ‘Go, you accursed ones, out of my sight, into the everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and for his angels. You evaded man’s sentence, to which I condemned humanity, which was to live in labour and suffering on earth, and so you will now have the devil’s sentence, to burn with him eternally in the fire of hell.’ At this the lost souls will raise such a howl that both heaven and hell might be filled with horror. That is why St Augustine lovingly teaches us: Recollecting that



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he must appear before the tribunal of Christ, a man should ascend the tribunal of his own mind. Recollection should sit there as prosecutor, Conscience as witness, Fear as executioner.29 That is, a man should recollect Judgement Day and judge himself here in the following way. Reason should sit as judge 30 in the judgement seat. Then his Recollection should come forward and accuse him, denouncing him for various sins: ‘My good friend, you did this there, and this there, and this there, and in this way.’ His Conscience should admit this and bear witness: ‘It’s true, it’s true, this and much more.’ Then Fear should come forward by order of the judge, who should sternly command, ‘Take him and tie him up firmly, because he deserves death. Tie up every part of the body that he has sinned with so that he cannot sin with them any more.’ Fear has tied him up when he dare not move towards sin because of fear. But the judge (that is, Reason) is still not satisfied, even though he is tied up and refraining from sin, unless he pays the penalty for the sin he has committed; and calls forward Pain and Sorrow, and orders Sorrow to punish his heart internally with bitter repentance, so that it feels distress, and Pain to punish his body externally with fasting and other kinds of physical suffering. Whoever passes judgement on himself in this way before the great Judgement is happy and blessed, because as the prophet says, God will not pass judgement twice on the same case.31 Our Lord does not want a man to be judged twice for the same offence. God’s court does not work in the same way as the county court, where the man who denies everything plausibly may be saved, and the man who confesses convicted.32 Before God, things are different. If you accuse yourself, God excuses you, and vice versa.33 If you accuse yourself in this world, God will defend you in the next, and acquit you completely at the strict Judgement, provided that you judge yourself as I have taught you. 8.  Confession must be bitter, to counterbalance the sweetness felt earlier in the sin. Judith, whose name means ‘confession’, as I have often said,34 was Merari’s daughter;35 and Judah, whose name also means ‘confession’, took Tamar as his wife.36 Merari and Tamar both mean the same thing a in Hebrew. Now pay close attention to the significance of this. I will explain it briefly. Confession must be the offspring of bitter regret, as Judith was of Merari. And both should be coupled together, as Judah and Tamar were, because either without the other is of little or no value; they will never give birth to Pharez and Zarah. Judah fathered on Tamar Pharez and Zarah (Pharez is interpreted as division, Zarah as rising), who in spiritual terms mean division from sin, and the grace that arises later in the heart.37 If you consider four things that mortal sin has done to you, they can make you feel regret and bitterness in your heart. Here is the first one. If a man had lost in a single hour his father and his mother, his sisters and his brothers, a

‘The same thing’ in A only; all other manuscripts running have ‘bitterness’.

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and all his relations and all the friends that he ever had had suddenly died, surely he would be the most wretched and miserable man in the world, as he might well be? God knows, whoever has spiritually killed God in his soul with mortal sin should be far more wretched; not only has he lost the sweet Father of heaven and St Mary, his precious mother (or Holy Church, when he receives nothing at all from her), but the angels of heaven and all the holy saints who before that time were like his friends and brothers and sisters are dead to him. As far as he is concerned, he has killed them all, and where they live eternally they all feel hatred for him, as Jeremiah testifies: All her friends have rejected her; they have become her enemies,38 that is, all those who loved him feel contempt for him, and they all hate him. What is more, as soon as he committed mortal sin, his children all died—these are his good works, which are all lost. And on top of all this, he himself is transformed, and changed from a child of God to a child of the devil of hell, hideous to look at, as God himself says in the Gospel, You are from your father the devil.39 Everyone should think of the position that he is in, or used to be, and then he can see why he ought to lament. That is why Jeremiah says, Raise a lament for your only son, a bitter complaint;40 lament bitterly, as a woman does who has only had one child, and sees him struck down before her eyes. And now the second reason I promised you. If a man were condemned, for a vicious murder, to be burnt alive or ignominiously hanged, what would he feel like? Why, you wretched sinner, when you murdered the spouse of God (that is, your soul) through mortal sin, you were condemned to be hanged on a burning gallows in the eternal fire of hell. At that point you made a pact for your death with the devil, and said with the damned in Isaiah, We have made a covenant with death, and entered into a pact with hell,41 that is, ‘We have made a promise to death, and confirmed a pact with hell.’ For this is the devil’s bargain: he is to give you sin, and you are to give him your soul, and your body as well, to suffer pain and misery for all eternity. Now, briefly, the third reason. If a man had the whole world in his power, and lost it all in a single hour because of his wickedness, imagine how upset and distressed he would be. Then you should be a hundred times more distressed at losing the kingdom of heaven for a single mortal sin, losing our Lord, who is a hundred times, yes, a thousand times better than the whole world, both earth and heaven. For what covenant has Christ with Belial? 42 And now the fourth reason. If the king had entrusted his much-loved son to the care of one of his knights, and enemies from abroad abducted this child in his care, so that the child himself made war on his father with those enemies, surely that knight would be distressed and deeply ashamed? We are all sons of God, the King



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of heaven, who has entrusted each of us to the care of an angel.43 He is distressed in his way when the enemy abducts us, when we make war on our good Father with sin. We should be sorry that we ever have occasion to anger such a father, and distress such a guardian, who constantly protects and defends us against evil spirits, because otherwise things would go badly for us. But we drive him away when we commit mortal sin,a and they spring at us as soon as he draws back from us. Let us keep him near us, and us in his care, with the sweet smell of good b works.44 Heaven knows, every one of us gives too little honour to such a noble guardian, and we thank him too little for his service. These and many others are the reasons why we should be deeply sorry for our sins, and shed bitter tears; and whoever can do this is fortunate, because tears are the salvation of the soul. Our Lord treats us as one treats a bad debtor—takes less than we owe him and is satisfied nevertheless. We owe him blood for blood, and even so our blood would be a very unequal exchange for the blood that he shed for us. But do you know the saying, ‘People take oats for wheat from a bad debtor’? So too our Lord takes our tears in exchange for his blood, and is well pleased.45 He wept—on the cross, over Lazarus, over Jerusalem—for other men’s sins; if we weep for our own, it is not surprising. ‘Let us weep’, said the holy man in the Lives of the Fathers,46 after people had clamoured for a long time for a sermon from him. ‘We should shed tears’, he said, ‘so that our own tears do not scald us in hell.’ 9. Confession must be complete: that is, everything from childhood on should be confessed to one person.47 When a poor widow wants to clean her house, first of all she gathers the worst of the dirt in a heap, and then clears it out. Then she comes back again and makes another heap of what was left earlier, and clears that out as well. Then if the fine dust is rising in clouds, she sprinkles water on it, and sweeps it out after all the rest. In the same way, anyone making confession should clear out the smaller things after the major ones. If the dust of frivolous thoughts flies too thickly, he should sprinkle tears on them; then they will not blind the eyes of the heart.48 Whoever conceals anything has said nothing to release himself from guilt, but is like the man who is suffering from several mortal wounds, and shows them all to the doctor and has them healed except for one, which he dies from as he would have from all of them.49 He is like the crew of a ship full of holes through which the water is rushing in, and they block all but one, by which they are all drowned.50 There is a story about a holy man who was on his deathbed and was reluctant to confess a sin from his childhood; and his abbot told him to confess it anyway. And he answered that there was no need, because he was a small child when a b

For ‘sin’ (also LPSV), CFGT have ‘filth’, N ‘sin and filth’. For ‘good’ (also LS), CGNV have ‘fragrant’, TS ‘sweet’.

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he committed it. But in the end he reluctantly confessed it at the abbot’s insistence, and died shortly afterwards. After his death he came one night and appeared to his abbot in snow-white robes as one of the saved, and said that if he had not openly confessed what he had done as a child, he would certainly have been damned.51 There is a similar story of someone else who was almost damned because he had once forced a man to drink, and had died without confessing it; and another of a lady, because she had lent one of her garments to a woman for a wake.52 But if someone has carefully searched all the corners of his heart and cannot find anything more, if there is anything hidden away it is, I hope, cleared out in confession with the rest,a  53 if there is no negligence involved and he would gladly say more if he could. 10.  Confession must be naked: that is, things should be laid bare, not glossed over or politely veiled, but the words should be appropriate to the actions. It is a sign of hate when people violently abuse something they detest. If you hate your sin, why do you talk so politely about it? Why do you hide its filthiness? Insult it shamefully and abuse it, if you are really willing to shame the devil. ‘Father,’ a woman will say, ‘I have had a lover’, or ‘I have made a fool of myself.’ This is not naked confession. Don’t wrap it up. Get rid of the trimmings! b Lay yourself bare and say, ‘Father, God have mercy! I am a filthy stud-mare, a stinking whore!’ Give your enemy a bad name, and describe your sin crudely. Strip it stark-naked in confession:54 that is, do not conceal anything about all the circumstances.55 (Though it is possible to speak too crudely. There is no need to call that filthy act by its own filthy name, or the shameful parts of the body by their actual names. It is enough to put it so that the holy confessor understands clearly what you mean to say.) 56 11. There are six things associated with sin that conceal it, ‘circumstances’ in Latin (in English they can be called ‘accessories’): person, place, time, manner, number, cause.57 12. Person: who committed the sin, or who it was committed with. Reveal this, and say, ‘Father, I am a woman, and ought by rights to be all the more ashamed of having said what I said, or done what I did; for this reason my sin is worse than a man’s, because it was more unbecoming for me. I am an anchoress; a nun; a married woman; an unmarried girl;

a Augustine: If awareness is lacking, the punishment gives satisfaction, with minor variants, after ‘the rest’ in CPT, after ‘if he could’ in GLNV; not in AF. b After ‘trimmings’, N has ‘which are the circumstances’.



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a woman in whom great trust was placed; a woman who has burnt her fingers in the same way before and should have been better prepared against it. Father, it was with someone of this kind’—and then name it: ‘monk, priest, or clerk, and of such-and-such an order; a married man; an innocent creature;58 a woman like myself.’ So much for ‘person’.a 13. Similarly for the place: ‘Father, I joked or talked in this way in church; joined in round dances in the churchyard;59 watched the dances or the wrestling,b and other frivolous amusements; talked in such a way or joked in the presence of people living in the world, or of religious, in the anchor-house, at another window than I should have, near sacred things. I kissed him there; touched him in such-and-such a place, or myself. I had these thoughts in church, watched him at the altar.’ c 14. Similarly for the time: ‘Father, I was old enough to have known better. Father, I did it in Lent; on fast-days; on festal days;60 when other people were at church. Father, I was overcome quickly, and the sin is greater than if I had been brought down by strength and many throws.61 Father, it was my fault in the first place that such a situation arose, because I came to such a place and at such a time. I carefully considered, before I ever did it, how wrong it would be if I did, and went ahead all the same.’ 15.  In the same way describe the manner, which is the fourth circumstance: ‘Father, this is how I committed this sin, and in such a way. This is how I first learnt about it; this is how I first got involved with it; this is how I carried on with it, in so many ways, so filthily, so disgracefully; this is how I looked for pleasure, in what way I could best satisfy the burning of my lust’, and describe it in full. 16.  Number is the fifth circumstance: describing in full how often it has been done. ‘Father, I have done this so often, been accustomed to speaking in this way, listening to this kind of talk, thinking these kinds of thought, neglecting and forgetting things, laughing, eating or drinking more or less than necessary. I have been angry so many times since I last made my confession, and for such a reason, and it lasted for such a time; have told lies so often, done this and this so often. I have done this to so many people, and in so many ways.’ 17.  Cause is the sixth circumstance. Cause is the reason you did it, or helped other people to do it, or what started it in the first place. ‘Father, I did it for pleasure; for illicit love; for gain; out of fear; because of flattery. Father, I did it with an evil intention, even if no harm came of it. Father, my frivolous answer or my flirtatious glances first attracted him to me. Father, After ‘person’, T has ‘In the same way a man should examine himself, and lay himself open in confession’; similarly S. b After ‘wrestling’, T has ‘or wrestled myself’, similarly S. c After ‘altar’, TS have ‘as he offered’. a

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this word, or this action, led to anger and recriminations. Father, the reason why the problem is still going on is that I was so weak-willed.’ 18.  Each individual should give an account of his circumstances according to his condition, a man as it applies to him, a woman as it concerns her; because I have not discussed any here except to remind a man or a woman of what is relevant to them through those that have been mentioned here in passing. Strip your sin of these six veils in this way, and lay it bare in your confession as Jeremiah teaches: Pour out your heart like water,62 ‘Pour out your heart like water.’ If oil is poured out of a vessel, some of the liquid will still remain inside; if milk is poured out, the colour remains; if wine is poured out, the smell remains; but water runs out completely. In the same way pour out your heart—that is, all the evil that is in your heart. If you do not, see how terribly God himself threatens you through Nahum the prophet:a I will reveal your nakedness to nations and your shame to kingdoms, and cast your abominations over you.63 ‘You would not uncover yourself to the priest in confession; and I will lay bare your wickedness completely to all nations, and your shameful sins to all kingdoms—to the kingdom of earth, to the kingdom of hell, to the kingdom of heaven—and tie all your vileness in a bundle around your neck, as is done to the thief who is led to judgement; and so with all that shame you will topple into hell, bundle and all.’ 64 Oh, says St Bernard, what confusion, what shame there will be when, after the leaves are scattered and dispersed, every infamy is laid bare, the pus comes to the surface.65 ‘Oh,’ says St Bernard, ‘what shame and what grief will be there at the Judgement, when all the leaves will be scattered, and all that filth is revealed, and the pus oozes out’ before all the wide world, the inhabitants of earth and of heaven—not only of actions but of failures to act, of words and of thoughts that have not been atoned for here on earth, as St Anselm testifies: You will be asked how you spent every moment allotted to you.66 An account will be drawn up there of how every moment of time was spent here. When, after the leaves are scattered, etc. ‘When all the leaves’, says St Bernard, ‘will be scattered.’ He saw how Adam and Eve, when they had sinned in the beginning, gathered leaves and made coverings of them for their shameful parts. Many people follow them in this,67 inclining their hearts to words of wickedness, to excuses to be made when sinning.68 19.  Confession must be made often. That is why it says in the Psalter, We will confess to you, O God, we will confess.69 And our Lord himself says to his disciples, Let us go again into Judaea.70 ‘Let us go again into Judaea’, he said. ‘Judaea’ signifies ‘confession’; and so we find that he often went out of Galilee into Judaea. ‘Galilee’ signifies ‘wheel’, in order to teach us that we should often leave the world’s mutability and the wheel of sin for After ‘prophet’, all manuscripts running but A have Behold, I am against you, says the Lord.

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confession; because this is the sacrament, after the Eucharist and after baptism, which is most hateful to the devil, as he has himself—much against his will—admitted to holy men. Will a piece of woven cloth be properly bleached if it is dipped in water once? A dirty one thoroughly washed? You wash your hands two or three times in a single day, but often you will not wash the soul—the spouse of Jesus Christ, who shows up filth more clearly the whiter she is, unless she is washed—once in a week for God’s embrace. The Confiteor, holy water, prayers, meditations, signs of the cross, genuflexions, every good word, every good work, wash away small sins that cannot all be confessed;71 but confession is always the most important thing. 20.  Confession must be promptly made: if a sin happens to be committed at night, straight away or in the morning; if it happens by day, before you go to bed. Who would dare to sleep while his mortal enemy held a drawn sword over his head? Those who fall asleep on the brink of hell often tumble right in before they realize it. If someone has fallen into a blazing fire, isn’t he more than mad if he lies there considering when he will get up? A woman who has lost her needle, or a cobbler his awl, looks for it at once and turns over every straw until it is found; and God, lost through sin, will be left without a search for a full week! 21.  There are nine things that should make you hurry to confession.72 One is the interest mounting on the penalty; for sin is the devil’s capital, which he lends out at interest for a repayment of suffering, and the longer a man lies in his sin, the greater the suffering that has to be repaid, in Purgatory, in this world, or in hell (From usury and sin, etc.a).73 The second thing is the heavy and terrible loss he sustains, in that nothing he does is pleasing to God (Strangers have devoured his strength).74 The third is death: that he does not know whether he will die suddenly that very day (My son, do not delay, etc.b).75 The fourth is sickness: that he cannot think properly about anything but his illness, or say what he should rather than groaning in pain, and complaining about his suffering more than his sin (You shall confess while you are alive and well ).76 The fifth thing is how disgraceful it is to lie there for such a long time after a fall, and especially under the devil.c 77 The sixth is From usury … etc. at this point in ANP, after ‘to be repaid’ in GLSTV; not in CF, but added in the margin of C by C3. C3GLNSTV complete the quotation, he will redeem their souls. b My son … etc., with varying forms of reference, at this point in all manuscripts but CF (added by C3 in the margin of C). LS complete the sentence, your return to the Lord, and put it off from day to day; for his anger will come suddenly, and destroy you in the day of vengeance. C3GNTV continue the quotation to the Lord, and add For you do not know; T continues further, what the coming day may bring. c After ‘devil’, LPNST have Arise, you who are sleeping; also added in the margin of C by C3. a

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the wound, which is constantly getting worse as time goes on, and harder to heal (Resist the early stages; if you wait, / The cure for your disease may come too late).78 The seventh thing is bad habits, which are signified by Lazarus, who stank because he had lain so long in the earth; our Lord wept over him, as the Gospel says,79 and trembled, and became anxious, and called out to him loudly. These four things he did before he raised him, to show how hard it is for someone who is rotting in his sin to rise out of bad habits. Holy Mary! Lazarus stank after four days; what does a sinner stink like after four or five years? 80 How difficult it is for someone to rise who is oppressed by the weight of bad habits! 81 ‘Oh,’ says St Augustine, ‘how difficult it is for someone to rise who has lain for a long time in the habit of sin!’ Many dogs 82 have surrounded me.83 ‘Many dogs’, says David, ‘have surrounded me.’ When greedy dogs are standing in front of the table, surely a stick is needed? Won’t you use it as often as any of them jumps up towards you and steals your food from you? Otherwise they would snatch everything you had from you. And so in the same way you must take the stick of your tongue, and whenever the dog of hell snatches anything good from you, hit him at once with the stick of your tongue in confession, and hit him so hard that he will be unwilling and frightened to snap at you again. That blow is the one that he hates most of all. If a dog gnaws leather to pieces or worries livestock, he is beaten at once so that he understands why he is being beaten; then he does not dare to do the same thing again. In the same way, beat the hound of hell at once with your tongue’s confession, and he will be afraid to play such a trick on you again. Who is so stupid that he says of the dog that gnaws leather, ‘Wait until tomorrow, don’t beat him yet’? On the contrary, beat him at once—beat him, beat him at once! There is nothing in the world that gives him more pain than that kind of beating. The deeper you wade in the devil’s mire, the later you come up.84 The eighth thing is what St Gregory says, The sin that is not washed away by confession soon drags you down by its weight to another :85 that is, a sin that is not atoned for at once soon attracts another, and that again the third, and so each one generates more and worse offspring than the mother herself. The ninth reason is, the sooner you begin to do your penance here, the less you have to atone for in the torment of Purgatory. These now are nine reasons—and there are many more—why confession ought always to be made promptly. 22.  Confession must be humble, as the tax-collector’s was, not like that of the Pharisee, who gave an account of his good deeds, and displayed what was healthy when he should have uncovered his wounds; because of that he left the temple, as our Lord himself tells us, without being healed.86 Humility



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is like these crafty beggars who are always showing off their ulcer or their running sore, and if it is disgusting, they make it look still worse in the sight of rich men so that they should feel sorry for them and give them money more readily;87 they hide their sound clothing and put tattered rags on top of it. In the same way Humility virtuously deceives our Lord and takes advantage of his generosity with pious fraud; she is always hiding her assets, displaying her poverty, showing her sores, crying and groaning in the sight of God; she makes extravagant appeals to him by his cruel Passion, by his precious blood, by his five wounds, by his mother’s tears, by the breasts that he sucked, the milk that fed him, by the love of all his saints, by the dear love that he feels for his dear spouse (that is, for the pure soul or for Holy Church),88 by his death on the cross to win her. With such incessant pleading she begs for some help for a poor wretched creature, treatment for the sick, to heal her sores. And our Lord, when he is appealed to in this way, feels too much pity to deny her or upset her by a refusal, especially as his generosity is so extreme that he likes nothing better than finding an excuse for giving. But if anyone boasts about his assets, as these arrogant people do in confession, what is the point of helping them? A lot of people have a way of confessing their sins that is like a disguised boast, and are fishing for praise for their superior holiness. 23.  Confession must be shameful. The fact that the people of Israel went out through the Red Sea, which was red and bitter, signifies that we must travel to heaven through the red-faced shame that is felt in true confession, and through bitter repentance.89 It is quite proper, Christ knows, that we should feel ashamed in the presence of a man, since we forgot shame when we committed the sin in the sight of God. For all things are laid bare and open in the sight of him to whom we must give an account;90 ‘For everything that exists is laid bare,’ says St Paul, ‘and open to the sight of him to whom we must account for all our deeds.’ Shame, as St Augustine says, is the greatest part of our penance: Shame is a large part of penance.91 And St Bernard says that no precious stone is so pleasing to a man’s sight as the blush of a man who is honestly confessing his sins is to God’s sight.92 Make sure that you understand what follows. Confession is a sacrament, and every sacrament has an external sign of what it does internally, as for example with baptism: the external washing represents the internal washing of the soul. In the same way, in confession the living redness of the face signifies that the soul, which was livid and had only a deathly colour, has a

a

After ‘beggars’, F has ‘mendicants and the afflicted’.

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been given a living colour and a healthy complexion. (But internal penitence is not described as a sacrament, only external or public or solemn penance.) 93

24.  Confession must be fearful, so that you can say with Jerome, As often as I have made my confession, I feel that I have not confessed, ‘As often as I have made my confession, I always feel that I have not confessed’; because one of the circumstances has always been forgotten.94 That is why St Augustine says, However praiseworthy a man’s life may be, it will go hard with him if you lay aside your mercy when you examine it:95 that is, the best man in the whole world would come to grief if our Lord judged him entirely according to justice rather than mercy. But mercy surpasses justice:96 but his mercy towards us always outweighs strict justice. 25.  Confession must be hopeful. If someone says what he knows and does everything that he can, God does not ask for anything more. But hope and fear must always be mixed together. To signify this, it was commanded under the Old Law that nobody should separate a pair of millstones. The lower one, which lies still and supports a heavy weight, signifies fear, which restrains people from sin, and is weighed down in this world with a heavy load of suffering so as not to incur a heavier one. The upper stone signifies hope, which constantly runs around and busies itself with good works in the confident expectation of a great reward.97 Nobody should separate these two from each other. For as St Gregory says, Hope without fear swells into presumption, fear without hope sinks into despair ;98 fear without hope leads to despair, and hope without fear leads to presumption. These two vices, despair and presumption, are the devil’s hunting-stations, from which the wretched animal seldom escapes. A hunting-station is where men sit with the greyhounds in wait for the hare, or set a trap for it with the nets. The devil is constantly driving his prey towards one or the other; for there are his greyhounds, there are his nets. Of all sins, despair and presumption are the closest to the gate of hell. Cain and Judas confessed in fear without hope (that is, with despair), which is why they were lost.99 What the wretched man says in the Psalter is spoken in hope without fear (that is, with presumption): He will not judge according to the greatness of his wrath:100 ‘God is not as harsh as you make him out to be’, he says. ‘On the contrary,’ says David, ‘he is indeed’; and then says, How has the impious man angered God? For he has said in his heart, ‘He will not judge’.101 First of all, he calls the presumptuous man ‘impious’. How does the impious man anger almighty God? By saying, ‘He will not judge as strictly as you say.’ On the contrary, he certainly will. So these two vices are compared with violent thieves, because one of them (that is, presumption) robs God of his righteous judgement and his justice, the other (that is, despair) robs him of his mercy. And so they are trying to destroy God himself; because God could not exist without justice, or



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without mercy. Now then, what vices are as great as those which in their perversity want to annihilate God? If you are over-confident and think that God is too soft-hearted to avenge sin, you are claiming that he approves of sin. But look how he punished his archangel for an impulse of pride; how he punished Adam for a bite from an apple; how he plunged Sodom and Gomorrah, man, woman, and child, the famous cities, the whole of a large country, into the depths of hell, where there is now the Dead Sea, in which there is nothing living; how he drowned the whole world in Noah’s flood, except for the eight people in the ark; how he cruelly took his revenge on his own people, his beloved Israel, whenever they sinned—Dathan and Abiram, Korah and his companions,102 the others too that he slew by many thousands, often just because they complained. On the other hand, if you despair of his immeasurable mercy, look how easily and how quickly St Peter, after he had abandoned him, and that because of what a servingwoman said, was reconciled with him; how the thief on the cross, who had always led a wicked life, gained mercy from him in an instant with a few well-chosen words. Therefore between these two, despair and presumption, hope and fear should always be linked together. 26.  Confession must also be discreet,103 and made to a discreet man, when it is about secret sins, not to young priests—I mean immature ones— or to foolish old ones. Begin first at pride and go through all its branches as they are written out above,104 to see which might apply to you; then do the same with envy; and so let us go downwards line by line as far as the last, and collect all the offspring together under the mother. 27.  Confession must be truthful. Do not lie about yourself;105 because as St Augustine says, Anyone who lies about himself for the sake of humility becomes what he was not before, that is, a sinner,106 ‘Anyone who tells lies about himself out of too much humility becomes sinful even though he was not before.’ St Gregory says, however, It is the nature of virtuous minds to perceive a fault where there is no fault:107 the nature of a virtuous heart is to be afraid of sin often where there is none, or to give its sin more weight than it ought. To give it too little weight is as bad or worse; the middle way of moderation is always golden.108 We should always live in fear; for often we plan to do something slightly wrong and commit a grave sin, often we plan to do good and do great harm. So we should always say with St Anselm: Even our goodness is so corrupted in some way that it may not please God, or may actively displease him.109 St Paul: I know that there is nothing good in me—that is, in my flesh.110 None of the goodness in us is ours; our goodness comes from God. But sin is part of us, and our own. When I do good for God, St Anselm says, my evil corrupts it in such a way that either I do it reluctantly, or too soon or too late, or am pleased with it even

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though nobody knows about it, or would like somebody to know about it, or do it negligently or too indiscreetly, too much or too little. In this way some evil is always mixed with the goodness that God’s grace gives me, so that it may give little pleasure to God, and often displease him.a  111 Holy Mary! When the holy man talked about himself like this,b how truly we wretched creatures can say the same of ourselves! 28.  Confession should be voluntary: that is, made readily without being asked, not dragged out of you as if against your will. As long as you can say anything, say it without being questioned. Nobody should be questioned unless they have to be, because questioning can be morally dangerous unless it is very discreet.112 Furthermore, many people put off making their confession until it is absolutely necessary; but often the tactic misfires,113 so that someone who would not when he could cannot when he wants to.114 There is no greater stupidity than for someone to fix a time for payment with God, as if grace belonged to him, as if he carried it in his purse,c to be drawn on at a time fixed by himself. No, my fine friend, no! The time is in God’s hands, not under your control. When God offers it to you, seize it with both hands; because if he withdraws his offer, you might have to wait a long time for another chance. If illness or something else forces you to go to confession, look what St Augustine says: Forced services do not please God,115 ‘Duties performed under compulsion do not please our Lord.’ But even so, ‘Oh!’ is better than ‘No!’; he says later himself, Confession is never too late, at least if it is sincere,116 ‘Confession is never too late if it is sincerely made.’ But what David says is better: My flesh has flowered again and I shall confess to him of my own free will,117 that is, ‘My flesh has flowered, become completely new, because I shall make my confession and honour God voluntarily.’ ‘Flowered’ is a good choice of word to describe voluntary confession, because both the earth and the trees, without being forced, open up and produce various flowers. In Canticles: Flowers have appeared in our land.118 Humility, abstinence, the innocence of the dove, and other such virtues are flowers beautiful to God’s eyes and sweet-scented to his nose. Make his pleasure-garden from them within yourself, because his delight, he says, is to stay there. And my delight is to be among the children of men: in the book of Proverbs.119 29.  Confession should be one’s own. Nobody should accuse anyone other than himself in confession, as far as he can. I say this because sometimes a man or a woman may be placed in such a position that she cannot fully accuse herself unless she accuses others as well; but she 120 should After ‘displease him’, F has, ‘St Paul says the same above. “I know”, he says, “that there is no good in me”, and by that he means the same as I said about St Anselm’s saying.’ b For ‘the holy man … like this’, F has ‘these holy men talked about themselves like this’; similarly PS. c For ‘as if … purse’ (in A only), L has as if it were in his power. a



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nevertheless not mention the person concerned by name, even though the confessor may know very well who is involved, but ‘a monk’ or ‘a priest’, not ‘William’ or ‘Walter’, even if it cannot be anyone else.121 30.  Confession must be resolute, to keep to the penance and give up the sin; so that you should say to the priest, ‘I firmly intend and wish to give up this sin and do the penance for it.’ The priest must not ask you if you will swear not to commit the sin from then on; it is enough that you say that you sincerely intend to renounce it by the grace of God, and that if you fall into it a second time, you will rise up straight away with God’s help, and come again to confession. Go, and do not sin any more:122 ‘Go,’ said our Lord to a sinful woman,a ‘and make it your intention not to sin any more.’ And so he asked for no other assurance. 31.  Confession ought to be thought out well beforehand. Organize your sins mentally under five headings:123 under all the stages of your life, from childhood, from youth, collect everything together; then go through the places that you lived in, and think carefully what you did in each place individually, and in each stage of your life; then seek out and track down all the sins you have committed in your five senses; then, in all the parts of your body, to see where you have sinned worst or most often; finally, arrange them separately by days and hours. 32.  Now you have had all the sixteen sections that I promised to divide for you; and I have broken them all up for you, my dear sisters, as people do for children who might die of hunger with unbroken bread. But be sure that I have let fall many crumbs; look for them and gather them up, because they are food for the soul.124 33.  A confession of this kind, which has these sixteen sections, has those great powers that I mentioned at first: three against the devil, three affecting us, and three against the world,125 more precious than gold or jewels from India. 34.  My dear sisters, this fifth part, which is about confession, is relevant to everybody alike; so do not be surprised that I have not spoken to you in particular in this part. But here is a short final section for your use. 35.  All manifest sins,126 such as pride, arrogance, or conceit, envy, anger, laziness, carelessness, idle chatter, undisciplined thoughts, listening to gossip, senseless high spirits or black moods, hypocrisy, eating or drinking too much or too little, grumbling, sulking, breaking times of silence, sitting too long at the window, saying the Hours incorrectly, without concentrating, or at the wrong time, lying, swearing, being frivolous, shaking with

For ‘to … woman’, L has to the adulteress, S ‘to the one whom he cured, and who signifies the penitent’; not in other manuscripts.

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laughter, spilling crumbs or ale, letting things go mouldy, rusty, or rotten, leaving clothes undarned, damp with rain, or unwashed, breaking cups or plates, or not taking enough care of anything that you are working with or are supposed to look after, cutting or injuring yourself out of carelessness, all the things in this rule that have been neglected—an anchoress should confess all things of this kind at least once a week. For none of them is so small that the devil has not recorded it on his roll;127 but confession erases it, and makes him waste a great deal of his time. But everything that confession does not erase, he will most certainly read out on the Day of Judgement as part of the charge against you; not one word will be missing there. Now then, my advice is to give him as little as you can to write, because there is no occupation that he likes better. And whatever he writes, try to erase it completely; there is no better way for you to frustrate him. 36.  An anchoress can confess those external sins that are common to everyone to any priest; but if she is subject to sexual temptations, she must be very confident of the virtue of the priest to whom she reveals this fully, unless she is in danger of death. It seems to me, however, that she can say this much: ‘Father, a sexual temptation that I am feeling, or have felt, is gaining too much influence over me because of my consent. I am afraid that I might sometimes pursue my thoughts too far, foolish and sometimes filthy as they are, as if I were hunting for pleasure. I could often shake them off through God’s strength, if I tried more promptly and vigorously. I am very much afraid that the pleasure in the thought often lasts too long, so that it almost has the consent of the reason.’ I would not like to risk her making her confession on this matter in more detail or more explicitly to a young priest (and he would perhaps be shocked even by this);128 but to her own confessor, or to some man of holy life, if she has access to him, she should pour out everything in the pot; there she should vomit out the whole scandal, there she should abuse that filthiness with foul language for what it is, so that she should be afraid that she is offending the ears of the man who is listening to her sins.129 If any anchoress knows nothing about such things, she should give earnest thanks to Jesus Christ, and live in fear; the devil is not dead, she can be sure of that, even if he is asleep. 37. You should make amends for minor sins on your own (although even so you should mention them in confession when they occur to you as you are speaking to the priest). For the very smallest, as soon as you realize what you have done, prostrate yourself with arms outstretched in front of your altar, and say, ‘Through my fault, I have sinned, have mercy, Lord.’ Unless a sin is fairly serious, the priest need not impose any other penance on you for it than the life that you are leading according to this rule. But after the absolution he must say as follows: ‘I enjoin and impose on you,



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for the remission of these and for the forgiveness of all your sins, all the good that you ever do and all the harm that you ever suffer for the love of Jesus Christ within the walls of your cell.’ And then he can give you some small penance, such as a Psalm or two, or ten or twelve Our Fathers or Hail Marys; he can add disciplines to this if he thinks fit. He must judge the sin as more or less serious according to the circumstances that are listed above; a quite venial sin may become quite mortal if it is accompanied by some aggravating circumstance. 38. After confession it is appropriate to talk about penance, that is, satisfaction; and so we have a link that leads us out of this fifth part into the sixth.

PA RT 6 1.  Everything that you have to bear, my dear sisters, is penance, and hard penance.1 Everything good that you do, everything that you suffer, is martyrdom for you in such a harsh way of life, because you are on God’s cross 2 day and night. You can be glad of it, because as St Paul says, If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him;3 as you share his suffering on earth, so too you will share his joy in heaven. That is why St Paul says, Let me not glory in anything but the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ.4 And Holy Church sings, We must glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:5 ‘All our joy must be in Jesus Christ’s cross.’ This saying applies particularly to recluses, whose joy ought to be entirely in God’s cross; I will begin higher up, and then work down to this point.6 Now pay careful attention, because nearly all of this is what St Bernard says. 2.  There are three kinds of people 7 living on earth who belong to God’s elect. The first can be compared to good pilgrims, the second to the dead, the third to those hanging voluntarily on Jesus’s cross. The first are good, the second are better, the third best of all.8 To the first, St Peter cries out passionately, I entreat you, as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from carnal desires, which fight against the soul.9 ‘I entreat you,’ he says, ‘as foreigners and pilgrims, to refrain from carnal desires, which fight against the soul.’ The good pilgrim always stays on his proper route; even if he sees or hears frivolous entertainments and wonders along the way, he does not stop as fools do, but keeps on his way and hurries towards his lodgings. He takes no money but his bare expenses, and no clothes other than those he needs. These are holy people who, although they are in the world, are in it as pilgrims, and travel by virtuous living towards the kingdom of heaven, and say with the Apostle, We do not have a lasting city here, but are looking for one to come:10 that is, ‘We have no place to live here, but we are searching for another.’ They make do with the least they can, and do not value any worldly comfort, although they are on the world’s road, as I said of the pilgrim, but always direct their hearts towards heaven—and so they ought to. For other pilgrims travel with great effort to visit one particular saint’s bones, such as St James’s or St Giles’s; but these pilgrims who travel towards heaven go to become saints, and to find God himself and all his



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holy saints living in bliss, and will live with him in joy without end. They truly find St Julian’s inn, which travellers earnestly pray for.11 3.  Now these are good, but the second kind are even better; because nevertheless pilgrims, as I said before, even if they are always pressing forward, and do not become citizens in the city of the world, are sometimes attracted by what they see on the way, and pause even if they do not stop; and they have to do many things that hold them up, so that—regrettably— some come home late, some not at all. Who, then, is freer and more detached from the world than pilgrims?—that is to say, than people who have worldly property 12 and are not attached to it, but give it away as it comes to them, and travel light without baggage, as pilgrims do, towards heaven. Who are better than these? Surely those are better to whom the Apostle speaks in his epistle, and says, You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.13 But when your life appears, you too will appear with him in glory.14 ‘You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ. When he, who is your life, appears and rises like the dawn after the darkness of night, you too will rise with him, brighter than the sun, into eternal bliss.’ Those who are dead now in this sense have a higher way of life. For many kinds of things trouble a pilgrim; the dead man does not care even if he is lying unburied and rotting above ground. Praise him, blame him, humiliate him, insult him—it is all the same to him. This is a blessed death, which separates a living man or a living woman 15 from the world in this way. But certainly, if anyone is dead like this in herself, God lives in her heart; for this is what the Apostle says: I live—now not I, but Christ lives in me.16 ‘I live—not I, but Christ lives in me’ through his indwelling grace.17 And it is as if he were saying, ‘As far as worldly speech, worldly sights, and all worldly affairs are concerned, I am dead; but I am alive to see and hear and do anything that concerns Christ.’ So properly every religious is dead to the world, but nevertheless alive to Christ.18 4.  This is a high step; but even so, there is a still higher one. And who ever stood there? Surely the man who said, But God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.19 This is what I said above:20 ‘May Christ protect me from having any joy in this world except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, through whom the world is contemptible to me, and I am to it, like a criminal who is hanged.’ Good heavens! the man who spoke in this way stood high up; and this is the anchoress’s step,21 so that she can say similarly, But God forbid that I should glory, etc., ‘I do not rejoice in anything but in God’s cross, that I now suffer pain and am held in contempt, as God was on the cross.’ See, dear sisters, how this step is higher

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than any of the others is. The pilgrim on the world’s road, although he may be going forward towards his heavenly home, sees and hears trivial things, and sometimes says them; he gets angry about injuries, and many things can hold him back from his journey. The dead man cares no more for shame than he does for honour, for the rough than for the smooth, because he does not feel either; and so he does not earn either pain or joy.22 But anyone who is on the cross and rejoices in it turns shame into honour and pain into joy, and so earns the greatest of rewards. These are those who are never happy unless they are suffering some pain or some shame with Jesus on his cross; because this is what happiness on earth is for anyone who can bear shame and suffering for the love of God. And so, you see, true anchoresses are not just pilgrims, or even dead, but belong to this third group; because all their joy is in hanging painfully and shamefully with Jesus on his cross. These may sing joyfully with Holy Church, We must glory, etc.; that is, as I said earlier,23 whatever may be the case with others (some of whom have their joy in the pleasure of the flesh, some in worldly vanity, some in others’ misfortune), ‘We must rejoice in Jesus Christ’s cross’—that is, in the shame and in the pain that he suffered on the cross. Many people 24 would be prepared to endure some degree of physical hardship, but could not bear the shame of being held in contempt. They are only half on God’s cross, however, if they are not prepared to suffer them both. 5.  Baseness and harshness,25 ‘baseness and harshness’: these two, shame and pain, as St Bernard says, are the two uprights of a ladder, which are raised towards heaven; and between those uprights are fastened the rungs of all the virtues by which you climb up to the joy of heaven. Because David had the two uprights of this ladder, even though he was a king he climbed upwards and said boldly to our Lord, Look at my humility and my suffering, and forgive all my sins.26 ‘Look!’ he said, ‘and see my humility and my suffering, and forgive me my sins, all of them together.’ Note carefully these two words that David links together, ‘suffering’ and ‘humility’. Suffering in pain and in misery, in grief and in sorrow; humility against the hurt of the shame that is felt by someone who is held in contempt. ‘Look at both of these in me’, said David, God’s favourite; ‘I have these two uprights of the ladder.’ Forgive all my sins: ‘Leave all my sins behind me,’ he said, ‘and throw them away from me, so that, lightened of their weight, I can climb up easily to heaven by this ladder.’ 6. These two things—that is, pain and shame linked together—are Elijah’s wheels, which were fiery, so it is said, and carried him up to Paradise, where he is living still.27 Fire is hot and red. By the heat is understood every



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pain that afflicts the flesh; by the redness, shame. But it does not matter; in this world, they whirl by like wheels, soon pass over and do not last for any length of time. The same thing is signified by the cherub’s sword before the gates of Paradise, which was fiery and whirling and turning about.28 Nobody enters Paradise except through this blazing sword, which was hot and red, and by Elijah’s fiery wheels—that is, through pain and through shame, which pass over quickly and soon go away. And surely God’s cross was reddened with his precious blood to show through his own example that pain and sorrow and suffering should be coloured with shame? Isn’t it written about him, He took obedience to his father as far as death—and what is more, death on the cross;29 that is, ‘He took obedience to his father not just as far as death, but death on the cross.’ By what he said first, ‘death’, pain is understood; by what he then says, ‘death on the cross’, shame is signified. For that was the nature of God’s death on the precious cross, more painful and shameful than any other.30 If anyone dies in God, and on God’s cross, she must suffer these two things for him, shame and pain. I call it shame to be always held in contempt in this world, and to beg for her subsistence like a tramp if necessary, and be dependent on the charity of others—as you are, dear sisters, and often have to put up with arrogance, sometimes from the kind of person who could be your servant.31 This is that blessed shame that I am talking about. As for pain, you have no shortage of it. Rejoice and be glad in these two things, in which the whole of penance consists, because in return for these two, double joys are prepared for you: in return for shame, honour; and in return for pain, delight and never-ending rest. Isaiah: ‘In their own country’, he says, ‘they will possess double.’ 32 ‘In their own country’, says Isaiah, ‘they will possess double bliss, in return for the double suffering that they endure here.’ 33 ‘In their own country’, says Isaiah; because just as the wicked have no share in heaven, so the good have no share in earth. On the Epistle of James: The wicked have nothing in heaven, while the good have nothing on earth.34 ‘In their own country they will possess bliss, two kinds of reward in

return for two kinds of suffering’—as if he were saying, ‘They should not be surprised if they suffer both shame and pain here, as if in a strange land and in a strange country among foreigners; because so do many noblemen who are strangers in a strange land.’ 35 People have to go out to work; home is the place for resting. And surely it is a stupid knight who looks for rest in the fight and ease on the battlefield? The life of man on earth is warfare;36 all this life is a battle, as Job testifies. But after this battle here, if we fight well, honour and rest are waiting for us at home in our own country, which is the kingdom of heaven. Now see how unequivocally our Lord himself confirms it: When the Son of Man sits in the seat of his majesty, you too will sit in judgement, etc.37 Bernard: By the seats, undisturbed rest is represented; by the judgement, the distinction of honour.38 ‘When I sit in judgement,’ our

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Lord says, ‘you will sit with me, and judge with me all the world that must be judged, kings and emperors, knights and clerics.’ 39 By the seat is signified rest and ease, in return for the suffering in this world; by the honour of the judgement that they will judge, a supremely honourable distinction is understood, in return for the shame and abasement that they suffered patiently in this world for the love of God. 7.  So now there is nothing left but to suffer gladly, because it is written about God himself that through the pain of his shameful Passion he reached the glory of the Resurrection;40 that is, ‘through shameful suffering he came to the glory of joyful resurrection.’ It is no wonder, then, that we wretched sinners suffer pain in this world, if we want to rise in joy on Judgement Day—and we can do that through his grace, if we ourselves are willing. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in that of his resurrection 41—the words of St Paul, who always speaks so well. ‘If we are planted in the likeness of God’s death, we shall be in that of his resurrection’: that is to say, if we live for love of him in shame and in pain, in both of which he died, we shall imitate his joyful resurrection, our bodies as bright as his is, world without end, as St Paul testifies. We are waiting for the Saviour, who will transform the body of our lowness, made like the body of his brightness.42 Let others who run ahead adorn their bodies;43 let us wait for our Saviour, who will adorn ours like his own. If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him:44 ‘If we suffer with him, we shall rejoice with him.’ Surely this is a good bargain? Certainly anyone who is unwilling to share in the loss as well as the future gain is not a good or reliable companion. Gloss: The blood of Christ benefits only those who abandon pleasures and chasten their bodies:45 ‘God shed his blood for everyone, but it benefits only those who avoid the pleasures of the flesh and inflict pain on themselves.’ And is that surprising? Isn’t God our head, and all of us parts of his body? 46 But doesn’t every part of the body feel pain when the head does? 47 Then no-one is part of his body who doesn’t feel pain under a head that aches so badly. When the head is sweating well, if a part of the body isn’t sweating, isn’t it a bad sign? He who is our head sweated a sweat of blood for our sickness, to save us from the plague that all countries were suffering from, and many still do. If a part of the body does not sweat in laborious suffering for his sake, without a doubt it stays diseased, and there is nothing left but to amputate it, even if it gives pain to God, because ‘a finger is better cut off than aching all the time.’ 48 Now does that person please God by cutting himself off from him in this way because he is not prepared to sweat? It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and so enter into his glory.49 Holy Mary, have mercy! ‘It was necessary’, it says, ‘that Christ should endure pain and suffering, and so gain entry into his kingdom.’ Just look at what he



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says—‘so gain entry into his kingdom’, so, and in no other way! And we sinful wretches want to ascend easily to heaven, which is so high above us and of such great value; and it is impossible to put up a little cottage without labour, or have a pair of lace-up shoes without paying for them! Either these people are fools who think that they can buy eternal bliss on the cheap, or the holy saints are, who paid so dearly for it. Weren’t St Peter and St Andrew stretched out on the cross for it? St Laurence, on the gridiron? 50 And innocent virgins, their breasts torn off, broken on wheels, beheaded? 51 But our foolishness is clear; and they were like these cunning children who have rich fathers, who tear their clothes on purpose in order to get new ones. Our old garment is the flesh, which we have from Adam, our ancestor;52 we shall receive the new one from God, our rich father, at the resurrection on the Day of Judgement, when our flesh will shine brighter than the sun,53 if it is torn here with suffering and with pain. Isaiah says about those who tear their garments in this way, A present will be offered to the Lord of hosts from a people scattered and torn apart, from a fearsome people.54 ‘A people dismembered and torn,’ he says, ‘a fearsome people, will make a present to our Lord of themselves.’ ‘A people dismembered and torn’ by a harsh and austere way of life he calls ‘a fearsome people’, because the devil is afraid of such people and filled with fear. He complained because Job was like this, and said, A skin for a skin, and everything, etc.,55 that is, ‘He will give skin for skin’, the old for the new; as if he were saying, ‘It is useless for me to attack him; he belongs to the people who are torn apart, he is tearing his old garment, and ripping apart the old hide of his mortal skin for the immortal skin that in the new resurrection will shine seven times brighter than the sun.’ Ease and physical comfort are the devil’s heraldic devices. When he sees these devices in a man or in a woman, he knows the castle is his, and goes boldly in where he sees such banners raised up, as is done in a castle. In that people torn apart, he cannot find his devices, and sees God’s banner, which is austerity of life, raised up in them, and is very much afraid of it, as Isaiah testifies. 8.  ‘But, dear sir,’ someone may say, ‘now is it really wise for anyone to inflict so much suffering on himself?’ You tell me, then: of two men,56 which is the wiser? They are both ill. One of them abstains from all the food and drink that he likes, and drinks bitter herbal medicines to recover his health. The other does everything that he wants, and satisfies his desires in spite of his illness, and shortly loses his life. Which is the wiser of these two? Which is a better friend to himself? Which one loves himself more? And who is not sick with sin? God drank a bitter drink on the cross for our sickness, and we are not willing to taste anything bitter for our own sake. Nothing will come of that. There is no doubt that his follower must follow

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his suffering with the suffering of his own flesh. Nobody should expect to rise easily to heaven.a  57 9. ‘But, sir,’ someone may say then, ‘will God avenge himself on sin so harshly?’ Yes, man! 58 For look now how much he hates it. Now how would that man beat the thing itself, wherever he found it, who because of intense hatred beat its shadow, and everything that had any resemblance to it? How could God, the almighty Father, savagely beat his beloved son, Jesus, our Lord, who never had any sin, solely because he was clothed in flesh like ours, which is full of sin, and we be spared, who are responsible for his son’s death? The weapon that killed him was our sin; and he, who had nothing but the shadow of sin, was so shamefully ill-treated, so cruelly tormented in that shadow that before it came to it, because of the threat alone he was so afraid of it that 59 he begged his father for mercy: My soul is sick to death. My father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass away from me.60 ‘I am deeply troubled’, he said, ‘by how much I will suffer. My father, if it can be done, spare me at this time. But may your will, and not mine, always be done.’ 61 His beloved father did not spare him because of this, but beat him so cruelly that he began to cry out in a piteous voice, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 62 ‘My God, my God, my beloved father, have you completely abandoned me, your only son, when you beat me so hard?’ He did not stop for all this, but kept on beating for so very long, and so very harshly, that he died on the cross. The chastisement of our peace fell on him,63 says Isaiah; our beating fell on him in this way because he placed himself between us and his father, who was threatening to hit us, as a mother who feels sorry for her child puts herself in the way of the angry, stern father when he wants to beat it. Our Lord Jesus Christ did the same; he received the death-blow himself to shield us against it—may his mercy be thanked! Where there is a heavy blow, it rebounds on those who are standing close by. Certainly, if anyone is close to the one who received such a heavy blow, it will rebound on him and he will never complain, because that is the proof that he is standing close to him, and the rebound is easy to bear for the love of him who received such a heavy blow to protect us from the devil’s club in the torment of hell. 10.  Yet again, many people say, ‘What good does it do God if I inflict suffering on myself for his love?’ Dear man and woman,64 our virtue seems good to God. Our virtue is if we do what we ought. Pay attention to this example.65 If a man had travelled a long way away, and someone came and told him that his much-loved wife missed him so much that she took no pleasure in anything without him, but was thin and pale from thinking

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For ‘heaven’ (AL only), CFGNST have ‘the stars’.



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about his love, surely he would be better pleased than if he was told that she was enjoying herself and having fun and running wild with other men, and was having a wonderful time? In the same way our Lord, who is the soul’s husband, who sees everything that she does although he sits on high, is very pleased that she misses him, and will hurry towards her much faster with the gift of his grace, or fetch her altogether to himself, to everlasting glory and bliss. 11.  No-one should be too soft on herself,66 so that she deceives herself. She will not keep herself completely 67 pure for life, or maintain her chastity properly, without two things, as St Aelred the abbot 68 wrote to his sister. One is mortification of the flesh by fasting, by vigils, by scourgings, by coarse clothing, hard beds, by illness, by heavy labour. The other is the virtues of the heart: devotion, compassion, true 69 love, humility, and other such virtues. ‘But, sir,’ you answer me, ‘does God sell his grace? Isn’t grace a free gift?’ My dear sisters, although the purity of chastity is not a purchase from God, but is a gift of grace, the ungracious resist it, and make themselves unworthy to possess such an exalted thing, since they will not gladly bear suffering for it. In the midst of pleasures and ease and physical comfort, who was ever chaste? Who has constantly fed the fire inside her and not burned? 70 If a pot is boiling fiercely, doesn’t it need to be be partly emptied, or have cold water poured into it, and the fire removed? The pot of the belly, boiling from food, and more from drink, is such a close neighbour to that insubordinate part of the body that it shares the burning of its heat with it.71 But many, unfortunately, are so wise where the flesh is concerned and so excessively afraid that their head might ache, that their body might be too weakened, and look after their health so assiduously, that the spirit weakens and falls sick in sin,72 and those who should only treat their souls, with contrition of heart and mortification of the flesh, degenerate into physicians and doctors of the body. Is this what St Agatha 73 did, when she answered our Lord’s messenger, who brought ointment from God to heal her breasts, by saying, I have never used physical medicine for my body,74 that is, ‘I have never treated myself with physical medicine’? Haven’t you heard the story of the three holy men? 75 One of them was in the habit of using hot spices for a chill on his stomach, and was more fussy about food and drink than the two others: even if they were ill, they never worried about what was healthy, what unhealthy to eat or drink, but always took straight away whatever God sent them, and were never bothered about ginger or zedoary 76 or cloves. One day, when the three of them had fallen asleep, and the third one that I mentioned was lying between these two, the Queen of heaven came along, and two maidens with her. One of them appeared

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to be carrying some medicine, the other a golden spoon. Our Lady took some medicine with the spoon and put it in the first one’s mouth, and the maidens went on to the one in the middle. ‘No,’ our Lady said, ‘he is his own doctor; go on to the third.’ A holy man stood and watched all this from a distance. When a sick man has something at hand that will do him good, it is all right for him to use it; but making such a fuss about it, especially in the religious life, is not pleasing to God. God and his disciples talked about treating the soul, Hippocrates and Galen about healing the body. The man who was best instructed in Jesus Christ’s medicine says the wisdom of the flesh is death to the soul: The prudence of the flesh is death.77 We scent battle at a distance,78 as Job says; often we are so afraid of physical illness before it comes that spiritual illness develops, and we suffer spiritual illness to escape physical illness, as if it were better to endure the burning of lechery than a headache, or the rumbling of an upset stomach. And is it better to be God’s free child in sickness, or a slave to sin while in good health? 79 And I am not saying this so that discretion and moderation, as the mother and nurse of all virtues, should be disregarded at any point. But often we describe as discretion what is not. For true discretion is always to put the health of the soul before the health of the body, and, when you cannot have both together, to choose harm to the body rather than damage to the soul through too strong temptation.80 We are told that Nicodemus brought to anoint our Lord a hundred measures of myrrh and of aloes,81 which are bitter spices, and signify bitter sufferings and mortification of the flesh. A hundred is a complete number, and signifies perfection, that is, a completed work, to show that people should complete physical penance to the limits of their ability. By the measure is signified moderation and discretion—that every man should measure with discretion what he can do, and not be so obsessed with the spirit that he neglects the body, or on the other hand pamper his flesh so much that it becomes unruly and makes the spirit its servant.82 Now practically all this has been a discussion of external bitterness. Let us say something now about internal bitterness; because sweetness arises from these two bitternesses—even in this world here, not just in heaven. 12.  As I said just now that Nicodemus brought ointment to our Lord, so the three Marys bought precious spices to anoint his body.83 Now pay close attention, my dear sisters. These three Marys signify three bitternesses, because this name ‘Mary’, like ‘Marah’, and ‘Merari’ (which I discussed earlier), means ‘bitterness’.84 The first bitterness is in repentance for sin, and in penance, when the sinner has first turned to our Lord. And this is signified by the first Mary, Mary Magdalene, and with good reason; because she renounced her sins with deep repentance and bitterness of heart, and



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turned to our Lord. But because some people might fall into despair through too much bitterness, ‘Magdalene’, which means ‘the height of a tower’, is linked to ‘Mary’; by which is signified the hope of high mercy and of the bliss of heaven. The second bitterness is in wrestling and struggling against temptations. And this is signified by the second Mary, Mary the mother of James [Jacobi], because ‘Jacob’ means ‘wrestler’.85 This wrestling is very bitter to many who are well advanced on the path towards heaven, because they are still thrown off balance sometimes in temptations, which are the devil’s throws, and have to fight back with a fierce struggle. For as St Augustine says, When Pharaoh is scorned, he tries to avenge the offence.86 As long as the people of Israel were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s power, he never led an army against them; but when they escaped from him, he pursued them with his entire force. And so there always has to be a bitter fight against Pharaoh—that is, against the devil. For as Ezekiel says, You will flee from blood, and blood will pursue you:87 flee from sin, and sin will always follow behind. Enough has been said earlier about why the good person is never free of all temptations.88 As soon as he has overcome one, he should watch out immediately for another. The third bitterness is in longing for heaven a and in weariness of this world, when anyone has reached so high that his heart is at peace from the attack of vices, and he is, as it were, inside heaven’s gates, and all worldly things seem bitter. And this third bitterness is signified by Mary Salome,89 the third Mary, because ‘Salome’ means ‘peace’;90 and even those who have the peace and repose of a clear conscience have bitterness in their hearts because of this life, which holds them back from the bliss that they long for, from God, whom they love. And so, you see, bitterness rules at every stage: first at the beginning, when one is reconciled with God; in the progress of the virtuous life; and at the very end. What follower of God is there, then, who wishes for ease or comfort in this world? 13.  But now take note, my dear sisters, of how sweetness comes after bitterness. Bitterness buys it; since, as the Gospel says,91 these three Marys bought sweet-smelling perfumes to anoint our Lord. Sweet-smelling perfumes are interpreted as the sweetness of a devout heart. These Marys buy it; that is, through bitterness you come to sweetness. Always understand this name ‘Mary’ as ‘bitterness’. It was through Mary’s intercession that that was turned into wine at the marriage feast;92 that signifies that through the intercession of bitterness that is suffered for God, the heart that was like water, insipid, and having no more taste of God than there is taste in water, will be turned to wine, that is, discover a taste in him sweeter than any wine. That is why the wise man says, The patient man will endure for a time, and afterwards there will be a return of joy:93 ‘Let the patient man a

After ‘heaven’, F has ‘in expectation of that great joy’.

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endure bitterness for a time; he will shortly have a reward of joy.’ And Anna in the Book of Tobit says of our Lord, He makes calm after the storm, and after tears and weeping, pours in rejoicing;94 that is, ‘May you be blessed, Lord, you who make calm after storm, and give glad rejoicing after floods of tears.’ Solomon: Someone who is hungry will take even what is bitter as sweet.95 If you are hungry for that sweetness, you must certainly first taste bitterness. In Canticles: I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hills of incense.96 ‘I will go,’ says God’s beloved spouse, ‘to the hill of incense by the mountain of myrrh.’ You see what the way is to the sweetness of incense: by the myrrh of bitterness. And again, in the same book of love: Who is she who is coming up through the wilderness like a column of smoke from the perfumes of myrrh and incense? 97 Perfumes are made from myrrh and from incense; but he puts the myrrh first, and incense comes afterwards: from the perfumes of myrrh and incense. Now someone may complain that she cannot feel any inward fragrance or sweetness from God. She should not be at all surprised, if she is not Mary; because she must buy it with external bitterness. Not with every bitterness—because some lead away from God, such as every worldly grief that is not for the soul’s salvation. That is why in the Gospel it is written of the three Marys as follows: So that coming they might anoint Jesus 98—but not going away. These Marys, it says, these bitternesses, were coming to anoint our Lord. These [bitternesses] are coming to anoint him that one suffers for love of our Lord, who stretches himself out towards us like something that has been anointed, and makes himself tender and soft to handle. And wasn’t he himself enclosed in Mary’s womb? These two things are appropriate for a recluse, constriction and bitterness; for the womb, where our Lord was enclosed, is a constricted space to live in, and this word ‘Mary’, as I have often said,99 means ‘bitterness’. If, then, you endure bitterness in a constricted space, you are his companions, enclosed as he was in Mary’s womb. Are you confined inside four spacious walls? So too was he in a narrow cradle, nailed on the cross, closely confined in a tomb of stone.100 Mary’s womb and this tomb were his anchor-houses. He was not a worldly man in either, but, as it were, out of the world, to show anchoresses that they should have nothing in common with the world. ‘Yes,’ you answer me, ‘but he went out of both.’ Indeed; you should go out of both your anchor-houses just as he did, without a breach, and leave them both intact. That will be when the spirit goes out at the end, intact and unblemished, from its two houses. One is the body; the other is the outer house, which is like the outer wall around the castle. 14.  All that I have said about the mortification of the flesh is not for you, my dear sisters, who sometimes suffer more than I would like, but is for anyone who may perhaps read this and is too soft on herself.101 Even



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so, saplings are hedged round with thorns so animals do not eat them while they are tender. You are saplings planted in God’s orchard.102 The thorns are the hardships that I have been talking about, and you need to be surrounded by them, so that the beast of hell, when he creeps up on you to bite you, hurts himself on the sharpness and recoils. In addition to all these hardships, be happy and content if you are not much talked about, if you are not valued; because a thorn is sharp and not valued. Be hedged round by these two things. You should not wish to have a bad reputation. Scandal is a mortal sin; that is, anything said or done a in such a way that people can reasonably misconstrue it, and sin afterwards because of it through shameful thoughts, through malicious gossip about her, about others, and sin in deed as well.103 You ought rather to wish that there should be no talk about you, any more than there is of the dead, and be glad if you have to put up with the insolence of Slurry the cook’s boy, who washes and wipes dishes in the kitchen; then you are mountains raised towards heaven. For look how the lady says in that sweet book of love, My beloved is coming, leaping in the mountains, leaping over the hills.104 ‘My beloved’, she says, ‘is coming, leaping on the mountains, leaping over the hills.’ The mountains signify those who lead the highest life; the hills are those who are lower. Now she says that her beloved leaps on the mountains; that is, tramples on them, fouls them, lets them be trodden down, shamefully maltreated, reveals in them his own footprints so that people should follow in them, discover how he was trodden down, as his footprints show. These are the high mountains, like the Alps or the mountains of Armenia. As the lady says, her beloved leaps over the hills, which are lower, and relies less on them because their weakness could not endure such trampling-down. And he leaps over them, spares and avoids them until they grow higher, from hills into mountains. But at least his shadow passes over and covers them while he is leaping over them; that is, he casts on them some image of his life on earth, as if it were his shadow. But the mountains are imprinted with his own footmarks, and he shows in their life what his way of living was like, how and where he went, in what abasement, in what misery he led his life on earth. The virtuous Paul spoke of such mountains, and humbly b  105 said, We are cast down but not destroyed, carrying around the mortification of Jesus 106 in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.107 ‘We suffer all kinds of misery and shame,’ he said, ‘but that is our blessedness, that we bear Christ’s mortification on our bodies, so that it

After ‘done’, L has giving an opportunity for downfall, that is. For ‘The virtuous Paul … and’ (in AL only), CFNT have ‘A mountain of this kind was the virtuous Paul, who’, similarly F. ‘Humbly’ is in A only.

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may be revealed in us what his life on earth was like’. Certainly those who act like this prove to us their love for our Lord. ‘Do you love me? Show it!’ 108 For love will show itself through external actions. Gregory: The proof of love is its demonstration in practice.109 However hard anything may be, true love 110 makes it easy and smooth and pleasant.111 Love makes everything easy.112 What do men and women suffer for false love and for filthy love, and would gladly suffer more? And what is more amazing than that a love that is stable and true and sweeter than any other should have less power over us than the love of sin? Even so, I know someone who wears a heavy coat of mail and a hair-shirt, both together, tightly bound with iron around waist, thighs, and arms, with broad thick fetters, so that the sweat from it is agony to bear. He fasts, keeps vigil, labours, and, believe it or not, complains that it does not trouble him, and often asks me to teach him some way of making his body suffer. Everything that is bitter seems sweet to him for the love of our Lord. Heaven knows, he still complains to me of the most intense distress,113 and says that God is forgetting him because he does not send him any major illness. Certainly it is love that does that; because as he often says to me, it does not seem to him that for any harm that God might inflict on him, even if he threw him into hell with the damned, he could love him the less. If anybody suspects anything of this kind of him, he is more embarrassed than a thief caught in the act. I also know a woman like this, who suffers little less. But all that can be done is to give thanks to God for the strength that he grants them, and humbly acknowledge our weakness.114 Let us love their goodness, and in that way it is our own; because as St Gregory says, love has so much strength that it makes others’ goodness our own without any effort, as was said above.115 Now, it seems to me, we have arrived at the seventh part, which is all about the love that makes the heart pure.

PA RT 7 1.  St Paul testifies that all external hardships, all mortifications of the flesh and physical labours count as nothing compared with love, which purifies and enlightens the heart. Physical exertion is of little use, but piety can achieve everything:1 that is, physical exertion is of little use, but a sweet and pure heart can achieve everything. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, etc.; if I surrender my body to be burned, etc.; if I give away all my goods to feed the poor, but do not have charity, it does me no good.2 ‘If I knew the languages of men and angels,’ he says, ‘if I inflicted on myself every torture and suffering that the body could bear, if I gave the poor everything that I had, and I did not have love as well, for God and for all men in him and for his sake, it would all be wasted.’ For as the holy abbot Moses said, all the physical pain and hardship we suffer, and all the good we do, all such things are useless except as tools to cultivate the heart with. If the axe did not cut, or the spade dig, or the plough turn up the soil, who would want to keep them? Just as nobody values tools for their own sake, but only for the things that are done with them, so no physical hardship is to be valued except for this reason, that God looks towards it sooner with his grace, and purifies the heart and gives it clear sight—which no-one can have who is polluted by vices, or by earthly love of worldly things, since this pollution clouds the eyes of the heart so much that it cannot recognize God or rejoice in seeing him.3 Two things, as St Bernard says, make a pure heart: that everything you do, you do either solely for the love of God or for someone else’s benefit and for his advantage.4 In everything that you do, have one of these two intentions—or both together, because the second is included in the first. If you always keep your heart pure in this way, you can do all you want; if you have a troubled heart, everything troubles you. To the pure all things are pure, but nothing is pure to those who are polluted. The Apostle. Also, Augustine: Have charity, and do what you want (that is, with the consent of the reason).5 Because of this, my dear sisters, try above all to have a pure heart. What is a pure heart? I have said what it is already: that is, that you should not desire or love anything but God alone and those things that help you towards God, for his sake—love them for his sake, I say, and not for themselves—such as food or clothing, or a man or woman who gives you help. For as St Augustine says, addressing our Lord, He loves you less

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who loves anything other than you that he does not love for your sake:6 that is, ‘Lord, they love you less who love anything but you, unless they love it because of you.’ Purity of heart is the love of God alone. In this lies all the strength of every kind of religious life, the purpose of all orders.7 The fulfilment of the law is love.8 ‘Love fulfils the law’, says St Paul. Whatever is commanded, is confirmed by love alone:9 all God’s commandments, as St Gregory says, are rooted in love. Love alone will be laid in St Michael’s scales.10 Those who love most will be most blessed, not those who lead the hardest life, since love outweighs it. Love is the steward of heaven 11 because of its great generosity, since it does not withhold anything, but gives all that it has, and itself too—otherwise God would not value anything that belonged to it. 2.  God has earned our love in every kind of way. He has done much for us, and promised more. A generous gift attracts love. Why, he gave us the whole world through Adam, our ancestor; and everything that is in the world, animals and birds, he cast under our feet, before we fell through sin. You have put all things under his feet: all sheep and cattle, and in addition the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that travel the paths of the sea.12 And everything that exists, as has been said above, still serves the virtuous for the good of their souls. Even the wicked are served by the sea, earth, and sun.13 He did still more: not only gave us what was his, but gave himself completely. Such a noble gift was never given to such base wretches. The Apostle: Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it.14 Christ, says St Paul, loved his beloved a so much that he gave the price of himself for her. Now note carefully, my dear sisters, why he ought to be loved. First, like a suitor, like a king who was in love with an impoverished noble 15 lady in a distant land, he sent ahead his messengers, the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament, with sealed letters. At last he came himself, and brought the Gospel as open letters;16 and with his own blood wrote greetings to his lady,17 a lover’s homage to woo her with and gain her love. There is a story linked with this, an exemplary tale with a hidden meaning.18 3.  A lady was completely surrounded by her enemies, her land laid waste, and she herself quite destitute, in a castle of earth.19 But a powerful king had fallen in love with her so passionately that he sent his messengers to woo her, one after another, often many together; he sent her many splendid presents of jewellery, provisions to support her, help from his noble army to hold her castle. She accepted everything as if it meant nothing to her, and was so hard-hearted that he could never come closer to winning her love.

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After ‘beloved’, F has ‘that is, Holy Church’.



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What more do you want? At last he came himself; showed her his handsome face, as the handsomest of all men in appearance;20 spoke so very tenderly, and with words so beguiling that they could raise the dead to life; did many amazing things and performed great feats before her eyes; demonstrated his power to her; told her about his kingdom; offered to make her queen of all that he owned. All this had no effect. Wasn’t this contempt extraordinary, since she was never fit to be his maidservant? But because of his gentle nature love had so overcome him that at last he said: ‘You are under attack, my lady, and your enemies are so strong that without my help there is no way that you can escape falling into their hands, and being put to a shameful death after all your suffering.21 I am prepared to take on that fight for your love, and rescue you from those who are seeking your death. But I know for certain that in fighting them I will receive a mortal wound; and I am very willing to do it in order to win your heart. Now, therefore, I beg you, for the love I am showing towards you, to love me at least when this is done, after my death, although you refused to during my life.’ This king did just as he had promised: he rescued her from all her enemies, and was himself shamefully ill-treated and at last put to death. But by a miracle he rose from death to life. Surely this lady would have a base nature if she did not love him after this above all things? 4.  This king is Jesus, Son of God, who in just this way wooed our soul, which devils had besieged. And he, like a noble suitor, after numerous messengers and many acts of kindness came to prove his love, and showed by feats of arms that he was worthy of love, as was the custom of knights once upon a time.22 He entered the tournament and, like a bold knight, had his shield pierced through and through in battle for love of his lady. His shield, which hid his divinity, was his dear body, which was stretched out on the cross: broad as a shield above in his outstretched arms, narrow below, where the the one foot (as many people think) was fixed above the other.23 That this shield has no sides signifies that his disciples, who should have stood by him and been his sides,24 all fled from him and abandoned him like strangers, as the Gospel says: They all abandoned him and fled.25 This shield is given to us against all temptations, as Jeremiah testifies: you will give your labour as a shield for the heart.a 26 This shield not only protects us against all evils, but does still more: it crowns us in heaven. With the shield of good will—‘Lord,’ says David, ‘you have crowned us with the shield of your good will.’ He says ‘shield of good will’ because he suffered willingly all that he suffered. Isaiah: he was offered because he wished to be.27 ‘But, master,’ you say, ‘what was the point? Couldn’t he have saved us

After ‘heart’, CFNPT have (with minor variations) And the Psalmist: You have crowned us with the shield of your good will, deleted in C by C2, not in ALS.

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without less suffering?’ Yes, indeed, very easily; but he chose not to. Why? To deprive us of any excuse for denying him our love, which he had paid so dearly for. People buy cheaply what they do not value highly. He bought us with his heart’s blood—a higher price was never paid—to attract our love, which cost him so much suffering. In a shield there are three things: the wood, and the leather, and the painted design. So it was in this shield: the wood of the cross, the leather of God’s body, the painting of the red blood which coloured it so brightly. Again, the third reason:28 after a brave knight’s death, his shield is hung high in church in his memory. Just so this shield—that is, the crucifix—is placed in church where it can be seen most easily, as a reminder of the knightly prowess of Jesus Christ on the cross.29 His beloved should see in this how he bought her love: he let his shield be pierced, his side opened up to show her his heart, to show her openly how deeply he loved her, and to attract her heart. 5. Four main kinds of love 30 are found in this world: between good friends; between man and woman; between a woman and her child; between body and soul. The love that Jesus Christ has for his dear beloved transcends these four, surpasses them all. 6.  Isn’t that man considered a good friend who leaves his security for payment with the Jews 31 to release his friend? Almighty God put himself in the custody of the Jews as security for us, and gave his precious body to release his beloved from the hands of the Jews. No friend ever did such a favour for his friend. 7.  There is often deep love between a man and a woman. But even if she were married to him, she might become so depraved, and might prostitute herself to other men for such a long time, that even if she wanted to come back to him he would have nothing to do with her. Christ, then, loves more than this: because even if the soul, his spouse, prostitutes herself to the devil in mortal sin for many long years, his mercy is always waiting for her when she is willing to come home and leave the devil. He says all this himself through Jeremiah: If a man should put away his wife, etc. But you have fornicated with many lovers; nevertheless, return to me,32 the Lord says. Even so, he cries constantly, ‘You who have behaved so scandalously, turn and come back; you will be welcome to me.’ Indeed, he even ran to meet the returning prodigal.33 Even so, it says, he runs to meet her and throws his arms around her neck. What is greater mercy than this? Here is a more marvellous thing still: no matter how many mortal sins his beloved has prostituted herself to, as soon as she comes back to him, he makes her a virgin again. For as St Augustine says, there is so much difference between God’s advances to a woman and a man’s that a man’s advances make a virgin



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into a woman, and God makes a woman into a virgin.34 He has made me whole again,35 says Job. Good works and true faith—these two things are virginity in the soul. 8. Now about the third love.a If a child had such an illness that it needed a bath of blood before it could be healed, the mother who was willing to provide this bath for it would love it very much. Our Lord did this for us—who were so infected with sin, and so polluted with it, that nothing could heal or cleanse us except for his blood 36—because that was what he wished. His love makes a bath of his blood for us—may he always be blessed! He prepared three baths for his dear beloved to wash herself in, and make herself white and fair enough to deserve his pure embraces. The first bath is baptism. The second is tears, internal or external, after the first bath if she pollutes herself. The third is the blood of Jesus Christ, which sanctifies both the others, as St John says in the Apocalypse: Who loved us and washed us in his own blood.37 He says himself through Isaiah that he loves us more than any mother her child: Can a mother forget the child of her womb? Even if she forgets, I will not forget you.38 ‘Can a mother’, he says, ‘forget her child? And even if she does, I can never forget you.’ And then he gives the reason: I have depicted you in my hands.39 ‘I have painted you in my hands’, he says. So he did, with red blood on the cross. People tie a knot in their girdle to remind them of something; but our Lord, because he wished never to forget us, put a mark of piercing to remind him of us in both his hands. 9.  Now the fourth love. The soul loves the body very much indeed, and that is obvious when they part company; because close friends are sorry when they have to part. But our Lord voluntarily parted his soul from his body to join ours together for all eternity in the bliss of heaven. 10.  In this way, as you can see, Jesus Christ’s love for his dear wife—that is, Holy Church or the pure soul—surpasses and overcomes all the four greatest loves that are found on earth. With all this love, nevertheless he woos her in this way: 11.  ‘Either your love’, he says, ‘is to be given outright, or it is to be sold, or it is to be seized and taken by force. 12.  ‘If it is to be given, where can you bestow it better than on me? Am I not the handsomest of men? Am I not the richest of kings? Am I not the noblest of ancestry? Am I not the wisest of the wise? 40 Am I not the most courteous of men? Am I not the most generous of men?—since it is said of a generous man who can keep nothing back that he has holes in his hands, as I have.41 Am I not the sweetest and most fragrant of all things? So you can find in me all the reasons why love ought be given,42 especially a

After ‘love’, T has ‘that is, between a woman and her child’; similarly PS.

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if you love chaste purity; because nobody can love me unless she preserves it (but there are three kinds: in widowhood; in marriage; in virginity, the highest).43 13.  ‘If your love is not to be given, but you want it to be bought—to be bought? How? Either with another love or with something else. Love for love is a fair exchange; and that is how love ought to be sold, and for nothing else. If your love is to be sold in this way, I have bought it with a love greater than all others, since of the four greatest loves I have shown towards you the greatest of them all. 14.  ‘If you say that you do not want to value your love so cheaply, but want still more, say what it is to be. Set a price on your love; you cannot ask so much that I will not give more. Do you want castles, kingdoms, do you want to rule the whole world? I will do better for you—make you, as well as all this, queen of the kingdom of heaven. You yourself will be seven times brighter than the sun. No evil will come near you, nothing will distress you, no joy will fail you. Everything you want will be done in heaven and on earth too—yes, and even in hell. No heart can ever imagine such bliss that I will not give for your love immeasurably, incomparably, infinitely more. All the wealth of Croesus,44 who was the richest of kings;45 the radiant beauty of Absalom, who, whenever his hair was cut, sold the clippings—the hair that he cut off—for two hundred shekels of silver weighed out;46 the speed of Asahel, who ran as fast as the deer;47 the strength of Samson, who killed a thousand of his enemies all at one time, and alone without a companion;48 Caesar’s liberty;49 Alexander’s fame;50 Moses’ good health 51—surely a man would give all that he owned for one of these? And all together, compared with me, are not worth a needle. 15. ‘If you are so very stubborn and so out of your mind that with nothing to lose you reject such a gain, with every kind of happiness, look! I am holding a cruel sword here above your head to separate body and soul, and plunge them both into the fire of hell, to be the devil’s whore there in shame and misery for all eternity. Now answer and defend yourself—if you can—against me; or grant me your love that I long for so much, not for my advantage, but for your own great advantage.’ 16. This, you see, is how our Lord woos. Surely that woman is too hard-hearted who cannot be persuaded by such a suitor to love him, if she seriously considers these three things: what he is, what she is, and how great is the love of such a noble man as he is towards a woman as base as she is. That is why the Psalmist says: There is no-one who can hide himself from his heat 52—there is no-one who can hide herself so that she will not be made to love him. It is for this reason that the true sun rose high on the lofty cross at the third hour of the day,53 so as to send out hot rays of love in all



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directions. This is how eager he was—and is to this day—to kindle his love in his beloved’s heart; and he says in the Gospel, I have come to send fire into the earth, and what else do I want except that it should be kindled? 54 ‘I have come’, he says, ‘to bring fire into the earth’—that is, burning love into an earthly heart—‘and what else do I want but that it should blaze?’ Lukewarm love is hateful to him, as he says through St John in the Apocalypse: If only you were cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth.55 ‘I would like you’, he says to his beloved, ‘to be either completely hot or completely cold in your love for me. But because you are (as it were) lukewarm between the two, neither hot nor cold, you make me sick, and I will vomit you out unless you grow hotter.’ 17.  Now, my dear sisters, you have heard how and why God should be loved very much. To set yourselves well alight, gather wood for the purpose with the poor woman of Zarephath, the city whose name means ‘kindling’. Look, she said (in the third Book of Kings), I am gathering two sticks.56 ‘Master,’ she said to Elijah, the holy prophet, ‘look, I am gathering two sticks.’ These two sticks signify the one piece of wood that stood upright, and the other that went across it, which made up the precious cross. With these two pieces of wood you must kindle a fire of love in your heart. Often look towards them; think whether it ought not to be easy for you to love the King of Bliss, who stretches out his arms in such a way towards you, and bends his head downwards as if to offer a kiss. I assure you that if the true Elijah, that is, almighty God, finds you busily gathering these two pieces of wood, he will stay with you as your guest and multiply his precious grace in you, as Elijah multiplied the woman’s food and stayed with her after he found her gathering the two sticks in Zarephath. 18.  Greek fire is made from the blood of a red man, and nothing can extinguish it, so they say, but urine and sand and vinegar.57 This Greek fire is the love of Jesus our Lord, and you must make it from the blood of a red man, that is, Jesus Christ, who was reddened with his own blood on the precious cross—and was, it is thought, naturally red in complexion. This blood, shed for you on the two pieces of wood mentioned above, will make you citizens of Zarephath—that is, kindled with this Greek fire, this love that, as Solomon says,58 cannot be quenched by any waters (which are earthly tribulations) or any temptations, either inner or outer. Now all that remains is to guard yourself carefully against everything that quenches it: that is, urine and sand and vinegar, as I said before. Urine is the stench of sin. Nothing good grows on sand, and it signifies idleness. Idleness cools this fire and puts it out. Always be vigorously active in good works, and that will warm you up and kindle this fire against the flames of sin; because just as one nail drives out another,59 so the flames of God’s

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love drive the flames of sinful love out of the heart. The third thing is vinegar—that is, a heart sour with envy or hatred. Understand this saying: when the malicious Jews 60 offered our Lord this sour present on the cross, he said these heart-breaking words, It is finished.61 ‘My sufferings’, he said, ‘were never complete till now’—not because of the vinegar, but because of their envious malice, which was signified by the vinegar that they made him drink. And it is as though a man had laboured for a long time, and finally, after long labour, was not given his pay. Just so our Lord cultivated their love for more than thirty-two years, and wanted nothing but love as payment for all his hard labour. But at the end of his life, which was (as it were) in the evening, when workmen are paid their day’s wages, see how they paid him, not with the spiced drink of honey-sweet love, but with the vinegar of sour malice and the gall 62 of bitter envy. ‘Oh!’ said our Lord then, ‘it is finished. All my labour on earth, all my suffering on the cross does not grieve or distress me at all compared with this, that I should throw away like this everything I have done. This vinegar that you offer me, this bitter payment, completes my sufferings.’ This vinegar of a sour heart and of bitter thoughts more than anything else quenches Greek fire, that is, the love of our Lord; and whoever carries it in her heart towards woman or man is no better than a Jew. She offers God this vinegar, and plays her part in completing Jesus’s suffering on the cross. People throw Greek fire on to their enemies, and defeat them in that way. You must do the same when God stirs up hostility towards you in any of your enemies. Solomon gives instructions on how you must throw it: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink. In this way you will heap burning coals on his head 63—that is, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink.’ That means, if he hungers or thirsts after your harm, give him the food of your prayers so that God may have mercy on him; give him a drink of tears, weep for his sins. ‘In this way’, says Solomon, ‘you will heap burning coals on his head’: that is to say, in this way you will kindle his heart to love you—since ‘head’ in Holy Scripture is taken to mean ‘heart’. This is what God will say on Judgement Day: ‘Why did you love that man or that woman?’ ‘Lord, they loved me.’ ‘Yes,’ he will say, ‘you paid back what you owed. I have nothing much here to repay you for.’ If you could answer, ‘They did every kind of harm to me, and I did not owe them any love at all, but,64 Lord, I loved them for love of you’, he owes you that love, because it was given to him, and he will repay it to you. 19.  The urine that extinguishes Greek fire, as I said, is stinking carnal love, which extinguishes the spiritual love that is signified by Greek fire. What flesh on earth was as sweet and as holy as Jesus Christ’s flesh was? And



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yet he said himself to his dear disciples, If I do not go away, the Paraclete will not come to you:65 that is, ‘Unless I leave you, the Holy Spirit—that is, my love and my Father’s—cannot come to you. But when I have left you, I will send him to you.’ When Jesus Christ’s own disciples, while they loved him near to them in the flesh, had to forgo the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and could not have both together, judge for yourselves: surely that man is mad, or that woman, who has too much love for her own flesh, or for any man in the flesh, so that she longs too much to see him or talk to him? She should never be surprised if she lacks the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Each one should choose now which of these two, earthly and heavenly comfort, she wants to settle for, since she must give up the other; because if she mixes the two she can never again have purity of heart, which is, as we said before,66 the virtue and the strength of all religious ways of life, and of every order. Love makes the heart pure, calm, and chaste. Love has one power greater than all others, since whatever it touches it takes over entirely and makes all its own. Whatever place your foot treads on—that is, the foot of love—will be yours.67 Many people would pay a great deal for something that would make everything they touched with it entirely their own; and wasn’t it mentioned a long way back 68 that simply by loving the good in someone else, with the touch of your love, without any other effort, you make their good your own, as St Gregory testifies? See now how much good the envious lose. Reach out with your love to Jesus Christ, and you have won him. Touch him with as much love as you have once felt for some human being, and he is yours to do anything you like with. But who loves something and gives it up for less than it is worth? Surely God is incomparably better than anything in the world? ‘Charity’ is the holding dear of something loved and precious.69 Anyone who lets go of his love for any earthly love cheapens him, and values him far too little, since he is the only being who can truly love. He loves love so much to excess that he makes her his equal. I am bold enough to say even more: he makes her his master, and does everything she commands as if he were forced to. Can I prove this? Yes, certainly I can, by his own words; because this is how he speaks to Moses, who loved him more than any man did, in Numbers: I have forgiven according to your word.70 He does not say ‘prayers’. ‘I had intended’, he said,71 ‘to wreak my anger on this people. But you say I must not; let your word stand.’ It is said that love binds.72 Certainly love binds our Lord in such a way that he can do nothing except with love’s permission. Now for a proof of this, since it seems astonishing. Isaiah: Lord, there is no-one to rise and hold you.73 ‘Lord, do you want to strike?’ 74 says Isaiah. ‘Alas, you may well; there is no-one to hold you.’ As if he were saying, ‘If anyone truly loved you, he would be

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able to hold you and prevent you from striking.’ In Genesis, to Lot: Make haste, etc. I cannot do anything there until you have left the place.75 That is, when our Lord wanted to destroy Sodom, where Lot, his friend, was, he said, ‘Get out of here quickly; because while you are among them, I can do nothing to them.’ Surely here he was bound by love. What more do you want? Love is his chamberlain,76 his counsellor, his spouse, from whom he can keep no secrets, but to whom he confides everything that he thinks. In Genesis: Can I conceal from Abraham what I intend to do? 77 ‘Can I conceal from Abraham’, said our Lord, ‘what I intend to do? No, not at all.’ Now someone who speaks and acts in this way towards all who trust him and love him in their hearts knows how to love. Just as the joy that he is preparing for them cannot be compared with any earthly joy, so it cannot be described by any earthly tongue. Isaiah: Lord, no eye but yours has seen what you have prepared for those who love you. The Apostle: No eye has seen, nor ear heard, etc.78 You have something written about these joys elsewhere,79 my dear sisters. 20.  This love is the rule that rules the heart. I will praise you with uprightness of heart (that is, by its regulation). The reproach of the wicked: a generation that did not guide its heart rightly.80 This is the lady rule. All the others serve it, and you

should love them for its sake alone. I do not attach much importance to them, as long as this one is devotedly kept. You can have them briefly set out, however, in the eighth part.

PA RT 8 1.  I said earlier, at the beginning,1 that you should not commit yourselves to keeping any of the outer rules by a vow; I say the same now. And I am not writing them for anyone apart from you. I mention this so that other anchoresses cannot say that I am presuming to make a new Rule for them.2 I do not ask that they should observe them; and even you may change these for better ones whenever you wish. Compared with the matters dealt with earlier, they are of minor importance. 2.  Enough has been said about sight, speech, and the other senses. Now this last part is divided and separated, as I promised at the beginning,3 into seven subsections. 3. People care less about what they have often. For this reason you should take communion, as our brothers a 4 do, only fifteen times a year: (i) Christmas Day (ii) the feast of the Epiphany 5 (iii) Candlemas Day 6 (iv) a Sunday midway between that and Easter, or Lady Day 7 if it is near the Sunday, because of its importance (v) Easter Day (vi) the third Sunday after Easter (vii) the feast of the Ascension 8 (viii) Whit Sunday 9 (ix) the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist 10 (x) the feast of St Mary Magdalene 11 (xi) the Assumption 12 (xii) the Nativity [of the Virgin] 13 (xiii) the feast of St Michael 14 (xiv) the feast of All Saints 15 (xv) the feast of St Andrew.16 In preparation for all these, make a full confession and receive disciplines 17— but never from anyone apart from yourselves—and go without your pittance 18 for one day. If there is any problem, so that you cannot take communion at these set times, see that you do the next Sunday; or if the next time is near, wait until then. 4.  From Easter until the later feast of the Holy Cross,b 19 which falls in the autumn,20 you should eat twice every day except for the Fridays and Ember Days,21 Rogation Days 22 and vigils.23 On these days and in Advent you should not eat dairy produce 24 unless you have to. For the remaining half of the year you should fast all the time, Sundays only excepted, when you are healthy and have all your strength; but the rule is not binding on those who are ill or have been let blood.25 5.  You should not eat meat or fat 26 except in the case of serious illness, For ‘brothers’, N has ‘lay brothers’. After ‘feast of the Holy Cross’, C2 adds in the margin: ‘This rule and all others are subject to your confessor’s advice and your director’s opinion. He may curtail them or add to them according to what God guides him to do through his understanding, depending on the need of those he has to advise.’ a

b

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or when someone is very weak.a 27 Be happy to eat vegetable dishes, and get into the habit of drinking little. Nevertheless, dear sisters, your food and drink have often seemed to me less than I would like.28 Do not fast on bread and water on any day unless you have permission. 6. Sometimes an anchoress has a meal with her guest outside her quarters. This is showing too much friendliness, because it goes against the nature of any form of religious life, and most of all that of an anchoress, who is utterly dead to the world. One has often heard of the dead speaking with the living, but I have never found yet that they ate with the living. 7. Do not give lavish entertainments, or encourage strange beggars to come to the gate.b 29 Even if there were no harm in it apart from the disturbance they make, it would sometimes be a hindrance to heavenly thoughts. It is not the business of an anchoress to be generous with other people’s donations. Wouldn’t a beggar who invited people to a feast be a complete laughing-stock? Mary and Martha were two sisters, but their way of life diverged.30 You anchoresses have taken on Mary’s part, which Our Lord himself praised: Mary has chosen the best part. ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said, ‘you’re always bustling about. Mary has chosen better, and nothing should take her part away from her.’ 31 Being a housewife is Martha’s part. Mary’s part is silence and peace from all the noise of the world, so that nothing can prevent her from hearing God’s voice. And look what God says, that nothing should take this part away from you. Martha has her role; let her be. You should sit with Mary, absolutely still at God’s feet, and listen to him alone. Martha’s role is to feed and clothe the poor, as the lady of the house does; Mary should have nothing to do with this.32 If anybody criticizes her, God himself defends her on every occasion, as Holy Scripture testifies 33 (Against Simon: Two debtors, etc. Against Martha: Mary [has chosen] the best part, etc. Against the apostles, complaining, What is the point of this waste? [She has done] a good work, he said, etc.).34 Furthermore, no anchoress should accept other than moderately what will supply her needs. So what has she to be generous with? She must live on charity as moderately 35 as she can, and not gather together things to give away.36 She is not a housewife, but a church anchoress.37 If she can spare any poor scraps, she should send them with the utmost secrecy out of her house.38 Under an appearance of good, sin is often concealed. And how are these rich anchoresses who cultivate lands, or have a fixed income, to offer charity secretly to their poor neighbours? She should F substitutes for this sentence: ‘According to the rule of the Augustinian canons, you are not to eat meat or fat, unless serious illness or great weakness makes it necessary, except for three days in the week, either in summer or in winter, that is to say Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. You can eat meat on Christmas Day whatever day it falls on, except on the Sunday if it falls on that day. According to the rule of the friars or of St Benedict, you should never eat meat except in cases of serious illness or when you are very weak.’ b After ‘gate’, L has ‘to hear news or chat with them’. a



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not wish to have the reputation of a liberal anchoress, or be any greedier to have more in order to give much away. As long as greed is the root of that gathering,39 all the branches that spring from it share in its bitterness. It is not the business of an anchoress to ask for something in order to give it away. From an anchoress’s courtesy, from an anchoress’s liberality, sin and shame have often come in the end. 8.  As for women and children—and especially anchoresses’ maids 40— who turn up having taken trouble 41 on your account, even if you have to do without something yourself, or borrow or beg it,42 encourage them to eat hospitably and invite them to stay.43 9.  No man should eat in your presence without your director’s permission, general or special: general in the case of Dominican and Franciscan friars, special in all other cases. Do not invite anyone else to eat or drink without asking his permission in the same way. ‘Asking costs nothing’, they say.a 44 I have no desire at all that because of such invitations 45 you should be seen as courtly anchoresses. But in all circumstances take care that you do not let anyone go away scandalized because of your bad manners.b 46 10.  Accept all that you need from good people;c 47 but be careful d 48 that you do not get the reputation of being acquisitive anchoresses. From anyone you distrust because of his over-familiarity or his suggestive conversation,49 accept nothing whatever.e You should be forced by necessity f to ask for anything; nevertheless, humbly reveal your difficulties to good men and women.g 50 11.  You, my dear sisters, unless you are forced by necessity and your director advises you to,51 should not keep any animal except a cat.52 An anchoress who keeps livestock is more like a housewife, as Martha was, and For ‘No man … say’, CFNT have (with minor variants): ‘Do not invite any man, unless he needs to, to drink in your presence’; C2 alters C to ‘Do not invite any man too pressingly to drink, and none should eat in your presence except by your director’s advice and with his permission.’ b ‘But … bad manners’ modifies an addition by C2: ‘Everywhere and always, however, take care that nobody leaves you scandalized or angry or displeased, as far as you can properly without sin.’ L has ‘You should not listen to any rumours, dearest sisters, or repeat them, through which scandal might arise in any way.’ c For ‘good people’, CFNT have ‘good friends’, altered in C by C2 to ‘trustworthy people’. d For ‘be careful’, CFNT have ‘when they offer it to you. Do not accept any offer except in case of need, [so].’ e After ‘nothing whatever’, CFNT have ‘not so much as a root of ginger’, deleted in C by C2. f Before ‘necessity’, CFNT have ‘great’, deleted in C by C2. g For ‘good men and women’, CFNT have ‘your dearest friends’. a

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cannot easily  53 be Mary, Martha’s sister,54 in serenity of heart; because then she has to think about the cow’s fodder and the herdsman’s wages, cajole the hedge-warden,55 curse him when he impounds the cow, and pay damages all the same. It is a dreadful thing, God knows, when people complain locally about the anchoress’s cattle.56 For this reason, if anyone is forced by need to keep livestock, she should see that it does not cause annoyance or damage to anybody else, and that she is not preoccupied with it. An anchoress ought not to own anything that attracts her heart outwards. 12.  Do not carry on any business. An anchoress who is a tradeswoman— that is, who buys to sell at a profit 57—is selling her soul to the tradesman of hell. However, she may, on her director’s advice, sell things she makes to supply her needs.b Holy men once supported themselves by the work of their hands.58 13.  Do not keep anything in your house, dear daughters,59 that belongs to other people—livestock or clothes, boxes or deeds, tallies or indentures,60 or the church vestments or the chalices—unless necessity or 61 violence forces you to, or great danger. This kind of storage has often led to a lot of trouble.62 14.  Do not let any man 63 sleep on the premises. If some really major emergency results in damage to your house, while it is insecure have a woman of respectable character to stay with you day and night. a

15. Because men c 64 do not see you, or you them, it does not matter at all whether your clothing is white or black, as long as it is plain, warm, and well-made, the skins properly cured; and have as many bedclothes and garments as you need. 16.  Nobody should wear linen next to the skin unless it is made of stiff and coarse fibres. Anyone who wishes may wear an undergarment of rough linen-wool mix; anyone who wishes may do without one.65 You should sleep in a single garment, and wearing a belt,66 but so loosely fastened that you can put your hands under it. Nobody should wear a belt of any kind next to the skin except with her confessor’s permission,67 or wear anything made of iron 68 or haircloth or hedgehog skins, or beat herself with them, or with a scourge weighted with lead, with holly or with brambles, or draw blood, without her confessor’s permission. She should not sting herself anywhere with nettles,69 or scourge the front of her body, or mutilate herself with cuts,70 or take excessively harsh d 71 disciplines at any one time, in order to subdue temptations; nor should you put your trust in any a b c d

For ‘easily’, CFNT have ‘at all’, altered in C by C2 to ‘not easily, if at all’. After ‘needs’, C2 has ‘though as secretly as she can to avoid malicious gossip’. For ‘men do not see’, CFNT have ‘no man / nobody [na mon] sees’. For ‘harsh’, CFNT have ‘many’.



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unnatural remedy for natural illnesses, or try it without your director’s advice, in case you should be the worse for it.72 17.  Your shoes in winter should be supple, roomy, and warm.a In summer you have permission to go around barefoot and wear light shoes.73 18. Anyone who wishes may sleep in leggings. Do not sleep wearing shoes, or anywhere except in bed.74 A woman may perhaps wear drawers of haircloth tightly fastened, with the legs firmly cross-gartered down to the feet; but a mild and gentle heart is always best. I would rather have you bear a harsh word well than a harsh hair-shirt.75 19. If you can manage without wimples—and you are quite willing to 76—make do with warm caps, and white or 77 black veils over them.78 Some anchoresses sin 79 no less than ladies in wearing wimples. But nevertheless, someone may say that it is natural for every woman to wear a wimple. No, Holy Scripture makes no mention of either wimple or head-cloth, only of covering. To the Corinthians: Let the woman cover her head.80 ‘A woman’, says the Apostle, ‘must cover her head.’ ‘Cover’, he says, not ‘wimple’: she must cover her shame as a sinful daughter of Eve, in memory of the sin that brought us all to destruction in the beginning, and not turn the covering into adornment and finery. What is more, the Apostle would like a woman in church to cover her face as well, in case looking at her should give rise to sinful thoughts: and this is on account of the angels.b  81 Why, then, you church-anchoress in a wimple, do you lay open c your face to a man’s gaze? The Apostle is talking about those of you who see men, if you do not conceal yourselves. But if anything hides your face from a man’s gaze, whether it is a wall or cloth in a wellsecured window,d there is no need for an anchoress to have any other wimpling. The Apostle is criticizing those of you who do not do this, not the others who are concealed by their own wall from any man’s sight. Often indecent thoughts arise from this, and sometimes acts as well.e  82 If a woman wants to be looked at,f it is hardly surprising that she puts on fine clothes; but the woman who avoids outward finery for love of God is more beautiful in his eyes. After ‘warm’, L has ‘as far as necessity requires’. For ‘Cover … angels’, L has ‘should cover, say[…] distinguishing between those things that are to be specified. Therefore an anchoress should cover her head, and should not reveal her face to the gaze of men.’ c For ‘in a wimple … lay open’, C2 has ‘although you are wimpled, do you nevertheless lay open’. d For ‘well-secured window’, C2 has ‘your parlour window’. e For ‘But … acts as well’, L has ‘and she should always have a piece of cloth or a wall or a closed window to block the gaze of onlookers, so there is no chance for temptations to attack. You do not observe this.’ f After ‘looked at’, T has ‘by all those who come to her’. a

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20. Do not own rings or brooches, or belts decorated with precious metal, or gloves, or anything of that kind that you are not supposed to have. When it is hot in summer you may wear a light overgarment of white linen.83 21.  The plainer the things you make, the better I am pleased. 22.  Do not make any purses to win friends, except for those people your director allows,84 or caps 85 or silk ribbons 86 or laces, without permission;87 but cut out and sew and mend church vestments a and clothes for the poor.88 You must not give away anything of this kind 89 without your confessor’s permission,b any more than you should accept it 90 without telling him beforehand—and the same applies to other matters, such as how often you should receive relations or friends, and how long you should have them to stay. An anchoress ought not to be too attached to her family. There was once a religious c whose own brother came to him for help, and he referred him to a third brother, who was dead and buried. He answered in bewilderment, ‘Surely not! Isn’t he dead?’ ‘I too’, said the holy man, ‘am dead in a spiritual sense. No earthly friend should ask me for earthly help.’ 91 Amices 92 and decorative panels for vestments can very well be made by ladies in the world; and if you do make them, you should avoid any ostentation. Vainglory poisons all virtues and all good works. None of you should do drawn-thread work 93 for love or money. I do not forbid you to make narrow decorative borders, if one of you is trimming a surplice or an alb;94 she should not make other kinds of trimming, especially overelaborate ones, unless it is absolutely necessary.95 23.  Help yourselves with your own labour as far as you possibly can, to clothe and, if necessary, feed 96 both yourselves and those who work for you. 24. As St Jerome teaches,97 never be unoccupied with something completely for long or without good reason,d 98 since the devil offers his own employment straight away to the woman who is not employed in God’s business, and whispers to her at once. For while he sees her busy, he e thinks like this: ‘It would be useless for me to approach her now; she can’t concentrate on listening to my advice.’ Much temptation of the flesh arises from idleness. The iniquity of Sodom: a surfeit of bread and idleness 99—that is, the wickedness of Sodom came from idleness and a full belly. Iron that lies still soon gathers rust; standing water soon begins to stink. Before ‘church vestments’, L has ‘your own clothes and’. After ‘your confessor’s permission’, F has ‘or of your superior’. c Before ‘There … religious’, L has ‘in the Lives of the Fathers’. d For ‘never … reason’, L has ‘Always be occupied with something good so that the devil may not find you idle.’ e After ‘he’, T has ‘the traitor’. a

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25.  An anchoress should not degenerate into a schoolteacher, or turn the anchor-house into a children’s school.100 Her maid may give instruction to some other a girl if she would be at risk being taught with men or boys, but an anchoress ought not to devote her attention to anyone other than God (though on her director’s advice she may offer someone guidance and help with learning).101 26.  You must not send letters or receive letters or write anything without permission.102 27. You should have your hair cropped, or shaved if you wish, four times a year 103 to lighten your head (anyone who prefers may have her hair trimmed) b,104 and be let blood as often,c 105 and if necessary more often. If anyone can do without this, I have no objection. When you have been bled, you should not do anything for those three days 106 that taxes your strength, but talk to your maids and entertain each other with improving conversation. You may do this often d when you are feeling low, or are upset about some worldly concern, or ill—though every worldly comfort is of little value to an anchoress.107 28.  Look after yourselves so carefully during your bloodletting, and take things so easily, that you can labour more vigorously in God’s service for a long time afterwards; and the same applies when you feel at all ill. It is very foolish to lose ten or twelve days for the sake of one. 29.  Wash yourselves wherever necessary as often as you wish, and your things as well. Filth was never dear to God, though poverty and simplicity are pleasing to him.108 30.  Where all these matters are concerned, you must always understand that nothing that comes under the Outer Rule is a command or a prohibition, since this rule does not matter much as long as the Inner Rule is observed, as I said at the beginning.109 The former may be changed wherever any need or any reason requires it, according to how it can best serve the lady Rule as its humble maidservant—but certainly without it the lady comes to grief.110 31.  For an anchoress 111 who does not have her food near at hand, two women should be employed, one always to remain at home, another to go out when the need arises; and the latter should be very plain in appearance, without any kind of finery,112 either a little maidservant 113 or advanced in years.114 As she goes on her way she should recite her prayers, and should For ‘other’, CFN have ‘little’. For ‘anyone … trimmed’, C2 has ‘anyone who wants can have it trimmed, but she will have to wash and comb her hair more often.’ c PT have ‘fifteen times’ for ‘four times’, and ‘four times’ for ‘as often’. d ‘Often’ is altered in C by C2 to ‘more often’. a

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not stop to chat with anyone, man or woman, or sit down or stand about more than she can possibly help before she comes home. She should not go anywhere else than where she is sent without permission, or eat and drink while out. The other one should always remain inside, and not go outside the gates without permission. Both should be obedient to their mistress in everything except what is sinful. They should not own anything without her knowledge, or accept or give anything without her leave. They should not let any man in, and the younger should not speak to any man without permission. She should not go out of town without a trustworthy companion, if at all possible,115 or spend the night elsewhere. If she is illiterate, she should say her Hours with Our Fathers and Hail Marys,116 and do whatever work she is told to do without complaining. She should always keep her ears open for her mistress’s call. Neither of the women should carry from their mistress, or bring to her, any frivolous gossip or the latest news, or sing or recite secular material to each other, or laugh and play about in such a way that anyone who saw it might misconstrue it. Above all, they should hate lies and malicious talk. Their hair should be cut short, and their head-cloths sit low on the forehead. Each of them should sleep on her own. Their overdresses should be stitched up high,a and without a brooch.117 No man should see them without a cloak, or bareheaded.b They should keep their eyes lowered. They should not kiss any man, either friend or relation, or hug him, however close the acquaintance, or wash men’s hair, or stare at any man, or indulge in horseplay with him. The cut of their clothes, and their dress in general, should be of a kind that makes it obvious what way of life they have chosen. They should watch their behaviour carefully, so that they give no occasion for criticism indoors or out. They should make every effort not to incur their mistress’s anger, and whenever they do, before they eat or drink they should make their Venia 118 down on their knees before her, and say Through my fault,119 and each should accept the penance that she gives her, bowing low to her. The anchoress should never rebuke her again for that offence afterwards, however angry she is, unless she commits it again, but put it completely out of her mind. If any quarrel arises between the women, the anchoress should see that each of them makes her Venia to the other, kneeling bowed to the ground, and each of them should raise the other up, and finally they should kiss each other, and the anchoress should impose some penance on each of them, heavier for the one who was more at fault. Concord and unity, as they should realize, is the one thing that is dearest to God and most hateful to the devil; and so the devil is After ‘stitched up high’, F has ‘in front of the breast’. After ‘bareheaded’, C2 adds ‘At home they may wear scapulars [short cloaks covering the shoulders] when a cloak is too heavy for them. Outside, they should go around cloaked and hooded.’

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always plotting to stir up some discord. Now the treacherous fiend knows well that when a fire is well alight and you want to put it out, you separate the brands; and he does just the same. Love is the fire of Jesus Christ, who wants it to blaze at all times in your heart; and the devil blows in order to put it out. When his blowing has no effect, he brings up some malicious remark or some other trivial matter that makes them recoil from each other; and the fire of the Holy Spirit goes out when the brands are separated by anger. That is why they should hold fast together in love, and it should be nothing to them when the Devil blows, especially if there are many joined together and well kindled with love. Although the anchoress can impose penance on her maids for manifest faults, they should nevertheless make their confession to the priest when necessary a—but even so, always with permission.120 32.  If they do not know the graces for meals, they should say in their place Our Father beforehand, and Hail Mary, and after the meal also, with a Creed as well, and finally say as follows: ‘May Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one almighty God, grant our mistress his grace in ever-increasing measure, and allow both her and us to make a good end. May he recompense all our present benefactors and have mercy on their souls, on the souls of our past benefactors, and on all Christian souls.’ 33.  They should not snack between meals, either on fruit or on anything else, or drink without permission; and permission should be easily gained for everything that is not sinful. There should be no talking at meals, or very little and in a low voice. Also, between the anchoress’s Compline and Prime they should not do or say anything by which her silence might be disturbed. 34.  It is not proper that any anchoress’s servant should ask for a fixed wage, apart from food and clothing enough for her to manage on, and the mercy of God. Nor should any servant be afraid that God will let her down, whatever may happen to the anchoress. If the external maids 121 serve the anchoress as they are supposed to, their reward will be the exalted bliss of heaven. Whoever looks with the eye of hope towards such a high reward will be happy to serve, and easily put up with all hardships and difficulties. Bliss is not bought by comfort and pleasure. 35. You anchoresses should read this last subsection to your women once a week until they are familiar with it. And it is most important that you take great care with them, as you can be greatly helped by them—and harmed, too. What is more, if they sin through your neglect, you will be called to account for it before the high Judge. And as this is very important for you, and still more for them, do your best to teach them kindly and a

For ‘when necessary’, CFNT have ‘often’.

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lovingly to keep their Rule, both for your sake and theirs—because that is what women’s teaching a should be like, loving and kindly and seldom stern. It is right that they should both fear and love you, but even so that there should always be more love than fear;122 then things will go well. According to God’s teaching, both oil and wine should be poured into wounds, but more soothing oil than stinging wine—that is, more kind words than sharp ones. For out of this comes the best of things, that is, fear caused by love.123 Forgive them their faults readily and kindly when they acknowledge them and promise to make amends. 36.  As far as you can, be generous towards them with food b and clothes and other things required for their physical needs, even if you are sparing and hard on yourselves. This is what the good trumpeter does: he puts the narrow end of the horn to his own mouth and the wide end outwards. You too should do the same if you want your prayers to ring loudly and musically in the Lord’s ears, not only for your salvation but for everyone else’s—and may Our Lord grant through his special grace that it may be so. Amen. 37.  When your sisters’ maids 124 pay you a visit, come to them at the window in the morning and afternoon once or twice, and go straight back to your spiritual duties, and do not sit too long before Compline on their account, so that their visit may not mean the loss of any of your spiritual observances, but spiritual gain. If anything is said that might cause hurt feelings, it should not be repeated outside or told to another anchoress who is easily hurt. It should be told to the man who supervises them all. Two nights are enough for anyone to be asked to stay, and that should be very rarely; do not break silence at meals on their account, or because of bloodletting, unless some great benefit or need requires it. The anchoress and her maid should not play worldly games at the window, or anything that involves touch;125 because as St Bernard says,126 every such pleasure of the flesh is unworthy of someone in the spiritual life, and especially an anchoress, and it deprives them of spiritual joy, which surpasses it immeasurably—and that is a poor exchange, as was said above.127 38.  Read some of this book in your free time every day, whether less or more. I hope that if you read it often it will be very useful to you, through God’s great grace; otherwise I would have wasted the long time I spent on it. As God is my witness, I would rather set out to Rome than start writing it again.128 If you find that you are practising what you read, thank God sincerely. If you do not, pray for God’s mercy, and try to observe it better in the future as far as you can.129 a b

After ‘women’s teaching’, T has ‘in the religious life’. Before ‘with food’, N has’with drink and’; similarly T and (after ‘food’) F.



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39.  May Father, Son, Holy Ghost, one almighty God, have you in his keeping. May he give you joy and comfort, my dear sisters, and, in return for all that you suffer and endure for him, give you no less reward than his whole self. May he be glorified world without end, for ever and ever. Amen. 40.  Whenever you have read anything in this book, salute our Lady with a Hail Mary for the man who worked on it.a 130 I am moderate enough in asking so little.131 The End. Remember your scribe sometimes in your prayers, no matter how little. It will benefit you if you pray for others.132

For ‘who worked on it’, N has ‘who composed this Rule, and the man who copied it and worked on it’.

a

Explanatory Notes

Preface P. 1 The righteous love you: Cant. 1: 3. The righteous … things: the modern English translation cannot P. 2 fully render the sense of this opening Latin passage, with its complex wordplay on the possible meanings of the adjective rectus (‘righteous, upright, straight, right, correct’) and the etymologically related nouns directio, rectificatio, and regula (‘rule’); the Middle English discussion that follows makes similar use of the adjective riht, the nouns riwlunge and riwle, and the verbs riwlin and rihten. The point being made goes back ultimately to the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville (c.560–636), bk. 6, ch. 16: ‘a rule (regula) is so called because it guides rightly (recte) … Others have said that it is called regula because it rules (regat), or because it offers a norm for living rightly (recte), or because it corrects (corrigat) anything that is distorted and crooked (distortum prauumque)’. It became a commonplace in C12 and C13 commentaries on the Augustinian Rule; the mid-thirteenth-century commentary by the Dominican Humbert of Romans links the term regula both to the rules of grammar and other academic disciplines and to the ruler (rectula) used by scribes, carpenters, and builders to straighten out irregularities (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 1–2). See also n. 4 below. And you … rule: echoing a similar address by Aelred of Rievaulx P. 3 to his sister in the prologue of De Institutione inclusarum, CCCM 1. 637. P. 4 makes it even … conscience: Baldwin [1976] compares the imagery used here with Augustine’s reading of Ps. 31: 11, ‘Rejoice, all those who are righteous (recti) in heart’: the heart that is crooked and distorted (prauum et distortum) cannot be aligned to the righteousness (rectitudo) of God, any more than a warped piece of wood will lie flat on level paving (Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 31, Sermo 2, § 25, CCSL 38. 242–3). See also n. 2 above. For fuller discussion of the difficult and metaphorical language of this sentence, which has been variously interpreted by scholars, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 3; C2’s explanatory additions indicate that it caused problems even to the original readers of AW. P. 5 of a pure heart … faith: see 1 Tim. 1: 5.

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P. 6 Extend … will: Ps. 35: 11; the running gloss is probably based on Peter Lombard’s Commentarius in Psalmos, PL 191. 366. antonomastically: antonomasia is the rhetorical term for the use P. 7 of an epithet instead of a proper name. Here it is used in the sense ‘par excellence’: the righteous in heart can be called ‘the good’ because they have earned a special right to the name (as St Paul is often referred to simply as ‘the Apostle’). P. 8 Do good … heart: Ps. 124: 4. Rejoice … heart: Ps. 31: 11. P. 9 P. 10 Nothing … authority: probably a reminiscence of Augustine’s In Iohannis Evangelium tractatus, Tract. 73, § 3, CCSL 36. 511; Augustine is making the point that God will answer only those prayers that are consistent with divine law. P. 11 Let us … rule: see Phil. 3: 16. P. 12 keep vigil: i.e. stay awake during the night for prayer or meditation. P. 13 bodily exercise … unimportant: see 1 Tim. 4: 8. P. 14 as far as … life: untraced, but probably ultimately derived from the fifth-century definition of purity of heart in Cassian’s Collationes as the objective (scopos) of the religious life, without which its aim (finis), eternal life, cannot be achieved (bk. 1, ch. 5, SC 43. 81–3). purity of heart … confession: Baldwin [1974], p. 27, links this P. 15 definition with Jerome’s frequently-quoted gloss on Matt. 5: 8: the pure in heart are ‘those whose conscience does not accuse them of any sin’ (Commentarii in Euangelium Matthei, bk. 1, CCSL 77. 25). P. 16 that is … concerned: probably echoing Bernard of Clairvaux’s discussion of how far monastic rules should be seen as binding in De Praecepto et dispensatione, ch. 2, § 3, Opera, 3. 256; he argues that those precepts—such as charity and humility—that are ordained by God must be obeyed, but that other regulations (or at any rate those dealing with physical observances) are binding only on those who have vowed to observe them, and even so can be dispensed by those with the authority to do so. P. 17 One is well-educated … differently: Aelred of Rievaulx similarly recommends in De Institutione inclusarum, ch. 9, CCCM 1. 645–6, that the anchoress who cannot read Latin (quae litteras non intelligit) should do more manual work, and recite briefer and simpler prayers. Aelred suggests repeated Our Fathers, interspersed by memorized psalms if possible; the AW author sets out a possible routine in Part 1, §§ 30–1, and an addition in N offers an alternative routine used by the lay brothers of the writer’s order (see Part 1, § 6). On the development of simplified devotional routines for less literate and non-literate users in this period , see further Millett [2000]. P. 18 No dispensation was possible for the vows made at profession (see n. 16 above). The vows themselves are traditional, although McNabb [1926]



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noted the rather similar content and wording of the 1220 constitutions of the Dominican nunnery of St Sixtus in Rome: ‘Anyone who is received as a sister should promise obedience, stability of abode and order, to live without personal property and also chastely, and never to leave the house in which she has made her profession, unless she is transferred to another convent of the same order for a necessary cause’ (the vows of stability of order and renunciation of personal property would not apply to the anchoresses, since they were not members of a religious community). P. 19 straining … fly: an adaptation of Matt. 23: 34, where Christ rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees for focusing on trivialities rather than the more important aspects of the law, ‘straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel’. P. 20 of St James … holiness: the author of the Epistle of St James, traditionally identified with the James who is called ‘the brother of Christ’ in Mark 6: 3, was also formerly identified with the apostle St James ‘the Less’ (see ODCC). P. 21 If any ignorant person … epistle: there was no ‘order of St James’. It was a commonplace of the ‘Medieval Reformation’ that the life and teaching of Christ provided the ultimate model for the religious life (see Constable [1996], pp. 153–9), and similar appeals by reformers to Scripture over traditional monastic legislation can be found elsewhere; see Millett [2002]. P. 22 Pure and immaculate religion … world: Jas. 1: 27. P. 23 He defines … order: the argument here depends on the different possible senses of the Latin terms religio (ME religiun) and ordo (ME ordre), which were increasingly being used in this period to refer specifically to the religious life as led by members of the monastic orders (see Biller); the AW author is reclaiming their older, more general sense (see Millett [2002]). P. 24 The second … religious: this interpretation of Jas. 1: 27 is not traditional (see Millett [2002]); there seem to be no precedents for its identification of the two parts of the verse with two distinct ways of life, active and contemplative (see Constable [1995], part 1), or for its identification of the ‘widows and orphans’ with souls in need of instruction, a reading probably borrowed from Jerome’s interpretation of two other Scriptural texts that mention widows and orphans, Ps. 145: 9 (Tractatus de psalmo 145, CCSL 78. 328) and Isa. 10: 2 (Commentarii in Esaiam, bk. 4, CCSL 73. 133–4). The author’s application of the first part of the verse to those active in the world (‘especially prelates and true preachers’) and of the second to anchoresses ‘more than other religious’ makes the point that monasticism is not necessarily the religious way of life par excellence. P. 25 white … black: black was the traditional colour of the habits worn by monks, regular canons, and nuns, but some of the more austere religious orders founded in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, including the

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Cistercians and the Premonstratensians, adopted white habits (i.e. of undyed wool), a choice that was ‘a bitter source of controversy’ between the older and newer orders (see Constable [1996], pp. 188–91). See also n. 28 below. P. 26 Paul … a good order: Paul the First Hermit (d. c.345), Anthony of Egypt (251–356), Arsenius of Rome (c.354–c.455), Macarius (probably Macarius of Egypt (c.300–c.390) rather than Macarius of Alexandria (d. 406)), Sarah (fourth century), and Syncletica (d. c.400) all lived as solitaries in the Egyptian desert; their lives provided a frequently-cited model for both monastic reform and the revival of the eremitic life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries (see Constable [1996], pp. 160–1). P. 27 I am black but comely: Cant. 1: 4. P. 28 not in the wide hood … cowl: the general point is plain enough (it was a medieval commonplace that ‘the cowl does not make the monk’), but the exact significance of the garments and their colours is less certain. Bernard of Clairvaux criticized the Cluniac monks for their ‘long sleeves and wide hoods’ (Ep. 1, § 11, Opera, 7. 9), and the Victorine canons also wore long sleeves and wide hoods (see Baldwin [1976], pp. 288–9). The black cape was worn by regular canons (apart from the Premonstratensians, who wore white) and Dominican friars. The white rochet (like a surplice, but made of heavier linen) was worn by regular canons and taken over by the Dominicans, who, however, replaced it before 1220 by the monastic scapular (a strip of woollen cloth with a central hole for the head, covering the front of the habit); see Hinnebusch [1951], pp. 218–19. It is not clear what ‘the grey cowl’ refers to; Fletcher, who discusses a range of possibilities (including the undyed habits of the Cistercians and the grey habits worn by lay brothers), prefers the grey hoods (caputia) worn by the early Franciscans, but ME cuuel here is probably the equivalent of Latin cucullus/a, the long sleeveless hooded garment worn by monks, and some monks (including those of Savigny and Tiron) wore grey habits. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 13. P. 29 Where many … will: Dobson [1976], pp. 19–20, noted the allusion here to the opening words of the prologue to the later twelfth-century revision of the Premonstratensian statutes (ed. Lefèvre and Grauwen, p. 1): ‘Since we are instructed by the Praeceptum of the [Augustinian] Rule to have one heart and one soul in God [Acts 4: 32], and we live according to one rule and one vow of profession, it is proper that we should be seen as uniform in the observances of religious life according to a rule, so that the unity maintained outwardly in our customs should encourage and represent the unity that must be maintained inwardly in our hearts.’ The prologue continued in use into the early thirteenth century, when much of it, including this passage, was taken over by the Dominicans in their earliest constitutions (see Introduction, p. xx). See also n. 33 below.



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P. 30 Mic. 6: 8. P. 31 Ve … dealbatis: an abridged and slightly paraphrased version of Matt. 23: 25–7. P. 32 All … heart: cf. Cassian, Collationes, bk. 1, ch. 7, SC 42. 85: ‘Therefore fasts, vigils, meditation on the Scriptures, nakedness, and privation of all the senses do not constitute perfection, but are the tools (instrumenta) of perfection, because the aim of that discipline does not consist in the practices themselves, but through them the aim is reached.’ P. 33 distinctions: on the use of the word here, see Introduction, pp. xxix– xxx; see further Millett [2005–6], 2. xxxvi–xxxix.

Part 1 1. 1 Hours: the daily services of the Divine Office (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, Nones, Compline, and Vespers). The anchoresses’ devotional routine in AW is based not on the full Office recited by priests and members of religious orders, but on a shorter and simpler set of Hours, the ‘Little Hours’ of the Virgin Mary. They were used increasingly from the early thirteenth century as a substitute routine for those following extramonastic forms of the religious life, whose command of Latin might be limited; see further Millett [2000]. Come … Spirit: Veni, Creator Spiritus, a ninth-century hymn 1. 2 possibly composed by Rabanus Maurus. 1. 3 versicle … spirit: a versicle is a short sentence (usually from the Psalms) used in the liturgy, generally paired with a response (so Send forth your spirit [and they shall be created] (see Ps. 103: 30) may be paired with the second half of the verse, And you will restore the face of the earth). O God … faithful: Deus, qui corda fidelium, a collect (see n. 23 1. 4 below) on the descent of the Holy Spirit. 1. 5 Jesus Christ … have mercy on us: versicle and response ( Jesu Christe, Fili Dei vivi) used in Prime (see nn. 1, 3 above). 1. 6 God’s flesh … high altar: a reference to the ‘reservation of the sacrament’, the practice of keeping consecrated hosts in a vessel hanging above the altar; see ODCC s. ‘Reservation’. The passage assumes that the anchoress’s cell is built on to the church, with a window through which she can see the high altar. 1. 7 Hail, origin … consolation: Ave, principium nostrae creationis. A similar prayer on the elevation of the Host is recorded from Paris c.1200, and there are also later Continental parallels; see Talbot [1956] and Ackerman and Dahood, pp. 92–3. 1. 8 O be … forever new: the last verse of a sixth-century hymn, Jesu nostra redemptio. 1. 9 O Lord … might: the fourth verse of the hymn A Patre unigenitus, of uncertain date (tenth to thirteenth century).

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1. 10 Born … father: the last verse (Gloria tibi, Domine …) of the hymn Quem terra, pontus, aethera by Venantius Fortunatus (d. c.610). Confiteor: the standard prayer of confession, ‘I confess [to almighty 1. 11 God, etc.] …’. 1. 12 five salutations … five wounds: for the liturgical context of these salutations, see the notes and references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 18–19. ‘God’s five wounds’ are the wounds received by Christ on the cross in hands, feet, and side. 1. 13 Hail … world: the opening two verses of a ninth-century hymn, Salve, Crux sancta. 1. 14 Hail, Cross … succeed: from the early twelfth-century sequence Laudes crucis attollamus. 1. 15 Hail Marys: the prayer Ave Maria; the medieval form of this prayer (based on Luke 1: 28 and 1: 42) ended at fructus ventris tui (‘the fruit of your womb’). 1. 16 Finally … consecrated: Aelred of Rievaulx had recommended that anchoresses limit themselves to an image of Christ on their altar, perhaps accompanied by images of Mary and John ‘the beloved disciple’ as exemplars of virginity (De Institutione inclusarum, CCCM 1. 658– 9), but this devotional restraint was not always observed; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 19. say … follows: The closest parallels in content and structure to these 1. 17 instructions for saying Matins are in the Dominican constitutions of 1216 (dist. 1, ch. 1, ed. Thomas, pp. 314–5); see Millett [2000], pp. 32–4. 1. 18 ferial day … festal day: the days of the liturgical year were characterized as either festal (Sundays and feast-days) or ferial (other days); see Harper, p. 53. 1. 19 O Lord … lips: Ps. 50: 17, the opening versicle of the Matins of the Virgin. 1. 20 O God … help: Ps. 69: 2, the second versicle of Matins and Compline, and the first of the other Hours, in the Hours of the Virgin. 1. 21 Glory … Father: the prayer Gloria Patri (‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, amen’). 1. 22 the Venite … adore: ‘the Venite ‘ is Ps. 94 (which begins ‘O come [venite], let us rejoice in the Lord’); ‘O come, let us adore’ falls at the midpoint of the psalm (verse 6). 1. 23 collect: a prayer designed for a particular liturgical occasion or purpose. 1. 24 Bless … Lord: strictly speaking, this is not a psalm but a canticle (Dan. 3: 57–88, Benedicite …). 1. 25 Come, Creator: see n. 2. 1. 26 Remember … salvation: Memento, salutis auctor, the opening of



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a verse from the sixth-century hymn Christe, redemptor omnium (‘O Christ, redeemer of us all’); the quotation that follows is the last line of the verse. 1. 27 Te Deum: a hymn in rhythmical prose by Nicetas of Remesiana (d. 405), Te Deum laudamus (‘we praise you, O God’). 1. 28 the Great Creed: i.e. the ‘Nicene Creed’, which had been used in the Mass since the eleventh century; see ODCC s. ‘Nicene Creed’. 1. 29 Each of you … written them down: an indication of the anchoresses’ level of literacy. Books of Hours (devotional compilations of offices and prayers whose central component was the Little Office of the Virgin) were beginning to reach a wider readership in this period; the earliest surviving Book of Hours produced in England, the de Brailes Hours, dates from c.1240 (see Donovan). Here the anchoresses’ Hours seem to have been copied separately; but the supplementary Latin and vernacular devotions provided or referred to in Part 1 are similar to those incorporated in later medieval Books of Hours (see Millett [2000] and Scott-Stokes). For a general history of the Book of Hours in England, see Duffy. 1. 30 This winter … Easter: the liturgical year had only two seasons, winter and summer; see Harper, p. 74. The reference is to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September. 1. 31 Preciosa: a set of devotions named from their opening versicle, Preciosa est in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum eius (Ps. 115: 15): ‘The death of his saints is precious in the eyes of the Lord.’ 1. 32 because you eat twice: during the liturgical summer, from Easter to mid-September, the anchoresses ate two meals a day, except on Fridays and some other specified days, when they fasted; the implication is that Nones would then be said before the one meal of the day, as in winter. You should stand … by all means: sitting and standing alternately 1. 33 during the recitation of the Psalms was standard monastic practice; but Peter Cantor in the late twelfth century considered sitting during prayer an insufficiently penitential posture for the able-bodied (see Trexler, p. 41). 1. 34 At all the seven Hours … after: the eight canonical hours (see n. 1) were sometimes linked more closely with Ps. 118: 164, ‘Seven times in the day I have sung your praise’, by counting Matins and Lauds (which were recited consecutively) as a single Hour. In the thirteenth century, the practice of reciting the Hail Mary before and after each Hour seems to have been distinctively Dominican; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 24. 1. 35 the souls of the faithful: i.e. the versicle Fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace (‘May the souls of the faithful by the mercy of God rest in peace’). 1. 36 Placebo: the Vespers of the Office of the Dead, named from its opening antiphon, Placebo Domino in regione vivorum (Ps. 114: 9) (‘I shall please the Lord in the land of the living’).

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1. 37 a feast of nine lessons: of the two types of feast, single and double, single feasts were categorized by the number of lessons (i.e. Scriptural readings) at Matins, three, nine, or twelve; feasts began with the Vespers of the previous evening (see Harper, pp. 53–7). 1. 38 Dirige: the Matins of the Office of the Dead, named from its opening antiphon (based on Ps. 5: 9), Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam (‘O Lord, my God, direct my way in your sight’). 1. 39 in turn: on the recitation of different parts of Dirige in rotation when it was used as a Votive Office (i.e. a semi-liturgical daily devotion) see Harper, p. 106. 1. 40 Magnificat: a canticle recited towards the end of the Vespers of the Dead, Mary’s speech praising God in Luke 1: 46–55, which begins Magnificat anima mea Dominum (‘My soul glorifies the Lord’). 1. 41 Miserere: Ps. 50, which begins Miserere mei, Deus (‘have mercy on me, O Lord’); it opens the Lauds of the Dead. 1. 42 Laudate: Ps. 150, which begins Laudate Deum (‘Praise God’), the last psalm in the Lauds of the Dead. 1. 43 Let us bless the Lord: i.e. the concluding versicle Benedicamus Domino and its response, Deo gratias (‘thanks be to God’). 1. 44 suffrages: commemorations of the saints (as C2 explains), recited daily after Lauds; see Harper, pp. 130–1. 1. 45 Commendation: psalms and prayers recited after the Office of the Dead; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 25. 1. 46 except Saturday night: Dobson explains this by the greater length of Sunday matins, recited ‘during the small hours preceding Sunday’; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 26. 1. 47 On a one-meal day … same: this addition, found (at slightly different points in the text) in A and V only, may refer to Dominican practice; see Millett [1992], pp. 212–13. On one-meal and two-meal days, see n. 32 above. 1. 48 the Seven Psalms: i.e. the Seven Penitential Psalms, Pss. 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142; incorporated into the Divine Office from the seventh century onwards, they later became a standard component of Books of Hours. 1. 49 the Fifteen Psalms: i.e. the Gradual Psalms (Pss. 119–33), recited as a monastic devotion from the ninth century, and often included in Books of Hours. On the disputed meaning of the term ‘gradual’, see ODCC s.v. ‘Gradual Psalms’. 1. 50 Lord … us: the Kyrie eleison, an invocation in Greek used in the Mass and the Divine Office. 1. 51 My God … you: a versicle and response based on Ps. 85: 2, Salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperantem in te (‘My God, save your servant



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who has hope in you’); in AW the wording is sometimes modified, as here, to refer explicitly to women. O God … is: a prayer for the souls of the dead, beginning Deus cui 1. 52 proprium est misereri (‘O God, whose special nature it is to have mercy’). 1. 53 O Lord … towers: Ps. 121: 7. 1. 54 We beseech … Church: a prayer (Ecclesiae tuae quaesumus …) for divine protection of the Church, used in the Mass and the Litany. 1. 55 Free … hell: from the Office of the Dead (A porta inferi erue, Dominus, animas eorum); Dobson compares Ps. 85: 13, Ps. 88: 49, Isa. 38: 10, and Matt. 16: 18 (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 27). 1. 56 O God … faithful: a prayer for the souls of the faithful (Fidelium Deus omnium …), used in the Office of the Dead and the Litany. 1. 57 our Lord … cross: see Mark 15: 25. 1. 58 after Masses: the alternative prayer routine suggested at this point in N is related to a monastic tradition of legislation for lay brothers running from the Cistercians through the Premonstratensians to the Dominicans; its closest parallels are with the equivalent prescriptions (probably c.1220) in the early Dominican Constitutions. It is uncertain whether this addition was supplied by the author of Ancrene Wisse; but whoever wrote it seems to have seen the other observances followed by the anchoresses as closely related to those of his own order. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 27. 1. 59 after me: the addition by C2 probably refers to the previous sentence, where the repeated pronoun-form þe ‘thee’, which here could easily be confused with þe ‘the’ (as indeed it is in N), has an accent added to indicate the long vowel; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 28. 1. 60 Almighty God … honour: the theme of this prayer was a contemporary commonplace, but no Latin source has been traced for the prayer itself, although its highly-worked style suggests one. Let us bless … for ever: from the canticle Benedicite (see n. 24 1. 61 above); but this verse is a Christian interpolation (see Ackerman and Dahood, pp. 94–5). 1. 62 O almighty … Trinity: a prayer (Omnipotens sempiterne Deus …) used in the commemoration of the Trinity. 1. 63 Alpha and Omega: as the letters alpha and omega begin and end the Greek alphabet, God is the beginning and end of all things (see Apoc. 1: 8, 21: 6, 22: 13). Cooper, p. 28, takes the phrase here as a reference to a twelfthcentury group of three hymns on the Trinity by Hildebert of Le Mans, the first of which begins Alpha et omega (PL 171. 1411). 1. 64 May all the earth … name: based on Ps. 65: 4; used as both versicle and antiphon in the Office. 1. 65 O just Judge: Ackerman and Dahood, p. 97, suggest two possible hymns beginning with the phrase Juste Judex.

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1. 66 O God … Christ: a paraphrased version of a prayer (Deus, qui Unigeniti tui …) used as a collect in the Mass of the Holy Cross. 1. 67 the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord; see Isa. 11: 2–3. 1. 68 the seven Hours: see n. 34 above. 1. 69 the seven capital and mortal sins: as Savage and Watson, p. 372, note, the AW author tends to conflate the seven capital sins with the seven deadly sins; Bloomfield, pp. 43–4, explains that the former are the chief sins, the latter those entailing damnation. The seven sins are discussed in detail in Part 4 of AW. 1. 70 the lesser sins that flow from them: the Middle English text refers to the lesser sins metaphorically as streams (brokes); for contemporary parallels to this image, which represents the seven capital sins as the source or fountainhead of all other sins, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 29. 1. 71 the seven blessed Beatitudes: the eight Beatitudes of Matt. 5: 3–11 were sometimes counted in the Middle Ages as seven, which allowed a neater opposition of the Beatitudes (along with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven petitions of the Our Father) to the seven capital sins; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 29–30. 1. 72 O God … open: a collect (Deus, cui omne cor patet …) used in the Mass and the Office. 1. 73 We beseech you, O Lord, listen … supplicants: a prayer (Exaudi, quaesumus, Domine, supplicum preces …) used in the Mass and the Litany. 1. 74 my failure … myself: probably a reference to fasting, which could be seen as an alternative form of tithing; Warner of Langres (d. 1198), taking up a point originally made in Cassian’s Collationes, explains (Sermo 13, PL 205. 660–1) that as the patriarchs offered tithes and first-fruits to God from all their possessions, ‘so we should offer tithes to God, not just of our property, but also of ourselves, through fasting. For this reason, Lent was established as a tithe of days’ (the forty days of Lent include thirty-six fastdays, approximately one-tenth of the year). 1. 75 I have said … towards you: Ps. 40: 5. 1. 76 the twelve branches … charity: a traditional image for the attributes of charity listed (as C2 notes) in 1 Cor. 13. 1. 77 They have … deeds: versicle and response (a modification of Ps. 63: 10) used in the Office. 1. 78 Hear us … apostles: identified by Ackerman and Dahood, p. 98, as a collect (Exaudi nos, Deus salutaris noster …) used on feasts of the Apostles. 1. 79 the six works of mercy: i.e. the six corporal works of mercy listed in Matt. 25: 35–45: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and visiting the imprisoned. An alternative list of seven works of mercy, including the burial of the dead (see Tobit 12: 13), which later became standard, was current from the twelfth



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century onwards, but the list of six persisted alongside it till the end of the Middle Ages, partly because it had already become embedded in numerical sequences of the kind used here. 1. 80 He has distributed … remains: Ps. 111: 9. 1. 81 Deign … to grant: Retribuere, Domine, a collect recited after meals for benefactors. 1. 82 I have lifted … you: Ps. 122: 1. 1. 83 the four morning-gifts: a morning-gift (marheȝeue) is the gift given by a husband to his wife on the morning after the wedding. The four dotes corporis, the wedding-gifts of the resurrected body, were impassibilitas (immunity from suffering), agilitas (lightness and speed), subtilitas (the ability to pass through solid matter), and claritas (beauty and radiance); agilitas and claritas are discussed further in Part 2, § 33. 1. 84 nine angelic hosts: the nine orders of angels established by Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (c.500) in his Celestial Hierarchies: Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; and Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. See ODCC s. ‘angel’. Out of the depths: the opening words of Ps. 129. 1. 85 1. 86 From the gate of hell: see n. 55 above. 1. 87 O God … faithful: : see n. 56 above. 1. 88 At some time … mercy: cf. Aelred of Rievaulx’s advice in De Institutione inclusarum, § 28, CCCM 1. 661–2: ‘Into your soul there should rush the misery of the poor, the groans of orphans, the desolation of widows, the grief of the distressed, the needs of pilgrims, the perils of those at sea, the vows of virgins, the temptations of monks, the cares of prelates, the struggles of fighters. Open to all the heart of your love, shed your tears for them, pour out your prayers for them.’ The mention of prisoners in ‘heathen territory’ (heaðenesse) is an addition by the AW author, probably referring to Christians captured by the Muslims. Prayers for their liberation first entered the liturgy after the defeat of the Christian forces by Saladin at the battle of Hattin in 1187, when large numbers of Christian combatants were captured; on the conditions in which they were kept, see Friedman, ch. 5. Dobson [1976], pp. 239–40, compares Innocent III’s 1213 encyclical De Negotio terrae sanctae: ‘Do you perhaps not realize that many thousands of Christians are detained by them [i.e. the Muslims] in servitude and prison, tortured by innumerable torments?’ 1. 89 I have lifted up my eyes: Ps. 120. 1. 90 Return … prayers: See Ps. 89: 13. 1. 91 Hold out … servants: a collect (Praetende, Domine, famulis et famulabus tuis) used in the Mass. 1. 92 God’s body: the the phrase shows that the reference is to the solemn elevation of the consecrated Host in the sight of the congregation (as opposed to the small elevation before the consecration), a practice first

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sanctioned by a synod of Paris in 1215, and reflected in the constitutions of the diocese of London, 1215 × 1222; see Talbot [1956], pp. 46–8. 1. 93 See here … man: an elegiac couplet (Ecce salus mundi, verbum Patris, hostia vera / Viva caro, Deitas integra, verus homo) from a prayer to the consecrated Host ascribed to Maurice of Sully, Bishop of Paris, d. 1196, in a contemporary poem on his death (see PL 205. 895) . The original has sacra ‘holy’ for AW vera. 1. 94 But what place … others: based (as noted by Cooper, pp. 36–7) on extracts from the first book of Augustine’s Confessiones (bk. 1, ch. 2, § 2, ch. 5, §§ 5, 6, CCSL 27. 1, 3). In the final sentence (a quotation from Ps. 18: 13–14), the masculine form servus ‘servant’ has been replaced in AW by famula ‘maidservant’. It is possible that this passage circulated as a separate devotion; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 34. 1. 95 Have mercy … compassion: Ps. 50: 3. 1. 96 Save … you: Ps. 85: 2 (again with servus replaced by famula; see nn. 51, 94 above). 1. 97 Teach … God: Ps. 142: 10. 1. 98 O Lord … reach you: Ps. 101: 2. 1. 99 Grant … that same Lord: this collect (Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus) has not been traced elsewhere (the eleventh-century version referred to by Ackerman and Dahood, p. 99, is a different prayer with the same opening words); Dobson suggests that it is ‘of recent scholastic origin’. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 34. 1. 100 After the kiss of peace … ask: for a discussion of the devotional implications of this passage, see Gunn [2001]. It has sometimes been understood as referring to what in modern terminology would be described as mystical union with God; but the author’s use of the imperative (which would hardly be appropriate for an experience granted rarely, and then only by divine grace) suggests that he sees it rather as a meditative exercise suitable for any anchoress. Cf. the first part of the triple meditation in Aelred’s De Institutione inclusarum, where the anchoress is encouraged to imagine herself in spirit at events from the life of Christ, embracing him in the crib at Bethlehem, and imploring his forgiveness together with the sinful woman of Luke 7: 36–50 (‘with deep sighs and indescribable groans extort from him what you are asking for’, CCCM 1. 665–6). Gunn [2008], p. 44, comments on the spirituality of AW, ‘For the anchoress, union with Christ comes, not through ascent to him, but through his descent into the heart of the penitent.’ 1. 101 antiphon: a short liturgical text, often but not always from Scripture, sung or recited before or after a psalm. 1. 102 Save us … Cross: an antiphon (Salva nos, Christe salvator) referring to Matt. 14: 23–33. 1. 103 Rejoice in the Lord: Ps. 99.



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1. 104 Behold … anointed one: Ps. 83: 10. 1. 105 O God … Cross: Deus, qui sanctam Crucem; see Ackerman and Dahood, p. 99, who identify it as a collect or antiphon used at Matins. 1. 106 Stand by … Cross: Adesto, quaesumus, Domine; on this collect and the prayer substituted for it in N, see the references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 37. 1. 107 in each … five verses: Dobson notes that in the standard Vulgate verse-numbering, only Pss. 99 and 124 have five verses (Ps. 122 has four, Ps. 130 three, Ps. 150 six), but that the other three are easily divisible in this way (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 37). 1. 108 O blessed and chaste Virgin: the long prayer O intemerata (here with the variant opening O beata et intemerata), was composed in France in the first half of the twelfth century, probably by a Cistercian author; it appears frequently in later medieval Books of Hours. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 37. 1. 109 after Lady: C2 adds a marginal note in C, ‘¶ About the Five Joys of Our Lady’; the Five Joys are the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Assumption. See the discussion of these devotions by Sitwell in Salu, pp. 195–6, which concludes that AW ‘seems to give the earliest known example of the devotion to the Five Joys of Mary set out in an elaborate form’ (p. 196). Like O intemerata (see n. 108 above), celebrations of the Joys of Our Lady, often with vernacular prayers, are common in later medieval Books of Hours; the number of the Joys might vary, however, and in the later period was more usually fifteen. 1. 110 whatever … before: a reference to the controversy over whether Mary herself was conceived without the transmission of original sin, a view opposed by most of the major theologians of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (see ODCC s. ‘Immaculate Conception of the BVM’). 1. 111 I cried out … afflicted: Ps. 119. 1. 112 Give … servant: Ps. 118: 17; the reference is to a single section, verses 17–24, of this long psalm (176 verses). 1. 113 Ascension Day: Hali Þursdei in the ME text; but in current Roman Catholic usage, the term ‘Holy Thursday’ has been transferred from Ascension Day to Maundy Thursday. 1. 114 When the Lord … Zion: Ps. 125. 1. 115 The Holy Spirit … overshadow you: Luke 1: 35, the angel’s words to Mary at the Annunciation. 1. 116 O Lord … your grace: Gratiam tuam, a collect used in the Hours of the Virgin; see Ackerman and Dahood, p. 100. 1. 117 Hail, the queen … for us: Ave regina caelorum, a mid-eleventhcentury hymn; the extra couplet in C (added by C2), N, and V (see fn.) is part of its standard text.

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1. 118 A shoot … root: Isa. 11: 1, taken as a prophecy of the birth of Christ. 1. 119 O God … chamber: Deus, qui virginalem aulam, a collect used in the Office for the Feast of the Assumption. 1. 120 Rejoice, mother of God … mediator for us: Gaude, Dei genetrix, an antiphon recorded from the late eleventh century onwards. It became widespread (with some textual variation) in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and its sequence of five Gaudes led to its being linked, as here, with the Five Joys of Mary. See further the references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 39. 1. 121 Behold … Emmanuel: antiphon taken from Isa. 7: 14. 1. 122 O God …virgin Mary: Deus, qui de beatae virginis utero, a collect for the Feast of the Annunciation. 1. 123 Rejoice, virgin … before the Lord: this antiphon (Gaude, virgo) is untraced. 1. 124 Behold … Jesus: Luke 1: 31. 1. 125 O God … human race: Deus, qui salutis aeternae, a collect used on the Feast of the Annunciation. 1. 126 O beloved mother … compassion for sinners: an eleventh-century hymn (Alma redemptoris mater) sometimes attributed to Herman of Reichenau (d. 1054); see further Ackerman and Dahood, p. 101. 1. 127 Behold … according to your word: Luke 1: 38 (Mary’s response to the angel at the Annunciation). 1. 128 O holy virgin of virgins: O sancta virgo virginum, the opening words of a poem to the Virgin by Marbod of Rennes (1035–1123),Oratio ad sanctam Mariam (PL 171. 1651–2), which is also the source of another AW Group work, the Lofsong of ure Lefdi (see Thompson [1958], p. xiv). 1. 129 The psalms … our Lady’s name: i.e. the first letter of each Latin psalm (or extract from the psalm, in the case of Ps. 118; or canticle, in the case of the Magnificat) is used to spell out ‘Maria’: Luke 1: 46–55 M(agnificat), Ps. 119 A(d Dominum), Ps. 118: 17–24 R(etribue), Ps. 125 I(n convertendo), Ps. 122 A(d te levavi). Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum Historiale (c.1250) says that this devotion originated in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and that a miracle connected with it was witnessed at the Benedictine abbey of St Bertin by Peter, Bishop of Arras (1184–1203); see Talbot [1956], pp. 42–3. 1. 130 This … Hail Marys: this addition to the original text is found only in A and F (the introductory sentence is in the first person only in A; see fn.). Dobson [1962], pp. 152–3, explains its different placing in F (at the end of § 26 of Part 1) by the practice of circulating longer additions on separate sheets of parchment. 1. 131 O most beautiful of women: Cant. 5: 17. 1. 132 O virgin of virgins: the opening phrase of one of the O-antiphons (i.e. antiphons beginning with the invocation O) sung with the Magnificat in the nine days before Christmas.



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1. 133 Mother of mercy … after death: the first two verses of the hymn Maria, mater gratiae (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 42). 1. 134 Hail Marys by decades: an anticipation of the later devotion of the Rosary. Multiple repetitions of the Hail Mary, sometimes accompanied by variations of prayer posture, are increasingly attested from the late eleventh century onwards; in the early thirteenth century, this type of devotion was especially popular among the Beguines. For further details and references, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 43. 1. 135 kneeling up and down: the sense here is unclear: it may mean kneeling first upright, then bowed over, or simply genuflecting at each Hail Mary (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 43). 1. 136 your kneelings: repeated kneeling was a long-established penitential exercise; it was particularly encouraged by the Dominicans as part of a wider cult of Marian piety (see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 44). 1. 137 the Hours of the Holy Spirit: these consisted of a hymn, an antiphon, and a prayer; in Books of Hours they are sometimes found ‘troped’ (i.e. intermingled), as here, with the Hours of the Virgin (see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 44). 1. 138 Benedicite: literally ‘bless / make a blessing’ (imperative plural); the standard introduction to a grace. 1. 139 Our help … earth: Ps. 123: 8 (divided into versicle and response). 1. 140 May the name … evermore: Ps. 112: 2. 1. 141 Let us … God: versicle (Benedicamus Domino) and response (Deo gratias) used in the Office and the Mass. 1. 142 Lord, visit this dwelling: Visita, Domine, habitationem istam, a prayer used in the Hours of the Virgin. 1. 143 Christ conquers … rules: Christus vincit, an an antiphon used at Easter. 1. 144 Behold … Alleluia: an antiphon (Ecce Crucem Domini) used on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (see Ackerman and Dahood, p. 102); Dobson notes that the second part is from Apoc. 5: 5. 1. 145 The Cross puts … stay: three Leonine (i.e. internally rhymed) hexameters beginning Crux fugat omne malum, probably dating from the eleventh or twelfth century (see the references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 45). 1. 146 Whoever … Matins: on the simplified prayer routine recommended here, see Preface, n. 17. 1. 147 Convert … Lord: Ps. 84: 5, the opening versicle of Compline. 1. 148 Venia: a formal apology and request for forgiveness (venia) of an offence, which might be made while bowing, genuflecting, or prostrate. 1. 149 Whatever … grace of God: for the different interpretations of this difficult sentence, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 47; the point being made is probably that the Inner Rule, unlike the Outer Rule, applies to everyone.

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Part 2 2. 1 Guard … life: Prov. 4: 23. 2. 2 The fifth sense is feeling: Savage and Watson, p. 358, note that this word is used by the AW author to cover ‘all sensations of pleasure and pain, whichever sense they originate from’, and so cannot be translated simply as ‘touch’. 2. 3 As St Gregory says … found it: taken from Gregory’s advice in Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 342, on preaching to those who talk too little and too much. This chapter is also drawn on elsewhere in Part 2. as you will hear later: see § 7 below. 2. 4 2. 5 The black curtain … grace: based on patristic and later interpretations of Cant. 1: 4–5, where the bride says ‘I am black but comely … Do not consider me dark because the sun has discoloured my skin.’ 2. 6 Lucifer … devil: see Isa. 14: 12 (interpreted allegorically as a reference to the fall of the angels). 2. 7 And so … husband: Gen. 3: 6. 2. 8 If anyone … answered: based on Bernard of Clairvaux, De Gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, ch. 10, § 30, Opera, 3. 39: ‘Oh, Eve … beware of what is forbidden, in case you lose what is permitted. Why do you look so intently at your death? … Why should it be pleasant to look at what is forbidden to eat? “I’m using my eyes,” you say, “not my hand. I’m not forbidden to look at it, just to taste it.”’ There is a further echo from this passage in § 7 (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 51). 2. 9 Your mother Eve … eternal death: see Kaske, who reads the image as implicitly contrasting the process of the Fall with the process of redemption as described in some medieval interpretations of Cant. 2: 8, which interpret the lover ‘leaping in the mountains, leaping across the hills’ as Christ leaping from heaven to womb, womb to manger, manger to cross, cross to tomb, and tomb to heaven. 2. 10 Much … little: proverbial; see Whiting L402. Ives, p. 261, sees a reminiscence of a frequently-quoted line from Lucretius, De Rerum natura, 5. 609, ‘Out of a single spark have fires very often happened’; but cf. also Ecclus. 11: 34, ‘Fire grows out of a single spark’, quoted in A in Part 4, § 96, in association with the same proverb. Dinah … foreign women, etc.: paraphrases Gen. 34: 1. For the story 2. 11 of Dinah’s rape and its consequences, see Gen. 34, 35: 1–5. 2. 12 In the same way … sin with her: see 2 Reg. 11, and § 1 above. 2. 13 wide hood … closed cloak: for the ‘wide hood’ as an outward mark of the religious life, see Preface, § 7 and n. 28. The closed cloak (Latin cappa clausa) was repeatedly prescribed in contemporary synodal legislation for use by secular clerics, following the recommendation in Canon 16 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) that clerics should wear ‘closed overgarments’



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(clausa … desuper indumenta); but it was also a feature of some religious habits. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 104. 2. 14 I have found … heart: Acts 13: 22; cf. 1 Reg. 13: 14. 2. 15 adultery … husband: David, having sent for Bathsheba and made her pregnant, ordered her husband Uriah to be placed in the front line of battle, where he was killed; David then took her as his wife (see 2 Reg. 11). 2. 16 after but: two folios have been lost in A between f. 14 and f. 15; the missing material, indented here, has been supplied from other manuscripts, using as base texts C (as corrected by C2), T (for a short omission in C), and F (for an added passage found only in F and A); see Millett [2005–6], 1. lxii. 2. 17 a pit … covered: ME put can mean either ‘pit’ or ‘well, waterhole’; strictly speaking, cisterna in Exod. 21: 33–4 means ‘an underground reservoir’ (which is why an animal can fall into it and drown), but see Introduction, p. xlviii. 2. 18 and if any … pay for it: on the confused textual history of this passage, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 53; the clause added by C2 (‘who uncovered the pit’) repairs and explains the faulty text in C. 2. 19 and from you: a repair by C2 to the text in C, restoring the sense but not the wording found in the other manuscripts running. 2. 20 A dog … opening: proverbial (as the translators of L and S note); see Ives, p. 262. 2. 21 The immodest eye … heart: Augustine, Ep. 211, § 10, CSEL 57. 363, but probably taken from the adaptation of this letter incorporated in the Augustinian Rule (ed. Verheijen, 1. 424); see n. 23 below. 2. 22 on a par: a minor revision by C2 of the text in C, altering wording but not meaning (see Millett [2005-6], 2. 55). 2. 23 It is sinful … desired: ultimately from Augustine, Ep. 211, § 10, CSEL 57. 363, but—as the added phrase criminosum est (‘it is sinful’) shows—as adapted in the Augustinian Rule (ed. Verheijen, 1. 424). The main point being made in the Augustinian Rule, however, is the difference between seeing and desiring (‘You are not forbidden to look at women when you go out, but it is sinful either to desire them or to be desired by them’); the Latin in AW has been further modified to emphasize the equivalence of different forms of desire. See also n. 21 above. 2. 24 The eyes … adulteress: ultimately from Ambrose, De Joseph patriarcha, ch. 5, § 23, PL 14. 651; but the wording here, and the following exposition, are more closely paralleled in a twelfth-century work by Hugh of Fouilloy, De Claustro animae, bk. 1, ch. 4, PL 176. 1026–7. In both cases, the saying refers to the attempted seduction of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife (see Gen. 39: 7). 2. 25 Lechery … God’s spouse: both the allegorization of the conflict between Lechery and Chastity and the narrative treatment of the battle

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between them are paralleled in HM 8/7–25, which expands a passage in Alan of Lille’s Summa de arte praedicatoria (see Millett [1982], pp. 34–5). 2. 26 crossbow bolts: the crossbow, described by the twelfth-century Byzantine historian Anna Comnena as ‘a truly diabolical machine’, was prohibited by the Papacy in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries for use against Christians, but nevertheless was ‘widely used … from the end of the twelfth century’, particularly in sieges; see Contamine [1984], pp. 71–2. 2. 27 She should not look out … sin: omitted in C; T used as base manuscript. 2. 28 As death … mind: Bernard of Clairvaux, De Gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, § 28, Opera, 3. 38; for the image of death entering through the windows, see Jer. 9: 21. 2. 29 of his house: a clarification of the text in C added by C2. 2. 30 eilþurl: this rare word (recorded only here and at SM 20/19), a compound of OF ueil ‘eye’ and ME þurl ‘opening’, is used as the basis of an untranslatable pun on ME eil ‘harm, trouble’; the window becomes an ‘opening for trouble’. 2. 31 Turn … vanity: Ps. 118: 37. 2. 32 I have made a pact … virgin: Job 31: 1. 2. 33 My eye has stolen my soul: Lam. 3: 51. 2. 34 The wise man … gaze: paraphrases Ecclus. 31: 15 (the Book of Ecclesiasticus was also known as ‘the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach’). 2. 35 after gaze: there follows an added passage found only in A and F; the first part, up to ‘treason in the lecherous heart’, survives only in F. Those parts of the F text lost through fire damage have been translated from Dobson’s conjectural reconstruction (see Millett [2005–6], 1. 25–6). 2. 36 after who sees the: the gap in A’s text ends at this point. 2. 37 If the bishop comes to see you: on episcopal responsibility for anchoresses, see Warren [1985], ch. 3. Warren (pp. 60–1) cites mid-thirteenthcentury statutes from Chichester and Norwich issuing similar warnings to those given here; this addition, with its emphasis on both the need for strict enclosure and the anchoresses’ existing good practice, may be a response to a broader tendency to tighten up existing regulations. 2. 38 An anchoress … good: the reference is to Martin, Bishop of Tours (c.316–97). The story is taken from Sulpicius Severus, Dialogus 2, § 12, PL 20. 209–10; Martin honoured the anchoress by accepting a present from her, which he had hitherto refused to do from anyone. 2. 39 Whoever avoids … fall into it: conflates and paraphrases Prov. 11: 15 and Ecclus. 3: 27. 2. 40 shortly: see § 31. 2. 41 your parlour window: probably the aperture opening from the recluse’s cell into the parlour where guests were received. 2. 42 Eve … perdition: see Gen. 3.



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2. 43 Our Lady … did not know: the reference is to the Annunciation; see Luke 1: 26–38. 2. 44 It is a good idea … prayers: anchoresses could be granted a licence by the bishop to choose their own confessors, rather than (as the Fourth Lateran Council required of Christians generally) confessing to their own parish priest; see Warren [1985], p. 77. 2. 45 But many people … wolves: Matt. 7: 15, a text often applied to both pastoral clergy and religious who failed to live up to the standards they professed; the wording of the opening, however, seems to have been influenced by the similar warning in Matt. 24: 5. 2. 46 Trust … less: i.e. secular clerics and men in religious orders; this comprehensive warning, however, is qualified by the unreserved recommendation of the friars in the addition that follows (cf. Part 8, § 9). 2. 47 Our Friars Preacher and our Friars Minor … pray for you: this added passage on the Dominican and Franciscan friars is found only in A and F. 2. 48 his eyes … towards the woodland ways: for the rhyming couplet that this echoes, see § 34 below; the reference may be to the wood as a place for lovemaking in lyric poetry (as the third line added in N to the couplet suggests). The saying is also found, in a different form but with a similar application (to clerics who cannot control their animal appetites), in a fable by Odo of Cheriton about a wolf who wanted to become a monk but found his thoughts kept turning to rams and lambs; Odo cites a snatch of alliterative verse that he says is proverbial: Thai thu wulf hore hodi to preste, Tho thu him sette salmes to lere, evere beth his geres to the groue-ward (‘Even if you ordain a grey wolf as a priest and set him to learn psalms, his natural inclinations will always be to the wild’). For further references, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 66. 2. 49 if he is a priest: although the Dominicans were a largely clerical order from the beginning, the Franciscans were not (Francis himself was never ordained as a priest), and the order did not concede the necessity of clerical status for its evangelical mission until the end of the 1230s; see Lawrence [1994], pp. 46–53. 2. 50 Mea culpa: Tentler, pp. 85–6, describes (though for a later period) the practice of using ‘the prayer of general confession’, the Confiteor, as a framework for individual confession; the penitents pause at mea culpa (‘through my fault’) to list their sins, then continue with the remainder of the prayer. Tentler notes that they ‘may add some formula indicating sorrow for forgotten as well as confessed sins’ (p. 86). 2. 51 I confess to almighty God: echoes the opening words of the Confiteor, Confiteor Deo omnipotenti. 2. 52 in here: i.e. in the anchor-house; the point is that the hardships of

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the anchoritic life make it a penance in itself (see Part 5, § 37, and Part 6, § 1). 2. 53 your book on confession: as Dobson notes (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 67), since this passage is a later addition, the reference is probably to the concluding sections (§§ 34–7) of Part 5 rather than to a separate work. 2. 54 as Joseph was … lady: in A only. The reference is to the story of Potiphar’s wife, who accused Joseph of attempted rape when her attempts to seduce him failed (Gen. 39: 7–20); cf. n. 24 above. 2. 55 in a quite inappropriate way: i.e. they have used it as a cover for illicit sexual activity with the priest (the ‘wretched ruse’ mentioned below). 2. 56 Do not talk … two openings: the passage seems to assume that the anchoress’s cell has at least three windows or openings, one to the church (through which she can see the high altar), one to the maids’ living quarters (the ‘house window’), one to the parlour, in which visitors were received. See Dobson’s comments on this passage in Millett [2005–6], 2. 68, and the more extended discussion, with a conjectural diagram of the layout of the anchor-house, in Hasenfratz, pp. 9–11. 2. 57 a double feast: i.e. a major feast. 2. 58 Advent … Ember Weeks: Advent is the four-week period of fasting immediately preceding Christmas. The Ember Weeks are the weeks containing the Ember Days, days of fasting and abstinence which fell on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the feast of St Lucy (13 December), Ash Wednesday, Whit Sunday, and the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September). 2. 59 in Lent, three days: probably (as assumed in P and S) three days a week. 2. 60 Holy Week: the week leading up to Easter Sunday. The ME text has Swiing-wike (‘Silence Week’), a term related to OE swīg-dagas (‘Silence Days’); Trinity Homily 17 (ed. Morris [1873], p. 101) explains that between Christ’s Passion and his resurrection ‘he lay in his sepulchre and was silent, and for that reason the three days before Easter are called Silence Days.’ 2. 61 Wheat … says: Cooper, p. 67, notes that the imagery of this passage as a whole is probably influenced by the Anselmian work De humanis moribus per similitudines, § 41 (ed. Southern and Schmitt, pp. 53–5), which develops at length the idea of the human heart as a mill, with virtuous thoughts as the grain, and sinful thoughts as the sand, pitch, or chaff thrown in by the devil to sabotage it when it is unoccupied; the image goes back ultimately to Caesarius of Arles (c.470–542), Sermo 8, § 4, CCSL 103. 44. 2. 62 clapper: the ‘contrivance … for striking or shaking the hopper so as to make the grain move down to the millstones’ (OED s.v. clapper n.1). 2. 63 You should not … kind: cf. Matt. 5: 36–7.



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2. 64 I do not permit women to teach: paraphrases 1 Tim. 2: 12. 2. 65 as teachers of Holy Church: in A only; possibly a qualification to include the friars, who might have spiritual responsibility (as confessors) for their charges without having organizational responsibility for them. 2. 66 Often… harm: proverbial; see Ives, p. 263. 2. 67 To sum up … briefly: Cooper, pp. 67–8, identifies a close verbal parallel in Peter Cantor’s Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 5, PL 205. 35, paraphrasing Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae morales, Ep. 40. 14. 2. 68 as water is dammed at a mill: i.e. damming a stream to provide a sufficient flow of water to turn the mill-wheel. 2. 69 Often … talking: based, as Dobson notes (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 72) on Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 3, ch. 13, § 23, CCSL 143. 128. 2. 70 The constraint … speech: Gregory, Homiliae in Hiezechihelem prophetam, bk. 1, Hom. 11, § 3, CCSL 142. 170. The point Gregory is making is almost the reverse of the meaning given to the quotation here (Ezekiel sat in silence for a week among the captive Israelites (Ezek. 3: 15) before being inspired to speak by God), but the reading is not un-Gregorian; a verbal echo links the quotation with a passage on Job’s comforters in Moralia in Iob, bk. 7, ch. 37, § 59, CCSL 143. 379, which uses the image of the mind as dammed-up water dissipated by superfluous words ‘from the restraint of its silence.’ This passage is repeated in Gregory’s Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 344–6, in the advice on addressing those who talk too much (cf. n. 72 below). 2. 71 Constant … matters: although the phrase ‘meditation on heavenly matters’ (celestia meditari) is often used by Gregory, Cooper, p. 68, notes that this quotation seems to be an abridged version of a sentence by Bernard of Clairvaux, Ep. 78, § 4, Opera, 7. 203, ‘Constant silence and perpetual peace from the uproar of worldly affairs enforces meditation on heavenly matters’. 2. 72 Just as … much talk does: based on Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 444 (cf. n. 70 above). 2. 73 Death … tongue: Prov. 18: 21. 2. 74 Whoever … soul: Prov. 13: 3. 2. 75 Like a town … walls, etc.: Prov. 25: 28 (the comparison is with ‘a man who cannot restrain his spirit when speaking’). 2. 76 If anyone … enemy: Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 346, commenting on the previous quotation; the passage follows the image of the dam used above (see n. 72). 2. 77 They are good men … ass: Vitae Patrum, bk. 5, ch. 4, § 1, PL 73. 864. 2. 78 If anyone … worthless: Jas. 1: 26, also cited by Gregory in the passage on excessive talk the AW author is drawing on (Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 348).

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2. 79 the tongue … into many: Cooper, p. 72, derives this from Augustine’s comment on Ps. 38: 2, ‘the tongue is not bathed in moisture for nothing, since it slips easily’ (Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 38, § 3, CCSL 38. 403), which was frequently quoted by later writers. 2. 80 Where … sin: Prov. 10: 19, also cited by Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 346. 2. 81 And the nearer … in prayer: conflates and abridges two separate sentences in Gregory, Dialogi, bk. 3, ch. 15, § 14, SC 260. 322–4, and § 16, SC 260. 324. 2. 82 When you stretch … I will not listen to you: Isa. 1: 15. 2. 83 Our precious Lady … four times: the point is taken from Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermo in dominica infra octauam assumptionis B. Mariae, § 10, Opera, 5. 270; Bernard goes on to list the four instances given here, but in chronological order. A direct quotation from the sermon has been added below (see n. 87). 2. 84 Bernard … divine: links two originally separate quotations (In … reuocemur, Responde … diuinum) from Bernard of Clairvaux, Homiliae super ‘Missus est’, Hom. 4, § 8, Opera, 4. 53, 54. The quotation, which breaks the sequence of the argument, is not in CFN and probably originated as a marginal annotation. 2. 85 Behold … word: Luke 1. 38. 2. 86 Her second speech … womb: see Luke 1: 39–55. 2. 87 The same … womb: Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermo in dominica infra octauam assumptionis B. Mariae, § 10, Opera, 5. 270 (see n. 83). The quotation is not in CFLNR, and its varying placing in the remaining MSS suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation. ‘The same’ (idem), which links it with the previous added quotation by Bernard (see n. 84), makes better sense in V, where the second quotation follows immediately on the first, than in A, where it is entered at a later point in the text (as in PST, which omit idem). 2. 88 The third … wine: see John 2. 1–11. 2. 89 to Mary and to Joseph: in A only (there is a similar gloss, but differently worded and placed, in R). Probably a later explanatory addition. 2. 90 The fourth … wanted: see Luke 2: 41–51. 2. 91 A talkative man … earth: Ps. 139: 12, also quoted by Gregory, Regula Pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 346. 2. 92 I have said … tongue: Ps. 38: 2; also quoted by Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 5, CCCM 1. 641 (cf. n. 94). 2. 93 hypallage: a term in rhetoric for the interchange of two grammatical elements in a sentence (the quotation is interpreted as a transformation of ‘I will guard my tongue so that I do not transgress in my ways’). The word disrupts the syntax of the sentence, and is not in LNPS; it was probably originally a marginal annotation.



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2. 94 Silence … righteousness: Isa. 32: 17, also quoted by Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 14, SC 382. 346 (cf. n. 91), and echoed by Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 5, CCM 1. 641. 2. 95 Righteousness is immortal: Wisd. 1: 15. 2. 96 Your strength … hope: Isa. 30: 15. 2. 97 she can … heaven: song (i.e. of praise) was one of the seven gifts of the blessed (see SW 304–6, 342–6); the idea that the anchoress’s gifts in heaven will compensate for her deprivations on earth is developed further below, § 33. 2. 98 to suffer hardship: the phrase occurs at this point in AL only; in most of the other MSS it follows the previous ‘strong’. It was probably originally a marginal addition. 2. 99 as … break: apparently a native alliterative proverb (‘Ȝef hope nere, heorte tobreke’); see Whiting H475 and ODEP, p. 384. 2. 100 You should not … itch: paraphrases Jerome, Ep. 52, § 14, CSEL 54. 437. 2. 101 Contraries … discipline: this proposition goes back to Aristotle’s Prior Analytics, bk. 1, ch. 36, and John of Salisbury cites it as an example of the kind of question discussed in logic (as opposed to the other branches of philosophy, ethics and physics). Another example of its use in a pastoral context can be found in Thomas of Chobham’s Summa de arte praedicandi, ch. 4, CCCM 82. 126, where it is applied to the relationship between vices and their opposing virtues. It seems to have become proverbial; for later ME uses, see Whiting C415. For fuller references, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 77. 2. 102 For every idle word, etc.: see Matt. 12: 36, ‘People will have to account at the Day of Judgement for every idle word that they have spoken.’ 2. 103 All speech … filthy speech: Barratt [1987], p. 19, notes a close parallel to this point in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones de diuersis, Sermo 17, § 2, Opera, 6. 151. 2. 104 scratched out … rule: the standard method of erasing ink from parchment was by scraping away the surface. 2. 105 St Augustine … life: see Augustine, De Mendacio, ch. 9, § 13, CSEL 41. 431–2; Augustine uses the hypothetical example of a man who is told that unless he renounces his faith and makes sacrifices to demons, his father will be killed. 2. 106 God … truth: see John 14: 6. 2. 107 The devil … lies: John 8: 44. 2. 108 Solomon … no better: see Eccles. 10: 11. 2. 109 Gregory … talks with: the Latin quotation is not in CNP, and precedes its English rendering only in F; it was probably originally a marginal annotation. It is not found in Gregory’s works, although Cooper, p. 80, notes that it is used (with minor verbal differences, and not attributed

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to Gregory) in John of Salisbury, Policraticus, bk. 3, ch. 4 , CCCM 118. 179. Salu, p. 35, and Zettersten [1965], p. 256, suggest that ME preon, translating Latin clavus (‘nail’, but also ‘tumour’), may refer to a disease of the eye, and John of Salisbury does go on to say that the flatterer ‘fills the eyes of the person he is talking to with a kind of cloud of vanity’ (p. 181); but the readings of the MSS at this point suggest that it was understood in its commonest sense, as ‘nail’ or ‘spike’. 2. 110 eats human flesh on Friday: Fridays were days of abstinence, when all Christians were normally expected to abstain from meat. 2. 111 Solomon … to eat meat, etc.: an abridgement of Prov. 23: 20, not in CFNP, and variously placed in the remaining MSS; probably originally a marginal annotation. There is a similar linking of this text with backbiters in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 14, ch. 52, § 61, CCSL 143A. 735. 2. 112 So that … slanderous tongue: not in CFNR, variously placed in the other MSS, and interrupts the line of argument; probably originally a marginal annotation. The comment on the dung-gate refers to Nehemiah (formerly 2 Ezra) 3: 14; the dung-gate was the gate through which filth and rubbish—interpreted allegorically by medieval commentators as vice and corruption—was taken out of Jerusalem. ‘The north wind … tongue’ (related here to one later interpretation of Malchia’s name) is from Prov. 25: 23. See further Dobson’s note in Millett [2005–6], 2. 80. 2. 113 after lavatory: the extra material in F and V throws the argument out of balance; it is probably a later addition. 2. 114 Woe to those who place cushions: paraphrases Ezek. 13: 8, a text applied to flatterers, as Cooper notes (pp. 82–3), in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 18, ch. 4, § 8, CCSL 143A. 890. 2. 115 Woe to those who call … light: paraphrases Isa. 5: 20. 2. 116 Because … pollarded: probably proverbial; see Ives, p. 263. 2. 117 The sinner … blessed: see Ps. 9: 24. The varying placing of the quotation in the MSS and its absence in CNP suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 2. 118 Augustine … sins: Augustine’s comment on the preceding text (often repeated by later writers) in Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 9, § 21, CCSL 38: 68. Not in CN, and untranslated except in R; probably originally a marginal annotation. 2. 119 as I said before: see § 27 above. 2. 120 Clement … envies him: from a forged letter (Ep. 1 ad Jacobum fratrem Domini, PL 130. 35) attributed to St Clement of Rome (fl. c.96) in the mid-ninth-century ‘False Decretals’ (see ODCC), cited in a number of later collections of canon law. The absence of the quotation in CFN and the lack of a translation suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 2. 121 Backbiters … defend them: a free translation of a passage by Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 24, § 4, Opera, 1.



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155–6, identified independently by Brewer [1953] and Talbot [1956]. Savage and Watson, p. 354, note that it is also used in a discussion of detraction by Peter Cantor, Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 12, PL 205. 57. 2. 122 These are the devil’s snakes … about: see § 26 above. 2. 123 They say … sees and hears: modelled on a similar passage in Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 2, CCCM 1. 638. 2. 124 News … anchor-house: for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century examples of this proverb (without the anchor-house), see ODEP, p. 565. 2. 125 I have been jealous … jealousy: Zech. 8: 2. The varying forms of the following Latin reference in the MSS, and its omission in NP, suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 2. 126 I am a jealous god: see Exod. 20: 5. 2. 127 The ear … everything: Wisd. 1: 10. 2. 128 Where the heart is, so is the eye: proverbial (see Walther, no. 32036, and Whiting L558); it is used in a similar context by a number of twelfthcentury writers on the contemplative life (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 84). 2. 129 mirror: the Middle English word schawere can mean either ‘mirror’ or ‘look-out, watchman’, both of which were possible medieval interpretations of the word Sion; the Latin and French translators, however, assume that the commoner sense, ‘mirror’, is being used here. 2. 130 Show me your face: Cant. 2: 14. 2. 131 I am a diffident suitor: for the idea of Christ as a verecundus amator, cf. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 57, § 4, Opera, 1. 21. 2. 132 Whoever … inner: paraphrases Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 21, ch. 8, § 13, CCSL 143A. 1075. 2. 133 be blind … Tobit: see Gen. 48–9 (Jacob, blind in his old age, was given the gift of prophecy) and Tobit 2: 11–14 (Tobit was temporarily blinded by God so that, like Job, he could provide an example of patience in suffering). 2. 134 It is a hidden manna … receives it: abridges Apoc. 2: 17. It is also quoted by Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 3, § 1, Opera, 1. 14, where it is applied to the bridegroom’s kiss (Cant. 1: 1), which Bernard interprets as the experiential knowledge of God. 2. 135 we see as if in a mirror, dimly: 1 Cor. 13: 12. The varying placing of the quotation in some MSS and its omission in CFNR suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation, supplying the Scriptural source for the image of the mirror used above (the point is that in this world we are capable of seeing only a dim and indirect reflection of what we will see directly in the next; mirrors in St Paul’s time were normally made of polished metal). There is a more extended use of this image in a similar context in SW 245–50 (see also n. 137 below). 2. 136 morning-gifts: see Part 1, n. 83.

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2. 137 as the sunbeam … eye: cf. SW 337–9 (T). The varying readings of the MSS suggest some uncertainty about whether there are two images here (of the sunbeam, and of the glance interpreted as a ray, the radius oculi), or only one, of the sunbeam that travels from east to west in the blink of an eye; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 86–7. There are other parallels to the account of the joys of the blessed in Sawles Warde in this passage (see SW 318–20, 348–9); see also n. 135 above. 2. 138 Gregory … everything: see Gregory, Dialogi, bk. 4, ch. 34, § 5, SC 265. 116. The absence of the quotation in CFN and its varying placing in the other MSS suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation, probably intended to supply a source-reference for the following sentence. 2. 139 Keep away … my God: Ps. 118: 115. The verse is not in CN, and the addition that follows in F (see fn.) looks like an attempt to rationalize its insertion into a text that originally lacked it (the author specifies one verse, not two). Cf. Part 3, § 31, where the author advises the use of either this or the following verse, but says only of the latter that it was recommended earlier; the citation of Ps. 118: 115 here probably originated as a retrospective marginal annotation based on the later passage. 2. 140 Wicked men … law: Ps. 118: 85; Lord is a non-Scriptural explanatory addition, in AT only. 2. 141 and … oaths: in A only. 2. 142 The eye … woodland ways: see n. 48 above. Here and below (see fn. b, and p. 39, fnn. b, c), C seems to be incorporating marginal additions into the text; see Dobson [1972], p. 77, where it is suggested that all three, together with N’s addition (see fn. b), belong to a comic poem on an illicit love-assignation. 2. 143 after worse: Ives, pp. 263–4, suggests that the addition of ‘A blind horse looked’ in C was prompted by an existing proverb, comparing two fifteenth-century instances of ‘The blind horse sees worse and worse’. The reference to the woodman, however, remains puzzling (echȝe must mean ‘eye’ rather than, as Ives translates it, ‘axe’, which in C is spelt axe). 2. 144 An enemy … worst traitor of all: a commonplace; see Whiting E97, and the further references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 89. 2. 145 Their speech … cancer: 2 Tim. 2: 17. 2. 146 See … my beloved, etc.: Cant. 2: 10 (the sentence is completed below). 2. 147 Show … in my ears: Cant. 2: 14. 2. 148 Hence … beautiful: at this point in all MSS running, but placed after rather than (as normally) before its translation, and with a Latin introductory phrase (replaced in C by an approximate English translation); it is probable that it was originally a marginal annotation. The text continues the quotation from Cant. 2: 14 begun above (see n. 147). 2. 149 Now listen … to a quite different speech: the extended exposition



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of Cant. 1: 7 in this section (§ 36) shows a general (and sometimes specific) resemblance to the interpretations in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 30, ch. 17, § 46, CCSL 143B. 1529, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 35, § 2, Opera, 1. 249–50, but is not exclusively based on them. 2. 150 If you do not … tents: Cant. 1: 7. 2. 151 now pay careful attention: in all MSS but A this is placed after ‘unfold it’ above; probably originally a marginal addition. 2. 152 hooked and sharp: the connotations of ME crokede ant kene here cannot be fully rendered in translation; the phrase refers literally to the claws, figuratively to the ‘treacherous and acute’ temptations that they represent. 2. 153 to the herdsmen’s huts: this reading is based on the emendation proposed by Richard Dance, to hinene [or hirdene] hulen, for the problematic reading in A, to himmere heile; see Millett [2005–6], pp. 92–3. 2. 154 that book of love: i.e. Canticles. 2. 155 Let him … kiss of his mouth: Cant. 1: 1. 2. 156 But our Lord … gaining him: this point is developed more fully in Part 7, § 1. 2. 157 Speech … in the mouth: Barratt [1987] identifies a tension here between the announced structural framework of Part 2, based on the five senses (see Preface, § 8) and an alternative structure based on the sins of the members. Newhauser, pp. 195–7, notes that interest in peccatum linguae (‘sin of the tongue’, i.e. various forms of sinful speech) is ‘limited chronologically to approximately an 80-year period, from the end of the 12th century to the last quarter of the 13th’, and that it was particularly associated with the Franciscans and Dominicans. 2. 158 St Augustine … seek them out: paraphrases Augustine, Confessiones, bk. 10, ch. 32, § 48, CCSL 27. 180–1. 2. 159 Instead … stench: Isa. 3: 24. 2. 160 mail-coats … that they wear: iren ‘iron’, translated here as ‘mailcoats’, can also refer to fetters. On the penitential use by ascetics of mail-coats, fetters, and hair-shirts, see further Part 6, § 13 and n. 114. 2. 161 the other Marys: also mentioned in § 45 below. Matt. 27: 56 mentions Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and ‘the mother of the sons of Zebedee’; in Mark 15: 40 (and also at Mark 16: 1, where the three women are said to have bought spices to anoint Christ’s body), the name of the third woman is given as Salome. In Part 6, § 12, the AW author, citing Mark 16: 1, identifies the third woman as a third Mary, ‘Mary Salome’; on this identification, see Part 6, n. 89. 2. 162 He wept himself three times: on the cross, for Lazarus, and over Jerusalem; see Part 5, § 8. 2. 163 he tasted gall on his tongue: see Matt. 27: 34, where Christ is given

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wine mixed with gall (Latin fel) by his executioners. Both Latin fel and ME galle have the basic meaning ‘bile’, but are also used for bitter or poisonous liquids in general; at Mark 15: 23 the drink is described as murratum vinum, ‘wine mixed with myrrh’. 2. 164 mortal sin: ‘mortal’ is found only in ALV; probably a later addition, making the theological point more precisely. 2. 165 Oh, says Jeremiah … suffered through it: this added passage (§ 42) is found only in AFV; in F it is entered at an earlier point in Part 2, immediately after another substantial addition (§ 10), and in V it is placed at the end of the work, after V’s incomplete text of Part 8. For a full discussion of the text of this addition, see Dobson [1962], pp. 152–5; he explains its varying placing in the MSS by its transmission on separate sheets of parchment. 2. 166 Oh … darkened: an abridgement of Lam. 4: 1 (though the Latin is translated in full). For the relevance of this verse to what precedes it, cf. Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 2, ch. 7, SC 381. 224: ‘Gold … is darkened when the life of holiness is polluted by worldly behaviour. The best colour is altered when the previous reputation of those who were believed to lead a religious life is lowered.’ 2. 167 The Apostle: i.e. St Paul (see Preface, n. 7). 2. 168 Who has bewitched you … flesh: links, in slightly adapted form, Gal. 3: 1 and Gal. 3: 3. 2. 169 A foolish daughter will be diminished: paraphrases Ecclus. 22: 3, in filia autem in deminoratione fiet (‘and [the father] will be brought low by his daughter’), often quoted by medieval writers without the first in (so filia ‘daughter’ might be taken out of context as the subject of the clause); ‘foolish’ is not in the text, but implied by its context (on the problems of having ill-disciplined rather than prudent sons and daughters). 2. 170 As for you … our boat goes backwards: Baldwin [1974], pp. 252–3, traces this image to Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 34, SC 382. 508. 2. 171 the lukewarm people whom God vomits out: see Apoc. 3: 15–16; the text is quoted with a similar application in the passage from Gregory’s Regula pastoralis just drawn on (see previous note). 2. 172 as is written later: see Part 7, § 16. 2. 173 as Job says: Job 3: 21–2. But the point being made is taken not directly from the Scriptural text (which asks why the afflicted should seek death in vain) but from Gregory’s commentary on Moralia in Iob, bk. 5, ch. 5, § 7, CCSL 143. 223; Gregory identifies those who are seeking death with those who wish to die to the world through subduing their flesh, in order to lead a life of contemplation. 2. 174 And I became … reproofs in his mouth: Ps. 37: 15. 2. 175 The other Marys: see n. 161 above. 2. 176 they all fled … strangers: probably a reminiscence of Job 19: 13, quoted by S at this point.



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2. 177 as St Augustine says: the closest parallel seems to be in Augustine’s De Sermone Domini in monte, bk. 1, ch. 19, § 58, CCSL 35. 69: Christ was prepared not just to turn the other cheek for our salvation, ‘but even to be crucified in his whole body’. Cf. also Augustine’s description of the good thief on the cross (Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 39, § 15, CCSL 38. 436), ‘fixed in all his limbs; his hands were held by the nails, his feet were pierced, his whole body was joined to the wood’. 2. 178 It appears that he wept … body: Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in Ramis Palmarum, Sermo 3, § 4, Opera, 5. 54. 2. 179 His sweat became … down to the ground: Luke 22: 44. The Latin quotation interrupts the argument it is supporting, and is not directly translated; it probably originated as a marginal annotation. 2. 180 always the more sensitive the flesh is … suffered in theirs: Dobson [1975], pp. 131–3, notes two close parallels to this point in the Moralia super Evangelia. 2. 181 this analogy: some of the elements in this analogy can be traced back to Augustine (see Millett [2005–6], p. 102), but Dobson [1975], pp. 132–3, notes a closer contemporary parallel to its development here in the Moralia super Evangelia, 4. 38, where the comforts associated with bloodletting as a medical treatment (rest, darkness, a stick for support, good food) are contrasted with the sufferings of Christ on the cross (exposed to sun and wind, supported by nails, given gall and vinegar to drink, resting only in the tomb). The image is used again in Part 4, § 74. 2. 182 from five parts of the body: the reference is to the ‘five wounds of Christ’, piercing feet, hands, and heart; cf. Part 1, § 8, where they are similarly aligned with the five senses. 2. 183 sin is signified by blood: see Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 13, ch. 17, § 20, CCSL 143A. 680. The reasons are given in Part 3, § 1. 2. 184 I am thirsty: see John 19: 28. 2. 185 bitter gall: see n. 163 above. 2. 186 poor pittance: although MED s.v. pitaunce n. (c) defines pitaunce here as ‘a small portion of food and drink, scanty rations’, that is the sense of the phrase rather than of the word itself, which probably retains the technical monastic sense in (a), ‘an additional allowance of food and drink’ (as in Part 8, § 3); cf. n. 181 above. The image is used again in Part 4, § 76, where the author points out that two kinds of people need to eat well, those who do heavy labour and those who have had blood let; it was common practice for the members of religious houses to be given supplementary food (a pitancia of fish or eggs) and an allowance of wine for three days after bloodletting. 2. 187 do not be the Jews’ partner: on the hostile presentation of the Jews in this passage, see Part 7, n. 60. 2. 188 drink: the author is playing on the two senses of the ME verb, ‘drink’ and ‘suffer’; cf. Part 4, n. 247.

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2. 189 they should scrape up earth … they will rot: Dobson comments that the author ‘is not recommending his charges to scrape the earth out of their graves every day; he is only saying that anchoresses whose hands are too beautiful because they do not use them enough ought to do this’ (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 104). It is possible, however, that this macabre injunction was meant literally. Anchorites were sometimes buried in their cells (see Warren [1985], p. 106, and Gilchrist [1995], pp. 190–2), and the sections on the enclosure of male and female recluses in a pontifical (i.e. a manual of rites performed by the bishop) attributed to Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–43), give detailed specifications for the advance provision of a shallow grave within the anchorhold, stipulating for the female recluse, ‘before her entry an oratory should be constructed, if there is enough room for it, for hearing masses … in this oratory there should be dug a grave seven feet long and a foot and a half deep. And whether she wants to rest in this grave after her death or not, she should nevertheless make it deeper in some way (illud aliqualiter augmentare) every day, fervently and constantly impressing on her memory the memory of the Passion of Christ and of his most devout burial’ (London, British Library, MS Add. 6157, f. 46r). There is an earlier recommendation of the open grave as a focus for the recluse’s meditation in the Regula reclusorum Walteri reclusi (c.1280), ch. 15, ed. Oliger, p. 67: ‘The grave of the recluse should be always open, so that day and night he can see his final destination’; ch. 30 adds what its editor describes as ‘a doleful meditation on death for the recluse in the presence of his open grave’. (I am grateful to E.A. Jones for the references to the Chichele pontifical and to Walter’s rule.) 2. 190 Remember your last things … again: Ecclus. 7: 40, which is linked here, as sometimes elsewhere, with those three of the ‘four last things’ (death, judgement, heaven, and hell) that encourage fear. 2. 191 as we mentioned … issues from it: see Part 2, § 1.

Part 3 3. 1 I have become like a pelican … wilderness, etc.: Ps. 101: 7. On the exegesis of Ps. 101: 7–8, which provides the main structural outline of Part 3, see Savage and Watson, pp. 359–61. The pelican, whose habitat was the Egyptian desert, was traditionally linked with the solitary life; Cassiodorus in his commentary on Ps. 101: 7, Expositio Psalmorum, CCSL 98. 903, says that ‘the pelican represents the hermit or solitary.’ The legend that it kills its young and revives them with its own blood is repeated from Augustine onwards (see his Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 101, Sermo 1, § 8, CCSL 40. 1431). Most often, as in Augustine, it is used as an image of Christ’s death for sinners, but in twelfth-century writers it is sometimes applied to the sinners themselves; Kirchberger, pp. 218–19, notes a close parallel to the



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interpretation here in Alexander Neckam, De Naturis rerum, bk. 1, ch. 73, ed. Wright, p. 119. Blood signifies sin: see Part 2, n. 183. 3. 2 3. 3 nobody can judge blood … cooled: i.e. for medical purposes. 3. 4 Let desire pass over … be glad: quoted again, in a slightly different form, in Part 4, § 51. Proverbial; see Hall, 2. 312, for contemporary parallels. P adds ‘as the versifier says’; the reference may be to the eME lyric ‘Man mei longe him liues wene’, lines 45–6, ed. Brown, pp. 15–16: þar-fore let lust ouergon, man, and eft it sal þe liken (on the popularity of this lyric, see Brown, pp. 170–1; for another possible reminiscence, see Part 5, n. 113). 3. 5 Anger obstructs the mind … truth is: a Latin hexameter (Impedit ira animum ne possit cernere verum) from Cato’s Distichs, a late classical collection of versified philosophical maxims that was a standard elementary textbook during the Middle Ages; see Disticha Catonis, 2. 4, ed. Boas, p. 101. 3. 6 It is a kind of witch … nature: this Latin sentence (Maga quaedam est, transformans naturam humanam) is untraced. The allusion in the Latin may be to Circe (described by Augustine in a frequently-quoted passage on shape-changing, De Civitate Dei, bk. 18, ch. 17, CCSL 48. 607, as illa maga famosissima,‘that notorious witch’); her transformation of men into animals provided a common image for the effects of vice. But the ‘stories’ the author goes on to mention may refer (as his use of the present tense suggests) to the contemporary fashion for narratives of werewolves, transformed from human shape ‘usually by evil women’ (see Bynum [2001], pp. 92–8). See also n. 10 below. unicorn: on the association of anger with the unicorn, see Part 4, 3. 7 n. 64. Anger is a brief madness: Horace, Epistles, bk. 1, Ep. 2, line 62. After 3. 8 this quotation, L cites a description of anger from Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 5, ch. 45, § 79, CCSL 143. 277, ‘The heart hammers, the body shakes, the tongue stumbles, the face burns, the eyes glare, and friends go quite unrecognized’, a passage that supplies answers to the rhetorical questions that follow, and possibly underlies them. 3. 9 For man is a peaceable creature by nature: the description of man as animal mansuetum natura, a commonplace in this period, can be traced back to the Boethian translation of Aristotle’s Topica. 3. 10 throw off that rough hide: Giraldus Cambrensis, in the Topographia Hibernica, tells an anecdote about a female werewolf whose mate peels her skin back from head to navel with his paw to reveal the human body underneath (see the discussion in Bynum [2001], pp. 106–8). See also n. 6 above. 3. 11 it would be the proper treatment for earth: S adds an explanation

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in Latin, ‘Because man [homo] is so called from earth [ab humo]’. The derivation of homo from humus was standard from patristic times (see, e.g., Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, bk. 11, ch. 1, § 4, ed. Lindsay, vol. 2, citing Gen. 2: 7), and was often used as an example of etymology ex origine (‘based on origin’) in textbooks on grammar, sometimes coupled with the derivation of terra ‘earth’ a terendo ‘from being trodden down’. 3. 12 after stinging: the addition ‘with poisonous words’, which throws the sentence out of balance, is probably a later explanatory gloss. 3. 13 who like a sheep … did not open his mouth: Acts 8: 32, referring to Isa. 53: 7. 3. 14 what is speech but wind: proverbial; see Whiting W643. Dobson [1975], p. 34, notes a close parallel to the argument here in Moralia super Evangelia, 3. 86: ‘Also, he should be considered weak who is blown over by a small puff of wind. For speech is nothing but a kind of wind. So anyone who falls into a rage because of something that is said demonstrates himself to be weak.’ St Andrew: the apostle, crucified ad 60; see ODS. 3. 15 3. 16 St Laurence: a Roman deacon martyred in ad 258. The legend that he was executed by roasting on a gridiron is apocryphal; see ODS. 3. 17 St Stephen: martyred c.ad 35 by stoning; see Acts 6–7. 3. 18 The impious man … not: Cooper, p. 108, compares Augustine, De vera religione, ch. 27, § 50, CCSL 32. 220, ‘The impious man … lives for the pious, and the sinner for the just man’, which is probably the ultimate source; but the first clause is frequently used by later writers, particularly in commentaries on the Psalms. 3. 19 in the Lives of the Fathers: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 7, ch. 3, § 2, PL 73. 1029–30 (a brother living nearby had been stealing from the old man’s cell, causing him hardship). 3. 20 Bernard: Why are you stirred … defiles the mind: from a section of Geoffrey of Auxerre’s compilation, Declamationes de colloquio Simonis cum Iesu, ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, ch. 36, PL 184. 461, also drawn on in Parts 5 and 6 (see Part 5, n. 65, and Part 6, n. 24). 3. 21 And forgive us our debts: see Matt. 6: 12. 3. 22 Forgive … forgiven: see Luke 6: 37. 3. 23 laying up … storehouses: Ps. 32: 7. 3. 24 Gloss … soldiers: the exact gloss has not been traced, but the interpretation of abyssi ‘depths’ as the wicked, used by God to afflict his elect and so help them to earn a reward in heaven, goes back to Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 32, En. 2, Sermo 2, § 11, CCSL 38. 262, and similar glosses can be found in later commentaries on this psalm. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 109. 3. 25 the pelican … is always thin: the pelican’s natural thinness (naturalis macies) was a traditional image for the fasting of solitaries; see, e.g.,



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Cassiodorus’s commentary on Ps. 101: 7, Expositio Psalmorum, CCSL 98. 903. 3. 26 as I said: see n. 1 above. 3. 27 in an anchoress’s voice: probably originally a marginal annotation explaining the term persone ‘character, persona’, which is not otherwise recorded in this sense (apart from one further use in § 14 below) before the late fourteenth century (see MED s.v. persoune n.(1) 5. (a)). It is incorporated in all MSS running, but in FNS it is paraphrased to read more smoothly, and in C the preceding phrase is omitted. 3. 28 Judith … life, etc.: see Judith 8: 4–6. 3. 29 Foxes … nests: Luke 9: 58. The standard interpretation of this passage, from patristic times onwards, is that the foxes represent the fraudulent (particularly heretics) and the birds the proud; alternatively, they are seen as the demons embodying these qualities, which occupy human minds to the exclusion of Christ. For the more positive interpretation of the birds here, see n. 33 below. 3. 30 as it says in Kings: see 1 Reg. 24. The following phrase in C has no Scriptural support, and seems to be an attempt to make sense of an accidental duplication of David’s name in the C text (‘Both of them went into the cave, Saul and David, and David …’). 3. 31 what this word ‘David’ means in Hebrew: this interpretation of ‘David’ was standard from patristic times (see, e.g., Jerome, Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, CCSL 72. 145, where it is glossed desiderabilis or manu fortis); it is used in the prologue of Thomas of Chobham’s Summa de arte praedicandi, CCCM 82. 8–9, to illustrate the technique of allegory by interpretation of names. 3. 32 Saul … abuse: abutens ‘abusing’ is one of the traditional etymologies of ‘Saul’ (see, e.g., Jerome, Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, CCSL 72. 72); Thomas of Chobham in his Summa de arte praedicandi, ch. 4, CCCM 82. 105, comments on 1 Reg. 24, citing this etymology, ‘Saul … signifies the devil, who always abuses the place conceded to him.’ 3. 33 like a bird of heaven … high up: the interpretation of the birds here follows the tradition of commentary not on Luke 9: 58 (see n. 29 above) but on the parable of the mustard seed (Matt. 13: 31–2, Luke 13: 19), which shares with it the phrase volucres caeli ‘the birds of the air’. See, e.g., Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 19, ch. 1, §§ 2–3, CCSL 143A. 956–7: the branches of the tree that grows from the mustard seed are holy preachers, and ‘in those branches birds rest, because the holy souls that raise themselves upwards by wings of virtues from earthly thoughts take a break from the stress of this life in their sayings and consolations.’ 3. 34 When … useless servants: paraphrases Luke 17: 10. 3. 35 make a cross … flies: the image of the bird as a cross goes back as far as Tertullian, De Oratione, ch. 29, § 4, CCSL 1. 274: even birds, rising

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towards heaven, ‘spread out a cross of wings in place of hands and utter something that appears to be prayer’. The idea of the wings of prayer is linked with the recommendation to take up one’s cross (Matt. 16: 24) in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in Epiphania Domini, Sermo 3, § 6, Opera, 4. 307: ‘The Apostle expounded this text, saying “Those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with vices and desires [Gal. 5: 24].” Therefore our prayer should have two wings, contempt of the world and affliction of the flesh, and there is no doubt that it will penetrate the heavens.’ 3. 36 as the pelican has: see n. 25 above. 3. 37 Those birds … stick to the ground: the comparison goes back to Gregory’s Moralia in Iob; see particularly bk. 31, ch. 8, §§ 11–12, CCSL 143B. 1558, where he contrasts ostriches with hawks and herons, ‘who have small bodies, but with relatively dense feathers, and so fly swiftly, because they have little to weigh them down, much to lift them. The ostrich, however, has few feathers, and is weighed down by a large body.’ He goes on to say, ‘This is surely true of all hypocrites, who … pretend to lead a virtuous life … they do indeed have wings for flying because of their species, but in practice they creep along the ground; since they stretch out their wings as an image of holiness, but, pulled down by the weight of secular concerns, they are not raised at all from the earth.’ 3. 38 others’, not her own: the aim of this rather confusing parenthesis, found only in A and F, is presumably to clarify the metaphor: the false anchoress makes a great show of virtues that she does not actually possess (see previous note). 3. 39 as I said before: see § 6 above. 3. 40 the bliss of heaven … always green: cf. Gregory, Homiliae in Euangelia, bk. 1, Hom. 14, § 5, CCSL 141. 100, aeterna gaudia sempiterne uirentis Paradisi ‘the everlasting joys of a Paradise that is always green’ (modifying a similar phrase in Augustine, Confessiones, bk. 9, ch. 3, § 5, CCSL 27: 135). 3. 41 I will guard my strength for you: Ps. 58: 10. 3. 42 I shall die in my nest: Job 29: 18. 3. 43 Learn wisdom … dumb animals; cf. Job 12: 7 (cited at this point in S). 3. 44 The eagle … agate: the anecdote and its interpretation go back to Jerome, Commentarii in Esaiam, bk. 18, ch. 66, § 13. 14, CCSL 73A. 781. There seems to have been some confusion in the medieval tradition about the name of the stone, which is recorded not only as achates ‘agate’ but as aetites ‘eagle-stone’ (as in Jerome) and echites ‘adder-stone’; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 113. 3. 45 Judith … English: one of the standard etymologies of ‘Judith’ was confitens ‘confessing’; see Jerome, Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, CCSL 72. 67.



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3. 46 That is why … every priest: see Part 2, § 12. 3. 47 stinking in hell: i.e., as if derived from the Latin olens in inferno. 3. 48 My beloved … kicked out: Deut. 32: 15. 3. 49 Be seasoned with salt: see Mark 9: 49. 3. 50 In every sacrifice … salt: see Lev. 2: 13. 3. 51 Salt signifies wisdom … do well: the connection between flavour (smech / sauur) and wisdom (wisdom) is less obvious in the Middle English than in the Latin interpretative tradition that underlies it, where the corresponding words sapor and sapientia are both etymologically connected with sapere ‘taste, know’. 3. 52 Only God … without sin: not a direct quotation from Augustine, but probably ultimately based (as suggested in Cooper, p. 117) on a passage in Contra Maximinum, bk. 2, PL 42. 803. Augustine’s point is that the Son is not inferior to the Father because of his humanity; human nature was created in the image of God, and although angels are normally superior to human beings because their souls are not weighed down by a body made corruptible by original sin, this would not apply to Christ, who is incapable of sin. The quotation does not fit neatly into the argument, is not translated, is omitted in F and N, and is added in the margin by the main scribe of C; it probably originated as a marginal annotation. almost nothing (…) almost the highest: untraced in Augustine’s 3. 53 works. 3. 54 as Lucifer did: see Isa. 14: 12–15 (on the tyranny of Babylon, often read allegorically as a reference to the rebellion of Satan against God). 3. 55 You who have … spirits: Job 28: 25. The reading is probably based on the standard interpretation in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 19, chs. 5–6, CCSL 143A. 960–4, where the ‘weight’ is interpreted both as the heavenly wisdom that restrains souls (the ‘winds’) from drifting into sin, and as the frailty of the flesh that saves them from pride. 3. 56 in a strange land: see Part 4, n. 180. 3. 57 as earth that is on earth: this verbal play on ‘ earth’ is also found in some later vernacular moralizing lyrics, surviving from the early fourteenth century onwards; see Murray. 3. 58 a dog … dunghill: for similar proverbs in English and Latin, see Whiting C350 and ODEP, pp. 130–1. LNPST have ‘cock’ instead of ‘dog’ (cf. Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 7. 3). 3. 59 I have become like a pelican … house: Ps. 101: 7. 3. 60 night-bird: nycticorax is rendered here by the general ME word niht-fuhel (translated in S as fresoie ‘screech-owl, barn-owl’, and replaced in R by nyght-rauen ‘night-raven’). These translations reflect a basic uncertainty in the interpretative tradition, summarized by Cassiodorus, Expositio Psalmorum, Ps. 101: 7, CCSL 98. 903: ‘Nycticorax in Greek means ‘night-raven’ (noctis corvus), which some have said is the horned owl (bubo),

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others the little owl (noctua); others that in size and colour it is more like the raven (corvus).’ The latter interpretation allegorizes the double blackness of the ‘night-raven’ as the blackness of sin; Cassiodorus, however, links the nocturnal habits of the nycticorax to the hidden activities (prayer, works of mercy, etc.) of penitents, and adds, ‘note that as the pelican signifies the hermit and solitary, so the nycticorax signifies anyone who has withdrawn from public sight and stays within his house.’ 3. 61 That is why the anchoress … anchor: the word is actually derived from Greek anachōrētēs (from anachōreō, ‘withdraw’), via Latin anachorita; Jerome, Ep. 22, § 34, CSEL 54. 196, says that anachoritae ‘live alone in deserts and are so called because they have withdrawn far from humankind.’ The AW author’s alternative etymology exploits the coincidence in form between ME ancre ‘anchoress’ (from Latin anachorita) and ME ancre ‘anchor’ (OE ancor, from Latin ancora ‘hook’). 3. 62 I have watched … sparrow in the roof: Ps. 101: 8. 3. 63 Watching … flesh: Ecclus. 31: 1. 3. 64 Watch and pray … temptation: Matt. 26: 41. 3. 65 Blessed … watching: see Luke 12: 37. 3. 66 And he himself … actions: probably ultimately from Ambrose, Expositio Psalmi cxviii, littera 8, ch. 45, CSEL 62. 178: ‘Our Lord himself spent the night in prayer [see Luke 6: 12], so that he might encourage you to pray by his own example’ (repeated by Peter Lombard, Commentarius in Psalmos, Ps. 118, PL 191. 1074). 3. 67 Our Lord … thought: this group of references appears in varying positions in the manuscripts, is not in F or R, and is translated only in P; it probably originated as a marginal annotation, as in C. The first paraphrases Matt. 12: 36 (‘For every idle word that men have spoken, they will have to give an account on the day of judgement’); the second is based on Luke 21: 18 (see also Luke 12: 7); the third paraphrases Anselm of Canterbury, Meditatio 1, Opera, 3: 77. 3. 68 or heard either: in AFLR only; probably a later addition. 3. 69 the angel of God … virtue: i.e. the anchoress’s guardian angel; see Part 5, n. 43. 3. 70 Esther’s prayer … Ahasuerus: untraced; not a Scriptural quotation (although, as R says, ‘the book of Esther mentions in many places how the prayer of Queen Esther pleased King Ahasuerus greatly’; see Esther 5 and 7). 3. 71 Esther … above all: on these etymologies, see the references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 118–19. 3. 72 Why do you take your hand … end: Ps. 73: 11. 3. 73 Amen … reward: Matt. 6: 2. 3. 74 It is absolute madness … heaven can be earned: paraphrases Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 8, ch. 43, § 70, CCSL 143. 436, commenting on Matt. 6: 2.



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3. 75 This hope … my breast: Job 19: 27. 3. 76 He has stripped the bark … white: Joel 1: 7. The interpretation that follows (as the Latin translator notes) is taken from Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 8, ch. 48, § 82, CCSL 143. 447. 3. 77 A fig-tree … figs: fig-trees were probably naturalized in England by the Romans, but may have died out by the time AW was composed; references to figs in early Middle English are rare, and mostly in translations of Scripture, although they become more frequent from the fourteenth century onwards, and the explanation is dropped in LPR. 3. 78 the moisture of God’s grace: the idea of divine grace as rain (pluvia), moisture (humor) or, most often, dew (ros) is common in religious literature, but it seems to have given the copyists at this point difficulty; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 120–1. 3. 79 Our Lord … hides it: Matt. 13: 44. 3. 80 Anyone … robbed: Gregory, Homiliae in Euangelia, bk. 1, Hom. 11, § 1, CCSL 141. 74, commenting on Matt. 13: 44 (see previous note); the opening of the following sentence (‘This world … road’) draws on the same passage. 3. 81 red gold: ‘with a small alloy of copper to enhance its colour’ (MED). 3. 82 Ask what happened to Hezekiah … things: see Isa. 9; Isaiah prophesies to Hezekiah that the Babylonians will carry off the treasure Hezekiah has shown them, and make his sons eunuchs in the king’s palace. 3. 83 They fell down … and offered, etc.: Matt. 2: 11. 3. 84 I have watched … in the roof: Ps. 101: 8. 3. 85 How good it is to be alone … all that they wanted with God: this passage in praise of the solitary life (§§ 18–22) draws on the final chapter of the Carthusian Consuetudines compiled by Guigo I (ch. 80, SC 313. 286–94). The connection was first identified by Allen, and is discussed further in du Moustier, Baldwin [1974], pp. 150–60, and Barratt [1980]; see also the notes in Millett [2005–6], 2. 121–6. 3. 86 Isaac went out … his habit: paraphrases Guigo, Consuetudines, ch. 80, § 5, SC 313. 288. The reference is to Gen. 24: 63. 3. 87 Rebecca … grace: the association of Rebecca with grace (as opposed to works) goes back ultimately to Rom. 9: 10–13, and is found in Augustine and Gregory. 3. 88 For ‘Rebecca’ … prevenient grace: found in all MSS running at this point, but its rather technical and allusive explanation of why Rebecca signifies divine grace is not translated; it was probably an early marginal annotation. This particular etymological explanation of Rebecca’s name is untraced. The line on ‘prevenient grace’ (Quicquid habes meriti, preventrix gratia donat) is the first of a pair of rhymed hexameters, quoted in full in L and R; the second is Nil Deus in nobis praeter sua dona coronat (‘God

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crowns nothing in us apart from his own gifts to us’). A key feature of prevenient grace (i.e. the grace that makes it possible for us, in spite of our fallen nature, to exercise our free will towards good as well as evil) is that it is a free gift of God, a prerequisite rather than a reward for virtuous action; the phrasing of the first line links it directly with the interpretation of Rebecca’s name. 3. 89 Similarly with the blessed Jacob … human company: see Guigo, Consuetudines, ch. 80, § 5, SC 313. 288–90, on Gen. 32: 22–32. Jacob’s name was changed by God from ‘Jacob’ to ‘Israel’ as a tribute to his strength (Gen. 32: 28). 3. 90 But Jeremiah … your threats: based on Guigo, Consuetudines, ch. 80, § 7, SC 313. 290. The second Latin quotation, however, is of the Vulgate text of Jer. 15: 17 rather than Guigo’s paraphrase, which is what the English text is translating; and its varying treatment in the MSS (it is omitted in PT, and not in F) suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation. 3. 91 What God threatens … eternity: for this interpretation of Jer. 15: 17, see Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 4, ch. 30, § 60, CCSL 143. 204–5. 3. 92 That is why … to be alone: based on Guigo, Consuetudines, ch. 80, § 7, SC 313–290 (paraphrasing Jer. 9: 1–2). 3. 93 Who will give me a well of tears: Jer. 9: 1. Not in F, and differently placed in N and V; probably originally a marginal annotation. 3. 94 So that I may weep for my people’s dead: a blend of Jer. 9: 1 and Guigo’s paraphrase of it; variously placed in the MSS, and not in F, it was probably originally a marginal annotation. 3. 95 Who will give me … so that, etc.: Jer. 9: 2, as paraphrased by Guigo. The quotation is placed differently in AL (where it disrupts the syntax of the sentence) and in NSTV (where it is integrated more smoothly at a later point in the sentence); it was probably originally a marginal annotation. 3. 96 that is, living: a gloss added in A to explain the obsolescent noun beowiste ‘dwelling’. 3. 97 He shall sit … silence: Lam. 3: 28; the verse is completed below. 3. 98 it is a good thing … from his youth: Lam. 3: 26–7. Although both verses are translated in the English text, the Latin original of the second is not in CFN, and is variously placed in the MSS; it was probably originally a marginal addition. 3. 99 He will offer his cheek … reproaches: Lam. 3: 30. 3. 100 No-one greater … the children of women: Matt. 11: 11 (but the wordorder is influenced by Guigo). The quotation does not fit easily into the sentence in A and is not in F or R; its varying placing in the MSS suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation. 3. 101 and at his birth … prophecy: see Luke 1: 18–20, 62–79.



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3. 102 Tender in years … even in speaking: a stanza (lines 17–20) from the hymn to John the Baptist attributed to Paul the Deacon (d. 799), Ut queant laxis resonare fibris (‘So that [your servants] may sing with upraised voices’). 3. 103 Woe … polluted lips: see Isa. 6: 5. 3. 104 metal … steel: the variations in the MSS suggest that this was originally, like the very similar gloss in Part 4, § 89, a marginal annotation of or (used here to mean ‘metal’ rather than in the commoner sense ‘ore’). 3. 105 The Holy Trinity … English: APRV have Trinite for ‘Trinity’, but the earlier English MSS running, CNT, have the older native equivalent Þrumnesse (translated here as ‘Threeness’), and the added gloss in A suggests that Þrumnesse was still seen as the normal English word. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 125. 3. 106 There … to him: see Matt. 3: 16–17. 3. 107 three distinctions: i.e. John earned three times over the additional heavenly crown, the aureola, to which doctors (i.e. the teachers of the Church), martyrs, and virgins are entitled; see Millett [1982], p. 39. 3. 108 The angel … among women: Luke 1: 28. 3. 109 as was said earlier: see Part 2, § 21. 3. 110 it says: see Matt. 4: 2; Christ’s temptation in the wilderness is described in Matt. 4: 1–11. 3. 111 As Scripture says: Guigo (from whom this example is taken) is referring to Matt. 14: 23, 26: 36–44. 3. 112 Paul … with God: based on Guigo, Consuetudines, ch. 80, § 11, SC 313. 292. Guigo lists the early founders of the eremitic and monastic life, Paul the First Hermit (d. c.345), Anthony of Egypt (251–356), Hilarion (c.291–371), and Benedict of Nursia (c.480–c.550); the AW author adds two fourth-century female solitaries, Sarah and Syncletica. See also Preface, n. 26. The borrowings from Guigo (see n. 85 above) end at this point. 3. 113 As often … less a man: the attribution to Jerome is mistaken; the Latin quotation is probably a paraphrase of Seneca, Epistulae morales, Ep. 7 (on crowds), ‘I come back greedier, more ambitious, more lecherous, indeed more cruel and inhuman (inhumanior), because I have been among men’. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 127. 3. 114 Do not take pleasure … iniquity: see Ecclus. 18: 32. 3. 115 Didn’t the voice from heaven … press of people: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 3, § 190, PL 73. 801. Arsenius (354–449) had been tutor to the sons of the Emperor Theodosius in Rome before becoming a hermit in the Egyptian desert. 3. 116 Be prudent … someone to devour: 1 Pet. 5: 8, modified probably (as Cooper, p. 135, suggests) under the influence of 1 Pet. 4: 7. 3. 117 balsam: an aromatic resin, or the ointment made from it. The idea of virginity as balsam in a fragile vessel is probably borrowed from Bernard

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of Clairvaux, De Moribus et officio episcoporum, ch. 3, § 8, Opera, 7. 107; see Millett [1982], p. 30. 3. 118 We have this treasure … says: 2 Cor. 4: 7. The treatment of the quotation in the MSS suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation, integrated into the text in different places and with varying degrees of thoroughness. 3. 119 This frail vessel is as fragile … confession and contrition: the possibility of losing one’s virginity by sinful thoughts, and the question of whether such a loss is irreparable (also touched on, in an addition to the Latin source, in HM 5/18–20), are discussed more thoroughly in the mid-thirteenth-century Summa virtutum de remediis anime, ch. 9, ed. Wenzel [1984], pp. 303–5. The author of the Summa explains that the term ‘virginity’ is ambiguous; it can refer either to carnis integritas, the integrity of the flesh (a physical state that is not in itself a virtue), or to integritas mentis et corporis, ‘integrity of both mind and body’ (in which case it is distinguished from the virtue of continence only by the integrity of the flesh as quoddam accidens, ‘an additional characteristic’). If a virgin consents to sin, ‘corruption of the mind can be restored, that of the flesh cannot’; penance ‘restores virtues and merits, but not the state or physical beauty from which a virgin has fallen’. 3. 120 Hadn’t St John the Evangelist … virginity: for the legend of John’s abandoned marriage, see the apocryphal Acts of John, ch. 113, trans. James [1924], p. 269. 3. 121 He commended a virgin to a virgin: for Christ’s commendation of the Virgin Mary to John’s protection at the Crucifixion, see John 19: 25–7. The Latin formula used here (virginem virgini commendavit) is a commonplace, going back at least to Bede and included in the commentary on the prologue to St John’s Gospel in the Glossa ordinaria. 3. 122 In the world … peace: see John 16: 33. 3. 123 I saw a woman … under her feet: paraphrases Apoc. 12: 1. The explanation that follows goes back to Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 34, ch. 14, § 25, CCSL 143B. 1750, which interprets the sun as truth, the moon as mutability, and the woman as the Church; some later writers interpret the woman as the Virgin Mary or the individual virtuous soul. The interpretation here retains the allegorical significance of the moon, but reads the woman more literally, as ‘the woman who wishes to reach heaven’. 3. 124 Look … followed you: Matt. 19: 27. 3. 125 These follow the Lamb … body: this interpretation of Apoc. 14: 4, echoing 3 Reg. 18: 21 and 1 Cor. 7: 34, is used by a number of late twelfth-century Parisian schoolmen. Peter Cantor, discussing the possible metaphorical applications of lameness in Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 121, PL 205. 313–14, says, ‘There is also a permissible lameness of human infirmity.



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Married people limp in this way because they do not follow the Lamb with both feet, like virgins, since they lack that supremely excellent integrity of body that virgins have, even if they have integrity of mind.’ See also n. 119 above. 3. 126 close friendship: four MSS, AGTV, provide a native English gloss for the word familiarite ‘intimacy’, which is not otherwise recorded in ME before the late fourteenth century; see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 130. 3. 127 I will lead you … your heart: see Hos. 2: 14 (which, however, uses the third rather than the second person, referring to Israel). 3. 128 I am the Lord … city: see Hos. 11: 9. 3. 129 The seventh reason … said earlier: see § 33 above. 3. 130 as was said earlier: see § 15 above. 3. 131 bitterly crushing the shameless man: untraced, though the interpretation of Mardocheus as myrrha munda (‘pure myrrh’), signifying virtuous bitterness, appears in a couple of late twelfth-century Cistercian writers. 3. 132 than has been shown above: see § 34. 3. 133 in Kings: see 3 Reg. 2: 36–46. 3. 134 Shimei means ‘ hearing’: for the explanation here of ‘Shimei’ as audiens, cf. Jerome, Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, CCSL 72. 77, Semei audi vel auditio mea (‘Shimei: “hear!” or “my hearing”’). 3. 135 sight of peace: visio pacis, the standard interpretation; see, e.g., Jerome, Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, CCSL 72. 121. 3. 136 our five native wits: i.e. the five senses. They are ‘native’ (eðele) in the sense that they should be as much in bondage to their owner as a serf born on the estate (nativus); on a similar use of eðele in HM 15/30, see Millett [1982], p. 44. 3. 137 elevated among the nations: Cooper, p. 141, cites a parallel from the late thirteenth-century Interpretationes nominum hebraicorum in Worcester Cathedral Library MS F. 34, f. 69rb. 3. 138 thieves who have escaped to a church: criminals who took refuge in a church were immune from arrest for forty days; see ODCC s. ‘Sanctuary, right of’. 3. 139 this word ‘solitary’: the basic text seems to have had simply þis ‘ane’ (literally ‘this “one”’); word is added in A, nomen ‘term’ in L, presumably for clarification (though in A it is entered erroneously after ane). 3. 140 The sparrow … falling sickness: Kirchberger, p. 219, compares Alexander Neckam, De Naturis rerum, bk. 1, ch. 60, ed. Wright [1863], p. 109: ‘This bird is also frequently afflicted with epilepsy.’ 3. 141 with suffering or with sin, the body or the soul: probably an early marginal addition intended to clarify the rather elliptical style of this passage in the original text; it is not in C, and seems to have been wrongly placed in other manuscripts, including A. For a full discussion of the textual problems involved, see Millett [2005–6], pp. 132–3; the text here is emended.

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The point being made is that external suffering (through physical illness) and internal temptations work in partnership, the first to subdue the desires of the flesh, the second to keep the spirit humble.

Part 4 4. 1 The virtuous … temptation: Cooper, p. 142, compares Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 28, SC 382. 462: ‘Those who are ignorant of the sins of the flesh should be warned that the higher they stand, the more anxiously they should fear a disastrous fall. They should be warned, so that they know that the more they stand in a prominent place, the more frequently they will be attacked by the arrows of their treacherous enemy.’ But this passage (which is also drawn on in HM 7/6–24) does not include the image of the wind used here (although Gregory does speak elsewhere of the wind or gusts of temptation). This may be of classical origin, echoing the warnings against excessive aspiration in Horace, Carmina, 2. 10. 9–12 (‘The tallest pine is more often buffeted / By winds, and towers when they are highest built / Will fall the hardest’), and Boethius, Philosophiae consolatio, bk. 2, metre 4, CCSL 94. 25–6, where a windswept mountain-top is used as an image for the instability of good fortune. See also § 42 below, where the image of a high tower threatened by winds is used in a similar context. 4. 2 You are most under attack … attacked: not in Gregory; the closest parallel is in Caesarius of Arles, Sermo 77, § 2, CCSL 103. 320. 4. 3 You say … blind: see Apoc. 3: 17. 4. 4 Jesus was led … devil: see Matt. 4: 1. The quotation follows rather than preceding the English, and was probably originally a marginal annotation; it is omitted in N, and differently placed in V. 4. 5 two kinds of temptation: for the broad distinction between internal and external temptations, see Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 2, dist. 21, ch. 6, ed. Brady, 1. 436–7; but the subdivisions here are more intricate. 4. 6 From external temptation … the external thing is the temptation: for detailed discussion of the textual and interpretative problems of this difficult passage, see the notes in Millett [2005-6], 2. 134–5. 4. 7 from the devil … from our flesh: see n. 42 below. 4. 8 Blessed … love him: Jas. 1: 12. 4. 9 God tests … in the fire: cf. Job 23: 10, Wisd. 3: 6, Ecclus. 2: 5. 4. 10 after foolishness: it is not certain whether the addition in N is by the original author, but it clarifies the implications of ‘foolishness’ (S’s translation, which explains the second kind of illness as that ‘which a man or woman has deserved by their sins’ suggests that misunderstanding was possible; the reference here is to illness caused by folly (cf. Part 8, § 28) rather than vice). 4. 11 these six things: the points that follow are numbered only in A



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(although two errors in the numbering suggest that it was done at an earlier stage). 4. 12 he is your file: the image of the wicked person as the file of the soul goes back at least to Gregory, Homiliae in Euangelia, Hom. 38, § 7, CCSL 141. 367, and is used by a number of twelfth-century writers. 4. 13 which metal-workers have: the gloss is not in CN, and is differently incorporated in different MSS; probably originally a marginal annotation. 4. 14 God beats … with a rod: Cooper, pp. 144–5, compares Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 73, § 8, CCSL 39: 1010: ‘For God does what men often do. Sometimes an angry man seizes a rod lying around, perhaps a bunch of twigs, and beats his son with it; but then he throws the bunch of twigs in the fire, and keeps his legacy for his son. So sometimes God teaches the good by the evil, and by the temporal power of those who will be condemned exercises discipline over those who will be acquitted.’ 4. 15 Those whom I love … punish: Apoc. 3: 19. 4. 16 after rod: the added quotation paraphrases Isa. 10: 5; ‘the Assyrian’, temporarily allowed to persecute the Israelites but ultimately subject to divine vengeance, was traditionally interpreted as the Devil, earthly powers, or (as here) the wicked in general, used by God to chastise his chosen people. The quotation is placed here by C, but at the end of the sentence by the other MSS running (except for AN, which do not include it); it was probably originally a marginal annotation. 4. 17 Vengeance … repay: Rom. 12: 19 (referring to Deut. 32: 35). 4. 18 When a well-behaved child … kisses the rod: for later examples of this saying, see ODEP, p. 430. 4. 19 Love your enemies … slander you: Matt. 5: 44. 4. 20 This is God’s commandment … hair-shirt: Constable [1992] notes an increasing tendency from the twelfth century onwards for spiritual writers to stress—particularly when addressing hermits and recluses—the physical and spiritual dangers of extreme asceticism, and the greater importance of inner disposition. For a later addition to AW emphasizing these points further, see Part 8, § 18. 4. 21 the Apostle teaches: see 1 Thess. 5: 15. 4. 22 him as a person: ME his bodi. The point being made here depends on the dual sense of ME bodi as ‘body’ and ‘person’ (see Dobson [1974], p. 125). 4. 23 What God has joined … separate: see Matt. 19: 6. 4. 24 the just man … vengeance: Ps. 57: 11. 4. 25 he says: in A only (making it clearer that it is God rather than the author who is speaking). 4. 26 down to the ground: in AL only; probably added to clarify the meaning of the verb-form leaueden ‘flowed’ (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 140). 4. 27 they shook their heads at him: the phrase in the Vulgate text (Matt. 27: 39), moventes capita sua, has no exact equivalent in modern English.

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See Burrow for other examples in ME literature of head movement used to express contempt and/or anger (pp. 42–4) and the problems of defining the exact nature of this movement (pp. 60–4). 4. 28 Look … saving himself now: see Matt. 27: 42. 4. 29 Turn back … five senses: see Part 2, §§ 38–41, 43–6. 4. 30 for he never did wrong: cf. 1 Pet. 2: 22 (quoted in S, and echoed in L). 4. 31 the green way: a grene wei is an unpaved road surfaced with grass. S has ‘the great highway that is green and soft and broad’, linking it with the ‘broad way that leads to perdition’ of Matt. 7: 13. The phrase is given the reverse application in the twelfth-century Poema morale, where it is used of the relatively untrodden way to heaven (see notes on lines 337 and 339 in Hall, 2. 350–1); but its link with the ‘broad way’ to hell, as Hall notes, resurfaces in Milton’s Sonnet 9, lines 1–2, ‘Lady! that in the prime of earliest youth / Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green.’ 4. 32 the way of the wicked … afflictions: Ecclus. 21: 11, with added gloss. It is untranslated except in PS, and is not in C; it was probably originally a marginal annotation, and its placing in A is not very satisfactory (in the other MSS that include it is placed, more logically, after the following sentence). 4. 33 We have rejoiced … troubles: Ps. 89: 15. 4. 34 Surely that thing would be terrible … suffering of hell: a similar image (though less elaborated) of earthly suffering as the shadow of that in the next world is found in Alan of Lille, Summa de arte praedicatoria, ch. 32, PL 210. 175; see n. 156 below. 4. 35 Consider … temptations: Jas. 1: 2. 4. 36 Every trial … fruit, etc.: Heb. 12: 11. 4. 37 after bliss: here N has two paragraphs that probably go back to the original version of AW, addressing the three sisters for whom it was written and describing their circumstances. The passage seems to have been progressively modified in the MS tradition in response to changes in readership: 1.  C retains (with minor variations) the opening of the first paragraph, but drops its more detailed discussion of the number and circumstances of the anchoresses. It also drops the first sentence of the second paragraph (which refers back to these circumstances), and its last clause, but otherwise uses the same version as N (again with minor variations). 2.  T has a shortened and generalized version of the first paragraph, addressing ‘children’ rather than ‘sisters’, dropping the more specific details about the anchoresses’ circumstances, and implying that the remainder are true only of some of the audience (‘some of you’); in the second paragraph, it uses the same version as N (with minor



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variations). The version in T also underlies the rewritten texts in S (which addresses a broadly-defined hypothetical audience of religious, both male and female, and following various forms of the religious life), L (which addresses more generally those ‘who have the good things of this life’), and P (which addresses ‘My dear friends’). 3.  A and V omit both paragraphs altogether—at some cost to the overall argument, since this means dropping the discussion of pleasure as a form of external temptation.    For further discussion of these variations, see Dobson [1966], pp. 203– 4, and Dobson [1972], pp. 144–5. 4. 38 Now … their foul offspring: on the treatment of the Seven Deadly Sins in AW, see Bloomfield, pp. 148–52. Bloomfield finds the carnal/spiritual categorization here ‘unusual’ (p. 150), since it appears to give ‘the only early example of sloth as a carnal sin in English literature’ (p. 147); The Owl and the Nightingale, line 1400, may offer an earlier example, but the readings of the MSS at this point are problematic (see Cartlidge [2001], pp. 86, 133–4), and the poem’s date of composition disputed (Cartlidge [1996] argues for the second half of the thirteenth century rather than the traditional dating of 1189 × 1216). 4. 39 Physical temptation … least expect it: for a further development of this contrast, see §§ 82–3 below. 4. 40 Our persecutors … wilderness: Lam. 4: 19. 4. 41 as I said before: see § 4 above. 4. 42 Sometimes … a shadow: see Bloomfield, pp. 140–1, 150, for a discussion of this and other divisions of the Sins among the world, the flesh, and the devil in medieval England (the division used in AW, the earliest in English, became more popular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries than the alternative divisions in Grosseteste’s Templum Dei and Chasteau d’amour); and, for the broader tradition underlying the English treatments, Wenzel [1967]. Wenzel traces the theme of the three enemies of man as far back as Augustine, but dates its appearance as a topos (‘commonplace’) to the early eleventh century. He derives the categorization of the different types of temptation offered by the three enemies from a passage in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermones de diversis, Sermo 23, later condensed in the ‘favorite formula’ caro suggerit mihi mollia, mundus vana, diabolus amara (‘the flesh suggests to me everything soft, the world everything vain, the devil everything bitter’). 4. 43 as Exodus relates: see Exodus 15–16. 4. 44 the blessed land of Jerusalem: the AW author is probably equating the Promised Land with the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem established in 1099 after the First Crusade, which was sometimes referred to as terra Hierusalem (‘the land of Jerusalem’) by twelfth-century writers.

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4. 45 many dangerous animals … lust: for the general tradition underlying this linking of the sins with animals, see Bloomfield, pp. 150–1 and Appendix 1. On the unicorn of wrath, see n. 64 below; on the scorpion of lechery, n. 79. 4. 46 the seven capital sins: see Part 1, n. 69. 4. 47 but what is beauty … sow’s snout: the image is from Prov. 11: 22: ‘a beautiful but foolish woman is a gold ring in a sow’s nostrils’. 4. 48 or says … often do harm: in ALPV only (extensively rewritten in P). 4. 49 it is all vainglory … proud of anything: in A only. 4. 50 or is over-confident … can be tempted: in ALPV only (in varying forms). 4. 51 not just … too long: an expansion in A of a shorter addition found in LV. 4. 52 The tenth is Contention … moistened fingers: in ALPV only, with some further modification in A; see nn. 53, 54. 4. 53 this is among nuns: an addition in A only. 4. 54 Why … God: modified by A from an earlier version reflected in LV and (though incompletely) in the rewritten version in P. 4. 55 the eleventh cub … fingers: the eleventh cub, nameless in the English, is defined in the Latin as nutus superbiae (‘the gestures [or possibly ‘indicators’] of pride’). The overall structure of this description, and its general content (though considerably elaborated in detail) are based on God’s warning to the daughters of Zion in Isa. 3: 16–24; for similar uses of this text in earlier writers, cf. Hugh of St Victor, De Institutione novitiorum, ch. 12, PL 176. 938–9 (on the disciplining of gesture) and pseudo-Hugh of St Victor, Sermo 38, PL 177. 995 (where it is used to illustrate Pride in an account of the seven deadly sins). For an account of the gestures of pride in OF and ME literature, including a discussion of this passage, see Burrow, pp. 44–8. 4. 56 Under this heading: the link of gesture with clothing and personal grooming is determined by the model for this passage, Isa. 3: 16–24; cf. Hugh of St Victor, De Institutione novitiorum, ch. 12, PL 176. 939 (see previous note), where the transition from gesture is justified on the grounds that ‘indulgence in fine clothing usually follows these vices’. The passage is similar to Isa. 3. 18–24 in tone and general content, but not in its details. 4. 57 dyeing: dyeing with saffron seems to have been particularly disapproved of by clerics in this period; see the references in Millett [2005– 6], 2. 148. 4. 58 pleating: the probable sense of ME pinchunge here; pleating had become fashionable during the twelfth century (see Harris, pp. 98–9 and fig. 58, p. 96). 4. 59 seven: the original numbering is left unaltered in A, although the



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later addition in § 20 (see n. 61 below) has increased the number of the offspring to ten. L and V, which share this addition with A, have forms of ‘these’; so does P, which does not include it but shares the other additions in this sequence. Þeose ‘these’ may have been chosen (rather than the new number, tene) as the neatest and most economical way of correcting seoue ‘seven’. See also n. 65 below. 4. 60 after misfortune: the phrase is not in A; since it is found in four different places in the MSS, it was probably an early marginal addition. 4. 61 The eighth … because of envy: this addition is in ALV only, though an earlier modification of the text suggests that it may also have been in an ancestor of P (see n. 59 above). 4. 62 and this species … mingled together: in A only; an elaboration on the previous addition shared with L and V (see n. 61 above). 4. 63 or the ancient mother: both the placing of this phrase in the sentence and its interpretation are difficult; see the discussion in Millett [2005–6], 2. 150. It seems most likely (as the Latin translator of AW assumes) that the ‘ancient mother’ is the serpent of envy itself. I have followed the punctuation in Hasenfratz [2000], but the construction seems syntactically non-intuitive, and it is possible, as Richard Dance has suggested, that the phrase was originally an early marginal addition, misplaced from its intended position at the end of the sentence. 4. 64 The unicorn of wrath … reach: Bloomfield, p. 151, comments, ‘I have not been able to discover the source, or indeed any other example, of the association of wrath with this mythical animal’. It looks, in fact, as if the AW author is thinking of the rhinoceros, which has a horn on its nose, rather than the unicorn (monoceros), which has a horn on its forehead; the two are distinguished by Isidore of Seville, but confused by a number of patristic and later writers, including Gregory (see Moralia in Iob, bk. 31, ch. 15, § 29, CCSL 143B. 1571), whose stress on the rhinoceros’s untamed and ferocious nature may have influenced the identification with wrath here. See MED s.v. unicorn(e n. for some later ME instances of the same confusion. 4. 65 six: in the original version, Wrath has six offspring, but an addition shared by ALPV (see n. 67 below) adds a seventh. The number is altered to ‘seven’ in LV, and to ‘these’ in P, but left unchanged in A; cf. n. 59 above. 4. 66 Watch the eyes … out of her mind: in ALPV only. 4. 67 The seventh offspring … as well: in ALPV only. 4. 68 lack of enthusiasm for anything: this explanatory phrase is found in varying forms, and in two different places, in ALP; probably originally a marginal addition. 4. 69 this is a tight-fisted nature … entirely to us: found in varying forms, and at two different points in the text, in ALV (it is not clear whether the text in P, which is garbled, reflects it); probably originally a marginal addition.

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4. 70 properly: All texts but A and L (which omits the adverb) have gnedeliche ‘sparingly’ or words of similar meaning. A rihtliche ‘properly’ may well be a deliberate revision; for a probably authorial revision of gnedeliche to meaðfulliche ‘moderately’ in a similar context, see Part 8, n. 35. 4. 71 The first is called Too Early … Too Often: Cooper, pp. 151–2, traces back the five types of gluttony here to Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 30, ch. 18, § 60, CCSL 143B. 1531–2. From the early thirteenth century, they were often summed up in the mnemonic hexameter Praepropere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose (‘too hastily, sumptuously, too much, eagerly, assiduously’). 4. 72 because … nurture them: replaced in G by a comment to the opposite effect, addressing a different audience, although in a style consistent with that of the original; John Scahill has suggested possible authorial involvement in the text underlying G for other reasons (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 153). 4. 73 whose names … pure hearts: on the need for discretion when discussing sexual sins, see Part 5, n. 112. 4. 74 Fornication … spiritually: lists four out of the five traditional species of lechery, fornicatio, stuprum (defined by Peter Lombard as ‘the illicit defloration of virgins’), adulterium, incestus, and raptus (forcible abduction). Incest can be either physical or spiritual because spiritual kinship (established through sponsorship at baptism or confirmation, or by the hearing of confession) was seen by the Church in this period as imposing the same restrictions on sexual activity and marriage as other forms of kinship; see Goody, pp. 194–204. 4. 75 which can be a mortal sin: A ‘can be’ is a more precise qualification of the ‘is’ of the other MSS (cf. n. 77 below). 4. 76 If those occasions … secure: not from Augustine, but a paraphrase of the comment on 1 Tim. 5: 7 by ‘Ambrosiaster’, CSEL 81(3). 280; it may have reached the AW author through Peter Lombard’s commentary on the same passage, Collectaneorum in Paulum continuatio, In Epistolam 1 ad Timotheum, ch. 5, PL 192. 352. 4. 77 it tends towards mortal sin: A ‘tends towards’ is a more precise qualification of the ‘is’ of the other MSS; cf. n. 75 above. 4. 78 Those of you … fallen into them: in A only. Cf. HM 16/6–9 (where the reference is to husbands coercing their wives into perverse sexual practices). 4. 79 It is obvious enough … scorpion: Rumsey discusses possible antecedents for this unusual choice. It can be paralleled, however, in James of Vitry’s second sermon for Passion Sunday, Sermones dominicales, p. 308, in which three serpentes represent three kinds of temptation; they include ‘scorpions, with a face like a virgin but a bestial and poisonous tail, by which the sin of lechery is understood’. 4. 80 after obvious: a paraphrase of Ecclus. 26: 10 is incorporated (with minor variants) in all MSS running apart from A. It occurs at two different



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points in the MSS, is translated only in PS, and was probably a marginal annotation of the original text. 4. 81 the species: in AS only; probably an expansion of the elliptical original for clarity. Penitents were expected to confess per genus et species (‘by general and specific categories’), confessing in general (generaliter) to the capital sins, then going into detail about the kind of offence committed under each sin (specialiter); see Part 5, § 26. 4. 82 in sneezing: on the medieval use of sneezing as a form of augury, see Smithers [1948–9] and Russell-Smith; Bennett cites condemnations of the practice from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century literature. 4. 83 accidie: the AW author here uses the ME word derived from accidia, the standard Latin term for the sin of sloth; this is its first recorded use, suggesting why a gloss was felt necessary. 4. 84 misusing it … can pay: the additions here are in A only. 4. 85 If any woman … lechery: see Miller on the medieval use of potions (usually derived from trees, particularly willow, and herbs) as contraceptives and abortifacients. 4. 86 and serve him … best: there is a more literal early thirteenthcentury variation on this theme in the Vision of Thurkill, ed. Schmidt, where sinners of various categories (not based on the seven deadly sins, but including the proud, adulterers, and detractors) provide theatrical entertainment for demons in hell by re-enacting their sins and/or being publicly tormented. Hall, 2. 383, quotes a passage from an anonymous fourteenth-century Latin sermon that uses the same conceit of sinners as the devil’s servants (although the details are different). 4. 87 draw in … praise: Hall, 2. 381, compares Isidore of Seville, Sententiae, bk. 2, ch. 38, Sent. 4, CCSL 111. 168, ‘Those who are swollen with pride feed on the wind’, and an exemplum by James of Vitry, ed. Crane, no. 154, in which a hermit has a vision of a man standing on a high mountain drawing in wind through his open mouth: ‘These are vain and proud men who draw in the wind of vainglory’. 4. 88 the angels’ trumpets … judgement: see Matt. 24: 31. 4. 89 Arise, you dead … judged: see n. 92 below. 4. 90 The solitary wild ass … self-love: see Jer. 2: 24—which, however, describes the wild ass not as solitarius but as adsuetus ‘accustomed [to the wilderness]’; the adjective in AW has probably been transferred from the solitary wild ass (onager solitarius) of Hos. 8: 9, creating a ‘portmanteau’ quotation. 4. 91 the lazy person … Saviour: this passage is paralleled in general, though not in all its details, in the chapter on preaching against sloth in Alan of Lille, Summa de arte praedicatoria, ch. 7, PL 210. 125–8. 4. 92 Arise … Saviour: the quotation is untranslated, is omitted in F, and does not fit very easily into its place on the text; it probably originated

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as a marginal annotation. Its ultimate source is uncertain. Cooper, p. 155, compares Eph. 5: 14, ‘Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead’, but the context is different; Stephen of Bourbon attributes it to Jerome, but it is not in Jerome’s works, although a version of it, ‘Arise, you dead, come to the judgement’, appears in pseudo-Jerome, Regula monachorum, ch. 30, PL 30. 417. It seems, however, to have been a commonplace in the twelfth century; it is cited more than once in Peter Cantor’s Verbum abbreviatum, and Alan of Lille gives ‘You who are lying in your tombs, rise and hasten to the judgement of the Saviour’ as one of the auctoritates (authoritative texts) that the preacher should cite against sloth (see n. 91 above). 4. 93 cinderjack: the meaning and etymology of the ME word eskibah are disputed; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 158, for a full discussion. The translation here is borrowed from Gradon, who comments, ‘The task of the cinderjack is to sift the ashes to extract the still combustible cinders, a happy figure for the futility of earthly riches’ (p. 184). 4. 94 draws Arabic numerals … calculate: the first recorded mention of figures of augrim (‘Arabic numerals’) in English. The Hindu-Arabic system of number notation was introduced to the medieval West via Muslim Spain, probably under the influence of the treatise Calculation with the Hindu Numerals (c.825, translated into Latin in the early twelfth century) by the Arab mathematician al-Khwārizmī. In the Latin West, the numbers were normally called algorismus (an adaptation of ‘al-Khwārizmī’). The western Arabs, however, most often called them ‘dust [ghubār] numbers’ because of their usual medium: ‘in ancient times, and until very late in the Middle Ages, practical arithmetical calculations were performed on dust boards. These boards, which contained a layer of fine-grained sand … allowed for plenty of erasures during the operations’ (Lemay, p. 383). The comparison here may be specifically with accountants working with a dust board (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 159, for evidence of the use of dust boards in England in the later Middle Ages). 4. 95 Maggots … covering: see Isa. 14: 11. 4. 96 the devil’s manciple: MED s.v. maunciple n. places this use under sense (b), ‘a servant or agent of the Devil’, but the context suggests that it is rather a metaphorical use of the commoner sense (a), ‘An officer or servant who buys provisions for a college, inn of court, or other institution’. 4. 97 My servants … go hungry, etc.: Isa. 65: 13. 4. 98 Inflict … luxuries: Apoc. 18: 7 (where ‘her’ refers to Babylon). 4. 99 For one cup … two: cf. Apoc. 18: 6. 4. 100 after possible: the addition in GLPTV, from Apoc. 14: 4, probably originated as a marginal annotation. 4. 101 in the Lives of the Fathers: see Vitae patrum, bk. 6, ch. 3, § 18, PL 73. 1014. Burrow and Turville-Petre [1996], p. 111, note a closer analogue in one of James of Vitry’s exempla; see Crane, no. 104.



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4. 102 An anchoress may think … so pleasant: Cooper, p. 158, identifies the source of this passage (§ 37) as a passage on the three stages of the religious life in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 24, ch. 11, § 28, CCSL 143B. 1207–8. 4. 103 for many people in the religious life: in A only. 4. 104 a land flowing with milk and honey: Exod. 3: 17, 13: 5, 33: 3. In A only; it is untranslated, and was probably originally a marginal annotation. 4. 105 that I mentioned earlier: see §§ 2–5 above. 4. 106 You shall not fear … demon: Ps. 90: 5–6. The interpretation goes back ultimately to Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 90, Sermo 1, § 7, CCSL 39. 1259–60, but its schematic presentation here shows the influence of Peter Lombard’s commentary on Ps. 90, PL 191. 850. 4. 107 Waters … floods: Job 14: 19. 4. 108 A path will shine after him: Job 41: 23 (referring to Leviathan’s wake). 4. 109 They lay in ambush … help: see Job 30: 13. 4. 110 Evil … source: Isa. 47: 11. The quotation is in all MSS running but F, but appears at three different points in the text. It seems to have originated as a marginal annotation that made its way, by different routes, into the main textual tradition, and was subsequently ‘adopted’ as part of the text in APV by the provision of a translation. 4. 111 the holy Job: the addition of the quotation from Isaiah (see previous note) to the original text meant that ‘he’ no longer referred back unambiguously to Job; a more explicit reference is added in ALV. 4. 112 They rushed in … open door: Job 30: 14. 4. 113 Strangers … realize: Hos. 7: 9; for the application of this text to temptation, see Isidore of Seville, Sententiae, bk. 3, ch. 5, Sent. 11, CCSL 111. 207 (frequently quoted by later writers). Either before or after this quotation, all but two of the MSS running add a supplementary Latin quotation paraphrasing Prov. 23: 35, a text applied to those taken unawares by sin by Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 32, SC 382. 490; it probably originated as a marginal annotation. 4. 114 He looks at another … housewife of a hall: cf. Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 3, CCCM 1. 639, on anchoresses who accumulate so many possessions ‘that you would think they were matrons or mistresses of a household, not anchoresses … the evil spirit deceives such women’ by persuading them that they need resources for charitable acts, friends and relations, or the visits of religious women. 4. 115 shame added to shame: in A only; the point is probably that the anchoress is not simply risking burglary, but abduction or rape. 4. 116 an angel of light: see 2 Cor. 11: 14. 4. 117 like the one … shelter: Cooper, pp. 164–5, traces this story to a work attached to the Vitae Patrum, the Historia Lausica, ch. 44, PL 73. 1147–8. The hermit took pity on the woman and admitted her to his cave, where she

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seduced him; but as he was about to make love to her, she vanished amid the mocking laughter of demons. 4. 118 the other holy man … in the end: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 6, ch. 4, § 7, PL 73. 1022. A monk living in the desert was persuaded by demons that they were angels, and that his father, who had brought an axe with him to cut some wood, was the devil coming to kill him; he killed his father with the axe, and the devil immediately strangled him. The story is repeated by James of Vitry (ed. Crane, no. 76), who also echoes 2 Cor. 11: 14 (see n. 116). 4. 119 There was also the holy man … sin: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 5, ch. 7, § 24, PL 73. 899. The devil persuaded a monk that his father had died, and that it was his duty to distribute his inheritance to the poor. However, he found that his father was still alive, and asking why he had come home; too embarrassed to give the real reason, he told his father that he had missed him. He stayed for a time, fell into fornication, and did not return to the religious life. 4. 120 the holy man … tomorrow: the ultimate source is probably, as Cooper, p. 167, suggests, Vitae Patrum, bk. 7, ch. 16, § 3, PL 73. 1039, but there is a closer parallel to this passage in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in die Paschae, Sermo 2, § 4, Opera, 5. 97, where Bernard is similarly arguing that righteousness towards erring brethren needs to be tempered with compassion: ‘But because an illustrative narrative (exemplum) persuades more effectively and impresses the soul more deeply, I refer you to that holy man who, when he heard that one of his brothers had sinned, wept very bitterly, saying “Him today, and me tomorrow”’. The exemplum is used again in § 85 below. 4. 121 He has so many jars … little bottles: Cooper, p. 167, compares the story told in Vitae Patrum, bk. 7, ch. 1, § 8, PL 73. 1027: Abba Macarius met a devil carrying numerous little bottles of relish, which he intended to offer to the brothers in the lower desert. The devil explained, ‘ And I carry such a lot so that if one’s rejected, I can offer another; and if that’s rejected as well, I show another; and so there’s no way that at least one won’t be acceptable to them.’ The story is also used by James of Vitry (ed. Crane, no. 75). 4. 122 the higher … winds: for this image, see n. 1 above. 4. 123 God is faithful … but, etc.: paraphrases 1 Cor. 10: 13. 4. 124 after further: all MSS running other than A and F add two quotations from Gregory’s Moralia in Iob at this point, the first (Although the devil … temptation) from bk. 18, ch. 2, § 4, CCSL 143A. 887, the second (So there is no need … permission) from bk. 2, ch. 10, § 17, CCSL 143. 70. The first relates to the fourth comfort, the second to the fifth. The quotations are untranslated, and probably originated as a marginal annotation. 4. 125 If you cast … pigs: see Matt. 8: 31. 4. 126 which were grazing … herd: in A only.



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4. 127 the image of God: see Gen. 1: 26–7. 4. 128 If you have had permission … forbid you: see Gregory, Dialogi, bk. 3, ch. 16, §§ 3–4, SC 260. 328–30: the devil tried unsuccessfully for three years to drive the hermit Martin out of his cave by sending a snake to frighten him. 4. 129 he is playing … darling: on the history and use of the image of Jesus as mother in religious writing, see Bynum [1982], ch. 4, and Lagorio. 4. 130 Do not abandon me altogether: Ps. 118: 8. 4. 131 Recognizing … perfection: probably misattributed to Gregory; the closest parallels are in Augustine. Cooper, p. 173, compares Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 38: 9, § 14, CCSL 38. 416, ‘Therefore you cannot be perfect unless you know that in this world it is impossible for you to be perfect’; cf. also Sermo 170, PL 38. 931, ‘A man’s perfection consists in discovering that he is not perfect.’ 4. 132 What can anyone know … tempted: see Ecclus. 34: 9. 4. 133 The mind … earth: a paraphrased abridgement of two passages in Augustine, De Trinitate, bk. 4, § 1, CCSL 50. 159 (see Cooper, pp. 174–5). 4. 134 the story: Cooper, p. 174, notes that in the Vitae Patrum, bk. 3, § 10, PL 73. 744, and bk. 5, ch. 18, § 12, PL 73. 982–3, the story is told of Abba Moses and his adviser Abba Isidore. It echoes an episode in 4 Reg. 6: 15–16 (see n. 135). 4. 135 There are more … theirs: the wording here is not from the Vitae Patrum, but from 4 Reg. 6: 16 (see n. 134). 4. 136 before As for: the Latin reference added in LPTV is entered at various points in the text, and is likely to have originated as a marginal annotation. It seems to come not from a gloss on the Epistle to the Romans but from Peter Lombard’s commentary on Ps. 72: 6, PL 191. 671 (which refers to Rom. 1 in the discussion of the preceding verse), discussing how the proud are lacking in self-knowledge. Peter’s phrasing is influenced by Cassiodorus’ comment on the same verse in his Expositio Psalmorum, CCSL 98. 662. 4. 137 I have taken hold … go: Cant. 3: 4. Unusually, no translation is provided (though independent translations are supplied in F and P). 4. 138 Look … wheat, etc.: Luke 22: 31; the ME also translates the following sentence in Luke 22: 32. 4. 139 There was given … flesh: 2 Cor. 12: 7. 4. 140 My grace … weakness: 2 Cor. 12: 9. 4. 141 Wasn’t St Sarah … my Lord: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 5, ch. 5, §§ 10, 11, PL 73. 876, and Preface, n. 26. 4. 142 black as a black man: the simile is not in the source passage (see n. 141), but black demons, often described as Ethiopians, appear elsewhere in early monastic literature (on the significance of their blackness, see Brakke). There is another devil ‘much blacker than any black man’ at

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SM 24/12 (but in this case from the Latin source’s velut hominem nigrum, 134/19). Sarah’s address to the devil, ‘You’re lying, you filthy creature’, which is not in the Vitae Patrum (see n. 141), is also paralleled in SM 30/31–2 (where it is an addition to the Latin source). 4. 143 St Benedict … and the others: the reference is to the fourth- and fifth-century pioneers of the monastic and anchoritic life. On Benedict’s temptations, see § 95 below; on Anthony’s, see ODS s. ‘Anthony of Egypt’. 4. 144 And this is the eighth comfort … temptation: for fuller developments of this image, see §§ 7 and 91. 4. 145 as Origen says: Cooper, p. 177, cites Origen, In Librum Jesu Nave, Hom. 15, § 6, PG 12. 903, who argues that successful resistance to temptation reduces the army of demons; so, for instance, ‘if a man by living chastely and modestly overcomes the spirit of fornication, the spirit who was defeated by that holy man is no longer permitted to attack anyone else.’ It is likely, however, that the reference reached the AW author through an intermediate source, perhaps Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 2, dist. 6, ch. 7, ed. Brady, 1. 358; Peter quotes this passage when discussing the proposition ‘that demons who have once been defeated by holy men do not attack anyone else’, and comments, ‘But some think that this should be understood only of that vice in which he [the demon] has been defeated; so if, for example, he tempts a holy man to pride and is defeated, he is no longer allowed to tempt him or anyone else to pride’—the point being made here. 4. 146 The third: a similar point is made in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 17, § 6, Opera, 1. 101, and in HM 24/1–6. 4. 147 As often … crowned: paraphrases Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in Quadragesima, Sermo 5, § 3, Opera, 4. 373. 4. 148 the story in the Lives of the Fathers: Cooper, pp. 178–9, identifies this as a free adaptation of Vitae Patrum, bk. 5, ch. 7, § 43, PL 73. 903–4. 4. 149 No-one will be crowned … rules: see 2 Tim. 2: 5. 4. 150 against the world … hell: see n. 42 above. 4. 151 When he had tasted the vinegar … drink: based on Matt. 27: 34, ‘And they gave him wine mixed with gall, and when he tasted it he would not drink’, perhaps influenced by John 19: 30, ‘But when he had accepted the vinegar …’. 4. 152 there is gall underneath: V adds here a slightly paraphrased version of Job 6: 6. On gall, see Part 2, n. 163. 4. 153 Let desire … glad: see Part 3, n. 4. 4. 154 a verse: the reference could be either to the Latin that follows or to the ME verse translation at SM 34/18–21, which is close in content to the translation below, although different in wording; see Mack, pp. 73–4. 4. 155 Your death … the faithful: a rhymed pair of Latin hexameters (Mors tua, mors Christi, nota culpae, gaudia caeli, / Judicii terror figantur mente fideli) whose source has not been traced, though the rhyming phrases



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gaudia caeli / mente fideli can be found elsewhere in medieval Latin religious verse. 4. 156 Whenever you meditate … nothing but a shadow: Smithers [1965] argued that peintunge ‘painting’ and schadewe ‘shadow’ in this passage translated ‘technical terms in the vocabulary of Christian typology’ (Latin umbra and imago), which themselves translated ‘two Greek words [skia and eikōn] which Plato used for two fundamental concepts in his threetiered doctrine of “ideas”’ (p. 126); he suggested that these concepts might have reached the author of AW through the writings of Hugh of St Victor. However, neither Plato nor Hugh uses these concepts in the way that they are used in AW; a more likely source is Alan of Lille’s Summa de arte praedicatoria, ch. 32, PL 210. 174–5. Alan lists three types of fire, on earth, in Purgatory, and in hell, the first two of which cleanse us from sins: ‘If we are cleansed in the first, we are freed from the second and third … For the first cleansing fire is as it were a shadow and a picture of the second; because, as a shadow and picture of material fire causes no pain, but the material fire itself causes pain or heat, so the fire of penance has no bitterness when compared with the second purgatorial fire.’ See Millett [1996b], and cf. § 13 above. 4. 157 the bliss of heaven … shadow: this expansion of a point made more elliptically in the original (‘for they are no more alike’) is found only in AV and (in altered and expanded form) in P. 4. 158 the bridge of heaven: a common theme in medieval vision literature is the perilous bridge leading to Paradise, from which sinners fall into a fiery river or the pit of hell (in L, the skittish horse falls into ‘the pit ( fovea) or the water’, in P into ‘the pit’); the tradition is traced in detail in Patch. A sermon by Peter Comestor (misattributed to Hildebert of Le Mans, Sermones de diversis 3, Sermo 90, PL 171. 764) imagines contemplatives in particular as crossing the sea of this world on a bridge, ‘choosing a stricter and more exalted life’, whereas those in the active life use a ford, those in the mixed life a ship, and the wicked drown. 4. 159 for those … flesh: an expansion in A of the more elliptical phrasing of the original version. 4. 160 after murdered: the phrase ‘such as the man who wrote this book’, in C only, is probably, as Dobson suggests, a marginal annotation in C’s exemplar incorporated in the text—not necessarily in the appropriate place, since, if the C2 annotations in C are authorial, the author must have been alive at the time when the MS was being copied (see Dobson [1976], pp. 4–5). 4. 161 carnal souls: on this apparent oxymoron, see Baldwin [1976], pp. 280–4, who argues that ‘souls’ is being used in the sense ‘persons’; the anchoresses referred to here are beginners in the spiritual life, and so still tied to the flesh.

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4. 162 Publius … a full ten days: a free adaptation of the story in Vitae Patrum, bk. 6, ch. 2, § 12, PL 73. 1003; the emperor referred to is Julian the Apostate (332–63). 4. 163 a similar story … St Margaret: the reference is probably to SM, where the demon Ruffin appears to Margaret in the form of a dragon and swallows her, but bursts open when she makes the sign of the cross; his brother-demon complains that the power of her prayers has bound him and killed Ruffin (for other possible reminiscences of SM in Part 4, see nn. 142, 154 above). But the author seems to be writing at some remove from the text: it was Ruffin’s brother rather than Ruffin himself who was bound by prayer, the anchoresses are said to have been taught the mnemonic verse on the Four Last Things ‘some time ago’ (ȝare), and the author retranslates the verse from the Latin rather than using the ME translation from SM. 4. 164 We read … burning me up: this story was frequently retold in the Middle Ages (though not always of Bartholomew; see n. 166 below). 4. 165 Whoever can have the gift … wants: tears are presented simultaneously as a grace (‘the gift of tears’) and a virtuous act, protecting against temptation and increasing the power of prayer, a combination of ideas that can be traced back as far as Evagrius of Pontus (346–99); see Nagy, pp. 66–9. 4. 166 Prayer softens … stings: the ultimate source of this quotation (Oratio lenit, lacrima cogit; haec ungit, illa pungit) has not been traced (though S attributes it to Gregory, and P to ‘Holy Scripture’). A shorter form is recorded from the last decade of the twelfth century (see Guy of Southwick’s Tractatus de uirtute confessionis, ed. Wilmart [1935], p. 350: confession should be accompanied by tears, hence it is said that oratio ungit, lacrima pungit), and it seems to have become a commonplace in the thirteenth century. James of Vitry’s Historia Occidentalis, ch. 34, ed. Hinnebusch [1972], p. 171, associates it, in the form used in AW, with the story of Bartholomew (reassigned, however, to his fellow-apostle James): ‘For prayer softens God, weeping coerces him; the first anoints, the second stings. For when a Christian prays diligently, demons are set on fire, lose their strength, and flee in confusion. By the prayers of the apostle James, as if by fire, evil spirits were set alight.’ 4. 167 Ps. 73: 13. The ‘waters’ were usually interpreted as baptism by medieval commentators, but they are similarly linked with tears of repentance in the pseudo-Anselmian Meditatio super Miserere, § 37, PL 158. 847. 4. 168 deep moat of profound humility: cf. Bernard of Clairvaux, Parabola 1, § 5, Opera, 6(2). 264, where the castle of Wisdom is protected against the devil’s attack by a fossa profundae humilitatis. See also n. 174 below. 4. 169 they say … brighter: a conflation of two proverbs (see Whiting C315, R11, R15, and Walther, no. 2794), the first probably borrowed directly



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from the French, the second (‘After rain comes sunshine’) common across Europe; see Prins. 4. 170 four great powers … valued: it is not at all clear what the ‘four great powers’ are. In Savage and Watson, p. 381, they are taken as ‘the four illustrations: God taken by storm, the castle defended by scalding tears, the castle defended by humility, the rain stilling the wind’; but it is arguable that the last three are different similitudes used to drive home a single point, the usefulness of tears as a defence against the devil. It is possible that the powers are summarized in the first sentence of § 55; but the exact number of points being made there is uncertain. 4. 171 The prayer … clouds: see Ecclus. 35: 21. 4. 172 Great is the power … access: not in Augustine’s works; it seems to be derived, with minor abridgement, from Peter Lombard’s commentary on Ps. 87: 3, PL 191. 811. 4. 173 the book of life: see Apoc. 20: 12–15. 4. 174 As St Bernard testifies: the closest parallel seems to be with Bernard of Clairvaux, Parabola 1, § 6, Opera, 6(2). 265, where Prayer (Oratio), personified as a messenger, enters heaven confidently like a servant of the household, and God sends down his consort, Charity, to help the sinner besieged by the devil in the castle of Wisdom. See also n. 168 above. 4. 175 Resist … fly from you: Jas. 4: 7. 4. 176 Resist him … faith: 1 Pet. 5: 9. 4. 177 The holy … through faith: paraphrases Heb. 11: 33 (‘The holy’ (sancti) replaces the lengthy preceding list of Old Testament exemplars of the power of faith). 4. 178 booklet: i.e. a quire (cwaer), an unbound gathering of parchment sheets. 4. 179 Peace be with you: see Luke 24: 36. 4. 180 in an alien land: for the idea of Christians as living on earth as strangers and pilgrims in an alien land (L translates terra peregrina), see Heb. 11: 13–16; cf. Part 3, § 12, and Part 6, § 6. 4. 181 I leave peace … to you: John 14: 27. 4. 182 You will recognize … love one another: a variation on John 13: 35, probably influenced by a memory of John 8: 31–2. 4. 183 Jesus is all love: cf. 1 John 4: 16, ‘God is love’ (cited by S). 4. 184 His dwelling-place … battle: Ps. 75: 3–4. 4. 185 above: see § 22. 4. 186 When we join ourselves … the other: paraphrases Gregory, Epistolae, bk. 1, Ep. 24, CCSL 140. 32. 4. 187 Similarly … lost: it is possible that this belongs to the preceding example (with which it is linked by the comments in § 65); but S introduces it as ‘the fourth example’, V with a rubricated capital, and P with a paragraph mark.

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4. 188 Woe … lift him up: Eccles. 4: 10. 4. 189 The seventh example: in fact, only the fifth (or possibly the fourth; see n. 187 above); but the reading is confirmed by the majority of the MSS running (CFGNTV), and was certainly intended (the accuracy of the numbering is emphasized in the following clause, and the numbering itself is picked up again with ‘nine’ in § 68 below). S corrects to ‘the fifth example’, L has ‘Again’, and P only ‘An example’. It is possible that the missing examples were accidentally omitted (perhaps by eyeskip) in the common ancestor of the surviving manuscripts. 4. 190 as Judges says: see Judg. 15: 4–5 (where Samson uses the foxes to set fire to the cornfields, vineyards, and olive-groves belonging to the Philistines). 4. 191 a long way back: see Part 3, § 6 (an exposition of a different Scriptural text, Luke 9: 58). 4. 192 The multitude of believers … one soul: Acts 4: 32. This text is also quoted in the Rule of St Augustine, and taken over from it into the opening of the Preface of the Premonstratensian regulations, which is echoed in the Preface to AW; see Preface, n. 29. 4. 193 Peace be with you … cloister of heaven: for the opening quotation, see n. 179 above. This passage, which addresses a larger and more scattered group of women than the original three anchoresses, is found only in A. It has been read (by Dobson [1976], p. 270, followed by Thompson [1991], pp. 31–3, and Burton, pp. 90–1), as evidence that the audience of AW had shifted from an anchoritic to a monastic way of life; see Introduction, pp. xv–xvi. But the anchoresses are being compared with a religious community rather than described as one (‘as if you were a religious community [cuuent] … like a community … like the mother-house … as if in a cloister’), and the passage is probably better understood as a rhetorical conceit, emphasizing that the anchoresses have achieved the spiritual advantages of the monastic life in an extra-monastic institutional context (see further Millett [2002]). 4. 194 as if you were … Chester: the comparison does not seem to be with women’s houses (there was no nunnery in Shrewsbury in this period). A possible explanation for the author’s choice of centres was first suggested by McNabb [1916], p. 4: that all four were the sites of Dominican priories, the two earliest foundations in England and the two earliest in the West Midlands (Oxford in 1221, London before 1224, Shrewsbury before 1232, and Chester before 1236). This would be consistent with the figurative mention of God as the ‘high prior’ of the community later in the passage (see n. 196 below); it might also explain the otherwise puzzling use of ‘and’ (replaced by ‘or’ in most of the modern translations) to link London and Oxford. 4. 195 singularity: Bernard of Clairvaux in De Gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, ch. 14, § 42, Opera, 3. 48–9, identifies singularitas as the fifth level



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of pride, explaining it as the ostentatious use of individual devotions and mortifications in order to be seen as better than the rest of the monastic community. 4. 196 high prior: cf. the further extension of this metaphor in James of Vitry, Historia occidentalis, ch. 34, ed. Hinnebusch [1972], where James argues that in a sense all Christians can be seen as ‘regulars’ (regulares) living under the rule of God himself, ‘under one high and supreme Abbot’ (sub uno summo et supremo Abbate). The choice in AW of the term ‘prior’ rather than ‘abbot’ may point towards Dominican origin. Monks and regular canons regarded priories as of inferior status to abbeys (see Burton, pp. 168–72). For the Dominicans, however, the priory was the basic organizational unit, and the order was run, under the General Chapter, by a two-tier hierarchy of conventual and provincial priors (the Franciscans used a different terminology, developing a three-tier hierarchy of wardens, custodians, and provincial ministers); see Lawrence [1994], chs. 2–4. 4. 197 And say … criticism: in A only. Although this addition could be read as implying the identity of the writer with ‘our director’ (meistre), this is not made explicit. It is also not clear whether the director is in regular or direct contact with the anchoresses (‘has given us written instructions’ (haueð iwriten us) may suggest that he is not); but he seems to be acting as their spiritual director, and to be in a position to sort out problems among the anchoresses that they had previously been left to resolve themselves. 4. 198 The just man … my head: Ps. 140: 5. 4. 199 The wounds … flatterer: paraphrases and abridges Prov. 27: 6. 4. 200 which is less: in A only. 4. 201 as is mentioned above: see § 59. 4. 202 Venia: see Part 1, n. 148. 4. 203 Blessed … children of God: Matt. 5: 9. 4. 204 He went about … everyone: Acts 10: 38. The quotation is not in CFN. It is preceded in all MSS running except ACFN by a quotation from Ps. 18: 6 (see fn.); both are untranslated (except in S, which translates the second only), and were probably originally marginal annotations. Both the phrasing of the English and its association with the two Latin texts may reflect the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux, Ep. 254, § 4, Opera, 8. 158–9. Bernard is making the point that in the spiritual life on earth, ‘unwillingness to move forward is failure’ (nolle proficere deficere est); Christ himself never stood still, ‘and indeed, as Scripture testifies, “He went about (…) everywhere.” And as he did not go about fruitlessly, so he did not go about slackly, or sluggishly, or slowly, but, as is also written of him, “He rejoiced … race.”’ 4. 205 Others … vein in the arm: bloodletting was seen as an occasion for rest and recreation (see Part 8, n. 105); for the regulations covering the anchoresses’ bloodletting, see Part 8, §§ 27–8. For similar rhetorical

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contrasts between ordinary bloodletting and Christ’s sufferings on the cross, see Part 2, § 45 and Part 2, n. 181. 4. 206 not just on the legs: the contrast is probably with the scourgings inflicted by the anchoresses on themselves; see Part 8, § 16. 4. 207 his early rising … life: see Luke 24: 1: the women visited the tomb of Christ ‘very early in the morning’ to find that he had already risen. 4. 208 She wrapped him in rags: Luke 2: 7. 4. 209 The Son of man … head: Matt. 8: 20. 4. 210 it says in the Gospel: see Mark 11: 11. 4. 211 Once … criticized for it: see Matt. 12: 1–2. 4. 212 the poor pittance … cross: see Part 2, n. 186. 4. 213 You should not express concern … a bad end: the demanding ideal of poverty set out in the original version as a remedy against both avarice and gluttony is qualified in this added passage (in A only); its cautions against excessive austerity and ungracious rejection of help are taken up again in a series of revisions in Part 8, §§ 7–10. 4. 214 God’s poor: the term pauperes Dei is applied to a wide variety of groups in medieval religious literature (including the ‘poor in spirit’ of Matt. 5: 3); here it is probably used, as by Abelard, to describe those who have embraced voluntary poverty, ‘since those who have altogether renounced the world and imitate the apostolic life are more truly poor (veriores pauperes) and closer to God’ (Sermones ad virgines Paraclitenses, Sermo 30, PL 178. 568). 4. 215 the articles … humanity: ME article (first recorded from AW ) is derived from Latin articulus, literally ‘a small joint’, but also used metaphorically of the divisions of a discourse—in this case, the ‘articles of faith’, the separate divisions of the Apostles’ Creed. Although the Creed was traditionally divided into twelve articles, one for each Apostle, an alternative division of fourteen articles was also current by the mid-thirteenth century, seven of which concerned aspects of Christ’s humanity (the Incarnation, the Nativity, the Passion, the descent into hell, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and his return at the Last Judgement). 4. 216 Since Christ … thought: paraphrases 1 Pet. 4: 1. 4. 217 Consider … weary: paraphrases Heb. 12: 3. By omitting the qualifying phrase ‘from sinners’, the AW author changes the significance of ‘opposition’ (contradictio); its interpretation as internal conflict rather than external opposition is probably influenced by readings of Ps. 54: 10, where contradictio is interpreted allegorically as the opposition between flesh and spirit. 4. 218 For you have not yet resisted … blood: Heb. 12: 4. 4. 219 There is only a wall in between: the author is assuming that the anchoresses live in cells built on to a church (see Part 3, § 13) with a window through which they can see Mass celebrated (see Part 2, § 15).



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4. 220 We set up camp … Aphek: paraphrases 1 Reg. 4: 1. For the standard allegorical interpretation that follows, see the Glossa ordinaria, 2. 8. 4. 221 as is said above: see § 56. 4. 222 Jehoshaphat: see 2 Chr. 20. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, prayed for help against an allied army of Ammonites, Moabites, and Syrians; God responded by reassuring him, speaking through Jahaziel the Levite, then turned the allies against each other, so that they destroyed each other’s forces. 4. 223 Indeed … eyes to you: 2 Chr. 20: 12. 4. 224 These are the words … God’s: 2 Chr. 20: 15. 4. 225 Just stand … protection over you: 2 Chr. 20: 17. 4. 226 Believe … be safe: 2 Chr. 20: 20. The speaker in the Vulgate is Jehoshaphat; but in the English rendering, the advice is reassigned to God himself. 4. 227 Bow down … go over: Isa. 51: 23. The interpretation here reflects a tradition of commentary that goes back to Jerome and Gregory, both of whom emphasize that the upright soul cannot be bowed down by the devil without its consent. The idea of the devil lying his way to a ride is harder to trace (see n. 228 below); but the text is linked with the image of the devil as rider in Peter Cantor, Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 89, PL 205. 263, and there is a close parallel to the passage as a whole in Thomas of Chobham’s Summa de arte praedicandi, ch. 6, CCCM 82. 217–18: ‘And therefore it is easy to overcome the devil, because all you need to do is hold your ground. For he will never defeat you unless you willingly subject yourself to him. That is why he says in Isaiah: “Bow down that we may go over.” This is what the devil says to anybody whom he wants to trample underfoot. For unless he bows down, the devil cannot climb on to him. And the devil is lying, because he promises that he will pass over, but once he has got on, the man “could not shake from his back the rider, or spit out the bridle” [Horace, Epistles, 1. 10. 38]. For although the devil is weak in gaining victory, he is very powerful in holding on to his victim.’ 4. 228 He does not want … stay: not in Bernard of Clairvaux’s works, and untraced elsewhere; for a close parallel to the point being made, however, see n. 227 above. 4. 229 lay and rotted in it: probably a reminiscence of Joel 1: 17; see Part 5, n. 80. 4. 230 as I said before: see § 39. 4. 231 Do not be too righteous … Ecclesiastes: paraphrases Eccles. 7: 17. In A only; it may originally have been a marginal annotation, intended, like the explanatory gloss added in F at this point, to justify a point that was capable of misinterpretation. 4. 232 Wise cunning … brute strength: proverbial; see MED s.v. liste n.(1) (a).

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4. 233 nocturn: the nocturn is the main unit of Matins (recited by the anchoresses at night in winter, at dawn in the summer). Matins could include up to three nocturns; for their content, which included psalms, prayers, and readings, see Harper, ch. 6. 4. 234 above: see § 39. 4. 235 that he is coming … crown for you: cf. § 50. 4. 236 We read in Kings: see 2 Reg. 4: 5–6. 4. 237 Rechab’s sons, Rimmon and Baanah: erroneous—Rechab and Baanah were the sons of Rimmon—but not corrected in any MS but C, where the later thirteenth-century ‘scribe D’ (C3) makes the necessary alterations (see Dobson [1972], p. 198). 4. 238 the significance of this: the interpretation that follows is based on Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 1, ch. 35, § 50. 4. 239 They stabbed him … groin: see 2 Reg. 4: 6. 4. 240 To stab … the flesh: Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 1, ch. 35, § 50, CCSL 143. 51. 4. 241 My scars have festered … worse.: Ps. 37: 6. 4. 242 The ancient enemy … pleasure in it: the two passages are quoted, with minor verbal variants, from a letter to a male recluse by Gregory, Registrum epistularum, bk. 9, Ep. 148, CCSL 140A. 699, 700. 4. 243 Ishbosheth … mind: a conflation of two passages from Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 1, ch. 35, § 50, CCSL 143. 51–2. 4. 244 as I said before: see § 56 above. 4. 245 which is lechery: P substitutes ȝemeleshede ‘carelessness’; but the author is thinking of the allegorical rather than the literal meaning of the story. 4. 246 a long way back: see § 15 above. 4. 247 suffered: the verb in the ME is dronc, which can mean both ‘suffered’ and ‘drank’, cf. Part 2, n. 188. 4. 248 the wretchedness of longing: on the problems involved in translating and interpreting this phrase, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 186–7. 4. 249 that is to say, about humility: an explanatory addition, as in C2, integrated in the text in A (apparently with some problems; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 187); not in other MSS. 4. 250 dry twigs … roses: Cooper, p. 197, compares Matt. 7: 16: ‘You will know them from their fruits. Surely no-one picks grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?’ 4. 251 What fruit … orifices: for the idea of the ‘fruits of the body’, see Innocent III, De Miseria humane conditionis, bk. 1, ch. 8, ed. Maccarrone, pp. 14–15: ‘Look at plants and trees; they produce flowers, leaves, and fruit, and you produce lice, fleas, and worms. They pour out oil, wine, and balsam, and you pour out phlegm, urine, and excrement … As the tree is, so is the fruit.’



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4. 252 You are … worms: the Latin quotation occurs at different points in the MSS, and is not in F; it probably originated as a marginal annotation. Although its theme and wording are partly anticipated in earlier writers, it seems to appear in this form, as a three-phrase summary of the stages of human existence, only from the second half of the twelfth century. Peter Comestor (Sermo 12, PL 198. 1757) attributes it to an unknown philosopher, asked by a tyrant ‘What was I? What am I? What will I be?’ By the end of the century it was a commonplace (with minor verbal variations) in treatments of the theme of contemptus mundi (‘the contempt of the world’); for further references, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 188. 4. 253 Just as the sight … humility: untraced; not in the authentic works of Augustine (or of Gregory, to whom it is attributed by S). Its varying position in the MSS and its absence in F suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 4. 254 the holy man … tomorrow: the author’s second use of this exemplum; see n. 120 above. 4. 255 Pride … contempt for it: a conflation, slightly paraphrased, of separate definitions of pride and humility in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Ep. 42 (De Moribus et officio episcoporum), § 19, Opera, 7. 114, 115. The placing of the quotation after its translation in CF suggests that it may originally have been a marginal annotation; the following ‘that is’ is an emendation of A ‘that’, probably (as suggested by White [1993], p. 73) a half-completed attempt to adopt it into the text of A. 4. 256 the mother of all virtues: this title can be attributed to more than one virtue (faith, charity, obedience, wisdom, modesty, continence, sobriety, discretion …), sometimes even by the same writer; it is assigned to humility in Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 34, ch. 23, § 51, CCSL 143B. 1769, and a number of later writers. 4. 257 Whoever … dust in the wind: Gregory, Homiliae in Euangelia, Hom. 7, § 4, CCSL 141. 52, frequently quoted by later writers. The variation in placing of the quotation in the MSS suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation. 4. 258 as our Lord revealed … said: Cooper, p. 201, traces the anecdote to Vitae Patrum, bk. 3, § 129, PL 73. 785. 4. 259 such a small thing … slender: C2’s addition (see fn.) is expanded in the phrase added in A. The description ‘gentilliche smeal’ takes further the personification hinted at by the feminine pronouns of the original; Humility’s elegant slimness will allow her to escape from any trap. For other instances of the collocation ‘gent and smal’ to describe women, see MED s.v. gent adj. 1. (b). 4. 260 All strength comes from humility: not (as Cooper, p. 201, notes), from Cassiodorus, but from Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 92, § 3, CCSL 39. 1293.

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4. 261 Where there is humility … wisdom: see Prov. 11: 2. 4. 262 His father’s wisdom … strength: Cooper, p. 202, notes the reminiscence of 1 Cor. 1: 23–4, ‘But we preach Christ … the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ 4. 263 indwelling grace: ME inwuniende grace, translating the Latin phrase gratia inhabitans, a concept later defined more precisely by Thomas Aquinas as gratia habitualis, the grace of God present in the soul, normally transmitted by the sacraments, which gives us the strength to act righteously. Cf. 2 Cor. 12: 9, ‘I shall glory in my infirmities so that the power of Christ may dwell in me’, a text often cited in discussions of humility. 4. 264 The cunning wrestler … know it well: there is a broadly similar image of Christ as a wrestler who tricks his opponent, the devil, in Ambrose, Explanatio Psalmorum xii, Ps. 40, § 13, CSEL 64. 236–7, which may be the ultimate source; but the development here is more detailed and ingenious, and there are no close verbal parallels. On the history of the idea that Christ deceived the devil through the Incarnation, see Marx, especially pp. 15–17. 4. 265 His eyes … high: paraphrases Job 41: 25. Bernard of Clairvaux uses similar phrasing to describe the devil in Sermones in Ps. 90, Qui habitat, Sermo 12, § 2, Opera, 4. 458. 4. 266 Learn from me … heart: Matt. 11: 29. 4. 267 You send forth … valley: Ps. 103: 10. For the linking of this verse with humility, see Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 103, Sermo 2, § 10, CCSL 40. 1496–7. 4. 268 I said: see § 84. 4. 269 If you love … your own: paraphrases Gregory, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 10, SC 382. 310. 4. 270 there is a great deal written above: see § 9. 4. 271 ‘Lime’ is the French for ‘file’: only in AGV and (as part of C2’s correction of the main scribe’s different reading) in C. Dobson [1976], p. 276, finds this sentence ‘one of the most puzzling in the whole work … It is not at all in the author’s manner to interrupt his argument to give a gratuitous French lesson.’ Its appearance in G as well as in AV suggests that it was in the original version; but the garbled text in C, C2’s explanatory addition, and the omission of the sentence not only in the French and Latin versions (which might be expected to drop a pun on an English word) but in NPT indicate that it also baffled some medieval readers. Dobson argues that it involves a play on the first element of ‘Limebrook’ (i.e. Limebrook Priory, the Augustinian nunnery to which he believed the women addressed in AW were attached), but concedes that the normal form of the name in this period was Lyngebrok (see also Kristensson); the author may have had in mind, as C2’s addition implies, only the whiteness of lime (as suggested in White [1993], p. 225), perhaps specifically its use mixed with water in whitewashing.



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4. 272 after metal: ‘Maslin’ in C ’s addition is an alloy of copper similar to brass. 4. 273 Gold … all metals: cf. the gloss on or ‘metal’ in Part 3, § 20. The sentence is not in CFN, and does not fit easily into the text; it was probably, like the similar addition by C2 to C, originally a marginal addition. 4. 274 Call them debased silver: Jer. 6: 30 (on the wicked who are rejected by God, like silver alloyed with baser metals). The varying position of this quotation in the MSS, its absence in CF, and the lack of a translation except in S and P, suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 4. 275 Why does the impious man … whip of him: Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 36, Sermo 2, § 4, CCSL 38. 350; the wording here is probably influenced also by Ps. 51: 3. The varying placings of the quotation in the MSS, its absence in CF, and the lack of a translation except in S suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 4. 276 I will not give up my glory … repay: Isa. 42: 8; Rom. 12: 19. The two quotations are in all MSS running, but their varying placing and the lack of an English translation except in P suggest that they were originally marginal annotations. 4. 277 Holy reading … drooping head: ‘Holy reading … hand’ is from Jerome, Ep. 58, § 6, CSEL 54. 535, ‘sleep … drooping head’ from Ep. 22, § 17, CSEL 54. 165. The quotations are in all MSS running, but their different placing in F (with the comment ‘This is the Latin of this’) suggests that they may originally have been marginal annotations. A’s superfluous introductory ‘Jerome’ looks like a marginal annotation not intended for insertion in the text. 4. 278 Often it is too much generosity … herself: the point is developed further in Part 8, §§ 6–7. 4. 279 as St Gregory says: there seems to be no exact equivalent to what follows in Gregory; Cooper, p. 205, compares a passage from his model sermon on gluttony, Regula pastoralis, bk. 3, ch. 19, SC 382. 376, but the resemblance is more in content than in structure or wording. 4. 280 as St Bernard testifies: the idea occurs more than once in Bernard of Clairvaux’s works, and is summed up in Sermones de diversis, Sermo 6, § 1, Opera, 6(1). 105: ‘For as the thought of sin discolours the soul and inclination wounds it, so consent kills it entirely.’ The discussion that follows interweaves material from two more of Bernard’s sermons (Sermones de diversis, Sermones 31, 32). 4. 281 as St Bernard says: Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones de diversis, Sermo 32, § 3, Opera, 6(1). 220: just as a discolouration of the skin does not affect the health, ‘in the same way in the soul, if a sin is suggested to the memory by cogitation, but the will shows no inclination, and deliberation itself no consent, I concede that it is a disfigurement, and while it lasts the soul does not deserve to hear, “You are entirely beautiful, my love” 2

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[Cant. 4: 7]. Apart from that, even if it is a blemish, it is not a disease.’ AW, however, slightly modifies Bernard’s imagery; the spots are seen as dirt rather than a skin condition, and the Scriptural quotation is applied to Christ rather than his beloved (the second half of the verse ‘and there is no blemish in you’, is echoed in F’s addition after ‘beautiful’). 4. 282 Heal me, Lord: Ps. 6: 3, also cited by Bernard of Clairvaux in Sermones de diversis, Sermo 32, § 3 (see previous note). The alteration in N is a reminiscence of Ps. 40: 5. 4. 283 Reuben … grow: Gen. 49: 3 (‘Reuben, my first-born’), 49: 4 (‘do not grow’). Bernard of Clairvaux runs these separate quotations together to make the same point in Sermones de diversis, Sermo 31, § 2, Opera, 6(1). 105: ‘for concupiscence of this kind is red and carnal and bloody’. 4. 284 God, deliver … power of the dog: Ps. 21: 21. 4. 285 And so, my dear sister … when she would like to: much of the material used in this final section on remedies against lechery (§§ 95–6) can be paralleled in the works of Odo of Cheriton; the image of the dog of hell is used in one of his Sermones dominicales, and several of the ideas that follow can be found in the same context and in a similar cluster (although with no close verbal parallels, with other materials, and in a different order) in his Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 245v: the interpretation of Ps. 136: 9, the similitudes of the serpent’s head and the devil as bear, the exemplum of Benedict, and the interpretation of Cant. 2: 15. See further nn. 286, 304, 306, 307, 311 below. 4. 286 this dog of hell: the ultimate source of the imagery used in this section (§ 95) is probably Cassian, Institutiones, bk. 1, ch. 8, SC 109. 48, discussing the significance of the staff used by monks: ‘Carrying this staff reminds them spiritually that they should never go unarmed among so many barking dogs of vices and invisible beasts of spiritual vices … but attack them and beat them back with the sign of the cross.’ Spencer, pp. 372–3, notes a closer parallel in Odo of Cheriton’s Sunday gospel sermon for Advent 4 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, Peterhouse 109, ff. 10v–11r): ‘when you feel the devil approaching, and urging you to desire the wantonness of lechery, you should immediately support yourself on the staff of strength, and indeed beat the devil with the staff. You feel the devil approaching when your flesh begins to be heated and you sense the approach of shameful thoughts. But you should say, ‘Why are you standing here, you bloodstained beast?’ [see Sulpicius Severus, Ep. 3, PL 20. 183], and, signing yourself with the staff of the cross, strike him strongly and bravely; then turn to some kind of work, or get up and beat yourself naked with a rod where the devil lurks in the flesh, and so you will crush Satan himself.’ See also previous note. 4. 287 Cry for help … in your own language: the recommended defence



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against the devil follows a similar pattern to the anchoresses’ Hours, with an opening versicle and response, a hymn, a number of psalms (identified by their opening verses), and prayers. 4. 288 God … help me: Ps. 69: 2. These two sentences were used as the opening versicle and response of most of the Hours; see Harper, pp. 75–6. 4. 289 Come, Creator Spirit: see Part 1, n. 2. 4. 290 May God … scattered: Ps. 67: 2. 4. 291 God, save me in your name: Ps. 53: 3. 4. 292 Lord, why … persecute me: Ps. 3: 2. 4. 293 Lord, I have raised my soul to you: Ps. 24: 1. 4. 294 I have raised my eyes to you: Ps. 122: 1. 4. 295 I have raised … the hills: Ps. 120: 1. The additions after this verse in NPST are presumably intended to make it clearer that the anchoresses are expected to recite the recommended psalms as a whole, not just the opening verses cited. 4. 296 How long … face from me: Ps. 12: 1 (the second part of the verse is in AV only). 4. 297 Enter … pit: Isa. 2: 10. Two MSS of S add Bernardus at this point; the quotation is linked with Christ’s wounds, and with the following quotation from Ps. 21: 17, in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 62, §§ 6–7, Opera, 1. 159. 4. 298 They have dug … feet: Ps. 21: 17. 4. 299 He did not say … suffering: Dobson [1976], p. 145, compares the gloss (drawing on Cassiodorus) by Peter Lombard (PL 191. 234): ‘And note that he does not say ‘pierced’ or ‘wounded’ but ‘dug’ [foderunt], since as earth when dug produces fruit, so Christ when wounded gave the fruit of life.’ However, both Peter Lombard and Bernard of Clairvaux (see n. 297 above) interpret foderunt allegorically; the literal interpretation here is not part of the standard exegetical tradition, and may, as ‘as our masters say’ suggests, have been derived from the oral teaching of the schools rather than a written source. 4. 300 My dove … wall: Cant. 2: 14. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 61, Opera, 1. 149, §§ 3–4, follows earlier tradition in interpreting ‘the clefts of the rocks’ as the wounds of Christ, and links the quotation with Ps. 21: 17. 4. 301 You will give a shield … labour: Lam. 3: 65. 4. 302 he sweated … ground: see Luke 22: 24. 4. 303 the eyes of the heart: the point is presumably that the mental image of the crucifixion will encourage the anchoress in her spiritual struggle. The image of the crucified Christ as a shield is developed further in Part 7, § 4. 4. 304 St Benedict’s medicine: Benedict rolled in thorns as a remedy for sexual temptations; see Gregory, Dialogi, bk. 2, ch. 2, §§ 1–2, SC 260. 136–8.

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The exemplum is also used in the account of remedies against lechery in Odo of Cheriton’s Summa de penitentia; see n. 285 above. 4. 305 For enjoyment … consent: not in F; probably originally a marginal annotation, incorporated at an early stage rather awkwardly into the text in the middle of a sentence (A has dealt with the resulting syntactical discontinuity by adding a further main clause that converts what follows into an approximate translation, in effect ‘adopting’ it into the main text). The Latin quotation is untraced. The use of the phrase morosa delectatio to describe prolonged enjoyment of the contemplation of what is forbidden, particularly sexual sin, seems to date from the second half of the twelfth century; cf. the discussion of morosa delectatio in Richard of St Victor, In Cantica Canticorum explicatio, ch. 25, PL 196. 480: ‘For if you consent to the enjoyment of thinking about anything mortal, even if you do not want to commit the act, you sin mortally … If … that enjoyment continues without the consent of the will, or without its realization, it is not called mortal.’ 4. 306 trample the serpent’s head: Cooper, p. 214, compares Gen. 3: 15, and notes similar interpretations in Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 103, Sermo 4, § 6, CCSL 40. 1525–6, and Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 1, ch. 36, § 54, CCSL 143. 55–6. The image is also used in this context in Odo of Cheriton’s Summa de penitentia (see n. 285 above). 4. 307 Blessed … rock: see Ps. 136: 9. The interpretation here goes back to patristic times; it is used in the same context in Odo of Cheriton’s Summa de penitentia (see n. 285 above). 4. 308 Our Lord … trustworthiness: for Christ as a rock (petra) see 1 Cor. 10: 4, which is cited in S (Paul is referring back to Moses drawing water from the rock; see Exod. 17: 6, Num 20:8). For the linking of this identification with Ps. 136: 9, see Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 136, § 21, CCSL 40. 1977–8; it is also often linked in commentaries on Canticles with Cant. 2: 14. 4. 309 Catch for us … vines: Cant. 2: 15. 4. 310 these are … destroy: ‘these are the first incitements’ is not in C, and placed at this point in the text only in A (in the other MSS running it follows the preceding ‘foxes’); it probably originated as a marginal annotation. A ‘that destroy’ replaces the ‘that are’ of the other MSS, integrating the explanation more thoroughly into the main text. 4. 311 The devil … head: Baldwin [1974], p. 217, compares the descriptions of the bear and ass in Alexander Neckam, De Naturis rerum, bk. 2, chs. 131, 160, ed. Wright [1863], pp. 212, 216. The image of the bear is similarly applied in the account of the remedies against lechery in Odo of Cheriton’s Summa de penitentia (see n. 285 above): ‘For the devil is compared to a bear, which has a weak head but is strong in the loins. Therefore you should hit the devil on the head, and not allow him to approach you’. 4. 312 like the bear and ass: recapitulates material at the beginning of the



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sentence, and does not fit very easily into it either at this point (AGTV) or at the end of the sentence (CFN); it probably originated as a marginal annotation. 4. 313 The old woman … a little: for this exemplum, Cooper, p. 216, compares Gerard of Liège, Septem remedia contra amorem illicitum valde utilia, ed. Wilmart [1933], p. 184. The saying is proverbial; see Part 2, n. 10. 4. 314 anyone … like to: a very common saying; see Whiting W275, and cf. Walther, no. 24400, ‘He who does not when he can, does not when he wants to’. See also Part 5, § 28. 4. 315 Fire … spark: Ecclus. 11: 34; in A only. Probably originally a marginal annotation. 4. 316 as I promised above: see Preface, § 8.

Part 5 5. 1 There are two things … made: for the two-part structure here, cf. the recommendation in Thomas of Chobham’s Summa confessorum (c.1215) that in order to introduce the right disposition in the penitent, the confessor should give a short introductory talk on the power of confession, and how it should be made. A similar structure is found in Guy of Southwick’s Tractatus de virtute confessionis (1190 × 1198), ed. Wilmart [1935], and in sermons on confession by magister Romanus cardinalis (Veni soror mea (early thirteenth century?), PL 217. 687–90), and the Dominican William Peraldus, writing in the early 1240s (Tempus requirendi Dominum, in his Sermones super Epistolas dominicales, ff. 164v–172v). See Millett [1999], pp. 203–4. Confession … army: these three points are not dealt with in a very 5. 2 orderly way in the discussion that follows, and S rewrites them, apparently to match it more neatly (‘first confession cuts off the head of the devil in private, and then shames him publicly, and afterwards destroys and annihilates his army’). Georgianna, pp. 103–10, argues that the discrepancy is because the AW author is deliberately blurring the distinction between contrition and confession, to avoid stating too plainly that sins are remitted by contrition even before confession and so implying that the sacrament is unimportant (see n. 8 below). turn back … anchoress: see Part 3, § 11. 5. 3 5. 4 after crimes: the Latin quotation is attributed by S to ‘the holy man in the Gloss on the book of Judith’. The lack of a translation and its varying position in the MSS suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation, and the MS variants that it caused some confusion (see further n. 5 below). 5. 5 confession in his heart: the added quotation after ‘crimes’ (see n. 4) may have been intended as a precautionary gloss on this phrase (schrift on heorte); see nn. 2 and 8. For the sequence of thought, cf. the tradition of commentary on Ps. 4: 5 (‘feel remorse in your beds’), which identifies the

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bed with the heart and links remorse with penance (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 202). It is translated in L as propositum confitendi (‘the intention of confessing’), similarly in S. 5. 6 after concealed: the Latin quotation is not in ACF, and is variously placed in the other MSS running; it was probably originally a marginal annotation. Cf. Odo of Cheriton, Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 237r: ‘But Judith, who is interpreted as confession, has cut off the head of Holofernes whenever anyone confesses their sins. And then a Hebrew woman, that is, confession, causes confusion in the house of King Nebuchadnezzar, that is, in hell, which is the house of the prince of demons.’ 5. 7 mortal sin: there is an untranslatable pun here on heaued sunne (‘capital/mortal sin’; see Part 1, n. 69), whose confession cuts off the devil’s head (heaued). But he is not yet defeated … led to it: the qualification reflects a 5. 8 theological problem that was exhaustively debated during the eleventh and twelfth centuries: if, as some patristic authorities stated, sins could be remitted as a result of contrition alone, was subsequent confession to a priest necessary? Although the consensus by the early thirteenth century was that it was, the reasons for this remained a matter for debate up to the end of the Middle Ages (see Tentler, pp. 57–70, 233–301) and are not made explicit here (see Savage and Watson, pp. 387–8). 5. 9 as I said before: see Part 4, §§ 95–6. 5. 10 Judas Maccabeus: d. 161 bc, leader of the Jewish revolt against the Syrians (see the apocryphal books of Maccabees); linked here with Judah by their common name (both are Judas in the Latin Vulgate). 5. 11 Who will be our general: see Judg. 1: 1; the Latin of the second verse (probably originally a marginal annotation) is also cited in some of the MSS. The linking of the opening verses of Judges with confession can be found in other late twelfth and early thirteenth-century sources; see Millett [2005-6], 2. 204. 5. 12 Judah … hands: see Judg. 1: 2. 5. 13 Everything is washed by confession: this saying (Omnia in confessione lavantur) is frequently used in Bernard of Clairvaux’s works; it becomes a commonplace in the later twelfth century. 5. 14 the gloss … confess: this reference is in all MSS running, but its varying positions suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation; it probably refers to the use of the saying in Peter Lombard’s commentary on Ps. 74: 1, PL 191. 698. 5. 15 She washed … widowhood: see Jud. 10: 2–3. 5. 16 I will return … devoured: Joel 2: 25 (but with erugo ‘canker’ for eruca ‘caterpillar’ in all MSS but Ma). 5. 17 They will be … rejected them: paraphrases Zech. 10: 6.



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5. 18 Judah … Jacob: see Gen. 43–5. 5. 19 Benjamin … right hand: see Gen. 35: 18; the allegorical interpretation that follows links it to Matt. 25: 33–4 (at the Second Coming, Christ will set the blessed on his right hand and welcome them to the kingdom of heaven). 5. 20 sixteen sections: for an account of the development of the theme of the ‘conditions of confession’ in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and its implications for the date and background of AW, see Millett [1999]; for its later history, Tentler, pp. 106–9. Short lists of the qualities required in a good confession can be traced back as far as Bernard of Clairvaux, but longer lists of the kind used here seem to have developed first in Paris about the beginning of the thirteenth century. Although there was an increasing tendency to standardize on the sixteen points in the versified list beginning Sit simplex, humilis, confessio (‘Confession should be simple, humble, [etc.]’) that Thomas Aquinas described in the mid-thirteenth century as ‘those sixteen conditions that are assigned by the masters’ (see Millett [1999], pp. 199–200), during the first half of the thirteenth century the length, content, and order of the lists could still vary considerably; the AW author is clearly working within an existing tradition, but no exact parallel has so far been traced for his list of conditions. Most of the material he uses, however, was the common property of writers on confession; contemporary and earlier parallels to his development of the individual conditions are cited in the notes to Part 5 in Millett [2005–6], 2. 205–35. 5. 21 You must accuse … the serpent: for Adam and Eve’s attempts to divert blame, see Gen. 3: 12–13. The argument here is probably based ultimately on the influential pseudo-Augustinian treatise on confession (early C12?), De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 16, § 32, PL 40. 1126, which says of the penitent, ‘He should realize that the sin is his own, and not try to excuse himself, so he does not aggravate the offence, like Adam, for whom it was not enough to sin; on the contrary, he increased his offence by blaming his wife, and transferring his guilt to his creator.’ The point became a standard element in treatments of the ‘conditions of confession’. See also following note. 5. 22 If you say … resist: cf. pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 16, § 32, PL 40. 1126: ‘So we should not say when we sin, “I couldn’t do anything else when I became a thief, because God made me poor. It’s not surprising if I took to fornication, since I was created like that in my nature and weakness; because it was weakness, not my will, which forced me to do bad things.”’ See also previous note. 5. 23 If we passed judgement … judged: see 1 Cor. 11: 31. 5. 24 On one side … hide himself: a slightly modified version of Anselm of Canterbury, Meditatio 1, Opera, 3. 78–9. 5. 25 The lion … afraid: Amos 3: 8.

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5. 26 Lamb of God … sins of the world: see John 1: 29. The petitions beginning Agnus Dei were sung as part of the Mass; see Harper, p. 120. 5. 27 our sense of right and wrong: the translation here is a paraphrase of the native word for ‘conscience’, inwit, explaining the newer term conscience, first recorded in this passage and rarely used before the late fourteenth century. Some later additions to the Preface, §§ 3, 4, similarly juxtapose inwit with conscience or the Latin word from which it is derived, conscientia; see the ME text in Millett [2005–6], 1. 1–2. 5. 28 Go … angels: Matt. 25: 41. 5. 29 Recollecting … executioner: from a sermon on penance doubtfully attributed to Augustine (cf. n. 86 below), Sermo 351, ch. 4, § 7, PL 39. 1542. The mention of the ‘tribunal of Christ’ is a reference to 2 Cor. 5: 10. 5. 30 Reason should sit as judge … physical suffering: the structure of the argument here is determined not only by the Latin source text just cited (see n. 29), but by Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 25, ch. 7, § 13, CCSL 143B. 1238: ‘Nor is there absent in this judgement conceived in the mind every office necessary to punish those found guilty more fully. For Conscience accuses, Reason judges, Fear binds, Pain tortures.’ God … same case: Nahum 1: 9. 5. 31 5. 32 God’s court … convicted: a similar comparison is found in Alan of Lille, Summa de arte praedicatoria, ch. 31, PL 210. 172, and some early thirteenth-century sermons on confession (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 208). 5. 33 If you accuse … vice versa: no verbatim parallel to this quotation has been found (although S attributes it to Augustine). The idea is a commonplace, going back to 1 Cor. 11: 31 (see n. 23 above), on which Gregory comments, ‘Let us accuse ourselves of whatever in us offends the rule of divine righteousness, so that the accusation itself may excuse us before the strict Judge’ (Moralia in Iob, bk. 25, ch. 7, § 18, CCSL 143B. 1242). Antithetical formulations like the one found here are common from the second half of the twelfth century onwards (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 209). 5. 34 as I have often said: see Part 3, § 11, and Part 5, § 3. 5. 35 Merari’s daughter: see Jud. 8: 1. ‘Bitterness’ is a standard interpretation of the name ‘Merari’. 5. 36 took Tamar as his wife: see Gen. 38. 5. 37 Judah … heart: the Latin explanation (in A only) is based on pseudo-Anselm of Laon, Enarrationes in Matthaeum, PL 162. 1237: ‘After Judah come Pharez and Zarah. Pharez is interpreted as “division”, Zarah as “rising”, and Tamar as “bitterness”. For confession generates division from vices and the rise of virtues, from Tamar, that is, the bitterness of penance.’ The sense is that confession and bitterness must be united to separate penitents from sin and cause grace to arise in their hearts, as Judah and Tamar married to produce their twin sons, Pharez and Zarah. The



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explanation of the twins’ names does not fit easily into the sentence, and was probably originally a marginal annotation. 5. 38 All her friends … enemies: Lam. 1: 2 (the feminine pronoun refers to the mourning city of Jerusalem, personified as a woman). 5. 39 You are from your father the devil: John 8: 44. 5. 40 Raise a lament … complaint: Jer. 6: 26. 5. 41 We have made a covenant … hell: see Isa. 28: 15. 5. 42 For what covenant … Belial: 2 Cor. 6: 15. 5. 43 who has entrusted us … angel: see ODCC, s. ‘guardian angels’, which traces the earliest explicit formulation of the idea to the mid-twelfth century, in Honorius Augustodunensis, Elucidarium, bk. 2, ch. 28, PL 172. 1154: ‘And every soul, when it is sent into the body, is committed to an angel.’ 5. 44 mortal sin (…) good works: the MS readings probably reflect the progressive literalization of an original metaphor opposing the stench of sin to the odour of sanctity (the point that angels are repelled by the stench of sin is illustrated in an exemplum in Part 4, § 35). 5. 45 the saying … well pleased: there is an exact Latin equivalent of this in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C. 22, p. 133 (thirteenth century); on this MS, see Millett [1999], pp. 205–6. 5. 46 in the Lives of the Fathers: see Vitae Patrum, bk. 5, ch. 3, § 9, PL 73. 861. 5. 47 everything from childhood on … to one person: the principle underlying this is formulated in pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 15, § 31, PL 40. 1125: ‘The penitent should take care that he is not led by shame to divide up his confession, so that he chooses to reveal different things to different priests.’ More concisely phrased, as in Peter of Poitiers of St Victor’s omnia uni (‘all to one’), this becomes a standard definition of integra ‘complete’ in later accounts of the ‘conditions of confession’. See also § 31 below. 5. 48 When a poor widow … eyes of the heart: the image of sin as dirt in the house of the soul (cf. Matt. 12: 43–5), to be dealt with by the broom of confession and/or the tears of repentance, can be found elsewhere in works on confession; Dobson [1975], p. 160, notes a close parallel in the Moralia super Evangelia. The image of light thoughts blinding the eye of the soul like dust is probably from Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 8, ch. 10, § 22, CCSL 143. 398. 5. 49 Whoever conceals … all of them: a comparison found frequently in works on confession under this heading from the late twelfth century onwards; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 214. 5. 50 He is like … drowned: the image is found elsewhere in works on confession; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 214. 5. 51 There is a story … have been damned: a similar exemplum is given in the section on confession in the Cistercian Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus

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miraculorum (c.1219–22), dist. 3, ch. 23, ed. Strange, 1. 138–9: an abbot believed that a monk had confessed all his sins to him ‘from boyhood to old age’, but on the point of death the monk admitted some mortal sins, committed before entering the monastery, that he had not confessed to the abbot, although he had to his three predecessors. The abbot concluded that God had opened his mouth before death ‘so that his confession should be complete’. 5. 52 wake: see OED s.v. Wake n.1, 4 b: ‘the local annual festival of an English (now chiefly rural) parish, observed … as an occasion for making holiday, entertainment of friends, and often for village sports, dancing, and other amusements.’ 5. 53 after rest: the varying MS placing and absence in some MSS of this quotation suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. Cooper, pp. 233–4, notes that the attribution should be to Ambrose, Expositio in Ps. 118, Sermo 18, § 2, CSEL 62. 396–7; but the form and context of the quotation here suggest that its immediate source was Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 4, dist. 15, ch. 3, ed. Brady, 2. 328–9 (where it is flanked by two references to Augustine). 5. 54 in confession: in A only. 5. 55 Confession must be naked … circumstances: similar definitions can be found elsewhere in late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century works on confession (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 215); but the problematic implications of this definition had already been raised by c.1215, and in AW it seems to have been qualified not long after the original version was drafted (see following note). 5. 56 Though it is possible … mean to say: in all MSS running, but entered at three different points. Its apparent conflict with the advice above and in § 36 suggests that it was an afterthought to the original version, added in the margin and not marked for inclusion at any particular point in the text. It parallels closely the qualification to one of the standard definitions of ‘naked’ confession (see previous note) in Peter of Poitiers of St Victor’s confessional summa, Compilatio praesens (c.1215), ch. 40, CCCM 51: 48: ‘Some confessors both lead people astray and are led astray themselves by this word “nakedness”, wanting obscene acts to be reported to them as obscenely—and even using obscene language—as they were committed in the first place. It is more decent, and more appropriate to the Christian way of life, that obscene acts or parts of the body should not be described in obscene language, especially in the presence of the priest and in church, but in more decent language, as long as it describes the act and the way in which it was done with any aggravating circumstances, so that the sense should be: “Naked, that is, not palliated by any kind of veiling by which they may be less fully understood by the confessor.”’ See Millett [1999], pp. 212–14. 5. 57 There are six things … cause: the history of the ‘circumstances’ in the Middle Ages has been exhaustively traced by Gründel. They are



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discussed in pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 14, § 29, PL 40. 1124, and became a commonplace in later works on confession. The numbers and names of the ‘circumstances’ could vary considerably in the early thirteenth century; the commonest list, however, is the one summarized in the Latin hexameter Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando (‘Who, what, where, with what help, why, how, when’), sometimes expanded to eight points by the substitution of per quos, quotiens (‘through whom, how often’) for quibus auxiliis. The six-point list in AW includes quotiens (= ‘number’), but omits quid (i.e. the nature of the sin) and deals with quis and per quos together under ‘person’. 5. 58 an innocent creature: ME a ladles þing. The rare word ladles, and perhaps also the vagueness of the phrase itself, caused some perplexity in the MS tradition; it is most likely that the phrase refers to the seduction of an innocent person into sin. In Odo of Cheriton’s Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 243v, two consecutive questions to the penitent are ‘if he ever introduced an innocent person (innocentem) to this sin’ and ‘if he ever sinned against nature’; the following mention here of ‘a woman like myself’ would come under the second category. 5. 59 joined in round dances in the churchyard: see Greene, especially pp. cxxxix–clv, on the popular practice of dancing caroles (round dances accompanied by song) in ‘the central and convenient flat space of the churchyard’ (p. cxliii) and the church’s disapproval of it. 5. 60 festal days: i.e. Sundays or feast-days; see Part 1, n. 18. 5. 61 I was overcome … many throws: the imagery here is probably from wrestling (cf. Part 4, § 87, on the devil as ‘the grim wrestler of hell’). 5. 62 Pour out your heart like water: Lam. 2: 19. This text and its explication are often found in accounts of the ‘conditions of confession’ under integra ‘complete’; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 219. 5. 63 Behold … abominations over you: Nahum 3: 5; the opening words of the verse are given in all MSS but A, but are not reflected in the translation. The text is given a similar application elsewhere in treatments of confession; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 219. 5. 64 and tie all your vileness … bundle and all: a similar image is used in Thomas of Chobham, Summa de arte praedicandi, ch. 6, CCCM 82. 158: just as a thief caught in the act is taken to judgement with his spoils hung around his neck, ‘so, when a man leaves this life, the devil at once brings out the bundle of all his sins that he has been storing up for a long time, and hangs it, as it were, around the neck of the departing soul. And so he carries with him in the sight of God and his angels the judgement of his damnation … Therefore a man should be very much afraid that the devil is reserving a bundle like this for him, by which he will be plunged into the depths of the abyss’ (a reminiscence of Matt. 18: 6).

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5. 65 Oh … surface: see Geoffrey of Auxerre, Declamationes … ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, ch. 50, PL 184. 469. 5. 66 You will be asked … allotted to you: Anselm of Canterbury, Meditatio 1, Opera, 3. 77 (see also Part 3, n. 67). 5. 67 He saw … in this: the linking of sinners’ excuses with the garments of leaves made by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness after they had sinned (Gen. 3: 7) goes back to Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 22, ch. 15, § 31, CCSL 143A. 1114. Cf. Odo of Cheriton, Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 237r, who calls such excuses ‘fig-leaves, that is, the adornment of words by which our first parents concealed what they were ashamed of’. 5. 68 inclining … sinning: paraphrases Ps. 140: 4, a text used elsewhere in treatments of the ‘conditions of confession’ (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 220). 5. 69 We will confess … confess: Ps. 74: 2 (both P and S add that it is the repetition of confitebimur (‘we will confess’) that signifies that we must go often to confession). 5. 70 Let us … Judaea: see John 11: 7, used with the same interpretation elsewhere in treatments of the ‘conditions of confession’ (see Millett [2005– 6], 2. 220). 5. 71 The Confiteor … be confessed: L and S here have different Latin verse mnemonics listing those things that remit venial sins, but neither exactly matches the ME list; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 221. 5. 72 nine things … confession: the author is working here within an established tradition: a number of similar lists of between five and nine points survive from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, varying in detail but including much common material, sometimes going back to patristic sources (see the notes on this passage in Millett, [2005–6], 2. 222–3). In a marginal note in C, C3 lists supporting Latin quotations for the first six of the nine points (see Dobson [1972], pp. 241–2); none is in CF, but all except Surge qui dormis (‘Arise, you who are sleeping’), cited only in LNPST, appear in the remaining MSS, although not always in the same place. They probably originated as marginal annotations of the kind added by C3. 5. 73 From usury and sin, etc.: Ps. 71: 4. Probably originally a marginal annotation (see previous note). 5. 74 Strangers have devoured his strength: Hos. 7: 9. Not in CF, and placed earlier in T; probably originally a marginal annotation (see n. 72 above). 5. 75 My son, do not delay, etc.: based on Ecclus. 5: 8–9. Probably originally a marginal annotation (see n. 72 above). For the additional material in GNTV, see Prov. 27: 1, ‘Do not boast about tomorrow, since you do not know what the next day will bring.’ 5. 76 You shall confess … well: paraphrases Ecclus. 17: 27. Not in CF; probably originally a marginal annotation (see n. 72 above).



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5. 77 after devil: for the LPNST reading, see Eph. 5: 14. The absence of the reference not only in CF but in AGV suggests that it was a relatively late annotation (see n. 72 above). 5. 78 Resist … too late: not in CF, and only A continues the quotation into the second line. The source is Ovid, Remedia amoris, lines 91–2 (advising the lover to repress his love in the early stages, before he loses control of his emotions altogether). The quotation appears in a similar context in other thirteenth-century works on confession (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 223); it was probably originally a marginal annotation (see n. 72 above). 5. 79 as the Gospel says: see John 11: 33–43. 5. 80 These four things … five years: cf. Peter Cantor, Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 142, PL 205. 340, elaborating comments in the Glossa ordinaria, 4. 252: ‘Observe how great contrition in heart for sin should be from the four things that the Lord did when he raised Lazarus: he was troubled, he groaned in spirit, he wept, and he cried out, “Lazarus, come forth.” If the Lord did this to raise someone who had been dead for four days, how much more do you need to be wept and cried out for, who are weighed down by the stone of habit, who have been stinking and rotting in your own filth [see Joel 1: 17] not just for four days, but over a period of many years?’ How difficult … bad habits: see Augustine, In Iohannis Evangelium 5. 81 tractatus, Tract. 49, § 24, CCSL 36. 431. 5. 82 Many dogs … that kind of beating: not in C; placed here in AGV, at the beginning of § 21 in FLNPST. Probably a later addition by the original author. See also n. 84 below. 5. 83 Many dogs have surrounded me: Ps. 21: 17. Its application to the ‘dog of hell’ is not traditional; for this image, see Part 4, n. 286. 5. 84 The deeper … come up: a similar image is used in HM 16/9–11 (referring to prohibited forms of sexual activity within marriage). The sentence is probably a later addition; it is not in F, and in CLNPST is placed at the end of the following sentence, under the eighth reason for hastening to confession. Dobson [1972], p. 243, argues that it properly belongs under the seventh reason, but should have been entered before the added passage on the ‘dog of hell’ (see n. 82) that it follows in AGV. 5. 85 The sin … another: Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 25, ch. 9, § 22, CCSL 143B. 1247, a standard element in accounts of the reasons for hastening to confession (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 225). 5. 86 Confession … healed: the linking of the story of the Pharisee and the tax-collector (Luke 18: 10) with the need for humility in confession goes back to a sermon doubtfully attributed to Augustine, Sermo 351, ch. 1, § 1, PL 39. 1535, and is a standard element in accounts of the ‘conditions of confession’ (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 225–6). 5. 87 Humility … readily: this image is paralleled in a treatise on the

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conduct of confession, Cum repetes a proximo, by the Parisian preacher Robert of Sorbon (d. 1274), where it is used to make the point that the penitent who wishes for God’s mercy should not conceal sins in confession: ‘For you know that the poor who have lost limbs or are ill show the most diseased part of their body to passers-by, to encourage them more strongly to pity and compassion’ (see Millett [1999], p. 210). 5. 88 or Holy Church: in A only. 5. 89 The fact that … bitter repentance: the Red Sea is often linked with the bitterness of repentance, less often with blushing for one’s sins. Dobson [1975], p. 154, notes a parallel passage in Moralia super Evangelia, 4. 18. 5. 90 For all things … account: see Heb. 4: 13. 5. 91 Shame is … penance: see pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 10, § 25, PL 40. 112, ‘and because shame is a heavy punishment, anyone who blushes for Christ deserves mercy’, also quoted in later treatments of the ‘conditions of confession’. 5. 92 And St Bernard says … God’s sight: Cooper, p. 249, cites Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones de sanctis, Dominica infra octavum assumptionis B.V.M., § 10, Opera, 5. 269, ‘Certainly the most pleasing jewel in the crown … is the blush on the face of a man who is ashamed.’ 5. 93 But internal penitence … solemn penance: the qualification is added only in A; it is probably intended to make it clear that the description of the blush as a ‘sacrament’ should be understood figuratively, not literally. There was a complex twelfth- and thirteenth-century debate on what constituted the ‘sacrament’ in confession. The explanation here adopts one of two possible solutions offered by Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 4, dist. 22, ch. 2, ed. Brady, 2. 389–90: Peter notes the ambiguity of the word poenitentia, which can mean either ‘penitence’ or ‘penance’, and distinguishes between exterior poenitentia (‘external penance’, i.e. satisfaction) and interior poenitentia (‘internal penitence’, i.e. contrition), arguing that the former is the outward sign of the latter. The qualification also seems to incorporate the contemporary division of ‘external penance’ into three kinds: solemn (public penance involving a ritual temporary expulsion from the church during Lent by the bishop), public (other kinds of public penance, such as pilgrimage), and private (the everyday penance imposed by one’s priest). See further the references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 227. 5. 94 Confession must be fearful … forgotten: the quotation has not been traced, in Jerome or elsewhere. The closest parallel is in an exemplum told by Peter Cantor in Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 144, PL 205. 345, about an abbot of the Cistercian house at Longpont who, when asked why he confessed so frequently, replied that it was because ‘I feel so much every day that I have not confessed earlier, and because I recall something of what I had forgotten, I also confess more purely and sincerely in a particular case, and often with greater humility than before’.



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5. 95 However praiseworthy … examine it: from Augustine, Confessiones, bk. 9, ch. 13, § 34, CCSL 27. 152. 5. 96 But mercy surpasses justice: see Jas. 2: 13. 5. 97 To signify this … reward: a traditional interpretation of the prohibition in Deut. 24: 6 of taking an upper or lower millstone as a pledge; see, e.g., Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 33, ch. 12, § 24, CCSL 143B. 1694. 5. 98 Hope without fear … despair: not from Gregory in this form, although the point is discussed in Gregory in a similar context (see previous note); it seems rather to be a variation on a formula common in twelfthcentury writers, Spes sine timore praesumptio est, timor sine spe desperatio (‘Hope without fear is presumption, fear without hope is despair’). See Millett [2005–6], 2. 228. 5. 99 Cain and Judas … lost: Cain and Judas are standard examples under this heading, going back to the very early list of ‘conditions of confession’ in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 16, § 12, Opera, 1. 96. For further references, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 228–9. 5. 100 He will not judge … wrath: Ps. 9: 25. 5. 101 How has the impious man … judge: Ps. 9: 34. 5. 102 Dathan … companions: see Num. 16: Dathan, Abiram, and Korah were swallowed up by the earth for challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and their supporters killed by fire from heaven. 5. 103 discreet: ME wis here is the equivalent of Latin discreta (which is how it is translated in L), a word whose semantic range includes both ‘discreet’ and ‘discrete’. Definitions of discreta in accounts of the ‘conditions of confession’ can vary considerably, and most writers give only one or two senses; the three given here are most closely paralleled in Raymond of Peñafort, Summa de paenitentia, bk. 3, tit. 34, § 27, ed. Ochoa and Diez, col. 824: ‘Confession must be discrete (discreta), that is, [the penitent] should confess individual sins distinctly and separately, not confusedly … Also, he should choose an experienced judge [Raymond goes on to discuss the problem of the inexperienced and indiscreet local priest who will not allow the penitent access to a more discreet confessor]; … Also, secret sins (secreta peccata) should not be confessed publicly but in secret, manifest ones (manifesta) openly.’ See further Millett [1999], p. 211; and, on secret (uncuðe) as opposed to manifest (cuðe) sins, n. 126 below. 5. 104 as they are written out above: see the lists of offspring of the seven deadly sins in Part 4, §§ 18–25. 5. 105 Do not lie about yourself … more weight than it ought: the apparently conflicting quotations from Augustine (see n. 106 below) and Gregory (see n. 107 below) are similarly opposed in Peter of Poitiers (Chancellor of Paris), Sententiae, bk. 4, ch. 5, PL 211. 1154–5; Peter resolves them by arguing that although you should not confess to an imperfection you do not have (except

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for the necessary imperfection shared by all humanity), it is permissible to fear that you are imperfect, and glosses Gregory’s ‘perceive’ (agnoscere) as ‘fear or be anxious about’ (timere aut vereri). The question continues to be discussed in later treatments of confession; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 229–30. 5. 106 Anyone who lies … a sinner: paraphrases Augustine, Sermo 181, ch. 4, § 5, PL 38. 981, a passage used by twelfth-century theologians to illustrate the point that you should not confess a sin that you have not committed, and frequently cited under vera ‘truthful’ in accounts of the ‘conditions of confession’; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 230. 5. 107 It is the nature … no fault: Gregory, Libellus responsionum, ed. in Colgrave and Mynors, p. 92 (the authorship of this letter is disputed, but it was accepted as Gregory’s throughout the Middle Ages). Sometimes quoted approvingly by writers on confession, it was nevertheless seen as open to misinterpretation; see n. 105 above. 5. 108 the middle way … golden: a similar point is made in SW 182–4. The idea of virtuous conduct as the choice of a middle way between two extremes can be traced back to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, but the description of the mean as ‘golden’ probably echoes Horace’s phrase aurea mediocritas (Carmina, 2. 10. 5). 5. 109 Even our goodness … displease him: paraphrases part of the opening passage of Anselm of Canterbury, Meditatio 1, Opera, 3. 76. 5. 110 I know … my flesh: Rom. 7: 18. 5. 111 after displease him: F gives a more explicit translation and explanation of the quotation from Paul, which in the original version is rather awkwardly isolated in the middle of the discussion of the Anselm quotation, and adapts the following sentence to refer to both ‘holy men’. The revised passage in F is in the first person (‘the same as I said about St Anselm’s saying’), and may have been an ad hoc authorial revision that did not enter the main textual tradition. 5. 112 Nobody … discreet: it was a commonplace in the literature on confession that the priest should not give the penitent ideas when discussing sexual sins (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 231). Odo of Cheriton, in his Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 243v, says that the penitent should be asked ‘if he has ever sinned against nature, if he has had intercourse with a woman in an unorthodox way (extra ordinem). If he asks ‘What do you mean by “unorthodox”?’ you should not answer him, but see that you never mention anything to him from which he could derive an occasion of sin, only general things that are known to everyone.’ See also Part 4, § 25. 5. 113 but often the tactic misfires: ME ‘ah ofte him liheð þe wrench’, perhaps a reminiscence of the eME lyric beginning ‘Man mei longe him liues wene [‘a man may expect he will have a long life’], / ac ofte him liyet



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þe wrench ’, ed. Brown, pp. 15–16, which similarly recommends renouncing one’s sins while there is still time. For another possible reminiscence of this lyric, see Part 3, n. 4. 5. 114 so that someone … wants to: see Part 4, n. 314. 5. 115 Forced services do not please God: the saying is a commonplace, but its use in a confessional context is relatively late; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 232. 5. 116 Confession … sincere: the reference is probably to pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 27, § 33, PL 40: 1127–8, as paraphrased by Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 4, dist. 20, ch. 1, ed. Brady, 2. 373; see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 232. 5. 117 My flesh … free will: Ps. 27: 7. 5. 118 in Canticles … land: abridges Cant. 2: 12. At this point in ACL, after the following sentence in GNSTV, not in F; probably originally a marginal annotation. 5. 119 And my delight … Proverbs: Prov. 8: 31. The quotation follows the English, and is not fully translated; it was probably originally, like the previous quotation (see n. 118), a marginal annotation. 5. 120 a man or a woman … she: the modifications to the language of this passage in A reflect a more general unease in the MS tradition with the tension in the original version between the author’s use of generic masculine forms (see Introduction, p. xlviii) and his casting of a woman as the paradigmatic sinner; see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 233–4, and cf. the following note (where the paradigmatic sinner is male). 5. 121 Confession should be one’s own … anyone else: a point made elsewhere in confessional literature; cf. Raymond of Peñafort, Summa de paenitentia, bk. 3, tit. 34, § 31, ed. Ochoa and Diez, col. 830: ‘And note that as the penitent must not specify by name the person with whom he has sinned, or the circumstances by which she can be identified, unless it happens to be notorious, or the confession cannot otherwise be properly made … so similarly the priest must not specify a person in his questioning; but each of them should confine himself carefully to the quality of the person, that is, if she was a virgin or corrupted, a widow or a prostitute, a married woman or a blood relation or a nun, and similar things.’ 5. 122 Go, and do not sin any more: see John 8: 11, where Jesus saves the woman taken in adultery from stoning; cf. pseudo-Augustine, De vera et falsa poenitentia, ch. 13, § 28, PL 40. 1124, ‘For the Lord said, Vade, et amplius noli peccare. He did not say that you should not sin [ne pecces]; but that the desire to sin should not arise in you.’ The interpretation depends on the expression of the negative command in the Latin by the construction noli peccare (nolle is the negative form of the verb velle ‘to wish’). 5. 123 five headings: cf. the mnemonic lines in William de Montibus, Peniteas cito, lines 4–5, ed. in Goering [1992], p. 111: Omnia peccata plangat

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contritio vera / Scrutans aetates, sensus, loca, tempora, membra (‘True contrition should lament all sins, / Checking ages, senses, places, times, parts of the body’). 5. 124 and I have broken them … food for the soul: a standard image for preaching, particularly at the more basic level, based on allegorical readings of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, Matt. 14: 19–21, and Lam. 4: 4, ‘The little ones asked for bread, and there was no-one to break it for them.’ Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 1, ch. 21, § 29, CCSL 143. 40, interprets the ‘bread’ of Lam. 4: 4 as holy Scripture, ‘broken’ by preachers expounding it to those too weak (infirmi) to understand it otherwise; he uses a similar image in the prologue to bk. 3 of his Regula pastoralis, SC 382. 258 (‘the bread that strengthens the strong kills the little ones. For this reason the speech of teachers needs to be prepared according to the quality of the listeners’). The image is linked here, however, with a characteristically late twelfth- and thirteenth-century preaching technique, the division of a topic into multiple sections (see Introduction, pp. xxx–xxxi, and Millett [2005–6], 2. 234–5). 5. 125 and three against the world: in A only. In § 2 above, the author mentions only two sets of powers; the addition here, which maps the powers of confession on to the traditional threefold grouping of the world, the flesh, and the devil (see Part 4, n. 42), is unlikely to be authorial. 5. 126 manifest sins: ME cuðe means literally ‘known’; the modern translators render it as ‘well-known, common, familiar’, but the author may be contrasting manifest (cuðe) sins with secret (uncuðe) sins, which would cause scandal if made public and require more discretion in the choice of confessor (see § 26 and n. 103 above). 5. 127 For none of them is so small … roll: cf. Alan of Lille, Summa de arte praedicatoria, ch. 14, PL 210. 139, on ‘the devil’s manuscript book … where the parchment is a mind conscious of sin; where the pen is free will, where the ink is the enormity of the sin … but now, O man … [by contrition, confession, and satisfaction] erase the book of a perverse conscience … so that the devil may find nothing there to accuse you of; that God may see nothing there by which he may condemn you’. The devil’s book or roll for recording sins also appears in a number of medieval exempla; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 235. 5. 128 and he would perhaps be shocked even by this: only in A and (in a slightly different form) in V. 5. 129 there she should abuse … listening to her sins: for a later qualification to this advice, see § 10 above.

Part 6 6. 1 Everything … hard penance: Warren [1985], pp. 114–23, argues that in this period (as opposed to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when increasing importance was attached to its contemplative aspect),



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the anchoritic life was seen in England as primarily penitential; on the relationship between the contemplative and penitential life in AW, see further Introduction, pp. xxiv–xxv. 6. 2 because you are on God’s cross: on the use of crucifixion as an image for the religious life, see Constable [1995], pp. 212–13. If we suffer … reign with him: this seems to be a conflation (also 6. 3 found elsewhere) of 2 Tim. 2: 12 and Rom. 8: 17. 6. 4 Let me not glory … Jesus Christ: Gal. 6: 14; see also n. 6 below. We must glory … Christ: the opening words of the Introit (i.e. the 6. 5 introductory choral chant) of the Mass on the feasts of the Invention of the Holy Cross (3 May) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September). 6. 6 I will begin … to this point: Savage and Watson, p. 393, suggest that this refers to the author’s use of his main source in what follows, Bernard of Clairvaux’s sixth Lenten sermon (see following note): having already cited the text from Paul, Gal. 6: 14, used in § 3 of the sermon (see n. 4 above), he moves back to the beginning of the sermon to provide a broader context for the specific point he is concerned with, the need to embrace suffering actively. 6. 7 There are three kinds of people … suffered on the cross: what follows here (§§ 2–3, and all but the last two sentences of § 4) is based on Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in Quadragesima, Sermo 6, Opera, 4. 377–80. The AW author’s translation is free, both in detail and in the ordering of the argument, and—in spite of his introductory claim that ‘nearly all of this is what St Bernard says’—there are more radical departures from Bernard in the application of the similitudes to secular and anchoritic forms of religious life as well as monasticism, and in the characterization of the third and highest stage of the religious life as penitential rather than mystical. See further the notes on this passage in Millett [2005–6], 2. 237–41, and the discussion in Millett [2002], pp. 66–8. There are three kinds … best of all: this schematic opening summary 6. 8 of Bernard’s argument is an addition in AW; see Millett [2005–6], p. xliii. 6. 9 I entreat you … against the soul: 1 Pet. 2: 11. 6. 10 We do not … one to come: Heb. 13: 14. 6. 11 They make do … earnestly pray for: an addition in AW to the source text (see n. 7). Reforming clerics in this period tended to emphasize the value of spiritual rather than physical pilgrimage; see Constable [1976] and, more briefly, Constable [1996], pp. 50–1. Both St James ‘the Great’ (d. 44), apostle and martyr, and St Giles (d. c.710), hermit, had shrines that were major centres of pilgrimage, the former at Compostela in northern Spain, the latter at Saint-Gilles in Provence (which was also on the pilgrim routes to Compostela and the Holy Land); see ODS. St Julian the Hospitaller, according to legend, inadvertently murdered his parents and founded a hostel for poor travellers by way of expiation (see ODS). He was the patron saint of both innkeepers and travellers.

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6. 12 that is to say … towards heaven: this explanation of the pilgrims as ‘people who have worldly property’ is an addition in AW to the source text (see n. 7 above); pilgrimage is identified here not just with a particular level of the spiritual life, as in Bernard, but with secular status (members of religious orders were required to renounce personal property). 6. 13 You are dead … in God: Col. 3: 3. 6. 14 But when … in glory: Col. 3: 4; this verse, and the expanded translation of it that follows, are additions in AW to the source text (see n. 7 above). Shepherd [1959], p. 33, compares the image of the righteous shining like the sun in Matt. 13: 43; cf. also Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 51, § 13, CCSL 39. 632, where Col. 3: 4 is linked with the image of ‘our day, that is, the manifestation of Christ’, putting to flight ‘the shadows of this world’. 6. 15 a living man or a living woman: the phrase is not in the source text (see n. 7 above); it eases the author’s transition to feminine pronouns in the next sentence (the anchoresses, as religious, belong to the second as well as the third group). 6. 16 I live … Christ lives in me: Gal. 2: 20. 6. 17 through his indwelling grace: in A only; on ‘indwelling grace’, see Part 4, n. 263. A similar phrase is used in Ureisun of God Almihti 126, ed. Thompson [1958], to explain the same quotation from St Paul. 6. 18 So properly … alive to Christ: not in the Latin source text (see n. 7 above); the AW author is continuing his reclassification of Bernard’s three spiritual types as distinct institutional categories, identifying the second group with religious in general. 6. 19 the man who said … to the world: i.e. St Paul, in Gal. 6: 14. But the AW author drops Bernard of Clairvaux’s reference at this point (Sermones in Quadragesima, Sermo 6, § 3, Opera, 4. 378–9), to Paul’s visionary experience when he was taken up ‘to the third heaven’ (see 2 Cor. 12: 2); he presents suffering as an objective in itself rather than as a means to counterbalance pride in such experiences (see 2 Cor. 12: 5–10). 6. 20 This is what I said above: see § 1. 6. 21 this is the anchoress’s step: the AW author identifies Bernard of Clairvaux’s third level specifically with the anchoritic life (see nn. 7, 12, and 18 above). 6. 22 and so he does not earn either pain or joy: this rather negative comment is not in the source text (see n. 7 above). 6. 23 as I said earlier: see § 1 above. 6. 24 Many people … by this ladder: this passage (to the end of § 5) is based on a section of Geoffrey of Auxerre’s Declamationes … ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, ch. 36, PL 184. 460–1, which is also drawn on elsewhere in AW (see Part 3, n. 20). 6. 25 baseness and harshness: the terms vilitas and asperitas are sometimes



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used literally in the monastic tradition to apply to the poor quality of monastic food and the coarse cloth of the habit, sometimes figuratively, as here. 6. 26 Look at my humility … all my sins: Ps. 24: 18. 6. 27 Elijah’s wheels… living still: according to 4 Reg. 2: 1–11, God sent a whirlwind to carry Elijah alive up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Enoch, the father of Methuselah, was also taken by God rather than dying (Gen. 5: 24); in the Middle Ages, both Elijah and Enoch were believed to be living in the Earthly Paradise, from which they would return at the end of the world to join in the last battle against the Antichrist. 4 Reg. 2 mentions only the fiery chariot (currus igneus), not its wheels; the wheels of fire probably also echo the vision of the Ancient of Days in Dan. 7: 9, rotae eius ignis accensus (‘his wheels were [like] blazing fire’). 6. 28 But it does not matter … turning about: the interpretation is drawn ultimately (perhaps through Peter Lombard, Sententiae, bk. 2, dist. 29, ch. 5, ed. Brady, 1. 494–5) from Augustine’s reading of Gen. 3: 24, De Genesi contra Manichaeos, bk. 2, ch. 23, § 35, CSEL 91: 158: ‘But by the fiery sword turning in every direction (versatilis), temporal sufferings are understood, because times are changed (versantur) through mutability. And it is also called fiery because every tribulation burns to some extent. But it is one thing to be burnt to be consumed (ad consumptionem), another to be burnt to be purified (ad purgationem).’ 6. 29 He took … death on the cross: see Phil. 2: 8. 6. 30 For that was the nature … than any other: for the linking of Christ’s sufferings on the cross with pain (dolor) and shame (pudor), cf. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in uigilia natiuitatis Domini, Sermo 4, § 3, Opera, 4. 222: ‘There are two things that human frailty fears, shame and pain. He came to take away both, and so received both … when he was condemned by wicked men to death, and to a most shameful death.’ 6. 31 I call it shame … your servant: the definition of vilitas here departs from the monastic tradition of interpretation. Shepherd [1959], pp. 35–6, and Savage and Watson, p. 394, explore the institutional and economic implications of this passage. Shepherd suggests that the phrase beggin as an hearlot (translated here as ‘to beg like a tramp’) may be a reference to the Beguines, and notes the contemporary development of mendicancy as a means of supporting the religious life; and both Shepherd and Savage and Watson think it possible that beon oþres beodesmon (translated here as ‘to be dependent on the charity of others’) implies a formal arrangement of payment in return for prayers. But the passage does not necessarily imply either that the anchoresses begged for their living or that they sold their prayers. Its rhetorical emphasis is on their financial insecurity and the social humiliation it involves; the reference to begging is probably (as ‘if necessary’ implies) to the supplementation of insufficient or unreliable

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means of support (see Warren [1985], pp. 41–52) by requests to friends or other patrons, and the later ME uses of beodesmon (see MED s.v. bede-man n. 3. (a)) suggest that the beodesmon was seen less as the provider of a service than as the humble recipient of charity or other favours. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 242–3. 6. 32 In their own country … double: Isa. 61: 7. 6. 33 Rejoice and be glad … endure here: based on Geoffrey of Auxerre, Declamationes … ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, ch. 40, PL 184. 463. 6. 34 On the Epistle … nothing on earth: cf. the Glossa ordinaria, 4. 512, on Jas. 1: 2. The quotation is in all MSS running, but in five different places, suggesting that it was originally a marginal annotation. 6. 35 strangers in a strange land: cf. Exod. 2: 22, Heb. 11: 13–16. 6. 36 The life of man … warfare: Job. 7: 1. 6. 37 When the Son of Man … judgement, etc.: Matt. 19: 28. 6. 38 By the seats … distinction of honour: see Geoffrey of Auxerre, Declamationes … ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, ch. 40, PL 184. 463. ‘The seats’ is a reference to the twelve thrones on which the Apostles will sit in judgement (see Matt. 19: 28). 6. 39 all the world … clerics: the AW author’s substitution for the twelve tribes of Israel who are to be judged by the Apostles in Matt. 19: 28; Shepherd [1959], pp. 37–8, compares SW 280–1, where the Apostles will judge ‘kings and emperors and all the tribes of every nation’. 6. 40 through the humiliation … Resurrection: probably, like similar formulations in earlier writers, based on the comparison of Christ to the beaten gold candlestick of Exod. 25: 31 in Gregory, Homiliae in Hiezechielem prophetam, bk. 1, Hom. 6, § 8, CCSL 142. 71: ‘Christ endured the pains of suffering, and so achieved the glory of the Resurrection. Therefore he was a candlestick hammered out from the purest gold, because he had no sin, but nevertheless his body through the humiliations of the Passion attained immortality.’ 6. 41 For if we have been planted … resurrection: see Rom. 6: 5. 6. 42 We are waiting … brightness: see Phil. 3: 20–1. 6. 43 Let others … adorn their bodies: cf. Phil. 3: 17–19. 6. 44 If we suffer … reign with him: see n. 3 above. 6. 45 Gloss … chastens their bodies: the comment is from Peter Lombard, In Epistolam ad Hebraeos, ch. 4, PL 192. 515. 6. 46 Isn’t God our head … body: a frequent image in St Paul (e.g. Eph. 1: 22–3, 1 Cor. 12: 12–27); see further Shepherd [1959], p. 38. 6. 47 But doesn’t every part … the head does: a commonplace from classical times; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 245. 6. 48 a finger … aching all the time: probably an alliterative proverb; it is prefaced in S by ‘as they say’, and C3 adds prouerbium ‘proverb’ above the line in C. There are no other recorded ME examples with ‘finger’ (though



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cf. Whiting E205, with ‘eye’); for post-medieval examples, see ODEP, pp. 49–50. 6. 49 It was necessary … into his glory: see Luke 24: 16; but closer parallels to the wording here can be found in Augustine, Sermo 236, PL 38. 1121, and some twelfth- and thirteenth-century writers, including Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in Epiphania Domini, Sermo 2, § 3, Opera, 4. 403. 6. 50 Weren’t St Peter and St Andrew … gridiron: according to Origen, the apostle Peter (d. c.64) was crucified head-downwards (see ODS, s. Peter(1)); for Andrew and Laurence, see Part 3, nn. 15, 16. 6. 51 And innocent virgins … beheaded: for instances, see the AW Group lives of the virgin martyrs Katherine, Margaret, and Juliana; see also n. 73 below, on St Agatha. 6. 52 Our old garment … our ancestor: on this theme, and its treatment in AW, Piers Plowman, and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, see Grayson. 6. 53 when our flesh … sun: see Matt. 13: 43. 6. 54 A present … a fearsome people: Isa. 18: 7 (predicting the conversion of the Ethiopians). 6. 55 A skin … everything, etc.: Job 2: 4 (but the devil in Job is making a different point, that Job would accept the loss of everything he owned in exchange for his life). 6. 56 of two men … loves himself more: the idea that sin requires the bitterest remedy (amarissimum antidotum) of penance, so that it may be vomited out, goes back to Jerome’s exposition of Isa. 51: 17, Commentarii in Esaiam, bk. 14, ch. 51, § 17/19, CCSL 73A. 569–70. 6. 57 heaven: the AL reading ‘heaven’ looks like a later modification (which could have originated either as a substitution or a gloss) for the reading of all other MSS running but P (which rewrites here), ‘the stars’; cf. Ureisun of God Almihti 76–7. The idea is a commonplace; Ives, p. 260, traces it back to Seneca, Hercules Furens, act 2, line 437: Non est ad astra mollis e terris via (‘From earth to the stars there is no easy way’). Cooper, p. 272, notes a parallel to this and the preceding sentence from the Poetria nova (c.1210) of Geoffrey of Vinsauf, lines 496–8, ed. Faral, p. 212: Geoffrey says of Christ, Si vis suus esse secutor, oportet / Tormentis tormenta sequi. Non itur ad astra / Deliciis (‘If you want to follow him, then pains / Must follow pains. One cannot reach the stars / Through pleasures’). 6. 58 man: the modern translators either drop mon here altogether or render it as a mark of emphasis (‘Yes indeed’, ‘Oh yes!’); but the medieval translators take it literally (sire F, homme S, homo L), and ‘or woman’ is added in NP. In § 10, the reply to a further question is addressed to ‘Dear man and woman’; but the author returns to his direct audience of anchoresses in § 11. On the use of imagined interlocutors in this passage, see further Millett [2005–6], 2. liii–liv.

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6. 59 he was so afraid of it that: in AL only. 6. 60 My soul … pass away from me: Matt. 26: 38, 39. 6. 61 may your will … be done: see Matt. 26: 39. 6. 62 My God … forsaken me: see Mark 15: 34. 6. 63 The chastisement … fell on him: Isa. 53: 5. 6. 64 Dear man and woman: see n. 58 above. 6. 65 this example: Cooper, p. 74, compares John of Fécamp, Liber meditationum et orationum, Oratio 17, PL 158. 896, and Liber meditationum, ch. 35, PL 40. 929–30, and Stephen of Muret, Liber de doctrina, ch. 84, CCCM 8. 41; but although both use the image of God as the loving absent husband of the soul, neither makes the exact point of the essample here, that the husband is happier if the wife pines for him than if she enjoys herself. 6. 66 No-one should be too soft on herself … makes the spirit its servant: this passage (all but the last two sentences of § 11) draws, with acknowledgement, on §§ 17–23 of Aelred of Rievaulx’s De Institutione inclusarum, CCCM 1. 635–6; see the notes in Millett [2005–6], 2. 247–51. For a thorough discussion of the borrowings from Aelred in AW (particularly in Part 6), see Ayto and Barratt, pp. xxxviii–xliii. 6. 67 completely: in AL only. 6. 68 St Aelred: in fact, Aelred was never canonized; see ODS, s. Ailred. ‘The abbot’ is in AL only; Aelred was abbot of the Cistercian houses of Revesby, Lincolnshire (1143–7) and Rievaulx, Yorkshire (1147–67). De Institutione inclusarum is addressed to his sister (‘in the flesh as well as in the spirit’, § 1, CCCM 1. 637), who had become a recluse. 6. 69 true: in AL only; the adjective riht was probably added to make the nature of the love more explicit (F translates by the general term amour, but S has charite, L caritas). Cf. n. 110 below. 6. 70 But sir … burned: based on Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 17, CCCM 1. 653: ‘For although continence is a gift of God, and no-one can be continent unless God grants it, and this gift is not to be ascribed to any of our merits but to his freely given grace, he nevertheless judges as unworthy of such a great gift those who are unwilling to endure any suffering for it, wanting to be chaste among pleasures … to hold flames in their breast and not be burnt [see Prov. 6: 27]’. The AW author converts Aelred’s exposition into question-and-answer form, linking it rhetorically with the imagined questions of §§ 8–10 (see n. 58 above); here, however, on the issue of chastity rather than penance, he addresses the anchoresses specifically. 6. 71 If a pot … heat with it: not in Aelred (see n. 66). For the image of the boiling pot, cf. the often-quoted saying in Jerome (cited in S), Ep. 69, § 9, CSEL 54. 696, venter … mero aestuans cito despumat in libidines (‘the belly heated by wine quickly boils over into lecherous desires’). On the general point that the anatomical juxtaposition of the belly and the genitals means that gluttony inevitably leads to lechery, see Gregory, Moralia in Iob,



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bk. 31, ch. 45, § 89, CCSL 143B. 1611, and the further references in Millett [2005–6], 2. 249. 6. 72 But many … sin: cf. Aelred, De Institutione inclusarum, § 21, CCCM 1. 654–5: ‘But some people are deterred from salutary austerities by a certain anxiety, that is, that because of too much abstinence or excessive vigils they will go into a decline, and so become a burden to others and an affliction to themselves. That is our excuse in our sins.’ 6. 73 St Agatha: virgin and martyr. According to her legend, her breasts were cut off by her persecutors, but miraculously healed; she was later beheaded (see ODS). 6. 74 I have never used physical medicine for my body: the second antiphon of Lauds for the Feast of St Agatha. 6. 75 the story of the three holy men: probably an exemplum of Cistercian origin; Shepherd [1959], p. 34, cites parallels including the story of a monk of Clairvaux in London, British Library, MS Add. 15723, f. 81v (late twelfth century), the early thirteenth-century Cistercian exemplum collection by Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, ed. Hilka, 3. 204–5, and the Exordium magnum Cisterciensis ordinis, dist. 3, ch. 21, CCCM 138. 206–7. 6. 76 zedoary: ‘the root of the East Indian plant Curcuma Zedoaria’ (OED), a medicinal spice similar to ginger. 6. 77 God and his disciplines … death: based on Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, Sermo 30, § 10, Opera, 1. 216–17. Hippocrates (fifth century bc) and Galen (c.129–99) were the most famous medical theorists of classical times; the quotation is from St Paul, Rom. 8: 6. 6. 78 We scent battle at a distance: see Job 39: 25, where the war-horse similarly ‘scents battle at a distance’ (but the horse in Job welcomes battle rather than fearing it). 6. 79 We scent battle … in good health: based on Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 21, CCCM 1. 655. 6. 80 And I am not saying this … strong temptation: based on Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 23, CCCM 1. 656. 6. 81 Nicodemus … aloes: see John 19: 39. 6. 82 We are told that Nicodemus … its servant: for this interpretation, Shepherd [1959], p. 46, compares the pseudo-Bernardine Meditatio in passionem et resurrectionem Domini, ch. 9, § 23, PL 184. 757; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 251. 6. 83 the three Marys … his body: see Mark 16: 1. 6. 84 this name ‘Mary’ … means ‘bitterness’: the interpretation of the name ‘Mary’ (Latin Maria) as ‘bitterness’ may be based partly on its identity with the nominative/accusative plural form of mare ‘sea’, maria (see, e.g., Ambrose, De Institutione virginis, ch. 5, § 34, PL 16. 328); cf. the much more common interpretation amarum mare ‘bitter sea’. ‘Marah’ (‘Meraht’ in the

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ME, a variant form of Vulgate Marath), meaning ‘bitterness’, is the name given by the Israelites to a place where they found an undrinkable spring of water (see Exod. 15: 23). On ‘Merari’, see Part 5, n. 35. 6. 85 Mary the mother of James: translates the Vulgate Maria Jacobi. The point here depends on the use in Latin of Jacobus for both ‘Jacob’ and ‘James’; this Mary’s son is normally identified with the apostle James ‘the Less’ (Mark 15: 40), son of Alphaeus (Matt. 10: 3). The interpretation of the name ‘Jacob’ as ‘wrestler’ is standard, based on Jacob’s wrestling-match with the angel in Gen. 32: 24; see the Glossa ordinaria, 2. 632, on Ps. 134: 4, which explains that ‘Jacob’ ‘is interpreted as “wrestler”, and signifies those who wrestle against spiritual vices.’ 6. 86 When Pharaoh … offence: not from Augustine, but an abridgement of pseudo-Jerome, Commentarius in Evangelium secundum Marcum, PL 30. 596, on Mark 1: 16 (cited in the Glossa ordinaria, 4. 92): ‘As salvation approaches, so does temptation. When Pharaoh is rejected by Israel, he persecutes Israel; when the devil is scorned, he rises again in temptations.’ 6. 87 You will flee … pursue you: see Ezek. 35: 6. 6. 88 Enough … temptations: see Part 4, § 1. 6. 89 Mary Salome: on the confused tradition behind this ‘third Mary’, see Dahood [2003], who points out that she is a post-Scriptural creation, produced from the conflation of different Scriptural references to the women present at the Crucifixion and at Christ’s tomb; her historicity was still being debated in the twelfth century, but the AW author’s ‘confident invocation of Mary Salome signifies that by the early decades of the thirteenth century … educated opinion in England held her authenticity to be beyond question’ (p. 241). See also Part 2, n. 161. 6. 90 ‘Salome’ means ‘peace’: Origen glosses Salome as ‘peacemaker’; see Dahood [2003], p. 229. 6. 91 as the Gospel says: see n. 83 above. 6. 92 It was through … marriage feast: the reference is to the marriage feast at Cana; see John 2: 1–11. 6. 93 The patient man … joy: Ecclus. 1: 29. 6. 94 He makes calm … rejoicing: see Tobit 3: 22. 6. 95 Someone who is hungry … sweet: Prov. 27: 7. 6. 96 I will go … incense: see Cant. 4: 6. 6. 97 Who is she … incense: Cant. 3: 6. 6. 98 So that coming they might anoint Jesus: Mark 16: 1; the following phrase is an added gloss. 6. 99 as I have often said: in this and the preceding section. 6. 100 If, then, you endure bitterness … tomb of stone: the list of Christ’s resting-places is a commonplace. Shepherd [1959], p. 48, compares in particular Peter Cantor’s Verbum abbreviatum, ch. 86, PL 205. 259, where it is argued that the penitent, and in particular the claustralis (member of an



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enclosed order), should live in modest and austere accommodation, ‘mindful of the Virgin’s womb, in which the Lord was enclosed and confined, then placed in a little crib, on the cross, and finally in the tomb.’ 6. 101 All that I have said … soft on herself: cf. Aelred’s distinction between his immediate and potential audience in De Institutione inclusarum, § 12, CCCM 1. 648, quoted in Part 8, n. 28. On the use of flattering distinctions of this kind in AW, see Millett [2005–6], 2. lv–lvi. 6. 102 You are saplings … orchard: Shepherd [1959], p. 49, compares the Scriptural image of the faithful as plants in God’s vineyard (Isa. 5: 7, Jer. 2: 21). 6. 103 That is … in deed as well: in AL only. 6. 104 My beloved … over the hills: see Cant. 2: 8; for the reading that follows, cf. the Glossa ordinaria, 2. 712. 6. 105 The virtuous Paul … humbly: the AL reading may reflect a reviser’s discomfort with the condensed metaphorical language of the original version, attested by all the other MSS running (although the revision retains the metaphor itself). The image of Paul as a mountain is found in Ambrose, Commentarius in Cantica Canticorum, ch. 8, § 30, PL 15. 2058, Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Ps. 124, § 6, CCSL 40, and a number of later writers. 6. 106 the mortification of Jesus: Peter Lombard, in his commentary on 2 Cor. 4, PL 192. 32–3, explains this phrase as ‘what we endure for Jesus, or what Jesus previously endured.’ 6. 107 We are cast down … bodies: 2 Cor. 4: 9–10. 6. 108 Do you love me? Show it: probably a reminiscence of John 21: 15–17; cf. also John 14: 23, the text on which Gregory is commenting in the following quotation (see n. 109). 6. 109 The proof of love … practice: Gregory, Homiliae in Euangelia, Hom. 30, § 1, CCSL 141. 256, frequently quoted by later writers (John of Salisbury, Ep. 247, PL 199. 291, calls it ‘a proverb as true as it is popular’). The position of the quotation after, rather than before, the point it substantiates suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation. 6. 110 true love: ‘true’ is in AL only; cf. n. 69 above. 6. 111 However hard … pleasant: Cooper, p. 285, compares pseudoBernard, Soliloquium, PL 184. 1164, on charity, ‘which converts the bitter to the sweet, the hard to the soft, and the harsh to the gentle.’ 6. 112 Love makes everything easy: Cooper, p. 285, compares Augustine, Sermo 52, § 3, PL 38: 444, which is repeated in the Glossa ordinaria, 4. 345, and by a number of twelfth-century writers; cf. also Augustine, De Natura et gratia, ch. 69, § 83, CSEL 60. 297 (but neither gives an exact verbal parallel). The quotation is placed immediately after the preceding quotation from Gregory in FPST; its varying position suggests that it was originally a marginal annotation.

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6. 113 the most intense distress: the translation assumes that the A reading, wiuene sarest, is an error for pinene sarest; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 258. 6. 114 Even so, I know someone … weakness: on the practice of wearing a coat of mail (lorica) as a form of physical mortification, see Shepherd [1959], p. 51, who mentions other twelfth- and thirteenth-century loricati. Edmund of Abingdon (c.1174–1240), who studied and taught at Paris and Oxford before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 1234, is reported to have worn both a coat of mail and a hair-shirt; see Lawrence [1960], p. 187 (deposition by Richard of Dunstable, OP: ‘He wore a hair-shirt next to the skin, which he took great care to hide from everyone when he was dressing or undressing’) and pp. 248–9 (deposition by Robert Bacon, OP: ‘When the blessed Edmund was studying the liberal arts at Paris, his mother used to send him a hair-shirt with the linen she sent him, entreating him to use it, which he gladly did. But when he came to Oxford after his mother’s death, he began to use the coat of mail that his mother had used in her lifetime, and that she had left him for this purpose. In Advent and in Lent he also used to wear a garment weighted with lead. He was also in the habit of constricting the flesh of many parts of his body by ropes’). McNabb (who believed that AW was written by Edmund’s pupil Robert Bacon) argued that Edmund must be the loricatus here (see McNabb [1916]); this is possible, but the evidence is not conclusive. 6. 115 as was said above: see Part 4, n. 269.

Part 7 7. 1 Physical exertion … everything: see 1 Tim. 4: 8; cf. Preface, § 4. If I speak … no good: paraphrases 1 Cor. 13: 1, 3. 7. 2 7. 3 For as the holy abbot Moses said … rejoice in seeing him: the Ethiopian Abba Moses (c.330–405) was a former slave and criminal who became a monk, and later the leader of a colony of hermits, in the Egyptian desert. His sayings are cited by Cassian in his Collationes; this passage develops further an image from the Collationes used in the Preface, § 7 (see Preface, n. 32). See further Shepherd [1959], p. 52. 7. 4 Two things … for his sake: see Bernard of Clairvaux, De Moribus et officio episcoporum, § 10, Opera, 7. 108: ‘Purity of heart consists in two things: in seeking the glory of God and the benefit of one’s neighbour.’ 7. 5 To the pure … consent of the reason: the two quotations are found in all MSS running at this point; but their placing after (rather than before) the corresponding passage in the Middle English, which does not directly translate them, and their note-like form of reference, suggests that they were originally marginal annotations. The first is from Titus 1: 15. The second is based on Augustine, In primam Epistolam Iohannis, Tract. 7, § 8, SC 75. 328, Dilige, et quod vis fac (‘love, and do what you will’). The history of this maxim—which in Augustine refers to the use of force against sinners—is



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traced by Constable [1999], who notes a peak in its popularity in the twelfth century, but also an increasing anxiety (expressed by Hugh of St Victor, Richard of St Victor, and Aelred of Rievaulx) about its openness to misinterpretation, which may explain the decrease in its use in the later Middle Ages. Constable comments on the added Latin gloss in AW, ‘The addition shows the author’s concern to emphasize that love alone does not justify unreasonable or sinful action’ (p. 25). 7. 6 He loves you less … for your sake: Augustine, Confessiones, bk. 10, ch. 29, § 40, CCSL 27. 176. 7. 7 In this lies … of all orders: cf. Preface, § 5, and § 19 below. 7. 8 The fulfilment of the law is love: Rom. 13: 10. Whatever is commanded … love alone: Gregory, Homiliae in 7. 9 Euangelia, Hom. 27, § 1, CCSL 141. 229. 7. 10 St Michael’s scales: the archangel Michael’s scales, in which the soul’s good and bad deeds are weighed after death to decide its final destination. See further Shepherd [1959], p. 54. the steward of heaven: the comparison here is with the official who 7. 11 manages the domestic affairs of a noble household, including catering and expenditure. 7. 12 You have put all things … paths of the sea: Ps. 8: 8–9. 7. 13 Even the wicked … sun: Shepherd [1959], p. 54, compares Matt. 5: 45: we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, as our Father in heaven ‘makes his sun rise on good and bad, and rains on the just and the unjust.’ 7. 14 Christ … gave himself for it: Eph. 5: 25. 7. 15 impoverished noble: in AL only. 7. 16 sealed letters (…) open letters: the imagery is taken from different types of royal letters, the litterae clausae (‘letters close’) addressed to individuals, which were closed and sealed on the outside, and litterae patentes (‘letters patent’), which were open charters with a seal attached to the foot (see further Shepherd [1959], p. 55). The Old Testament, which could be read allegorically as prefiguring the events and teaching of the New Testament (see Smalley, pp. 6–14), is seen as a ‘closed’ text requiring interpretation, the New Testament as more directly accessible. 7. 17 with his own blood … lady: i.e. demonstrated his love for humanity through the Passion. 7. 18 There is a story … meaning: the allegorized exemplum that follows was popular in both Latin sermons and vernacular literature in the later Middle Ages; see the thorough survey in Gaffney [1931], and also Woolf [1962], and Woolf [1968], pp. 44–57. The version in AW is the earliest recorded instance, but the analogues in thirteenth-century Paris sermons suggest a common Continental origin. Innes-Parker discusses its possible reception by its female readers.

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7. 19 a castle of earth: it is not clear how transparent the allegory is meant to be here. Shepherd [1959], p. 56, cites twelfth-century ‘earthworks crowned with wooden stockades’, but the phrase does not seem to occur elsewhere, and the point may be precisely that thirteenth-century castles were normally built with stone, not earth. In any case the primary reference, as Shepherd says, is to the castle of the body, a common image in medieval theological literature (see Cornelius). 7. 20 the handsomest … in appearance: probably echoing Ps. 44: 3, speciosus forma prae filiis hominum (‘handsome in appearance beyond the sons of men’). 7. 21 after all your suffering: in AL only. 7. 22 as was the custom … once upon a time: Shepherd [1959], pp. 56–7, is likely to be right in assuming that the author is referring to an ideal rather than a real past (see Barker, p. 101), and his citation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudo-historical description of the court of King Arthur in his Historia Regum Britanniae (c.1136) is apposite; but the author may also have in mind the love-tournaments of late twelfth-century Arthurian romance. 7. 23 the one foot … above the other: from about 1200 the traditional representation of Christ’s feet as fixed on the cross side by side with two nails began to be supplemented by the ‘three-nail crucifix’ described here. See White [1945], and the further references given in Shepherd [1959], p. 57, and Millett [1996a], pp. 142, 165. 7. 24 his sides: Shepherd [1959], p. 58, notes twelfth-century descriptions of companions as ‘sides’ in John of Salisbury and Peter of Blois; but neither links the image with a shield, as here. 7. 25 They all … fled: Matt. 26: 56. 7. 26 This shield … heart: the quotation from Lam. 3: 65 is followed in all MSS except ALS by a second quotation, from Ps. 5: 13 (see fn., and n. 28 below); the deletion of the second quotation in C, probably by C2 (see Dobson [1972], p. 287) suggests revision rather than omission, possibly to cut down repetition in the passage. For this reading of Lam. 3: 65, cf. Part 4, § 95; see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 198. 7. 27 He was offered … wished to be: Isa. 53: 7. 7. 28 the third reason: a puzzling phrase, since the first two have not been explicitly signalled; for a full discussion of the possible solutions suggested by Shepherd [1959], p. 58, and Waldron, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 263. The most probable is Shepherd’s suggestion that it belongs to a threefold interpretation of the shield, as a defence, a means of crowning us in heaven, and a proof of achievement. A possible contemporary parallel can be found in Thomas of Chobham, who says that when a saint is represented in paintings, ‘there is portrayed around his head a circular crown in the form of a shield, which is called a diadem. Hence it is said in



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the Psalm [5: 13]: “Lord, you have crowned us as if with the shield of your good will.” For such a crown represents not only victory, but protection and glory’ (Sermo 20, CCCM 82A. 214–15). 7. 29 In a shield … Christ on the cross: Dobson [1975], pp. 178–9, notes a close parallel to this analogy in Moralia super Evangelia, 3. 3, where the shield is used as an image of Christ’s Passion: ‘the wooden framework is the cross of Christ, the paint is Christ’s blood, and the leather is his flesh. Therefore, as a shield is hung up in church in memory of a dead knight, so the crucifix is raised in church in memory of Christ, who died for us.’ 7. 30 Four main kinds of love: Dobson [1975], p. 175, notes a close, though briefer, parallel to this passage (§§ 5–10) in the Moralia super Evangelia, 3. 47: Christ ‘loved us more than any friend his friend. A friend will deposit a deed or something similar with the Jews as a pledge for his friend; Christ presented himself to the Jews for us instead of a pledge … Christ loved us more than a mother her child. The mother bathes her son in water, Christ in blood. The Apocalypse: “He loved us and washed us in his blood.” Christ loves us more than a man does his wife. A man will send his wife away for adultery; but Christ will not send us away because of adultery. Jeremiah: “If a man sends away his wife [etc.].” Christ loves us more than the soul does the body. The soul never wants to be parted from the body; but Christ allowed his soul to be parted from his body for our sake.’ Rouse and Wenzel, in their 1977 review of Dobson [1975], suggest that in spite of the verbal parallels, both works may have drawn on a common tradition, comparing the mnemonic summary of the same points in Richard Wetheringsett’s Summa Qui bene presunt (1215 x 1222): Non sic mater prolem, non sic sponsus sponsam, / Non sic sodalis sodalem, non et sic anima corpus (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 46, f. 137rb: ‘A mother does not [love] her child, nor a husband his wife, like this, / Nor does a friend his friend, not even the soul the body’). An apparently independent parallel in a later fifteenth-century MS containing ME sermons, Lincoln, Cathedral Chapter Library, MS 50, is discussed in Wilson [1968]. with the Jews: i.e. as moneylenders; lending money at interest 7. 31 was forbidden to Christians. The Jewish community in England in this period was large and prosperous, controlling ‘by 1241 … a sum equivalent to roughly one-third of the total circulating coin in the kingdom’ (Stacey, p. 41). 7. 32 If a man … return to me: Jer. 3: 1. 7. 33 Indeed … prodigal: see Luke 15: 20. 7. 34 as St Augustine says … virgin: read by Cooper, p. 297, and Shepherd as a reference to ‘the disputed scholastic question of God’s power to restore lost virginity’ (Shepherd [1959], p. 60), but the author is making a different point, contrasting the relationship between man and woman (by which the woman loses her physical integrity) with the relationship between

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God and the soul (by which the soul recovers its spiritual integrity). The attribution here to Augustine is incorrect; in fact, the point comes from Jerome’s commentary on Hosea 2: 19, Commentarii in prophetas minores: in Osee, bk. 1, ch. 2, § 19.20, CCSL 76: 30 (following, as here, a reference to Jer. 3: 1): ‘And look at the difference between God’s marriage and men’s: when a man takes a wife, he makes a woman—that is, a non-virgin—out of a virgin; but even when God is joined to prostitutes, he turns them into virgins.’ The idea is ultimately from the first-century Greek scholar Philo Judaeus, reaching Jerome through Origen; the quotation is also paraphrased (with a correct attribution to Jerome) by Odo of Cheriton in his Summa de penitentia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Peterhouse 109, f. 239r, in a passage on God’s willingness to forgive repentant sinners. 7. 35 He has made me whole again: see Job 12: 23. 7. 36 nothing could heal … blood: S cites here Heb. 9: 22, ‘without blood there is no remission’. 7. 37 Who loved us … his own blood: see Apoc. 1: 5. 7. 38 Can a mother … forget you: see Isa. 49: 15. 7. 39 I have depicted you in my hands: Isa. 49: 16. The quotation is similarly linked to the image of the knotted girdle by Peter of Blois (see Shepherd [1959], p. 61) and Odo of Cheriton (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 266). 7. 40 the wisest of the wise: ME ‘weolie wisest’. The translation here accepts the derivation of weolie from OE *weolig ‘cunning, wise’ suggested by Dobson [1974]; for other possible renderings, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 267. 7. 41 it is said of a generous man … as I have: Dobson notes that the same image is used in a sermon for Passion Sunday by Stephen Langton, and in the Moralia super Evangelia; it also appears, in a similar description of Christ as lover, in a 1261 Paris sermon by Robert of Sorbon (see Bériou and d’Avray, p. 60). 7. 42 If it is to be given … ought to be given: Christ is also given the qualities of an ideal suitor in HM 20/5–28, and in Wohunge 1–262. The topos goes back to patristic times (see Millett [1982], pp. xliii–xliv), but the passage in HM draws on Alan of Lille’s late twelfth-century Summa de arte praedicatoria (see Millett [1982], p. 49), and the lists of qualities in Wohunge and AW have their closest parallels in thirteenth-century Parisian sermon literature (see Bériou and d’Avray, pp. 31–69). For a fuller account of the history of the topos and its use in the AW Group, see Millett [2009]. 7. 43 but there are three kinds … the highest: a later addition, only in AL, probably to make it clear that this recommendation of chastity did not imply a heretical condemnation of marriage (cf. Millett [1982], p. xxxiii, on some similar qualifications in HM). 7. 44 All the wealth of Croesus … one of these: Shepherd [1956] lists other



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examples of this medieval topos, based on the twelfth-century linking in Honorius Augustodunensis’s Elucidarium, PL 172: 1168–75, of Anselm of Canterbury’s list of the seven bodily gifts given to the saints in heaven with exemplary historical figures. 7. 45 who was the richest of kings: this gloss is only in AL. It may have been intended to clarify the identity of Croesus (a king of Lydia in the sixth century bc, whose wealth was proverbial); the spelling of his name in some of the MSS suggests a tendency to confuse him with another historical figure also famous for his wealth, Marcus Licinius Crassus (d. 53 bc). See Millett [2005–6], 2. 268. 7. 46 Absalom … weighed out: Absalom, the third son of King David, was renowned for his beauty; see 2 Reg. 14: 25–6. 7. 47 Asahel, who ran as fast as the deer: Asahel, nephew of King David, was ‘a very fast runner, like one of the deer who live in the woods’ (2 Reg. 2: 18). 7. 48 Samson … companion: see Judg. 15: 14–17, where Samson is said to have killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. 7. 49 Caesar’s liberty: Shepherd [1959], p. 63, notes that this must refer to Caesar Augustus (63 bc–ad 14), the first emperor of Rome, citing Honorius Augustodunensis, Elucidarium, bk. 3, ch. 18, PL 172. 1171, on the gifts of the blessed in heaven: ‘The liberty of the emperor Augustus would be captivity there, since he could be captured, bound, and imprisoned. But their liberty is of such a kind that they can penetrate all obstacles, and no-one can hold them in.’ 7. 50 Alexander’s fame: the reference is to Alexander III, king of Macedon (356–323 bc), ‘Alexander the Great’, the most distinguished military commander of the classical period. 7. 51 Moses’ health: Moses is said to have died at the age of 120, with his teeth and eyesight intact; see Deut. 34: 7. 7. 52 There is no-one … heat: Ps. 18: 7. 7. 53 the true sun … third hour of the day: Christ was raised on the cross at the third hour (Mark 15: 25). 7. 54 I have come … kindled: see Luke 12: 49. 7. 55 If only you were cold … out of my mouth: see Apoc. 3: 15–16. 7. 56 Look … two sticks: 3 Reg. 17: 12. The varying forms and position of the reference to Kings in the MSS, and its absence in CNP, suggest that it was originally a marginal annotation. 7. 57 Greek fire … vinegar: ‘Greek fire’ was the medieval equivalent of napalm, used mainly in siege warfare; its main components were naptha, pitch, and sulphur (see Partington). Shepherd [1959], p. 65, takes ‘the blood of a red man’ literally, but it is probably an alchemical ‘secret name’ for a more mundane ingredient (as in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist, act 2, scene 3, where the ‘red man’ is sulphur). Bishop notes some other uses of the image

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of ‘Greek fire’; and see further the comprehensive discussion of the topic in Hasenfratz, pp. 473–4. 7. 58 as Solomon says: see Cant. 8: 7: ‘Many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods drown it.’ 7. 59 as one nail drives out another: the comparison is proverbial, going back to classical times (see Ives, p. 261). For the Christian application here, cf. Jerome, Ep. 125, § 14, CSEL 56. 132: ‘Secular philosophers are in the habit of driving out an old love with a new love as one nail drives out another; they remedy vice by vice, and sin by sin, but we overcome vices by love of virtues.’ 7. 60 the malicious Jews: for this representation of the Jews, cf. Part 2, §§ 40, 45. At the time when AW was composed, anti-Semitism in England was driven less by resentment of the Jews’ economic role (see n. 31 above) than by the Church; hostility to the Jews was particularly common among reforming clerics (see Edwards [2003]). 7. 61 It is finished: John 19: 30. 7. 62 gall: see Part 2, n. 163. 7. 63 If your enemy is hungry … his head: paraphrases Prov. 25: 21–2. 7. 64 They did every kind of harm … but: only in A and (with singular rather than plural forms) L. 7. 65 If I do not go away … come to you: John 16: 7. 7. 66 as we said before: see § 1 above. 7. 67 Whatever place … yours: paraphrases—with an interpolated gloss—Deut. 11: 24. 7. 68 a long way back: see Part 4, § 90. 7. 69 Charity … precious: the ME original, ‘“Chearite” is cherte of leof þing ant of deore’, exploits the semantic range of cherte ‘dearness’ and deore ‘dear’, both of which can be used of either affection or expense, to link charity with value (chearite is ultimately derived, like cherte, from Latin caritas, but is limited in ME to the specialized Christian sense of ‘charity’); see Millett [2005–6], 2. 272. 7. 70 I have forgiven according to your word: Num. 14: 20. The Latin comment that follows has not been traced elsewhere. 7. 71 he said: the words are not cited from Scripture, but (as the variant reading in the Latin version, ‘as if he were saying’, indicates) a development of the preceding quotation. 7. 72 It is said that love binds: for examples, see MED s.v. binden v. 5. (b). 7. 73 Lord, there is no-one to … hold you: Isa. 64: 7. 7. 74 do you want to strike: the A text has ‘ you will strike’, but the majority of the MSS have a question here, which is closer to the context in Isaiah: the prophet is asking whether God will inflict his anger on his own people (64: 12).



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7. 75 Make haste … left the place: modified, probably from memory, from Gen. 19: 22, which refers not to Sodom but to the town in which Lot took refuge when he fled from it, Zoar. 7. 76 chamberlain: used here in the sense of personal attendant to someone of high rank (hence, confidant). 7. 77 Can I conceal … intend to do: Gen. 18: 17. 7. 78 Isaiah … heard, etc.: these two Scriptural references are not directly translated in the English text, although they refer to what immediately precedes in the English; they were probably originally marginal annotations. The first is Isa. 64: 4 (cf. nn. 73, 74 above); for the second, see 1 Cor. 2: 9 (paraphrasing Isa. 64. 4). 7. 79 elsewhere: Shepherd [1959], p. 68, argues that ‘here we have a reference to one of the lost works of ME vernacular prose.’ This is possible, but there is an account of the joys of heaven in Part 2, § 33, and Sawles Warde and Epistel of Meidenhad, to which the anchoresses may have had access, also describe them in some detail. 7. 80 I will praise you … its heart rightly: as above (see n. 78), these two Scriptural quotations, which are not translated in the English text, seem to be functioning as supporting references for the preceding point; they were probably originally marginal annotations. The first is from Ps. 118: 7; the added gloss (‘that is, by its regulation’) has not been traced. ‘The reproach of the wicked’ is an added comment on the second quotation, from Ps. 77: 8.

Part 8 8. 1 at the beginning: see Preface, § 6. I am presuming to make a new Rule for them: ME ‘þet Ich þurh mi 8. 2 meistrie makie ham neowe Riwle’. Salu, p. 182, translates ‘þurh mi meistrie’ as ‘on my own authority’, Dobson [1976], pp. 48–9, as ‘by my authority’ (as spiritual director of the group of anchoresses addressed here). An alternative possibility—or perhaps nuance of meaning—is offered by the translation in L, per presumptionem ‘out of presumption’, which I have followed here; cf. the prologue to Grimlaic’s Regula solitariorum, PL 103. 575, where he says that he has been reluctant to write a rule for recluses, ‘fearing that I might be thought by some to be presumptuous (praesumptuosus) in, as it were, composing a new set of regulations (quasi nova condens)’. Peter Damian, in the introduction to his De Institutis eremitarum, PL 145. 335, says ‘But I consider myself, since I do not excel anyone by my way of life in this profession, as presumptuous (temerarium) in giving a lead to others by my speech’, and Aelred of Rievaulx’s prologue to De Institutione inclusarum, § 1, CCCM 1. 637, similarly pleads his inadequacy to the task (‘If only you had looked for a wiser man, and asked someone who was drawing not on guesswork but on experience for his teaching of others’); it is possible that the AW author is doing no more here than using an introductory topos of

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affected modesty (see Curtius, ch. 5, § 3), but his caution may also have been influenced by the prohibition of new religious orders by Canon 13 of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 (see Millett [2003]). 8. 3 as I promised at the beginning: see Preface, § 8. 8. 4 as our brothers do: the reference is probably to the author’s own order. The N reading, ‘as our lay brothers do’, cannot be right, since the lay brothers of both the Augustinian canons and the Dominicans took communion in this period only four times a year. Communion fifteen times a year is recorded only for the Dominicans, from 1249, and the Franciscans, from 1269, but the custom probably goes back earlier; see Dobson [1976], pp. 62–73 (arguing for Augustinian authorship of AW ) and Millett [1992], pp. 209–11 (linking it specifically with the Premonstratensian/Dominican legislative tradition). 8. 5 the feast of the Epiphany: 6 January. Candlemas Day: the feast of the Purification of the Virgin, 2 8. 6 February. 8. 7 Lady Day: the feast of the Annunciation, 25 March. 8. 8 the feast of the Ascension: the fifth Thursday after Easter. Whit Sunday: the seventh Sunday after Easter. 8. 9 8. 10 the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist: 23 June. 8. 11 the feast of St Mary Magdalene: 22 July. 8. 12 the Assumption: the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, 15 August. 8. 13 the Nativity of the Virgin: 8 September. 8. 14 the feast of St Michael: Michaelmas Day, 29 September. 8. 15 the feast of All Saints: 1 November. 8. 16 the feast of St Andrew: 30 November. 8. 17 disciplines: penitential chastisement (i.e. scourging or beating); see further § 16 below. 8. 18 pittance: a supplementary allowance of food; see Part 2, n. 186. 8. 19 after Cross: the marginal addition to C by C2 probably refers to § 4 (up to ‘excepted’) ; but it is preceded by the paragraph-mark used by C2 for additions not intended to be incorporated in the text (see Dobson [1972], p. cxviii). 8. 20 the later feast … which falls in the autumn: the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September (as opposed to the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 3 May). 8. 21 Ember Days: see Part 2, n. 58. 8. 22 Rogation Days: days of prayer and fasting in the early summer. 8. 23 vigils: days of fasting preceding feast-days. 8. 24 dairy produce: ME hwit (literally ‘white’); MED s.v. whīt n. 6. (b), lists the sense ‘dairy food, milk’, and L translates as lacticinia ‘dairy produce’. An alternative Latin equivalent, album ‘white [food]’, sometimes covers a



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wider semantic range, including eggs and possibly fish. Dairy produce and eggs occupied an intermediate position in monastic culture between meat (which was avoided as far as possible by the stricter orders), and the ‘Lenten fare’ (quadragesimalis cibus) prescribed for days of abstinence. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 276–7. 8. 25 when you are healthy … let blood: only in A and L; probably an addition to the original text. Similar relaxations can be found in contemporary monastic rules. 8. 26 fat: ME seim (and its Latin translation, adeps) refers to soft animal fat (bacon fat, lard, or grease). 8. 27 You should not eat … weak: Dobson [1976], pp. 41–4, arguing for the Victorine origin of AW, sees the alternative text in F as an authorial substitution, and translates freres not as ‘friars’, but as the ‘brothers’ of the independent Augustinian congregations (who included the Victorines). But since these too belonged to the category of ‘Augustinian canons’, it is more likely that the reference here (whether it is authorial or not) is to the practices of the three main contemporary types of religious order, monks, regular canons, and friars. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 277. 8. 28 Nevertheless … I would like: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 12, CCCM 1. 648, similarly implies that his immediate audience errs on the side of self-restraint rather than self-indulgence: ‘Now indeed it would be superfluous to impose a rule on you, sister, concerning quality or quantity of food or drink, since from childhood up to the old age that now weakens your limbs you have barely sustained your body with a very scanty diet; but for the sake of others for whom you think it would be useful, I shall try to prescribe a fixed rule on these matters.’ 8. 29 Do not give … to the gate: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, §§ 3–4, CCCM 1. 639–40, similarly advises against both hospitality and almsgiving: the anchoress can become acquisitive and overworldly if the devil persuades her that she needs resources ‘for distributing alms and feeding orphans, for entertaining visiting relatives and friends and having religious women to stay … beggars should not clamour around her cell, or orphans weep, or a widow lament.’ 8. 30 Mary and Martha … diverged: cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 28, CCCM 1. 660: ‘There were two sisters, Martha and Mary. One worked, the other’s time was free. One spent, the other sought. One offered service, the other nurtured love.’ For the broader historical context of the interpretation of Luke 10: 38–42 that follows, see Constable [1995], especially pp. 93–103. The theme of Mary and Martha is linked in both the Carthusian Consuetudines, ch. 20, SC 313. 206–8, and Aelred of Rievaulx’s De Institutione inclusarum, §§ 27–8, CCCM 1. 659–62, with the question of whether almsgiving can be reconciled with the anchoritic life; the AW author seems to have drawn on both.

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8. 31 Mary has chosen … away from her: see Luke 10: 41–2. 8. 32 Martha has her role … to do with this: cf. the Carthusian Consuetudines, ch. 20, § 2, SC 313. 206, ‘So let Martha have her occupation, praiseworthy indeed but all the same not without anxiety and disturbance, and let her not make demands on her sister sitting at the feet of Christ … and listening to whatever the Lord says to her’, and Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 28, CCCM 1. 660, ‘[Mary] sat at the feet of Jesus, and listened to what he said … Let Martha follow her part, but although it should not be denied that it is good, nevertheless Mary’s is praised as better.’ 8. 33 If anybody … Scripture testifies: cf. the Carthusian Consuetudines, ch. 20, § 3, SC 313. 208: ‘if she [Martha] does not cease to make demands, she [Mary] has … a most faithful advocate, that is, the Lord himself, who deigns not only to defend her chosen way of life, but even to commend it, saying, “Mary [has chosen] the better part”, [etc.].’ 8. 34 Against Simon … a good work, he said, etc.: this passage (with a slightly longer form of the last quotation) is added by C2 in the margin of C after ‘Scripture’. C2’s introductory paragraph-mark suggests that it was not intended for incorporation into the text, as do its note-like form, its lack of translation or commentary, and its partial overlap with material already in the text (the reference to Luke 10: 42); it is, however, incorporated in both A and L. No other MSS include it. The first reference is to Luke 7: 36–50, where a woman who has sinned anoints Christ’s feet with expensive ointment; Christ praises her for treating him with more respect than his host Simon did, and uses the parable of the two debtors to make the point that ‘many sins have been forgiven her because she loved much’. The third reference is to a similar story, without the parable, told of an unnamed woman in Matt. 26: 6–13 and Mark 14: 3–9, where the apostles complain that the price of the ointment could have been given to the poor, but Jesus replies that she has done well, ‘For you always have the poor with you … but you do not always have me.’ In John 12: 1–8 there is a further version of the story, where the woman who anoints Christ’s feet is identified with Mary of Bethany (i.e. Martha’s sister), and it is Judas Iscariot who complains of her extravagance. 8. 35 moderately … moderately: an alteration by C2 in C of the original gnedeliche ‘sparingly’, followed by A; for discussion of this and similar modifications elsewhere in AW of the austerity of the original version, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 280. 8. 36 Furthermore … give away: cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 4, CCCM 1. 639: if the anchoress cannot support herself by her own labour, ‘before she is enclosed she should seek out reliable people, from whom she should receive humbly every day what will suffice for one day, and not add anything for the sake of the poor or guests.’



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8. 37 She is not a housewife, but a church anchoress: cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 3, CCCM 1. 639, criticizing anchoresses with so many worldly preoccupations ‘that you would think that they were mothers or mistresses of a household, not anchoresses’. On the rise of ‘church anchoresses’ (lay anchoresses attached to a local church rather than a monastic house) in the twelfth and thirteenth century, see Rosof; see also the comments on the symbolic significance of their position in Part 3, § 13. 8. 38 If she can spare … out of her house: presumably by giving them to someone else to distribute. Cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 4, CCCM 1. 639–40: ‘Certainly if you have any more food or clothing than you need, you are not a nun … But the anchoress is advised that if anything in the way of food is left over from the work of her hands, she should send it to some member of the faithful, who can distribute it to the poor.’ 8. 39 of that gathering: in A only; perhaps an addition to make the application of the metaphor clearer. 8. 40 and especially anchoresses’ maids: C2, A, and L only; probably reflecting the different circumstances of a larger and more geographicallyextended group of anchoresses (see Part 4, § 71). 8. 41 turn up having taken trouble: in A only, modifying an earlier reading with the sense ‘have taken trouble’ (see Millett [2005–6]. 2. 281). 8. 42 or borrow or beg it: an addition to the original version in C2, also incorporated in A. 8. 43 hospitably and invite them to stay: an addition to the original version in C2, incorporated in A and probably also reflected in L (‘gladly compensate them for their labour’). 8. 44 No man … they say: a minor modification of the advice in the original version (cf. Part 2, § 8) by C2 (see fn.) is followed by this more extensive revision, found in A and L. For the special treatment of the friars (mentioned specifically only in A), cf. the addition qualifying the author’s original warning against all visiting clerics by recommendation of the friars in Part 2, § 13. The concluding saying (ME ‘liht is leaue’) is proverbial; see OED s.v. leave n.1 I. b., and ODEP, p. 453 (only post-1500 examples). 8. 45 because of such invitations: in A only. 8. 46 But in all circumstances … bad manners: an addition to the original version, appearing in different forms in C2, A, and L (see fn.). The Latin translator seems to have misunderstood the point of the addition, which is directed against discourtesy rather than gossip; it is possible that A’s ‘because of your bad manners’ is a later clarification that was not in the version drawn on by L. 8. 47 good people: the substitution in C2, followed by A, of ‘people’ for the ‘friends’ of the original version suggests that the anchoresses could no longer rely on the support of a single patron (see Part 4, § 13 fn. and n. 37), or

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even one close to them (an addition in Part 4, § 77, advises the anchoresses to apply for help only to ‘good friends’). 8. 48 but be careful: the modification of the original version in C2, followed by A, involves a tempering of its austerity (see fn.); cf. the added passage in Part 4, § 77. 8. 49 because of his over-familiarity … conversation: an addition to the original version, interlined by C2 in C, incorporated in the text in A and (in slightly different form) in L. 8. 50 good men and women: a modification by C2, followed by A, to the reading of the original version, ‘your dearest friends’, probably reflected also in L’s ‘good and respectable people’ (bonis et honestis); see n. 47 above. 8. 51 unless you are forced … advises you to: the first clause is added by C2 in C, and incorporated in the text in A and L; the second is in A and L only. These qualifications to the prohibition of keeping livestock in the original version probably reflect the more straitened financial circumstances of the expanding group of anchoresses. 8. 52 any animal except a cat: Goscelin of St Bertin’s Liber confortatorius, addressed to the anchoress Eve of Wilton, forbids cats specifically in its advice against owning animals: ‘No cat, no poultry, no small animal, no irrational creature of any kind should share your house with you, nor should you fritter away your time on birds’ (bk. 3, ed. Talbot [1955], p. 80). But the wording of Goscelin’s prohibition suggests that his warning is primarily against keeping animals as pets, rather than (as here) for subsistence. 8. 53 easily: C2’s alteration of C and the further modification in A seem to reflect a progressive qualification of the strictness of the original prohibition; see n. 51 above. 8. 54 Martha’s sister: the explanatory gloss is added to C by C2, followed by A. the hedge-warden: a parish official (ME heiward) responsible for 8. 55 maintaining hedges and boundaries, and protecting the crops. 8. 56 An anchoress who keeps livestock … anchoress’s cattle: similar reasons (as noted in Hall, 2. 389) are given for the prohibition of livestock in the Grandmontine Rule, ch. 6, CCCM 8. 74: ‘Since you have renounced all kinds of animals, along with other worldly things, for the Lord, we forbid you utterly to reclaim them, in order that you may devote the attention that you would have paid to buying, breeding, and selling them to the service of God alone … and since you certainly do not own broad fields suitable for pasturing cattle, if you did keep animals, they might perhaps stray into other people’s fields, and there would be a great outcry from the neighbours, saying, “If only these hermits had never come here, since their various possessions are such a great nuisance to us!”’ 8. 57 that is, who buys to sell at a profit: interlined in C by C2, and incorporated in the text in A and L, probably as an explanatory gloss on



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chepilt (‘tradeswoman’), a word recorded in MED only from this passage. 8. 58 However … work of their hands: added by C2 to C, followed by A and L (whose text, however, is fragmentary here). The revisions here probably reflect not only the changing financial situation of the audience, but an increasingly positive attitude to manual labour as a means of selfsupport; C2 qualifies the concession by advising secrecy, but in A the qualification is lacking, and the use of manual labour justified by precedent. Aelred of Rievaulx in De Institutione inclusarum, § 4, CCCM 1. 639, had already recommended that the anchoress, if possible, ‘should live by the work of her own hands, because that is more perfect’; and William of Nottingham reported that although Robert Grosseteste in his preaching to the friars at Oxford ‘had placed begging as the nearest step in the ladder of poverty to the embracing of heavenly things, he had nevertheless said to him privately that there was a higher step, that is, to live from one’s own labour; and so he said that the Beguines follow the most perfect and holy form of the religious life, since they live from their own labour and do not burden the world with their demands’ (Thomas of Eccleston, De Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed. Little, p. 99). 8. 59 dear daughters: in A only. The departure from the usual form of address in the original version, ‘dear sisters’, probably reflects the reviser’s rather different relationship to the larger group of anchoresses. On the use of kinship terms by spiritual advisers, see Millett [2005–6], 2. liv–lv. 8. 60 boxes … indentures: in A only. On the translation ‘boxes’ (probably deed-boxes) for ME boistes, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 285. 8. 61 necessity or: this addition, in C2, A, and L, is probably intended as a slight relaxation of the original prescription. 8. 62 This kind of storage … trouble: on the practice of entrusting valuables to recluses, and the problems that this could lead to, see Warren [1985], pp. 110–12. 8. 63 man: ME mon here presumably means ‘male’ rather than, more generally, ‘person’; T has wepmon (see following note). 8. 64 men: A wepmen, unlike the na mon of the original version, refers unambiguously to males. 8. 65 Nobody should wear linen … do without one: Brewer [1956], p. 233, uses this qualified permission to wear linen to link the anchoresses with the Augustinian canons, and Dobson [1976], pp. 28–9, argues further that it links them particularly with the Victorines rather than the Premonstratensians, whose statutes from the later twelfth century (dist. 4, ch. 14, ed. Lefèvre and Grauwen, p. 50) forbade linen garments other than underpants, or the Dominicans, who at an early stage took this austerity further and prohibited wearing linen next to the skin (ad carnem) altogether (Constitutiones, dist. 1, ch. 19, ed. Thomas, p. 329). But the anchoresses’ sex has to be taken into account as well as their institutional connections; Heloise, pointing out to

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Abelard the impracticality of some of the prescriptions of the Benedictine Rule for her house of nuns, asked, ‘What … is the relevance for them of tunics or woollen garments worn next to the skin, since the monthly purgings of their superfluous moisture [i.e. menstruation] rule these out completely?’ (Ep. 6, PL 178. 213). Aelred of Rievaulx, who as a Cistercian would have worn only wool next to the skin himself, recommends in De Institutione inclusarum, § 13, CCCM 1. 649, ‘two shifts of coarse linen or linsey-woolsey [a rough linen/wool mix]’, as in AW; the Constitutiones of the Arrouaisian canons exempted women from their prohibition of garments woven from a linen/wool mix (ch. 149, CCCM 20. 150), and the early Premonstratensian nuns were allowed the choice of linen or woollen shifts (see Dobson [1976], p. 90). The linsey-woolsey shift (ME stamin, from Latin staminea) mentioned here was an uncomfortable garment, a kind of lightweight hair-shirt, which may be why its use is optional for the anchoresses. 8. 66 You should sleep … belt: this was standard monastic practice, for both men and women, from an early period (see, e.g., ch. 22 of the Benedictine Rule, CSEL 75. 77). Benedict explained it by the need to be prepared (i.e. to recite the Divine Office); the avoidance of indecency—the laity slept naked—was sometimes also given as a reason. A single garment was sometimes specified, as here (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 286–7, for references). 8. 67 but so loosely fastened … permission: only in A and L (fragmentary here). 8. 68 anything made of iron: on the penitential use of mailshirts and fetters, see Part 6, § 13 and n. 114. 8. 69 sting herself anywhere with nettles: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 18, CCCM 1. 653, cites approvingly the example of a monk who used to rub his body with nettles to subdue carnal desires. 8. 70 She should not sting … with cuts: in A only. 8. 71 harsh: on this modification in A of the ‘many’ (feole) of the original version, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 287. 8. 72 in order to subdue temptations … worse for it: all but the last clause (which is also in L) in A only; on the textual history of this addition, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 287. 8. 73 Your shoes … wear light shoes; all three additions are in A, the first and third also in L; there is also a possible echo of the first in P (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 288). 8. 74 Do not sleep … except in bed: this addition (in A and L only) refers to penitential practices. The monastic practice of sleeping fully clothed (see n. 66 above) could include wearing shoes (specified, for instance, in the Cistercian, Carthusian, and Premonstratensian regulations); sleeping elsewhere than in bed was an ascetic practice, followed, for instance, by



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Edmund of Abingdon, who habitually slept sitting, or lying at the foot of his bed (see Lawrence [1960], pp. 113–15). 8. 75 but a mild and gentle heart … hair-shirt: in A and L only, but a similar point is made in the original version; see part 4, § 10 and n. 20. 8. 76 and you are quite willing to: C2 and A only. 8. 77 white or: added in C by C2, incorporated in A and probably also L (where only part of the ‘or’ survives). 8. 78 If you can manage without wimples … veils over them: Hall, 2. 394, defines the wimple as ‘a long strip of fine linen which encircled the head, neck, and the top of the shoulders’, and quotes Bernard of Clairvaux, who used it as a mark of distinction between worldly ladies and nuns: ‘Excessive laughter, a too-seductive walk, over-elaborate clothing, would suit a woman wearing a wimple [wimplata] better than one wearing a veil [velata]’ (Ep. 114, § 3, Opera, 7. 293). See also following note. 8. 79 Some anchoresses sin … acts as well: this long addition in A, a shorter version of which (lacking the last two sentences) is added in the margin of C by C2, is also partially recorded in V (whose text of Part 8 begins at ‘to wear a wimple’, at the end of the second sentence), and in fragmentary form in L; it replaces the reluctant toleration of wimples in the original version by emphatic denunciation. Thomas of Chobham expresses a similar disapproval of wimples (Sermo 16, CCCM 82A. 169): ‘So the devil sits on women’s clothes and especially on their wimples [pepla], which they drape around half their head for the sake of lasciviousness, not modesty, as the apostle says.’ See also previous note. 8. 80 Let the woman cover her head: see 1 Cor. 11: 6. 8. 81 and this is on account of the angels: see 1 Cor. 11: 10. 8. 82 for But … acts as well: the added sentence in L’s alternative reading here, ‘You do not observe this’ (see fn.), may be an address to its wider audience of religious; but if so, it is not clear whether it is a reproach or a statement of fact. 8. 83 When it is hot … white linen: in A and L only; the addition probably reflects a further relaxation of the restrictions on wearing linen (see n. 65 above). 8. 84 except … allows: C2 and A only. 8. 85 or caps: A and L only. 8. 86 silk ribbons: translates ME blodbinde of seolc. For a full discussion of the meaning of blodbinde (normally ‘bandage’ or ‘tourniquet’) in this passage, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 290–1; some parallel prescriptions in thirteenth-century rules for penitent orders, using the Latin term benda/ binda, suggest that the reference is to decorative strips of cloth used for personal adornment. 8. 87 or laces, without permission: added to C by C2, followed by A; similarly L.

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8. 88 Do not make … the poor: cf. Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 7, CCCM 1. 643, criticizing women ‘who send young monks or clerics belts or purses embroidered or woven with multicoloured threads, and other things of this kind’, or accept small presents from them. The qualifications added here, however (see nn. 84, 86 above), suggest a relaxation of this prohibition. 8. 89 of this kind: C2 and A only. 8. 90 any more than you should accept it … good works: in A and L only (the L text, which is fragmentary here, begins at ‘There was once a religious’). This addition digresses from the original topic of the subsection, ‘your handiwork’ (Preface, § 8); the (rather tenuous) connecting thread is the warning against relationships with the outside world that involve the exchange of gifts. 8. 91 There was once a religious … help: Cooper, p. 312, traces this story to Cassian’s Collationes, bk. 24, ch. 9, SC 64. 179–80; Hall, 2. 396, notes that it is also used by James of Vitry and Odo of Cheriton. 8. 92 Amices: the amice is an ecclesiastical accessory, ‘a linen scarf worn over the head and shoulders’ (MED, s.v. amit n. I). 8. 93 drawn-thread work: on this (tentative) interpretation of ME criblin (literally ‘to sieve’) see Millett [2005–6], 2. 291–2. Drawn-thread work ‘involves the removal of selected warp and weft threads [from a piece of linen] and the manipulation by stitching methods of the remaining threads into an open patterned web-like ground’ (Staniland, p. 36). 8. 94 alb: a long-sleeved, full-length white linen garment, worn with a girdle. 8. 95 None of you … necessary: in A only. 8. 96 and, if necessary, feed: C2, followed by A, similarly L; not in other MSS. The addition seems intended to encourage a less well-resourced group of anchoresses to greater independence of outside support; cf. n. 58 above. 8. 97 As St Jerome teaches: see Jerome, Ep. 125, § 11, CSEL 56(1). 130, ‘be engaged, too, in some kind of work, so that the devil may always find you occupied’, a precept frequently quoted by later writers. 8. 98 with something … good reason: a minor expansion in C2 (‘completely’) has been extended in A and V; L instead paraphrases Jerome’s original (see previous note). Not in other MSS. 8. 99 The iniquity of Sodom … idleness: see Ezek. 16: 49. 8. 100 An anchoress … school: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 4, CCCM 1. 640, criticizes those anchoresses ‘who are occupied in teaching girls, and turn their anchorhold into a school’ because of the distraction such teaching causes, and its encouragement of worldly affections. On the pressure on anchorites to provide education, and the problems this might cause, see Warren [1985], pp. 112–13. 8. 101 Her maid … learning: the last of the alterations in this sentence



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is found in C , A, and L, the others in A only; they seem to have been generally intended to adapt it for a higher age-group of female pupils. 8. 102 You must not send … without permission: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 7, CCCM 1. 643, forbids anchoresses to exchange letters with men. CLP omit ‘or write anything’, perhaps because they felt that the point being made was unclear (which it is). It is possible that it is a prohibition of unauthorized copying; cf. the Gilbertine Rule, ch. 19 (Dugdale, vol. 6, part 2, pp. l*–li*), ‘None of our members should presume to copy or to have copied (scribere, vel scribi facere) any books, or any prayers or meditations either, without the agreement of the prior of the house’, and the more general prohibition in the Victorine Liber Ordinis, ch. 19, CCCM 61. 81, against copying anything for oneself or for others without official permission. 8. 103 four times a year: P and T (which are descended from a text of AW adapted for a male audience) have ‘fifteen’ for ‘four’, and omit ‘to lighten your head’; women religious had their hair cut much less often than men. See Dobson [1976] on the frequency of tonsuring in the various religious orders, and also Millett [1992], pp. 209–11; the recommendation of fifteen tonsurings in P and T should probably be linked with Dominican practice. 8. 104 You should have … trimmed: additions by C2 in C to the prescriptions on haircuts have been more thoroughly (though still awkwardly) incorporated into the text in A; L reorganizes the sentence more elegantly (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 293–4). 8. 105 be let blood as often: P and T have ‘four times’ for ‘as often’, an adjustment to the text to allow for the previous modification in their line of descent of the number of haircuts (see n. 103 above). Bloodletting in religious houses had not only a medicinal but a recreational function, allowing periodic relaxation, dietary and otherwise, of the strict routine of the house. The Cistercian, Gilbertine, and Dominican regulations specify bloodletting four times a year; the Augustinian congregations tended to prefer five (see Millett [2005–6], 2. 294). 8. 106 three days: the allowance of a three-day recovery period after bloodletting was normal monastic practice. 8. 107 though every worldly comfort … anchoress: this addition, in A only (although L is running), is untypical of the revisions to Part 8 in its comparative severity; but see also n. 124 below. 8. 108 Wash yourselves … pleasing to him: see Constable [1996], pp. 193–4: while twelfth-century monks ‘saw virtue in a verminous hair shirt and luxury in a warm bath, there is no evidence that they esteemed dirtiness for its own sake … Some of the reformers, on the contrary, encouraged cleanliness’, out of a concern both for health and for the spiritual risks of excessive mortification—factors that may underlie the revision of this 2

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sentence in A (partially reflected in L). In L, the poverty that is pleasing to God is further defined as ‘voluntary’, and the simplicity’ as ‘external’. 8. 109 as I said at the beginning: see Preface, §§ 4–6; the point is reiterated in § 1 above. 8. 110 Where all these matters … comes to grief: a version of this addition with minor variants, and without the last clause, is entered by C2 in the margin of C; in A and (in abridged and rewritten form) in L, it is incorporated in the text. See further Millett [2005–6], 2. 295. 8. 111 For an anchoress … comfort and pleasure: Before this subsection (§§ 31–4) C has the rubric ‘Your maids’ rule’ (cf. Preface, § 8), and F ‘the rule of your household’; it is the equivalent of the lay brothers’ customary (usus conversorum) in monastic legislative tradition. 8. 112 without any kind of finery: in A only. 8. 113 either a little maidservant: a C2 addition, followed by A. 8. 114 For an anchoress … advanced in years: Aelred of Rievaulx, De Institutione inclusarum, § 4, CCM 1. 640, advises the anchoress to have two maidservants, one an old woman (anus), the other a girl for the heavier work (fortiorem … puellam), an arrangement that seems to be assumed below (‘the younger should not speak to any man without permission’) and may be reflected here. But the passage as modified in A is difficult to interpret with confidence; see Millett [2005–6], 2. 296. 8. 115 if at all possible: A only. 8. 116 If she is illiterate … Hail Marys: the standard procedure for those who were illiterate but leading a religious or semi-religious life (see Millett [2000], pp. 28–31); for examples of devotional routines of this kind, see Part 1, § 6 fn. and § 30. 8. 117 Their overdresses … brooch: on the disputed etymology and meaning of ME cop, derived here from the rare OE cōp ‘overgarment’ and taken as referring to the overdress worn over the chemise, see Millett [2005–6], 2. 297. In thirteenth-century England the neckline of this overdress ‘tended to be slightly lower [than in the twelfth century]; or it was made with a short V opening which was closed at the neck with a brooch’ (Cunnington and Cunnington, p. 48). The point of the recommendation would be to discourage both immodesty and vanity. 8. 118 Venia: see Part 1, n. 148. 8. 119 Through my fault: Latin mea culpa, probably an echo of the standard prayer of confession, the Confiteor. 8. 120 Although the anchoress … with permission: a distinction is being made here between the disciplining of routine faults, which was permitted to women religious, and the administration of confession, which was not; Innocent III in a letter of 1210 (Ep. 187, PL 216. 356) condemned the practice of some abbesses of hearing the confessions of nuns, since it usurped the priestly function proper to men.



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8. 121 the external maids: a puzzling phrase. Hall, 2. 403, thinks that this can only apply to the maid who goes out on errands, as opposed to the one who remains in the anchor-house (see §  31 above), and prefers the generalized reading in T, ‘those who are outside’, which he takes as referring to external helpers generally. It is possible, however, that ‘þe meidnes wiðuten’ is the equivalent in this context of the phrase fratres exteriores (‘external brothers’) applied to the lay brothers (conversi) who served monastic communities because it was they who dealt with external and practical matters; in this case, the reference would simply be to the anchoress’s maids generally. 8. 122 It is right … love than fear: C3 adds in the margin of C next to this sentence, Augustine in his Rule: And although each of these is necessary, nevertheless [the superior] should seek to be more loved by you than feared. See Augustine, Ep. 211, § 15, CSEL 57. 370; but the borrowing may be from the adaptation of this letter in the Augustinian Rule (ed. Verheijen, 1. 436). 8. 123 According to God’s teaching … fear caused by love: cf. Gregory, Moralia in Iob, bk. 20, ch. 5, § 14, CCSL 143A. 1012, and Regula pastoralis, bk. 2, ch. 6, SC 381. 214–16. Gregory borrows an image from the parable of the Good Samaritan, who pours oil and wine into the wounds of the man he rescues (see Luke 10: 34), to illustrate the point that when dealing with subordinates, severity should be tempered by leniency. 8. 124 When your sister’s maids … as was said above: This addition (§ 38), in A only, develops further the point added in A in § 27 above, ‘every worldly comfort is of little value to an anchoress’. 8. 125 or anything that involves touch: ME ‘ne ne ticki togederes’. The verb ticki is recorded only here in ME; its basic meaning is ‘to touch or tap lightly’ (see OED s.v. tick v. 1). ‘Tick’ or ‘Ticky’ is still the normal name in the area where AW was written for the children’s chasing game based on touch (see Opie and Opie, pp. 66–7); a game involving touching of some kind may be referred to here. 8. 126 as St Bernard says: Hall, 2. 405, suggests Bernard of Clairvaux, Ep. 462, § 6, Opera, 8. 443: ‘To be sure, those entering the religious life should not consider the frailty of the flesh, so that it may be comfortably accommodated, but impediments to spiritual fervour, so that they may be scrupulously avoided.’ 8. 127 as was said above: probably a reference to Part 7, § 19. 8. 128 I would rather set out to Rome … writing it again: Anderson, p. 52, notes later uses of the journey to Rome, the administrative headquarters of the Church, as ‘a stock example of an unpleasant task’ in Patience 52, and the Towneley play of The Judgment, ed. Stevens and Cawley, lines 187–90. 8. 129 Read some of this book … as far as you can: probably based on the similar passage that concludes Augustine’s Ep. 211, § 16, CSEL 57. 370–1, taken over in the Augustinian Rule, ed. Verheijen, 1. 437, Praeceptum, ch. 7, § 3: ‘But so that you can inspect yourselves in this little book as if in a

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mirror, so that you do not neglect anything out of forgetfulness, it should be read to you once a week, and when you find that you are doing the things that are written here, give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all good things; but when any of you sees herself as lacking in any respect, she should lament what is past and take anxious thought for the future, praying that her debt may be forgiven her and that she may not be led into temptation.’ 8. 130 the man who worked on it: the modification in N makes a distinction between the man who composed (makede) AW and the man who copied (wrat) it and worked on it, suggesting that the copyist of the text in N was also responsible for at least some of its textual alterations. 8. 131 I am moderate enough who ask for so little: ME ‘Inoh meaðful Ich am þe bidde se lutel.’ This sentence is found only in A, N, and as an addition to C by C2; it is likely to have been an addition to the original version (on its textual history, see further Millett [2005–6], 2. 302). Dobson [1976], ch. 6, argues that the phrase ‘Inoh meaðful’ hides a double clue to the name of the author of AW, Brian of Lingen, playing on the supposed derivation of his name from Latin bria ‘moderate’ and (with the C2 spelling, meðful), anagrammatizing his origin, ‘of Linthehum’ (‘of Lingen’); but his conclusions have been questioned in detail by Kristensson, who argues that *Linthehum is not a possible variant of ‘Lingen’, and more generally by Millett [1992]. 8. 132 Remember your scribe … pray for others: in A only; since the addition follows the Explicit marking the end of the work, writere here probably refers to the copyist rather than the author.

Bibliography

1. A Note on Further Reading The Bibliography is not intended to be comprehensive; it lists only the works actually referred to in this volume. For a full-scale annotated bibliography covering work on the Ancrene Wisse Group to the end of 1993, with a few later items, see Millett [1996a]; this includes an extended introduction tracing the history of scholarly work on the Group, an annotated checklist of the manuscripts, and summaries of individual books and articles. It should be supplemented by the survey article ‘The Current State of Ancrene Wisse Group Studies’ by Dahood [1997]. Further references (up to 2003) are given in the bibliography appended to the survey article on the Ancrene Wisse Group by Millett [2004]; the following suggestions focus mainly on more recent publications. There are good student editions of Ancrene Wisse by Ackerman and Dahood [1984] (Preface and Part 1, with interleaved translation), Shepherd [1959] (Parts 6 and 7, with glossary), and Hasenfratz [2000] (full text, with running glosses and glossary). The Companion to Ancrene Wisse edited by Wada [2003] includes articles on the language, genre, content, and later history of Ancrene Wisse. The most recent full-length study is Gunn’s Ancrene Wisse: From Pastoral Literature to Vernacular Spirituality [2008], which relates it to its broader contemporary European context. For those who would like to explore the Ancrene Wisse Group further, Savage and Watson [1991] have published a generously-annotated translation of all its works; there are also interleaved translations of Epistel of Meidenhad, Seinte Margarete, and Sawles Warde, as well as Parts 7 and 8 of Ancrene Wisse, in the student anthology by Millett and Wogan-Browne [1992]. The works of the Wooing Group, which have tended to be neglected by scholars in the past, are examined in a forthcoming collection, The Milieu and Context of The Wooing Group, edited by Chewning [2009]. The articles in Part 1 of Approaching Medieval English Anchoritic and Mystical Texts (ed. Dyas, Edden, and Ellis [2005]) provide a useful introduction to the historical context of English anchoritism, and to the varieties of spirituality in the later Middle Ages.

280 b i b l i o g r a p h y

2. Abbreviations and Short Titles Anselm of Canterbury, Opera: see Schmitt Bernard of Clairvaux, Opera: see Leclercq et al. CCCM—Corpus Christianorum: continuatio mediaeualis (Turnhout, 1966–) CCSL—Corpus Christianorum: series latina (Turnhout, 1953–) CSEL—Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum (Vienna, 1866–) DMA—Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Joseph R. Strayer (New York, 1982–9) EGS—English and Germanic Studies ES—English Studies Glossa ordinaria—Biblia latina cum Glossa ordinaria: Facsimile Reprint of the Editio Princeps: Adolph Rusch of Strassburg 1480/81, introd. Karlfried Froehlich and Margaret T. Gibson, 4 vols (Turnhout, 1992) HM—‘Hali Meiðhad’ (Epistel of Meidenhad), cited from Millett [1982] James of Vitry, Sermones dominicales: Reverendissimi D. Iacobi de Vitriaco … Sermones in Epistolas et Euangelia Dominicalia totius anni (Antwerp, 1575) JEGP—Journal of English and Germanic Philology JEH—Journal of Ecclesiastical History LALME—A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English, ed. Angus McIntosh, M.L. Samuels, and Michael Benskin, 4 vols (Aberdeen, 1986) MÆ—Medium Ævum MED—Middle English Dictionary, ed. Hans Kurath et al. (Ann Arbor, MI, 1956–2001) MLR—Modern Language Review MS—Mediaeval Studies N&Q—Notes and Queries ns—New Series ODCC—Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edn, rev. E.A. Livingstone (Oxford, 1977) ODEP—The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, 3rd edn, rev. F.P. Wilson (Oxford, 1970) ODS—The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 4th edn, ed. David Hugh Farmer (Oxford, 1997) OED—A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, ed. J.A.H. Murray et al. (Oxford, 1888–1928) os—Original Series Peraldus, William, Sermones super Epistolas dominicales—Sermones … super Epistolas dominicales … domini Guilelmi de Peraldo (Lyons, 1576) PL—Patrologiae cursus completus … series latina, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1844–65) RES—Review of English Studies

bibl iogr a ph y 281 SC—Sources Chrétiennes SJ—Seinte Iuliene, cited from d’Ardenne (references are to the Bodley 34 text unless otherwise indicated) SM—Seinte Margarete, cited from Mack SN—Studia Neophilologica SW—Sawles Warde, cited from the Bodley 34 text in Wilson [1938] (unless otherwise indicated) Ureisun of God Almihti—On wel swuðe god Ureisun of God Almihti (‘On Ureisun of ure Louerde’), cited from Thompson [1958] (references to the Nero A. xiv text) Walther—Hans Walther, Proverbia sententiaeque Latinitatis medii ac recentioris aevi: nova series, 3 vols, ed. Paul Gerhard Schmitt, Carmina medii aevi posterioris latina 2/7–9 (Göttingen, 1982–6) Whiting—B.J. Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences and Proverbial Phrases from English Writings mainly before 1500 (Cambridge, MA, 1968) Wohunge—Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerde, cited from Thompson [1958]

3. Editions and Secondary Works Ackerman and Dahood—Robert W. Ackerman and Roger Dahood, eds and trans., Ancrene Riwle: Introduction and Part 1, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 31 (Binghamton, NY, 1984) Allen—Hope Emily Allen, ‘The Origin of the Ancren Riwle’, PMLA 33 (1918) 474–546 Anderson—J.J. Anderson, ed., Patience, Old and Middle English Texts (Manchester, 1959) d’Ardenne—S.R.T.O. d’Ardenne, ed., An Edition of þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège 64 (Liège, 1936); corr. rpt, as Þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene, EETS os 248 (1961) d’Avray—D.L. d’Avray, The Preaching of the Friars: Sermons Diffused from Paris before 1300 (Oxford, 1985) Ayto and Barratt—John Ayto and Alexandra Barratt, eds, Aelred of Rievaulx’s De Institutione inclusarum: Two English Versions, EETS os 287 (1984) Baldwin [1974]—Mary Baldwin, ‘Ancrene Wisse and its Background in the Christian Tradition of Religious Instruction and Spirituality’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, 1974) Baldwin [1976]—Mary Baldwin, ‘Some Difficult Words in the Ancrene Riwle’, MS 38 (1976) 268–90 Barker—Juliet R. Barker, The Tournament in England, 1100–1400 (Woodbridge, 1986) Barratt [1980]—Alexandra Barratt, ‘Anchoritic Aspects of Ancrene Wisse’, MÆ 49 (1980) 32–56

282 b i b l i o g r a p h y Barratt [1987]—Alexandra Barratt, ‘The Five Wits and their Structural Significance in Part II of Ancrene Wisse’, MÆ 56 (1987) 12–24 Baugh—A.C. Baugh, ed., The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle: Edited from British Museum MS. Royal 8 C. 1, EETS os 232 (1956) Bennett—J.A.W. Bennett, ‘Lefunge o swefne · o nore’, RES ns 9 (1958) 280–1 Bériou and d’Avray—Nicole Bériou and D.L. d’Avray, ‘The Image of the Ideal Husband in Thirteenth Century France’, in Modern Questions about Medieval Sermons: Essays on Marriage, Death, History, and Sanctity, ed. Nicole Bériou and D.L. d’Avray, Biblioteca di Medioevo Latino 11 (Spoleto, 1994), pp. 31–69 Biller—Peter Biller, ‘Words and the Medieval Notion of “Religion”’, JEH 36 (1985) 351–69 Bishop—Ian Bishop, ‘“Greek Fire” in “Ancrene Wisse” and Contemporary Texts’, N&Q ns 26 (1979) 198–9 Bloomfield—Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins: An Introduction to the History of a Religious Concept, with Special Reference to Medieval English Literature (East Lansing, MI, 1952; rev. rpt 1967) Boas—Marcus Boas, ed., Disticha Catonis (Amsterdam, 1952) Bolton [1981]—Brenda Bolton, ‘Some Thirteenth Century Women in the Low Countries: A Special Case?’, Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis 61 (1981) 7–29 Bolton [1983]—Brenda Bolton, The Medieval Reformation, Foundations of Medieval History (London, 1983) Brady—I. Brady, ed., Magistri Petri Lombardi Parisiensis episcopi Sententiae in IV libris distinctae, Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 4–5 (Grottaferrata, 1971–81) Brakke—David Brakke, ‘Ethiopian Demons: Male Sexuality, The BlackSkinned Other, and the Monastic Self’, Journal of the History of Sexuality 10 (2001) 501–5 Bremond, Le Goff, and Schmitt—Claude Bremond, Jacques Le Goff, and Jean-Claude Schmitt, L’‘Exemplum’, Typologie des sources du moyen âge occidental 40 (Turnhout, 1982) Brewer [1953]—D.S. Brewer, ‘Postscriptum’, MÆ 22 (1953) 123 Brewer [1956]—D.S. Brewer, ‘Two Notes on the Augustinian and Possibly West Midland Origin of the Ancren Riwle’, N&Q ns 3 (1956) 232–5 Brown—Carleton Brown, ed., English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century (Oxford, 1932) Burrow—J.A. Burrow, Gestures and Looks in Medieval Narrative, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 48 (Cambridge, 2002) Burrow and Turville-Petre—J.A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, eds, A Book of Middle English, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1996)

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292 b i b l i o g r a p h y Shepherd [1956]—Geoffrey Shepherd, ‘“All the Wealth of Croesus …”: A Topic in the “Ancren Riwle”’, MLR 51 (1956) 161–7 Shepherd [1959]—Geoffrey Shepherd, ed., Ancrene Wisse: Parts Six and Seven [1959], rev. edn, Exeter Medieval English Texts (Exeter, 1985) Smalley—Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, 3rd edn (Oxford, 1983) Smithers [1948–9]—G.V. Smithers, ‘Four Cruces in Middle English Texts’, EGS 2 (1948–9) 59–67 Smithers [1965]—G.V. Smithers, ‘Two Typological Terms in the Ancrene Riwle’, MÆ 34 (1965) 126–8 Southern and Schmitt—R.W. Southern and F.S. Schmitt, eds, Memorials of St Anselm, Auctores Britannici medii aevi 1 (Oxford, 1969) Spencer—Helen L. Spencer, ‘The Fortunes of a Lollard Sermon-Cycle in the Later Fifteenth Century’, MS 48 (1986) 352–96 Stacey—Robert C. Stacey, ‘The English Jews under Henry III’, in The Jews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary and Archaeological Perspectives, ed. Patricia Skinner (Woodbridge, 2003), pp. 41–54 Staniland—Kay Staniland, Embroiderers, Medieval Craftsmen (London, 1991) Stevens and Cawley—Martin Stevens and A.C. Cawley, eds, The Towneley Plays, vol. 1, EETS SS 13 (1994) Strange—Joseph Strange, ed., Caesari Heisterbacensis monachi ordinis Cisterciensis Dialogus miraculorum (Cologne, 1851; rpt Ridgewood, NJ, 1966) Talbot [1955]—C.H. Talbot, ed., ‘The Liber Confortatorius of Goscelin of Saint Bertin’, Studia Anselmiana 37, Analecta Monastica, 3rd series (1955) 2–117 Talbot [1956]—C.H. Talbot, ‘Some Notes on the Dating of the Ancrene Riwle’, Neophilologus 40 (1956) 38–50 Tanner—Norman P. Tanner, ed. and trans., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1 (London, 1990) Tentler—Thomas N. Tentler, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation (Princeton, 1977) Thomas—A.H. Thomas, De oudste constituties van de Dominicanen: voorgeschiedenis, tekst, bronnen, ontstaan en ontwikkeling (1215–37), Bibliothèque de la Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique 42 (Louvain, 1965) Thompson [1991]—John J. Thompson, ‘Textual Instability and the Late Medieval Reputation of Some Middle English Religious Literature’, Text 5 (1991) 175–94 Thompson [1958]—W. Meredith Thompson, ed., Þe Wohunge of ure Lauerd, EETS os 241 (1958) Tolkien [1929]—J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad’, E&S 14 (1929) 104–26

bibl iogr a ph y 293 Tolkien [1962]—J.R.R. Tolkien, ed., The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle: Ancrene Wisse: Edited from MS. Corpus Christi College Cambridge 402, introd. N.R. Ker, EETS os 249 (1962) Trethewey—W.H. Trethewey, ed., The French Text of the Ancrene Riwle: Edited from Trinity College Cambridge MS. R. 14. 7 with Variants from Bibliothèque Nationale MS. F. fr. 6276 and MS. Bodley 90, EETS os 240 (1958) Trexler—Richard C. Trexler, The Christian at Prayer: An Illustrated Prayer Manual Attributed to Peter the Chanter (d. 1197), Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 44 (Binghamton, NY, 1987) Venarde—Bruce L. Venarde, Women’s Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890–1215 (Ithaca, NY, 1997) Verheijen—Luc Verheijen, La Règle de saint Augustin, 2 vols, Études Augustiniennes (Paris, 1967) Wada—Yoko Wada, ed., A Companion to Ancrene Wisse (Cambridge, 2003) Waldron—R.A. Waldron, ‘Enumeration in Ancrene Wisse’, N&Q ns 16 (1969) 86–7 Warren [1984]—Ann K. Warren, ‘The Nun as Anchoress: England 1100– 1500’, in Medieval Religious Women, Volume 1: Distant Echoes, ed. John A. Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank (Kalamazoo, MI, 1984), pp. 197–212 Warren [1985]—Ann K. Warren, Anchorites and their Patrons in Medieval England (Berkeley, 1985) Watson [1987]—Nicholas Watson, ‘The Methods and Objectives of Thirteenth-Century Anchoritic Devotion’, in The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England: Exeter Symposium 4, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 132–53 Watson [2003]—Nicholas Watson, ‘Ancrene Wisse, Religious Reform and the Late Middle Ages’, in A Companion to Ancrene Wisse, ed. Yoko Wada (Cambridge, 2003) pp. 197–226 Watson and Wogan-Browne—Nicholas Watson and Jocelyn WoganBrowne, ‘The French of England: The Compileisun, Ancrene Wisse, and the Idea of Anglo-Norman’, in Cultural Traffic in the Medieval Romance World, Journal of Romance Studies 4. 3, special issue, ed. Simon Gaunt and Julian Weiss (Winter 2004) 35–58 Wenzel [1967]—Siegfried Wenzel, ‘The Three Enemies of Man’, MS 29 (1967) 47–66 Wenzel [1984]—Siegfried Wenzel, ed. and trans., Summa virtutum de remediis anime, The Chaucer Library (Athens, GA, 1984) White [1945]—Beatrice White, ‘Whale-Hunting, the Barnacle Goose, and the Date of the “Ancrene Riwle”. Three Notes on Old and Middle English’, MLR 40 (1945) 205–7

294 b i b l i o g r a p h y White [1993]—Hugh White, trans., Ancrene Wisse: Guide for Anchoresses, Penguin Classics (London, 1993) Wilmart [1933]—André Wilmart, Analecta Reginensia: extraits des manuscrits latins de la reine Christine conservés au Vatican, Studi e testi 59 (Vatican City, 1933) Wilmart [1935]—André Wilmart, ‘Un opuscule sur la confession composé par Guy de Southwick vers la fin du XIIe siècle’, Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale 7 (1935) 337–52 Wilson [1968]—Edward Wilson, ‘The Four Loves in Ancrene Wisse’, RES 19 (1968) 41–7 Wilson [1938]—R.M. Wilson, ed., Sawles Warde: An Early Middle English Homily: Edited from the Bodley, Royal and Cotton MSS, Leeds School of English Language Texts and Monographs 3 (Kendal, 1938) Wilson [1954]—R.M. Wilson, ed., The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle: Edited from Gonville and Caius College MS. 234/120, introd. N.R. Ker, EETS os 229 (1954) Woolf [1962]—Rosemary Woolf, ‘The Theme of Christ the Lover-Knight in Medieval English Literature’, RES ns 14 (1962) 1–16 Woolf [1968]—Rosemary Woolf, The English Religious Lyric in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1968) Wright—Thomas Wright, ed., Alexandri Neckam De Naturis rerum libri duo, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores 34 (London, 1863) Zettersten [1965]—Arne Zettersten, Studies in the Dialect and Vocabulary of the Ancrene Riwle, Lund Studies in English 34 (Lund, 1965) Zettersten [1976]—Arne Zettersten, ed., The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle: Edited from Magdalene College, Cambridge MS. Pepys 2498, EETS os 274 (1976) Zettersten and Diensberg—Arne Zettersten and Bernhard Diensberg, eds, The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle: The ‘Vernon’ Text, Edited from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Eng. poet. a. 1, introd. H.L. Spencer, EETS os 310 (2000)

General Index

The Index is selective, omitting some incidental references; it does not include references to post-medieval scholars or their publications. References to the translated text are given in bold type; they include unacknowledged borrowings from the patristic and medieval works cited. The entries under the heading ‘exempla’ follow the AW author’s relatively broad interpretation of this term (see pp. xxxv–xxxvii); and some non-narrative comparisons too extended to be categorized by a single keyword have been listed under ‘similitudines’. References to Latin prayers and hymns have been given in the original language. A patre unigenitus, 7, 13, 171 ‘AB language’, xi–xii Abiram, God’s vengeance on, 127, 245 abortion and contraception, 80, 215 Abraham, God’s love for, 154 Absalom, beauty of, 150, 263 abstinence, 128, 155–6, 266–7; days of, 186, 190; excessive, 85. See also fasting, mortification accidie, see sloth active life, xl, xlv–xlvi, 169. See also contemplative life Adam, 146; garment of (the flesh), 137, 253; made excuses, 116, 237; God’s vengeance on, 127. See also leaves Adesto, quaesumus, Domine, 14, 179 adultery, 78; David’s, 23, 183; the soul’s, 148–9 Advent, 29, 155, 186, 258 Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham, xxi, xxxiii

Aelred of Rievaulx, xxvii, 139, 254; De Institutione inclusarum, xxvii, xlii, 1, 12, 36, 139–40, 156–7, 167, 168, 172, 177, 188, 191, 217, 257, 265, 267, 268, 269, 271, 272, 274, 275, 276 affectations, see nutus superbiae agate, protects against poison, 54, 200 Agatha, St, on medicine, 139, 253, 255 Ahasuerus, signifying God, 57, 65, 202 Alan of Lille, Summa de arte praedicatoria, xi, 183–4, 210, 215, 216, 221, 238, 248, 262 Alexander of Ashby, De artificioso modo predicandi, xxi Alexander of Macedon, fame of, 150, 263 Alma redemptoris mater, 16, 180 almsgiving, 85, 156–7, 267, 269 Alpha et omega, 11, 175

296

gener a l inde x

altars —high, of church, 7, 171, 186; priest ogled at, 121 —anchoresses’, 18, 26, 38, 66, 130; dedicated to saints, 8, 172 Ambrose, St: Commentarius in Cantica Canticorum, 257; Expositio in Ps. cxviii, 56–7, 120, 202, 240; Explanatio psalmorum xiii, 230; De Joseph patriarcha, 24, 183 ‘Ambrosiaster’, 214 anchoresses, ix; carnal and worldly, 42–4; counselling by, restrictions on, 29–30; crucified with Christ, 132–4, 250; dead to world, 21, 133–4, 156, 250; education of, xxiii–xxiv, 2, 27, 168, 173; and illicit liaisons, 28–9, 30, 85, 109, 186; as lovers/spouses of Christ, 13, 36–8, 39–41, 43, 44, 64, 83–4; pastoral care of, xv–xvi, xix, xxii; and patrons, xliii, xliv, 73, 99–100, 135, 156, 157, 251–2, 268, 269–70; penitential life, xxiv–xxv; teaching by, restrictions on, 161, 274–5; reward in heaven, 37–8; rich, 156; true and false, 51–3. See also ancre, church anchoresses, lay anchoresses, maids, nun anchoresses, vows anchor-houses: built on to church, 56, 100, 226; layout, 29, 171, 186; source of gossip, 36, 191. See also curtains, graves, windows ancre (anchorite/anchoress), etymology of, 56, 202 Ancrene Riwle, see Ancrene Wisse Ancrene Wisse, ix; authorship, xii–xiv; date, x–xi; localization, xi–xii; manuscripts and

versions, xxxvii–xliii; sources and analogues, xxvi–xxviii; structure, x, xxix–xxxiii; style, xxxiii–xxxvii; textual evolution, xliii–xlvii; title, ix. See also anchoresses, audience of AW Ancrene Wisse Group, ix–x; audience, xiv–xvi; authorship, xii; diocesan context, xxii–xxiii; and OE sermon tradition, xxxiii– xxxiv. See also individual works Andrew, St, martyrdom of, 49, 137, 198 angels, 118; guardian, 57, 118–19, 239; nine orders of, 12, 177. See also Gabriel, Michael anger, see wrath animals, see livestock, wild animals. See also under individual animals Annunciation, 14–15, 27, 31, 62 Anselm, St, archbishop of Canterbury, 263; as source for AW, xxvii; De humanis moribus per similitudines, 29, 186; Meditatio 1, xxvii, xxxiv, 57, 116, 122, 127, 202 Anselm of Laon (pseudo-), see Enarrationes in Matthaeum Anthony of Egypt, St, 4, 63, 170, 205; temptation of, 89, 220 antiphon, defined, 178; Oantiphons, 180–1 anti-Semitism, in England, 264. See also Jews antonomasia, 1, 168 Aphek, 100 Apostles: twelve, 11–12; ‘the Apostle’, see Paul; Apostles’ Creed, see Creed ‘apostolic life’, see vita apostolica Arabic numerals, 82, 216



gener a l inde x

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, 246; Prior Analytics, 189; Topica, Boethian translation of, 197 army, devil’s, 30, 100–1, 114–15 Arrouaisians, regulations of, 272 arrows, see weapons Arsenius of Rome, St, 4, 170; called to solitude, 63, 205 articles, see Creed Asahel, speed of, 150, 263 Ascension, 15, 94–5, 179, 226. See also Holy Thursday ass: nature of, 112, 234; soul as, 30; wild (the proud), 81, 215. See also ears auctoritas, medieval concept of, xxvi auctoritates, xxx audience of AW, ix, xiv–xvi, xxii– xxvi; three sisters, 46, 73, 210–11; larger group of anchoresses, xliv, 96–7 Augustine of Hippo, St: as source for AW, xxvi–xxvii —De Civitate Dei, 197 —Confessiones, 13, 41, 126, 145–6, 178, 200 —Enarrationes in Psalmos, 31, 35, 70, 106, 108, 167, 188, 190, 195, 196, 198, 209, 217, 219, 229, 230, 231, 234, 250, 257 —De Genesi contra Manichaeos, 251 —In Iohannis Evangelium tractatus, 1, 124, 168 —letters, 24, 183 —Contra Maximinum, 55, 201 —De Mendacio, 33, 189 —De Natura et gratia, 257 —In primam Epistolam Iohannis, 145, 258–9 —De Sermone Domini in monte, 45, 195

297

—sermons, 116–17, 127, 219, 238, 243, 246, 253, 257 —De Trinitate, 88, 219 —De vera religione, 50, 198 —misattributions to, 79, 93, 105, 120, 125, 128, 141, 148–9, 214, 229, 240, 261–2 —See also Augustinian Rule, De vera et falsa poenitentia Augustinian canons, xii–xiii, xviii, xxxix; canonesses, xxxviii; independent congregations of, xiii, xviii; regulations of, xiii, 156, 267, 271–2, 275. See also Arrouaisians, Premonstratensians, Victorines Augustinian Rule, xiii, xv, xviii, xxvii, 24, 164, 167, 170, 183, 224, 277–8; adopted by Dominicans, xx, xxvii aureola (additional heavenly crown), 205 avarice, capital and mortal sin, 75; offspring of, 78, 80; remedies for, 98–9, 109. See also foxes Ave Maria (‘Hail Mary’), xxiv, 8, etc., 172; before and after Hours, 9, 173; recitation of multiple Hail Marys, xliv, 14–17, 17–18, 180 Ave, principium nostrae creationis, 7, 12–13, 171 Ave regina caelorum, 16, 179 Baanah, 103, 228 backbiters, 33–6, 190–1 Bacon, Robert, xii, 258 balsam, see virginity banners, devil’s and God’s, 137 baptism, 149; of Christ, 62 Bartholomew, St, 93, 222

298

gener a l inde x

baths, three (of baptism, tears, and blood), 149 Bathsheba, see David bear: nature of, 112, 234; of sloth, 75, 77 Beatitudes, seven (rather than eight), 11, 176 beauty: gold ring in sow’s snout, 75, 212 beggars, 64; anchoresses as, 135, 251– 2; crafty, 124–5, 243–4; rowdy, 156. See also almsgiving Beguines, xix, 271 bellows: the devil’s (temptations), 112; God’s (slanderers), 108 belts: fashionable, 76, 160; as mortification, 158; worn in bed, 158, 272 Benedicite, 27; canticle, 9, 11, 172, 175; introduction to grace, 18, 181 Benedict of Nursia, St, xxiii, 63, 205; temptation of, 89, 112, 220, 233 Benedictine Rule, xvii, xxiii, 156, 271–2 Benjamin, ‘son of the right hand’, 115 Bernard of Clairvaux, St, xxx, 170, 236, 237; as source for AW, xxvii —De Gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, 22, 24–5, 182, 184, 224–5 —letters, 30, 164, 187, 225, 273, 277 —De Moribus et officio episcoporum, 106, 145, 205–6, 229, 258 —Parabolae, 93, 94, 222, 223 —De Praecepto et dispensatione, 2, 168 —sermons, 31, 32, 45, 109–10, 125, 188, 189, 200, 211, 218, 230, 231–2, 244, 251, 253; super

Cantica Canticorum, 35, 140, 190–1, 191, 192–3, 220, 233, 245; in Quadragesima, xiv, xxv, xxvii, xxxii, 90, 132–4, 220, 249, 250 —misattribution to, 101, 227 —See also Geoffrey of Auxerre Bethany, see Mary5 birds, anchoresses compared to, 5, 48–67; caged, 40; of heaven, 51– 3. See also under individual birds bishops: obedience to, 3; reforming, in West Midlands, xxii–xxiii; responsible for anchoresses, xix, 184; visits by, 26, 184 bitterness, 140–2, 255–6. See also mortification, suffering black, signifying worthlessness, 4, 20, 107 black man, devil compared to, 89, 219–20 bladder, puffed-up heart as, 107 blasphemy, 75 blindfolding: of anchoresses to world, 38, 42; of Christ, 42, 71 blindness, external and spiritual, 36–8 blood: cannot be judged till cooled, 48, 197; of a red man, 151, 263; signifies sin, 45, 48, 141, 195 —of Christ: bath of, 149; in Eucharist, 98, 100; paid for soul, 110, 119, 148; quenches temptations, 112–13. See also sweat bloodletting: Crucifixion compared to, 45–6, 98, 99, 195, 225–6; prescriptions on, xlv, 155, 161, 267, 275 blushing, in confession, 125–6, 244 boar, wild, see wild boar



gener a l inde x

body: bond with soul of, 71, 149, 209; of Christ, Christians as, 136, 252; filth and weakness of, 105–6; fruits of, 105, 228. See also earth, flesh, resurrection Boethius, Philosophiae consolatio, 208 boiling water (defending castle), tears as, 93 Book for a Simple and Devout Woman, xlvi ‘book of love’ (Canticles), 41, 142, 143 booklets (unbound quires), 94, 107, 223. See also scrolls Books of Hours, xxiv, 173, 179 bottles, devil’s, 86, 218 de Brailes Hours, 173; see also Books of Hours Brian of Lingen, xii, 278 bride, see spouse bridegroom, see spouse bridge, see heaven bridle, see tongue Caesar Augustus, freedom of, 150, 263 Caesarius of Arles, 186, 208 Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, 239–40, 255 Cain, confession of, 126, 245 calf, fatted, insubordinate flesh as, 54 Calvary, hill of, 98; unburied bodies on, 42 Cana, wedding feast of, 32, 141–2 Canaan, devil’s army as, 115 canons, regular, see Augustinian canons Canonsleigh Abbey, xxxviii, xlv capes: black, 4, 170; closed (cappa clausa), 22, 182–3

299

caroles, see round dances Carthusians, xviii, xxvii; regulations, see Guigo I Cassian, John, xxvii; Collationes, 168, 171, 176, 258, 274; Institutiones, 232 Cassiodorus: Expositio Psalmorum, 196, 198–9, 201–2, 219; misattribution to, 106, 229 castles: anchor-house as, 24; body as, 142; Christ as, 100; of earth, 146, 260. See also boiling water, moat Cato, see Disticha Catonis cats: keeping of, 157, 270; devil as, 40, 52 cattle, see livestock cement, shared love as, 86–7 chamber, God’s: anchoress’s heart as, 13, 36, 41; Virgin’s womb as, 16 charity (chearite), 3, 168; basis of ‘inner rule’ 1, 154; defined, 153, 264; purity of heart, 5, 145–6, 153, 168; twelve branches of, 11–12, 176. See also almsgiving, love charms, see witchcraft Chastising of God’s Children, xlvi chastity, 63–4, 139–40; personified, 24, 183–4; three levels of, 150, 262; vow of, 3. See also virginity Chester, xliv, 97, 224 Chichele, Henry, Archbishop of Canterbury, Pontifical, 196 chicks, good works as, 27, 48, 53–4 children —of devil, 118; falsehood, 33; the idle, 82 —of God, 140; (in exempla or similitudines) 70–1, 88, 118–19, 137, 138; by confession, 114–15; peacemakers, 98

300

gener a l inde x

Christ, Jesus: devotion to, affective and spiritual, xxiv—xxv, xxxii; early rising of, 98, 226; eligibility of, see eligibility; enclosure of, 142, 256–7; leaps of, see leaps; legacy of, 65; as lover/spouse, see under love; as lover-knight, 146–8, 259; as mother, see under love; obedience of, 32, 135; poverty of, 98–9; solitary life of, 62–3; strength of, 106, 230; wept three times, 42, 119, 193; wisdom of, 10–11, 106, 230; wooing of soul, 149–50. See also Ascension, baptism, blood, Incarnation, Lamb of God, Nativity, Passion, resurrection, Trinity, wounds Christe, redemptor omnium, 9, ~172–3 Christus vincit, 18, 181 church, see Holy Church church anchoresses, 156, 269 cinderjack (eskibah), the devil’s, 82, 216 circumstances (in confession), 120– 2, 131, 240–1 Cistercians, xvii; and cura monialium, xviii–xix; habit of, 169–70, 272; regulations of, xviii, 272, 275; and sermon tradition, xxxi–xxxii, xxxvi; spirituality of, xxiv–xxv cleanliness, personal, 161, 275–6 Clement of Rome, St, 35, 190 clerics, untrustworthy, xiv, 22–3, 127, 130; wolves in sheep’s clothing, 28, 185. See also whited sepulchres cloister, anchoresses’ community as, 97, 224 closed cloak, see capes

clothing: of anchoresses, 4–5, 158–60; of their maids, 161–2, 276; of religious, 4–5, 22, 169–70, 182–3. See also haircloth, linen Cloud of Unknowing, xxiv Cluniac monks, 170 cogitations, 109 collect, defined, 172 commandments, God’s, 146; of love, 71; ten, 3, 11 Commendations, 10, 174 Commentarius in Evangelium secundum Marcum (pseudoJerome), 141, 256 communion: frequency of, 155, 266; priest’s, 13; remedy for temptation, 100–3; taking when angry, 98; transubstantiation in, 13, 100, 102. See also Host ‘Compilation’ (later French translation of AW ), xli Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, 13, 178 conditions of confession, see confession conditions of eligibility, see eligibility confession, xxxi, 48, 54, 114–31; for anchoresses, 129–31; to friars, 28; in the heart, 114, 235–6; nine reasons for hastening to, 123–4, 242; six powers of, 114–15, 129, 248; sixteen conditions of, xxx, 115–29, 237 —See also circumstances, contrition, discretion, penance, sins confessors: as advisers, 2, 155, 160; chaperoning of, 28–9; chosen by anchoresses, 28, 130, 185; friars as, 28. See also director



gener a l inde x

Confiteor, 172; against venial sins, 109, 123; in Mass, 7; to visiting priests, 27, 28, 185 conscience, 1, 2, 116, 167, 168, 238; personified, 117 contemplation, 52–3, 56. See also meditations contemplative life, xxiv–xxv, xl, xlv–xlvi, 169 contemptus mundi (contempt of earthly things), 105, 229 contention, 75–6 contraception, see abortion contraries (belong to same discipline), 33, 189 contrition, disputed status of, 235, 236. See also confession copying: of Hours, 9; of prayers, 17; restrictions on, 161, 275 county court, 117, 238 court, devil’s, see devil courtesy, warnings against, 29, 157; later qualifications of, 99–100, 157, 226, 269 cowl, grey, 4, 170 Credo, see Creed Creed —Apostles’, 7, etc.; articles of, 100, 226 —Nicene (the ‘Great Creed’), 9, 173 criblin, see drawn-thread work Croesus, wealth of, 150, 263 crossbow bolts, 24, 184. See also weapons crosses: of birds’ wings, 52, 199–200; of cloth (black, red, and white), 20; of two sticks, 151. See also crucifix, shield, sign of the cross crowds, to be shunned, 60–5, 67, 205

301

crowns, prepared for virtuous: by devil, 90, 103, 220; by illness, 69–70; by wicked, 50. See also aureola crucifix: in anchor-house, 8, 54; in church (‘the great cross’), 13, 148, 261; ‘three-nail’, 147, 260 crucifixion: of Peter and Andrew, 137; religious life as, 132, 133–4, 135, 249. See also bloodletting, Passion Crux fugat omne malum, 19, 181 cur, see dogs cursing, 75, 77; and swearing, 29 curtains, of anchor-house, 20–1, 26, 38, 159 customaries, xxix, xxxii, 276 dancing, see round dances Dathan, God’s vengeance on, 127, 245 David, King: anchoresses compared to, 5, 51–2, 56; and Bathsheba, 20, 22–3, 183; interpretation of name, 52, 199; and Saul, 51–2; suffering and humility of, 134 Day of Judgement, see Judgement Day Dead Sea, 127 deadly sins, seven, see under sins (seven capital and mortal) debts, of sin, 50–1, 119 delectatio morosa, see morosa delectatio desert, see wilderness ‘Desert Fathers’, xxvi, xxxvi. See also Vitae Patrum despair, 3, 78, 126–7. See also presumption Deus, cui omne cor patet, 11, 176 Deus, cui proprium est, 10, etc., 175

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Deus, qui corda fidelium, 7, 171 Deus, qui de beatae virginis utero, 16, 180 Deus, qui pro nobis filium tuum, 14 Deus, qui salutis aeternae, 16, 180 Deus, qui sanctam Crucem, 14, 179 Deus, qui Unigeniti tui, 11, 14, 176 Deus, qui virginalem aulam, 16, 180 devil: as angel of light, 85–6; court of, 81–3, 215; father of lies, 33; power limited by God, 87–8, 116; records sins on roll, 130, 248; as rider of soul, 101–2; as serpent, 27, 28, 112, 116; snares/traps of, 26–7, 53, 106. See also Lucifer, enemies of man devotional routine, anchoresses’, xxiv, 7–19 Dinah, indiscretion of, 22–3, 40 director, spiritual (meistre), xv, xliv, 225, 265; as adviser, 157, 158, 160, 161; authorizes male visitors, 23, 157; can modify outer rule, 2, 155; gossip to be reported to, 97. See also confessors Dirige, 9–10, 174 disciples: abandoned Christ, 42, 45, 147; unity of, 96 disciplines (penitential exercise), 155, 158, 266 discretion: in confessing sins, 120, 127, 128–9, 130; in mortification, 140; mother of all virtues, 140 (but see also humility); priest’s, on sexual topics, 78–9, 128, 246 disobedience, 75, 80 Disticha Catonis, 48, 197 distinctions (distinctiones), xiii, xxix–xxxii, 5–6 Divine Office, see Hours

division (as structural device), xxix– xxxiii, 129, 248 doctor, devil as, 86 dogs: angry as, 49; devil as, 110–11, 124; flesh as, 55–6, 201 Dominicans, xii–xiv, xx, xxxvi, 28, 157, 225; and cura monialium, xviii–xix; mission of, xiii–xiv, xviii, xx, xxiii; regulations of, xi, xiii, xx, xxvii, 169, 170, 172, 174, 175, 266, 271, 275; in West Midlands, xiii, xxii–xxiii, xliv Doomsday, see Judgement Day dotes corporis, see gifts, morning-gifts dove: Holy Spirit in form of, 62; soul as, 111 dragon, devil as, 93 drawn-thread work, 160, 274 dreams, not to be trusted, xxv, 102. See also visions, witchcraft ‘Dublin Rule’, xlii dung, sin as, 56 dung-gate (of Jerusalem), 34, 190 dust board (used for calculations), 216 dyeing, of hair or clothes, 76, 212 eagle, uses agate (q.v.) to protect chicks, 54 ears: ass’s (of outward-looking anchoresses), 66; itching, 33 earth, body/flesh as, 49, 53, 55, 66, 197–8, 201 Ecce Crucem Domini, 18, 181 Ecclesiae tuae quaesumus, 10, 175 Edmund of Abingdon, St, ascetic practices of, 258, 272–3 eggs, good works as, 27 eilþurles, xlix, 25, 184 eligibility, conditions of, xi, xxviii, xxxii, 149–50, 262



gener a l inde x

Elijah: fiery wheels of, 134–5, 251; and solitude, 60; and woman of Zarephath, 151 Elizabeth, St, mother of John the Baptist, 31–2 Ember Days, 155; Ember Weeks, 29, 186 Enarrationes in Matthaeum (pseudoAnselm of Laon), 117, 238 enclosure, anchoritic, 26, 41, 43, 184; compared with Christ’s, 142 enemies of man, three (world, flesh, and devil), 69, 74, 90, 211, 248 envy, capital and mortal sin, 74; offspring of, 76–7, 80, 212–13; remedies for, 94, 105, 107. See also serpent epilepsy, see falling sickness Epistel of Meidenhad (‘Hali Meiðhad ’), x, xli; audience of, xiv; conditions of eligibility in, 262; date of, xi; parallels to AW in, 183–4, 214, 220, 243 eskibah, see cinderjack Esther, Queen: interpretations of name, 57, 65, 66–7, 202; prayer to Ahasuerus, 57, 202; signifies anchoress, 65–7 Eucharist, see communion, Host Eucharistic piety, xxv Eve: indiscreet chatter of, 27, 182; made excuses, 116; sinned through sight, 21–2. See also leaps, leaves Exaudi nos, Deus salutaris noster, 12, 176 Exaudi, quaesumus, Domine, 11, 176 exempla, xxx, xxxiv, xxxv–xxxvii; Bernard of Clairvaux on, 218; remedy against wiles of devil, 86 —in AW (non-Scriptural):

303

—anchoress refuses to see St Martin, 26, 184; angel holds his nose at lecher, 83, 216; Anthony sees devil’s traps everywhere, 106, 229 —Bartholomew’s prayers bind devil, 93, 222; Benedict rolls in thorns, 112, 233 —crew of sinking ship stop all holes but one, 119, 239 —devil’s little bottles, 86, 218; disciple stays awake for master, 90, 220 — holy man criticizes chattering brethren 30, 187; holy man frightened by host of demons, 88–9, 219; holy man kisses hand that injured him, 50, 198; holy man lingers too long at home, 86, 218; holy man seduced by devil in form of woman, 86, 217–18; holy man tricked by devil into killing his father, 86, 218; holy man warns audience to weep, 119, 239; holy man weeps for fall of companion, 86, 105–6, 218; holy men brought medicine by Virgin, 139–40, 255; husband pleased that wife pines for him, xxxvi, 138–9 —knight fights for lady, xxviii, xxxvi–xxxvii, 146–8, 259; knight lets king’s son be abducted by enemies, 118 —lady almost damned for lending garment for wake, 120 —man almost damned for forcing another to drink, 120; man loses world domination in single hour, 118; man loses

304

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family and friends in single hour, 117–18; man in prison has ransom thrown against chest, 50–1; man shows all mortal wounds but one to doctor, 119, 239; monk reluctant to confess childhood sin, 119–20, 239–40; mother provides bath of blood for sick child, 149 —old woman sets fire to house with straw, 112, 235 — Publius’s prayers bind devil, 92–3, 222 —religious rebuffs own brother, 160, 274 —Sarah resists temptation to pride, 89, 219; snake forbidden to bite hermit, 88, 219 —woman saved by miracle from habit of sin, 101–2 eyes, custody of, 20–7. See also sight faith: articles of, 100, 226; insecure (superstition), 80; remedy for temptation, 91, 94–104 falling sickness: epilepsy (as disease of sparrows), 67, 207; suffering and temptation as, 67 ‘False Decretals’, 190 fasting, 2, 9, 54–5, 117, 155–6, 198–9; days of, 173, 186, 266; as form of tithing (q.v.), 11, 176; remedy against temptation, 91. See also abstinence, mortification fear, personified, 117. See also under hope feast-days: double, 29, 174, 186; of nine lessons, 9, 174 —All Saints (1 Nov.), 155; Annunciation (25 Mar.), 180;

Ascension, 15, 155, 179, 266; Assumption (15 Aug.) 155, 180, 266; Candlemas Day (2 Feb.), 155, 266; Christmas Day (25 Dec.), 155, 156; Easter Sunday, 155, 186; Epiphany (6 Jan.), 155; Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 Sept.), 9, 155, 173, 181, 186, 249, 266; Invention of the Holy Cross (3 May), 249, 266; Lady Day (25 Mar.), 155, 266; Nativity of St John the Baptist (23 June), 155; Nativity of the Virgin (8 Sept.), 155; St Agatha (5 Feb.), 255; St Andrew (30 Nov.), 155; St Lucy (13 Dec.), 186; St Mary Magdalene (22 July), 155; St Michael (29 Sept.), 155, 266; Whit Sunday, 155, 186, 266 —See also ferial and festal days feeling (as sense), 44–7. See also senses ferial and festal days, 8–9, 10, 172 Ferrer, St Vincent, xli Fidelium Deus omnium, 10, 12, 175 ‘Fifteen Psalms’, see Psalms figs, good works as, 58–9 fig-tree, 58–9, 203 file: ‘lime’ French for, 108, 230; the wicked as God’s, 70, 108, 209 finger, see proverbs fire: of charity/love, 50, 151–2, 162– 3; shame as, 108; suffering as, 69, 108; of sinful love, 112–13, 151–2; temptation as, 90 five joys of of Virgin Mary, see Joys of Virgin Mary five senses, see senses five wounds of Christ, see wounds flattery, 33–5, 73



gener a l inde x

flatterers, three kinds of, 34–5 flesh: Christ’s, sensitivity to pain of, 45–6; relationship with soul of, 54–6. See also Adam, body, earth, enemies of man, shadow florilegia, xxviii Fontevrists, xviii footstool to heaven, world as, 64 Four Gospels, see Gospels Four Last Things, see Last Things four morning-gifts, see morning-gifts Fourth Lateran Council, see Lateran Council of 1215 foxes, 51, 78; anchoresses as, 51–2, 96; of avarice, 75, 78; temptations as, 112. See also Samson Franciscan Rule, xx Franciscans, xviii, xx, xxxvi, 28, 157, 185, 225; habit of, 170; regulations of, 266; in West Midlands, xxii French, use of by anchoresses, see reading friars, xliv; clerical status of, 185; dietary regulations of, 156, 267; visits to anchoresses by, 28, 157, 269. See also Dominicans, Franciscans Friars Minor, see Franciscans Friars Preacher, see Dominicans Gabriel, archangel: foretells birth of John the Baptist, 61; speaks with Virgin Mary, 27, 31, 62 Gadarene swine, see pigs Galen, 140 Galilee, ‘wheel’, 122 gall, offered to Christ at Crucifixion, 42, 46, 99, 193–4; sourness of heart as, 46, 152; temptation as, 91

305

gallows, 46; of cross, 49; of hell, 67, 70, 72, 118 games, in anchor-house, 164, 277 Gaude, Dei genetrix, 16, 180 Gaude, virgo, 16, 180 generosity: Christ’s, 125, 149; excessive, 109 (see also almsgiving) genuflexions, see prayer postures Geoffrey of Auxerre, Declamationes…ex S. Bernardi sermonibus collectae, 50, 122, 134, 135, 250, 252 Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia regum Britanniae, 260 Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria nova, 253 geometry, discipline of, 1 Gerald of Liège, Septem remedia contra amorem illicitum, 235 gestures: angry, 44; mocking, 71, 209–10. See also nutus superbiae gifts: of Magi, 59; restrictions on, 160, 274; seven bodily (of the blessed), 189, 262–3 (see also morning-gifts, song); seven, of the Holy Spirit, 11, 176 Gilbert of Sempringham, xii Gilbertines, xviii; regulations, 275 Giles, St, pilgrimage to relics of, 132, 249 ginger, 139, 157 Giraldus Cambrensis, Topographia Hibernica, 197 girdle, see knot Gloria patri, 9, etc., 172 Gloria tibi, Domine, see Venantius Fortunatus glory: of eternal bliss, 133, 139, 250; reserved for God, 108; of Resurrection, 136

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Glossa ordinaria, 141, 227, 243, 252, 256, 257 gluttony, capital and mortal sin, 75; five types of, 78, 214; leads to lechery, 109, 139, 160; remedy for, 99; three offspring of, 109. See also sow goats, desires of flesh as, 40–1 God the Father: chastises Christ, 138; strength as special attribute of, 10–11. See also Trinity God’s poor, 100, 226 Godwine, hermit, xii golden mean, 127, 246 goldsmith: God as, 69, 90; illness as, 69–70; world as, 108 Gomorrah, see Sodom Good Samaritan, parable of, 277 good works: against venial sins, 123; remedy for idleness, 151–2; sweet smell of, 119, 239; worthless when disclosed, 57–9 Goscelin of St Bertin, Liber confortatorius, 270 Gospels, four, 12; as alternative to religious rule, xvii; as letters patent, 146, 259 gossip, 36, 162; malicious, xliv, 97–8, 143, 158, 164. See also anchor-houses, backbiters grace, of God: indwelling (inhabitans), 106, 133, 230, 250; moisture of, 58, 107, 203; not to be presumed on, 128, 139; prevenient, 60, 203–4; tears as, 222. See also Rebecca graces (for meals), 10; anchoresses’, 18; maids’, 163 grammar, discipline of, 1 Grandmontines, xvii, xviii; regulations, 270

Gratiam tuam, 15, 17, 179 Gratian, Decretum, xxix graves: anchor-houses as, 43; open, in anchor-houses, 46–7, 196 greed, see avarice Greek fire, 151–2, 263–4 green way, as path to hell, 72, 210 Gregory I (‘the Great’), St, Pope: as source for AW, xxvi–xxvii —Dialogi, 31, 38, 88, 188, 192, 219, 233 —Homiliae in Euangelia, 59, 106, 144, 146, 200, 203, 209, 229, 257, 259 —Homiliae in Hiezechihelem prophetam, 30, 136, 187, 252 —letters, 95, 103–4, 223, 228; Libellus responsionum, 127, 245–6 —Moralia in Iob, xxvii, 30, 37, 43, 45, 52–3, 58, 83–4, 87, 103, 104, 106, 117, 124, 126, 187, 190, 191, 192–3, 194, 195, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 213, 214, 217, 218, 228, 229, 234, 238, 239, 242, 243, 245, 248, 254–5, 277 —Regula pastoralis, xxvii, 20, 30, 43, 107, 109, 144, 182, 187, 188, 189, 194, 208, 217, 230, 231, 248, 277 —misattributions to, 34, 68, 88, 189–90, 208, 219, 245 Gregory VII, Pope, xvii grey, see cowl Grimlaic, Regula solitariorum, 265 Grosseteste, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, xxiii, 271 guardian angels, see angels guests: cautions on entertainment of, 29, 85, 156, 158, 162, 164; friars and other male visitors, 157, 269;



gener a l inde x

friends and relations, xliii, 160; other anchoresses’ maids, xliii, xliv, 157, 164, 269; women and children, 157. See also visitors Guide for Anchoresses, see Ancrene Wisse Guigo I, Consuetudines, xxvii, 60–3, 156, 203–5, 267, 268, 272. See also Carthusians Guy of Southwick, Tractatus de virtute confessionis, xxviii, 222, 235 habits, religious, see clothing Hail Mary, see Ave Maria haircloth, 158; drawers of, 159; shirts of, 4, 41, 51, 54, 159. See also stamin haircutting, prescriptions on, xlv, 6, 161, 275 hair-shirts, see haircloth ‘Hali Meiðhad ’, see Epistel of Meidenhad handiwork, 6; as means of support, 158, 160, 271, 274. See also manual labour, needlework hands: Christ’s, pierced, 149; custody of, 26, 46 hanging, see gallows hardships, see mortification, suffering hearing, sense of, 27, 33–6; Christ’s suffering in, 44. See also ears, senses, speech heart: custody of, 48–67; heaviness of, 77; purity of, see charity; unity of, see love heaven: bridge of, 92, 221; joys of, 53, 72, 154, 200, 265; not easily attained, 64, 136–8, 163, 253 hedgehog skins, used in penance, 158

307

hedge-warden (heiward), 158, 270 hell, 10, etc.; fire of, 59, 70, 79; harrowing of, 94; humanity condemned to, 22; incomparable suffering of, 70, 72, 92; on Judgement Day, 116; tortures of, 81–3. See also gallows, Last Things, meditations Heloise, on nuns’ clothing, 271–2 Hereford, xii Herefordshire, xi, xiii heresy, not prevalent in England, 33 Herman of Reichenau, see Alma redemptoris mater Hezekiah, unwise display of wealth by, 59, 203 Hilarion, St, 63, 205 Hildebert of Le Mans, see Alpha et omega hills: of arrogance, 107; of holy life, 68, 74, 143; as solitude, 63. See also mountains Hilton, Walter, xxiv Hippocrates, 140 Historia Lausica, 217–18 Holofernes, signifying devil, 54, 114 Holy Boke Gratia Dei, xlvi Holy Church, 102, 118, 146; as spouse of Christ, 125, 149; supported by recluses, 56. See also ship Holy Spirit, 22, 43, 61, 163; comfort of, 40, 153; love as special attribute of, 10–11. See also gifts, Hours, Trinity Holy Thursday, Ascension Day as, 179 holy water: kept by anchoresses, 7; for venial sins, 123; against wiles of devil, 42 Holy Week, 29, 186

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Honorius III, Pope, xxiii Honorius Augustodunensis, Elucidarium, 239, 263 hope: and fear, 126–7; remedy for sloth, 109; of reward for good works, 58; and silence, 32–3 Horace: Carmina, 208, 246; Epistles, 49, 197, 227 horse, skittish, anchoress as, 92 Host, consecrated, 29; devotions to, 7–8, 12–13, 171–2, 177–8; elevation of, xi, 7, 12, 177–8; reservation of, 7, 171. See also communion Hours, canonical, xxiv, 171; careless recitation of, 19, 129; of the Holy Spirit, 18, 181; ‘Little Hours’ of the Virgin Mary, xxiv, 8–9, 171; Office of the Dead, 9–10, 173–4; priest’s, 18; seven (rather than eight), 9, 11, 173; simplified routines, xxiv, 10, 19, 162, 168, 175, 276; troped, 18, 181. See also Books of Hours house-cleaning, confession as, 119–20, 239 Hugh of Fouilloy, De Claustro animae, 183 Hugh of St Victor, 221; De Institutione novitiorum, 212; pseudo-Hugh of St Victor, 212 Humbert of Romans, 167 humility, 93, 222; as anchoritic virtue, 61; of David, 134; mother of all virtues, 106, 229 (but see also discretion); personified, 124– 5, 243–4; remedy for pride, 105–7 hundred, signifying perfection, 140 hunting-stations, the devil’s, 126 hypallage, 32, 188 hypocrisy, 5, 51, 75, 129, 200

idleness, see sloth illness: concessions during, 19, 155–6, 161; sin as, 137–8, 149; six benefits of, 69; temptation as, 68. See also medicine Immaculate Conception (as disputed topic), 15, 179 In nomine Patris, 1, 7, etc. See also sign of the cross Incarnation, 94, 98, 146 incense, God’s sweetness as, 142 incest (physical and spiritual), 78, 214 indwelling grace, see grace ingratitude, 76 Inner Rule, see rules Innocent III, Pope, xvii, xix, xx, 276; De Miseria humanae conditionis, xi, 228; De Negotio terrae sanctae, 177 integrity, see virginity intimacy (familiarite) with God, 65, 207 iron: attracts rust, 62, 108, 160; fetters of, 12, 144; (fetters or mail-coats) worn as penance, 41, 158, 193. See also loricati Isaac, met Rebecca (q.v.) in solitude, 60 Ishbosheth, murder of, 103–4 Isidore of Seville: Etymologiae, 167, 198; Sententiae, 215, 217 Israelites: defeated at Aphek, 100–1; escape from Egypt of, 74, 84, 125, 141; God’s vengeance on, 127 jackdaw, devil as, 27 Jacob: blindness of, 37, 191; signifying God, 115; and solitude, 60, 204 James, ‘the Great’, St, apostle, pilgrimage to relics of, 132, 249



gener a l inde x

James ‘the Less’, St, apostle, ‘Order’ of, 3–4, 169 James of Vitry, 215, 216, 218; Historia occidentalis, 222, 225; Sermones dominicales, 214 Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 101, 227 Jeremiah, on solitude, 60–1 Jerome, St: as source for AW, xxvi–xxvii —Commentarii in Esaiam, 169, 200, 253 —Commentarii in Euangelium Matthei, 168 —Commentarii in prophetas minores, 148–9, 261–2 —letters, 33, 109, 160, 189, 202, 254, 264, 274 —Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, 199, 200, 207 —Tractatus de psalmo 145, 169 —misattributions to, 63, 126, 205, 244 Jerusalem, 99; anchor-house as, 66; Christ’s tears over, 119; heavenly, 74, 80; land of, 74, 80, 211; ‘sight of peace’, 66, 207 Jesu Criste, fili Dei vivi, 7, 171 Jesu nostra redemptio, 7, 13, 171 Jesus, see Christ Jews: as moneylenders, 148, 261; as persecutors of Christ, 15, 42, 46, 152. See also anti-Semitism Job: afflicted with God’s permission, 88; friends of, 30; speaks as if recluse, 53 John of Fécamp, Liber meditationum et orationum, 254 John of Salisbury, Policraticus, 189–90 John the Baptist, St: leapt in mother’s womb, 32; as solitary,

309

61–2; three distinctions of, 62, 205. See also Trinity John the Evangelist, St: tears of, 42; virginity of, 64, 172, 206 Joseph (patriarch), and Potiphar’s wife, 28, 183, 186 Joseph, St, 32, 98 Joshua, ‘health’ (of soul), 114–15 Joys of Virgin Mary, five, 14–15, 179, 180 Judaea, ‘confession’, 122 Judah, ‘confession’, 114–15, 117, 236, 238 Judas Iscariot, 73, 108, 268; confession of, 126, 245 Judas Maccabeus, 114, 236 judgement: by elect, 135–6, 252; God’s, 108, 126–7; of oneself (in confession), 116–17. See also county court, Judgement Day Judgement Day, 23, 47, 57, 71, 137; Anselm’s description of, 116; God’s vengeance reserved for, 108; resurrection of body at, 137; sins revealed at, 122. See also Last Things Judith: anchoress as, 51, 52, 54; ‘confession’, 54, 114–15, 117, 200 jugglers, see knife-throwers Julian, emperor (‘the Apostate’), 93, 222 Julian the Hospitaller, St, 133, 249 Julian of Norwich, xxiv; Revelations of Divine Love, 253 Juste Judex, 11, 14, 175 ‘Katherine Group’, x, xi. See also individual works kids, five senses as, 40–1 kiss: of bridegroom, in Canticles, 41; of peace, in Mass, 13, 178

310

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kneelings, see prayer postures knife-throwers, the devil’s, 81 knight: Christ as, 146–8; Christian as, 118; guardian angel as, 135 knot in girdle, as reminder, 149 Korah, God’s vengeance on, 127, 245 Kyrie eleison, 10, etc., 174 ladder, to heaven, 134 Lamb of God, Christ as, 116, 238; followed by virgins, 65, 206–7. See also sheep ‘Lambeth Homilies’, xxi–xxii Langland, William, Piers Plowman, xxxvii, 253 Last Judgement, see judgement, Judgement Day Last Things, four (death, judgement, heaven, and hell), 196: mmemonic rhymes on, 91, 220–1. See also meditations Lateran Council of 1179, xx, xxi–xxii Lateran Council of 1215, xvii; on clerical clothing, 182–3; pastoral reforms of, xix–xx, 185; prohibition of new religious orders by, xix, 266 Laudes crucis attollamus, 8, 14, 172 Laurence, St, martyrdom of, 49, 137, 198 lay anchoresses, xv–xvi, xix, xxiii; marginal status of, xix, xxiii–xxvi lay brothers, xviii, 155, 277; habits of, 170; prayer routines for, xxiv, xl, 10, 168, 175; regulations for, 266, 276 lavatory attendants, devil’s, 34, 35–6 Law, see Old and New Law Lazarus, 119; signifying bad habits, 124, 243

leaps: Christ’s, 143, 182; Eve’s, 22, 182 leaves, coverings of, signifying excuses, 122, 242 lechery, capital and mortal sin, 75; causes of, 109; in devil’s court, 82–3; personified, in battle with chastity, 24, 183–4; offspring of, 78–9, 80, 214; remedies for, 100, 109–13; stench of, 83; three stages of, 109–10. See also scorpion legacy, renunciation of world as, 64–5. See also under Christ Leicester Abbey, xxxix Lent, 10, 29, 121, 244, 258; ‘Lenten fare’, 267; as ‘tithe of days’, 176 leprosy, 58, 95 lesbianism, 121, 241 letters, restrictions on, 161, 275; close and patent, see Old Testament, Gospels ‘Lichfield’ (compiler of R version of AW ), xli ‘lime’, see file Limebrook Priory, Herefordshire, 230 linen, prescriptions on wearing, 158, 160, 271–2, 273. See also stamin lions, 95; angry man as, 48; devil as, 63; Christ as, 116; of pride, 74–6, 80–1 Litany, 9, 10 Lives of the Fathers, see Vitae patrum livestock: the devil’s, 79–80; restrictions on keeping, 157–8, 270 ‘Lofsong of ure Lefdi’: see Oreisun of Seinte Marie ‘Lofsong of ure Louerde’, x, xl Lollards, see Wycliffite movement London, xliv, 97, 224



gener a l inde x

Longpont, abbot of, in exemplum, 244 loricati (ascetics wearing mail-coats), 41, 144, 193, 258. See also iron Lot, God’s love for, 154 love (luue), 5, 145–54 —carnal and sinful, 51–3, 55–6, 152–3; of possessions, 85; of praise, 81; sexual, 23–4, 38–9, 78–9, 144 —earthly: four main kinds of, xxxii, 148–9, 150 (of good friends, of man and woman, of mother and child, of soul and body) —of God/Christ (for Church or individual soul), 94–5, 146, 153–4; as father, 70–1, 118–19; as lover/spouse, 1, 13, 36–7, 39–41, 83–4, 110–11, 125, 138– 9, 146–8, 149–51; as mother, 88–9, 138, 149, 219 —for God/Christ: as lover/spouse, see under anchoresses, Holy Church, soul; makes suffering easy, 144; reached by knowledge of God, 37; spiritual, not carnal, 152–4 —of others, for God’s sake, 145–6: of enemies, 70–1, 152; makes others’ goodness our own, 107, 144, 153; as remedy for envy, 105, 107 —unity of, in community, xvii, 4, 86–7, 91, 94–8, 107, 162–3, 170 —See also charity, Holy Spirit lover-knight, Christ as, see under Christ Lucifer, fall of, 21, 55, 127, 182, 201. See also devil Ludlow, xii

311

lust, see lechery lying, 33, 189 lyric fragments in AW, 28, 38–9, 185, 192, 197, 246–7 Macarius, St, 4, 170 Magi, see gifts Magnificat, 10, etc., 174, 180 maids, anchoresses’, xliii, 157, 269; discipline and care of, 163–4; external, 163, 277; rule for, 6, 161–3, 276; unpaid, 163. See also clothing mail-coats, see iron, loricati Malchia, built dung-gate, 34, 190 manciple, the devil’s, 82, 216 manslaughter, 78; of Uriah, 23 manual labour, 2, 54, 91, 145. See also handiwork Marah, ‘bitterness’, 140, 255–6 Marbod, bishop of Rennes, Oratio ad sanctam Mariam, x, 16, 180 Maria, mater gratiae, 17, 181 ‘Maria’ psalms, see Psalms Martha, see Mary5 Martin, St, bishop of Tours, 26, 184 Mary1, Virgin: assumption of, 15; prayers to, 14–18; silence of, 27, 31–2, 62; solitary life of, 62; tears of, 42, 45; virginity of, 172; at wedding feast of Cana, 141. See also Annunciation, exempla, Joys Mary2, Mary Magdalene, 140–1. See also Marys Mary 3, the mother of James, 141, 256. See also Marys Mary4, Mary Salome, 141, 256. See also Marys Mary5 and Martha, of Bethany, 99, 156, 157–8, 267, 268

312

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Marys, three, 42, 45, 140–1, 142, 193, 255–6. See also Mary2, Mary3, Mary4 maslin, 108, 231 Matilda of Clare, Countess of Gloucester, xxxviii Maurice of Sully, bishop of Paris, 178 mechanics, subdiscipline of geometry, 1 medicine: confession as, 64; overreliance on, 139–40, 158–9; penance as, 137–8, 253; suffering as, 137–8. See also illness ‘Medieval Reformation’, xvii–xx, xxv, 169 Meditatio in passionem et resurrectionem Domini (pseudoBernard), 255 Meditatio super Miserere (pseudoAnselm), 222 meditations, 18; against venial sins, 123; remedy for temptations, 91–2, 109 —for ‘carnal souls’, 92 —pious: on Christ, Virgin Mary, and saints, 92; on Passion, 13, 47; on Last Things (q.v.), 37, 46–7, 57, 91–2, 196 — See also contemplation members, sins of, see sins Merari, ‘bitterness’, 117, 140, 238 merchant, see similitudines Michael, St, archangel, scales of, 146, 259 mill, mouth as, 29, 30, 186, 187 millstones: jaws as, 29; fear and hope as, 126 miracles, 61, 84, 102, 147, 248 mire: of lechery, 79; of sin, 124 mirror: anchoresses as God’s, 36,

191; reflecting heavenly realities, 37, 191 Miserere (Ps. 50), 10, 18, 38, 174 moat, humility as, 93, 222 moderation, see discretion, golden mean monasticism, see ‘new monasticism’ moneylending, 78; see also Jews moon, signifying mutability, 64 Moralia super Evangelia, parallels to AW in, 195, 198, 239, 244, 261, 262 Mordecai, 65, 207 morning-gifts, four (dotes corporis), 12, 37–8, 65, 177. See also gifts morosa delectatio, 112, 234 mortification of flesh, 142–4; chastity preserved by, 139–40; of Christ, 143–4, 257; means to spiritual end, 2, 5, 145; outweighed by love, 146, 159, 209. See also abstinence, bitterness, fasting, suffering Moses, Abba, 145, 219, 258 Moses (patriarch), 60; God’s love for, 153; good health of, 150, 263; leprous hand of, 58 mountains, the spiritually advanced as, 143; St Paul as, 143, 257. See also hills mouth, sins of, see sins murderers, three kinds of, 35 myrrh, signifying suffering, 140, 142 mysticism, and AW, xxiv–xxv, 178 nails, of crucifixion, 46, 49, 111. See also crucifix, proverbs native wits, see senses Nativity, 15, 98–9 Nebuchadnezzar, house of, 114; signifying hell, 236



gener a l inde x

Neckam, Alexander, De Naturis rerum, 196–7, 207, 234 needlework, restrictions on, xliii, 160, 274. See also handiwork nest: anchor-house as, 53; anchoress’s heart as, 54 nettles, stinging oneself with, 158, 272 New Law, see Old and New Law ‘new monasticism’: influence on AW, xxvii; and ‘Medieval Reformation’, xvii–xix; women and, xviii–xix New Testament, 60, 61; see also Gospels Nicene Creed, see Creed Nicetas of Remesiana, Te Deum, 9, 173 Nicodemus, 140 night, secrecy as, 59 night-bird (nycticorax), 201–2; anchoresses as, 56–9 nine orders of angels, see angels Noah’s flood, as God’s vengeance, 127 nocturn, 102, 228 Norwich Cathedral Priory, xlii Nos oportet gloriari, 132, 134, 249 nun anchoresses, xix, xxiii, xxvii nuns, xviii–xix, 75, 212 nutus superbiae (affectations/gestures of pride), 76, 212 nycticorax, see night-bird O beata et intemerata, 14, 179 O Crux gloriosa, 14 O intemerata, see O beata et intemerata O sancta virgo virginum, see Marbod of Rennes O virgo virginum, 17, 180–1

313

O-antiphons, see antiphons obedience: anchoress’s, 2, 3; Christ’s, 135 Odo of Cheriton: Fables, 185; Sermones dominicales, 232, 262; Summa de penitentia, 232, 234, 236, 241, 242, 246, 261–2 Office, see Hours Old and New Law, 3, 60, 63. See also Old Testament, Gospels Old Testament, 60, 61; as letters close, 146, 259. See also New Testament, Gospels Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, 11, 175 order (ordo) and religion (religio): aim of, 146; redefined, 3–5, 169 ‘Order of St James’, see James ‘the Less’ Oreisun of Seinte Marie (‘Lofsong of ure Lefdi’), x, xl, 180 Origen, 262; In Librum Jesu Nave, 90, 220 orphans, see widows ostriches, carnal anchoresses as, 52–3, 200 Our Father, see Pater noster Outer Rule, see rules Ovid, Remedia amoris, 124, 243 Owl and the Nightingale, The, 211 Oxford, xliv, 97, 224 pain, personified, 117. See also suffering parabolae, xxxvi–xxxvii. See also exempla Paraclete, see Holy Spirit Paradise, earthly, 22, 27, 134–5, 251; heavenly, 135. See also heaven Paris, schools of, xii, xix, xxviii parish priests: literacy of, xxii; pastoral duties of, xxi–xxii

314

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Passion, Christ’s: endured in flesh, 100; pain and shame of, 135, 136; poverty of, 99; his silence during, 49; suffered in all five senses, 42, 44–7, 71–2. See also bloodletting, scourging, sweat, wounds pastoral reform, xvii, xix–xx; in England, xx–xxiii, xxv–xxvi Pater noster (‘Our Father’), xxiv, 7, etc.; multiple repetitions of, 10–12; seven petitions in, 11, 176; on temptation, 87 Pater Noster of Richard Ermyte, xlvi path, slippery, temptations as, 95 patience: as anchoritic virtue, 61; remedy for temptations, 69, 91, 105; three grades of, 108 patrons, see anchoresses Paul, St, Apostle, 12, etc.; ‘the Apostle’, 1, 43, 71, 159, 168; goaded by flesh, 89 Paul, St, ‘the First Hermit’, 4, 63, 170, 205 Paul the Deacon, see Ut queant laxis resonare fibris peace, 94–5, 96; of conscience, 141, 256: triple, through Incarnation, 94, 98 peasants, see proverbs pedlar, see similitudines pelicans: anchoresses as, 48–53, 196–9; nature of, 48, 51, 52 penance, 20, 132–44; anchoresses’, from confessors, 131; anchoritic life as, xxiv–xxv, 28, 130–1, 132, 248–9; maids’, from anchoresses, 162–3, 276; types of, 126, 244. See also confession, medicine Peraldus, William, Sermones super epistolas dominicales, 235

Perpetua nos, Domine, pace custodi, 14, 179 Peter, St, apostle, 64–5; Christ’s forgiveness of, 127; martyrdom of, 137, 253; temptation of, 89 Peter of Blois, 260, 262 Peter Cantor, 173; circle of, xix; Verbum abbreviatum, xii, 187, 191, 197, 206–7, 216, 227, 243, 244, 256–7 Peter Comestor, 221, 229 Peter Damian, De Institutis eremitarum, 265 Peter Lombard, xxviii —commentaries on Epistles of St Paul, 136, 214, 257 —Commentarii in Psalmos, 1, 89, 93, 115, 168, 202, 217, 219, 223, 233 —Sententiae, xxviii, 120, 128, 208, 220, 240, 244, 247, 251 Peter of Poitiers, chancellor of Paris, Sententiae, 245–6 Peter of Poitiers of St Victor, Compilatio praesens, 120, 239, 240 Pharaoh, 84; devil as, 141 Pharez, ‘division’, 117, 238 Pharisees, 5, 124 Philistines, devils as, 100 picture, of afterlife (earthly pain and joy), 92, 221 pigs: false anchoresses as, 51; Gadarene swine, 87 pilgrimage, 132, 249; to heaven, xxv, 132–4, 249, 250 pit (put, translating Latin cisterna), xlviii; woman as, 23–4, 183 pittance (allowance of food and drink), 155, 195; gall offered to Christ as, 46, 99 Placebo, 9–10, 173 pleasure-garden, virtues as, 128



gener a l inde x

pleating, 76, 212 poison, sin as, 54 poor, see beggars, God’s poor Poor, Herbert, bishop of Salisbury, xii Poor, Richard, bishop of Salisbury, xii Pore Caitif, xlvi pot, boiling, belly as, 139, 254–5 poverty: apostolic ideal of, xvii, xviii; concessions on, 78, 99–100, 226. See also beggars, Christ, God’s poor Praetende, Domine, famulis et famulabus, 12, 177 prayers: anchoresses’, 7–19; powers of, 65–7, 91, 92–4, 123; in vernacular, xxiv, 110. See also sign of the cross prayer postures, 7–10, 12, 14, 17–18, 130, 173, 181; kneelings, 18, 123, 181. See also Venia preachers, true, 4, 169 preaching, xii; anchoresses excluded from, 29, 187; and apostolic ideal, xvii, xviii; manuals on, xix, xxi, xxviii; model sermons for, xxvii; monastic, xxxi–xxxiii; and pastoral reform, xiv, xix–xxiii, 4, 169; popular, xix, xxxiv–xxxvii; ‘scholastic’, xix, xxi, xxx–xxxii; ‘thematic’, xxxi; vernacular, xxi, xxxiii Preciosa, 9, 173 Premonstratensians, xiii; and cura monialium, xviii–xix; habit, 169–70 —regulations of, xiii, xviii, xxvii, xxix–xxx, 4, 170, 224, 271–2; adopted by Dominicans xiii, xx, xxvii

315

preon, ‘spike’ or ‘cataract’? 34, 190 presents, see gifts presumption, 75, 80, 126–7. See also despair prevenient grace, see grace pride, capital and mortal sin, 74–6; offspring of, 75–6, 80, 212–13; remedies for, 94, 105–7. See also lions, trumpeters prior, high, Christ as, 97, 225 prison: anchor-house as, 42–3; world as, 50, 55 prisoners: prayers for, 12; in heathen territory, 12, 177. See also exempla profession, anchoritic, see vows prose, see vernacular prose proverbs in AW, xxxiv —asking costs nothing (liht is leaue), 157, 269 —dog goes in wherever it finds opening, 24, 183; dog is bold on its own dunghill, 56, 201 — finger better cut off than aching, 136, 252–3 —generous man has holes in hands, 149, 262 — let desire pass over …, 48, 91, 197 —much grows out of little, 22, 112, 182, 235 —news comes from mill, marketplace, smithy, and anchor-house, 36, 191 —oats for wheat from bad debtor, 119, 239; one nail drives out another, 151, 264 —peasants, like willows, best when pollarded, 35, 190 —speech nothing but wind, 49, 198 —after rain comes sunshine, 93, 222–3

316

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—those who will not when they can …, 113, 128, 235 —well-behaved child kisses the rod, 70, 209; well-meaning often do harm, 30, 187; where heart is, eye is, 36, 191; wind laid by rain, 93, 222–3; wise cunning better than brute strength, 102, 227; without hope, heart would break, 32, 189 Psalmist, the, see David Psalms: Fifteen Gradual, 10, 174; ‘Maria’, 17, 180; Seven Penitential, 10, 174; recitation of versicles from, 18 Publius, see exempla Purcel, John, xxxviii Purgatory, 50, 123, 124, 221; temptations as, 87 purity: sexual, see chastity; of heart, see charity, conscience Quem terra, pontus, aethera, see Venantius Fortunatus quires, see booklets radicalism, in AW, xiii–xiv, xxv–xxvi ransom, suffering as, 50–1 rationes, xxx ravens, backbiters as, 34 Raymond of Peñafort, Summa de paenitentia, 245, 247 reading, recommended to anchoresses, 18, 66; in English or French, 18; as form of prayer, 109; against temptations, 91; against sloth, 105, 109 reason: consent of, 112, 145, 234, 258–9; personified, 117; weakened (as woman), 103–4

Rebecca, signifying grace, 60, 203–4 Rechab, 34, 103, 228 recluses, see anchoresses recollection, personified, 117 recreation, 161, 275 red: signifying martyrdom, 20; signifying shame, 125–6, 134–5 Red Sea, 84; signifying shame and repentance, 125, 244 Regula reclusorum Walteri reclusi, 196 relics, owned by anchoresses, 8 religion (religio), see order reservation of sacrament, see Host resurrection: of body, 137; of Christ, 94, 252 Retribuere, Domine, 12, 177 Reuben, sinful desire as, 109–10, 232 revenge, see vengeance rhetoric, in AW, xxxiv rhinoceros, see unicorn Richard of St Victor, In Cantica Canticorum explicatio, 234 righteousness, excessive, 102, 227 Rimmon, 103, 228 Robert of Sorbon, 262; Cum repetes a proximo, 243–4 Robert of Thornton, xlii rochet, white, 4, 170 rock, Christ as, 111, 112, 234 rod, God’s, the wicked as, 70–1, 209. See also proverbs, similitudines Rogation days, 155, 266 roll, devil’s, see devil Rolle, Richard, xxiv Rome, journey to, 164, 277 Rosary, devotion of, anticipated in AW, 17–18, 181 round dances, in churchyard, 121, 241



gener a l inde x

Ruffin, devil, 93, 222 Rule of St Augustine, see Augustinian Rule Rule of St Benedict, see Benedictine Rule Rule of St Francis, see Franciscan Rule rules: different kinds of, 1, 167; Inner and Outer, xxxii, 1–6, 154, 161 rust: sin as, 62, 160 sacraments, external signs of, 125–6. See also baptism, confession, communion, Host saints’ lives, of AW Group, xvi, xxxiii. See also individual lives salt, signifying wisdom, 54–5, 201 salutations: to cross, 8, 12–13, 13–14, 172; to Virgin Mary, 14–17 Salve, Crux sancta, 8, 14, 172 Samson: set fire to foxes, 96, 224; strength of, 150, 263 sanctuary, anchor-house as, 67, 207 sand, idleness as, 151 saplings, in God’s orchard, anchoresses as, 142–3, 257. See also vineyards Sarah of Egypt, St, 4, 63, 170, 205; temptation of, 89, 219 Saul: false anchoresses compared to, 51–2; signifying devil, 52, 199 Sawles Warde, x, xxxiii, xli; audience of, xvi; date of, xi; genre of, xvi; parallels in AW to, 191, 192, 246, 252 scales, see Michael scandal, caused by anchoresses, 143, 157. See also gossip scapulars (short cloaks), 162 schools, see Paris

317

scorpion: of lechery, 74, 78–80, 214; women compared to, 79 scourging: of Christ, 71, 98; as penitential exercise, 54, 158, 226; remedy for lechery, 112 scrolls, 17, 107. See also booklets sea, of world, 92, 221 seasons, liturgical, 9, 173 seduction of virgins (stuprum), 78, 214 Seinte Iuliene, x; audience, xiv Seinte Katerine, x, xli; audience, xvi Seinte Margarete, x; audience, xiv, xvi; parallels in AW with, 89, 91, 219–20; possible allusions in AW to, 91, 93, 220, 222 self-harming: as mortification, 158; in anger, 77 Seneca, Epistulae morales, 30, 63, 187, 205; Hercules Furens, 253 senses, five, 11, 67; Christ’s sufferings in, see under Passion; custody of, 20–47; guardians of heart, 5, 20, 41, 47; native wits, 66, 207; sins listed by, 129; as structuring device, xxx, xxxi; ‘treatise on the five senses’ (R version of AW ), xli, xlvi. See also feeling, hearing, sight, smell, taste sepulchres, anchor-houses as, 65. See also whited sepulchres sermocinatio (imagined speech), xxxiv sermons, see preaching serpent: of envy, 74, 76–7, 81; temptation as, 112. See also devil, snake servants, anchoresses’, see maids seven Beatitudes, see Beatitudes seven bodily gifts, see gifts

318

gener a l inde x

seven deadly sins, see sins (seven capital and mortal) seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, see gifts ‘Seven Psalms’, see Psalms shadow: of afterlife (earthly pain and joy), 72–3, 92, 221; of sin (the flesh), 138; of Christ’s life, 143 shame, in confession, 125–6. See also suffering shape-changer, see witch Shechem, abduction of Dinah by, 22 sheep led to slaughter, Christ as, 49. See also Lamb of God shield: sign of cross as, 111–12; Christ’s body on cross as, 147–8, 260–1; illness as, 69 Shimei, ‘hearing’, 66, 207 ship, of Holy Church, 56 shoes, prescriptions on, 159, 272 Shrewsbury, xiii, xliv, 97, 224 Shropshire, xi, xxxviii sickness, see illness sight, sense of, 20–7, 36–41; Christ’s sufferings in, 42. See also senses sign of the cross: instructions on making, 8, 14, 18–19, 27; prayers based on, 18–19; for venial sins, 123; against wiles of devil, 42. See also staff silence, 27–33, 61; in anchoresses’ routine, 29, 163; of Christ, see Passion; the devil’s (sulking), 77; and hope, 32–3; of Virgin Mary, see Mary1 similitudines, xxx, xxxiv–xxxv —extended, in AW: —beggars show sores to excite compassion, 124–5, 243–4 —child comforted when what hurt it is beaten, 71; children of rich

fathers tear clothes to get new ones, 137 —father throws rod in fire after chastising child, 70–1, 209 —husband trains wife by increasing harshness, 83–4, 217 —jackdaw steals eggs from clucking hen, 27 —mother hides from child in play, 88, 219; mother stands between child and angry father, 138 —pedlar makes more noise about wares than rich merchant, 27–8, 59 —sick man has blood let from healthy part of body, 45, 195 —thief led to judgement with stolen goods hung from neck, 122, 241 —widow cleans house in stages, 119, 239 Simon of Ghent, bishop of Salisbury, xii, xxxix, xl singularity, 97, 224–5 sins: of the members, xxxi, 193; of the mouth/tongue, 27–33, 41, 44, 193; secret and manifest, 127, 129–30, 245, 248; stench of, 239 — confession of: under five headings, 129, 247–8; per genus et species, 127, 215 —seven capital and mortal, xxx–xxxi, 11, 74–80, 176 (see also avarice, envy, gluttony, lechery, pride, sloth, wrath): as animals, 74–5, 80–1, 212; and articles of faith, 94–100; carnal or spiritual, 73–4, 211; fountainhead of other sins, 11, 176; remedies for, 105–113



gener a l inde x

sisters, three, addressed in AW, see audience of AW six works of mercy, see works of mercy Sixtus, St, Dominican nunnery of, 169 skin: of soul, 49, 109; garment of flesh as, 137 sleeping, prescriptions on, 158–9, 272–3 sloth, capital and mortal sin, 75; anchoresses warned against, 18, 160; in devil’s court, 82; offspring of, 77–8, 80, 215; remedies for, 98, 109. See also bear Slurry, the cook’s boy, 143 smell, sense of, 41–2. See also senses snakes: the angry as, 49; backbiters as, 33–4, 35; devil as, 54; sins as, 80. See also exempla, serpent sneezing, augury by, 80, 215 soap-seller, see pedlar Sodom, 154, 160, 265; and Gomorrah, 127 Soliloquium (pseudo-Bernard), 257 solitary life, 59–67; exemplars of, 60–3; and temptation, 68. See also world Solomon, 20, etc.; and Shimei, 66 song, gift of blessed, 32, 189 sorrow, personified, 117 soul: ‘carnal’, 92, 221; as lover/ spouse of Christ, 109–11, 118, 123, 125, 138–9, 146–51; washed by confession, 115, 123; weaknesses of, 105–6 sow, of gluttony, 75, 78. See also beauty sparrows, anchoresses compared to, 56, 59–60, 67 spears, see weapons

319

species, see sins speech: sinful, three kinds of, 33–6; sins of, 27–36; as water, 30–1 spells, see witchcraft spices: bitter, 140; medicinal, 139; sweet, 32–3, 141. See also ginger, myrrh spike, see preon spiritual director, see director spirituality: of AW, xxiv–xxvi, 178, 248–9; democratization of, xxv–xxvi spouse, see under anchoresses, Holy Church, love, soul springs, of humility, 107 stability of abode, vow of, 3 staff (for beating devil): confession as, 124; sign of the cross as, 110–11 stamin (linen/wool shift), 158, 272 Stavensby, Alexander, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, xxii Stephen, St, martyrdom of, 49, 198 Stephen Langton, 262 Stephen of Muret, xvii, 254 sticks, see crosses, staff storage of valuables, in anchorhouses, 158, 271 strange land, see world stuprum, see seduction of virgins suffering, earthly: David’s, 134; as God’s messenger, 72; incomparably less than in afterlife, 70, 72–3, 92, 221; resentment of, 68; and shame, 134–6. See also crucifixion, Passion, bitternesses, mortification, senses suffrages, 10, 174 sulking, 77, 129

320

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Sulpicius Severus, Dialogi, 26, 184; letters, 232 sun: Christ as true, 20, 64, 150–1; woman clothed with, 64 suspicion, 77 swamp, see mire swearing, see cursing sweat: stench of, as mortification, 41, 144; Christ’s, of blood, 45, 111, 136 swine, see pigs swords: Christ’s, 150; flaming, guarding Paradise, 135, 251; of hell, 81. See also weapons Syncletica, St, 4, 63, 170, 205 Tamar, ‘bitterness’, 117, 238 taste, sense of, 42. See also senses Te Deum, see Nicetas of Remesiana teaching, see anchoresses tears: four powers of, 93, 223; gift of, 93, 222; quench temptations, 112–13; salvation of soul, 119. See also baths temptations, 5, 68–113; stronger for spiritually advanced, 68, 74, 83–4, 86–7 —external and internal, 68–9, 208; four categories of, 84–6, 217; nine comforts against, 86–91; six reasons why God withdraws himself during, 88–9 —external, remedies against, 69–73 —internal (seven capital and mortal sins), 73–83: physical and spiritual, 73–4; remedies against, 91–113 —See also sins Ten Commandments, see commandments

Tertullian, De Oratione, 199–200 theft, 78, 80. See also thieves theology, discipline of, 1 thieves: anchoresses as, 67; despair and presumption as, 126; good, on cross, 127; of hell, 59; led to judgement, 122; taking sanctuary, 67. See also theft Thomas of Chobham, xxi; sermons, 260–1, 273; Summa de arte praedicandi, xxi, xxxvi, 189, 199, 227, 241; Summa confessorum, 235 thorns: anchoresses as, 143; crown of, 71; hardships as, 143 three enemies of man, see enemies of man three Marys, see Marys tithing: incomplete, 80; of oneself, see fasting Tobit, blindness of, 37, 191 tongue: itching, 33; must be bridled, 30–1; sins of, see sins; wades in water, 31 tonsuring, see haircutting tools, hardships as, 5, 145 touch: as sword of lechery, 24; sense of, see feeling tournaments, 147, 260 tower: anchoresses as, 86–7; Christ as, 100 trade, forbidden to anchoresses, 158. See also handiwork tradesman, devil as, 79–80, 94, 158 transubstantiation, see communion treasure: in heaven, 43–4; good works as, 59; virginity as, 63–4 treasury, God’s, of the wicked, 51, 198 ‘Tremulous hand’ of Worcester, xl Tretyse of Loue, xlvi



gener a l inde x

tribunal of Christ, see Judgement Day Trinity: prayers to, 10–11; manifestation of, at baptism of Christ, 62. See also Christ, God the Father, Holy Spirit ‘Trinity Homilies’, xxi–xxii trumpeters: anchoresses as, 164; God’s, 81, 82; the devil’s (the proud), 81 twelve branches of charity, see charity underclothes, anchoresses’, 158–9, 271–2. See also haircloth, linen unicorn: angry man as, 48; of wrath, 75, 77, 81; confused with rhinoceros, xlviii–xlix, 213 unity of heart, see love Uriah, David’s betrayal of, 22, 183 urine, carnal love as, 151, 152 Ureisun of God Almihti, x, xl, 250, 253 Ureisun of ure Lefdi, xl usury, 78; devil’s, 123. See also Jews Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, 61, 205 vainglory, 75 veils, 76, 159, 273 Venantius Fortunatus, Quem terra, pontus, aethera, 7, 13, 17, 172 vengeance, God’s, 70–1, 108, 127, 138 Veni Creator spiritus, 7, 9, 110, 171 Venia, 19, 98, 109, 162; defined, 181 De vera et falsa poenitentia (pseudoAugustine), 116, 125, 128, 237, 239, 240–1, 247 vernacular prose, new developments in, xx–xxi, xxii–xxiv

321

‘vernacular spirituality’, xxv ‘vernacular theology’, xxv versicle, defined, 171. See also Psalms vestments, church, 274; sewing and mending of, 160; storage of, 158 vices, see sins, virtues Victorines: connection with AW, xii–xiii; habit of, 170; regulations of, xiii, xviii, 271, 275; spirituality of, xxiv vigil, keeping, 1, 2, 54–5, 56–7, 91, 168 vigils (days of fasting before feastdays), 155 vinegar: malice as, 151–2; temptation as, 90–1 vineyards, souls as, 112. See also saplings virgin martyrs, x, 137, 253 Virgin Mary, see Mary1 virginity: as balsam in fragile vessel, 63–4, 205–6; highest level of chastity, 150; integrity of heart/ mind and body, 65, 206–7; of John the Evangelist, 64, 172, 206; lost through desire, 64, 206; in the soul, 148–9, 261–2; theme in AW Group works, x, xvi; of Virgin Mary, 15, 16, 172. See also chastity virtues, 52, 128, 134, 199; as God’s army, 115; reinforce chastity, 139; remedy for temptation, 91; source of pride, 76; and vices, manuals on, xxxi. See also discretion, humility, patience Visio monachi de Eynsham, xi Vision of Thurkill, 215 visions: anchoresses warned against, xxv, 86, 102; of holy men, 37. See also dreams

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Visita, Domine, habitationem istam, 18, 181 visitors, precautions to be taken with, xliv, 25–7, 28–9, 38–9, 65–7. See also guests vita apostolica (‘apostolic life’), xvii–xviii, xx Vitae patrum, xvii, xxvi, xxxvi, xxxix, 30, 50, 63, 83, 86, 89, 90, 106, 119, 198, 216, 218, 219–20, 222 vomiting, confession as, 35, 79, 91, 130, 253 vows: of anchoritic profession, xix, 2–3, 168–9; otherwise discouraged, 2–3, 155, 168 wake (parish festival), 120, 240 Walter (recluse), see Regula reclusorum Warner of Langres, 176 washing, see cleanliness watching, see vigil weapons: three kinds of, 24; of devil, 24, 95, 111–12; of lechery, 24 wedding feast, see Cana well, of tears, 60 werewolves, 197 Wetheringsett, Richard, Summa Qui bene presunt, 261 wheels, fiery, see Elijah whip, God’s, 108 white, signifying chastity/virginity, 20. See also rochet whited sepulchres, 5 widows and orphans, sinful souls as, 3–4, 169 Wigmore Abbey, xiii, xxxviii, xlv wild animals: anchoresses as, 74; heart as, 20; seven capital sins as, 74–5, 212

wild boar, devil as, 106–7 wilderness, xvii, 8, 61, 74, 84, 170; Christ tempted in, 68, 205; of solitary life, 74, 80 William de Montibus, xxi; Peniteas cito, 247–8; Similitudinarium, xxx wimples, xliii, 159, 273 wind: speech as, 49–50, 198; temptations as blasts of, 56, 68, 83, 86–7, 93, 95, 208; worldly praise as, 58, 81, 215 windows: of anchor-house, 20–1, 24–7, 29, 159, 184, 186; of eyes, 20. See also eilþurles wine, sweetness of God as, 141 wings: of prayer, 199–200; of virtues, 52, 199 wisdom, 54–5, 69. See also under Christ witch, anger as, 48–9, 197 witchcraft, 80 wits, see senses Wohunge of ure Lauerd, x, xli; audience of, xiv; conditions of eligibility in, 262; date of, xi wolves, 95; angry man or woman as, 48–9; devil as, 97; in sheep’s clothing, see clerics. See also werewolves women: flesh of, as frail vessel, 63; and ‘new monasticism’, xviii–xix; sinful daughters of Eve, 22, 159. See also reason, scorpion ‘Wooing Group’, x. See also individual works Worcester, xii; cathedral priory of, xxi, xxii. See also ‘Tremulous Hand’ works of mercy, six (rather than seven) corporal, 12, 176–7



gener a l inde x

world: as alien land, 55, 94, 135, 223; eight reasons for fleeing, 63–7; God’s gift to humanity, 146; mutability of, 122; road to heaven or hell, 59, 72. See also enemies of man wounds: five, of Christ, 8, 11, 45, 54, 111, 172, 195 (see also hands); temptations as, 74, 103–5, 109–10 wrath: brief madness, 49; capital and mortal sin, 75; offspring of, 77, 213; remedies for, 49–51, 94–8, 105, 108. See also knifethrowers, unicorn, witch wrestling: as entertainment, 121;

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against devil’s temptations, 32, 85, 90, 121, 141, 241; Christ’s, with devil, 106, 230; Jacob’s, with angel, 256 Wulfstan, archbishop of York (d. 1023), xxi, xxxiii Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (1062–95), xxi Wycliffite movement, and AW, xxv–xxvi, xl, xlv–xlvi yoke, God’s, 61 Zarah, ‘rising’, 117, 238 Zarephath, poor woman of, 151 Zion, ‘mirror’, 36, 191

Index of Scriptural Quotations

The Index lists all passages of Scripture quoted or closely paraphrased (in Latin or Middle English) in the text, and other references in the Introduction and Notes. References to the translated text are given in bold type; notes giving only the source-citation of a passage in the text are not separately cited. All references are to the Vulgate text of the Bible (see p. xlix). Genesis 3: 6, 21 3: 7, 242 3: 12–13, 237 3: 15, 234 3: 24, 251 5: 24, 251 18: 17, 154 19: 22, 154, 265 24: 63, 203 32: 22–32, 204 32: 24, 256 34: 1, 22 35: 18, 115, 237 38, 238 39: 7–20, 183, 186 43–5, 237 48–9, 191 49: 3, 109, 232 49: 4, 109, 232 Exodus 2: 22, 252 3: 17, 84 15–16, 211 15: 23, 256

20: 5, 36 21: 33–4, 23, 183 Leviticus 2: 13, 55 Numbers 14: 20, 153 16, 245 Deuteronomy 11: 24, 153, 264 24: 6, 245 32: 15, 54 32: 35, 209 34: 7, 263 Judges 1: 1, 114, 236 1: 2, 114 15: 4–5, 96, 224 15: 14–17, 263 1 Kings 4: 1, 100 24, 199



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2 Kings 2: 18, 263 4: 5–6, 103 14: 25–6, 263 3 Kings 2: 36–46, 207 17: 12, 151 18: 21, 206 4 Kings 2: 1–11, 251 6: 15–16, 89, 219 2 Chronicles 20: 12, 101 20: 15, 101 20: 17, 101 20: 20, 101, 227 Nehemiah 3: 14, 34, 190 Tobit 2: 11–14, 191 3: 22, 142 Judith 8: 1, 238 8: 4–6, 51 10: 2–3, 115 14: 15, 114 Job 2: 4, 137, 253 3: 21–2, 43, 194 6: 6, 91, 220 7: 1, 135 12: 7–8, xxxv, 54, 200 12: 23, 149 14: 19, 84

19: 13, 45, 194 19: 27, 58 23: 10, 208 28: 25, 55, 201 29: 18, 53 30: 13, 84 30: 14, 84–5 31: 1, 25 39: 25, 140, 255 41: 23, 84, 217 41: 25, 106 Psalms 3: 2, 110 4: 5, 235 5: 9, 9, 174 5: 13, 147 6: 3, 109 8: 8–9, 146 9: 24, 35 9: 25, 126 9: 34, 126 12: 1, 110 18: 6, 98 18: 7, 150 21: 17, xxviii, 111, 124, 233 21: 21, 110 24: 1, 110 24: 18, 134 27: 7, 128 31: 11, 1, 167 32: 7, 51 35: 11, 1 37: 6, 104 37: 15, 44 38: 2, 188 40: 5, 11, 109, 232 44: 3, 147 50: 1, 10, 174 50: 3, 13 50: 17, 8, 172

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Psalms continued 51: 3, 231 53: 3, 110 54: 10, 226 57: 11, 71 58: 10, 53 63: 10, 12, 176 65: 4, 11, 175 67: 2, 110 69: 2, 8, 9, 110, 172, 233 71: 4, 123 72: 6, 219 73: 11, 57 73: 13, 93, 222 74: 2, 122 75: 3–4, 95 77: 8, 154 83: 10, 14 84: 5, 19, 181 85: 2, 10, 13, 174–5, 178 87: 3, 223 89: 13, 12 89: 15, 72 90: 5–6, 84 94: 1, 9, 172 94: 6, 9, 172 99: 1, 14 101: 2, 13 101: 7, 48, 56, 59, 196 101: 8, 56, 59 103: 10, 107 103: 30, 7 111: 9, 12 112: 2, 18 114: 9, 9, 173 115: 15, 9, 173 118: 7, 154 118: 8, 88 118: 17, 15, 179, 180 118: 37, 25 118: 85, 38, 65, 192

118: 115, 38, 65, 192 118: 164, 173 119: 1, 15, 180 120: 1, 12, 14, 110, 180 121: 7, 10 122: 1, 12, 15, 17, 110, 180 123: 8, 18, 181 124: 1, 14 124: 4, 1 125: 1, 15, 180 129: 1, 12 130: 1, 14, 179 134: 4, 256 136: 9, 112 139: 12, 32, 188 140: 4, 122 140: 5, 97 142: 10, 13 145: 9, 169 150: 1, 10, 174 Proverbs 4: 23, 20, 47 8: 31, 128 10: 19, 31, 188 11: 2, 106 11: 15, 26, 184 11: 22, 75 13: 3, 30 18: 21, 30 23: 20, 34, 190 23: 35, 85, 217 25: 21–2, 152 25: 23, 34, 190 25: 28, 30, 187 27: 1, 123 27: 6, 97–8, 225 27: 7, 142



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Ecclesiastes 4: 10, 95 7: 17, 102 10: 11, 33 Canticles 1: 1, 41 1: 3, 1 1: 4, 4 1: 4–5, 20, 182 1: 7, 40, 192–3 2: 8, 143, 182, 257 2: 10, 39, 192 2: 12, 128 2: 14, 36, 39, 111, 233 2: 15, 112 3: 4, 89 3: 6, 142 4: 6, 142 4: 7, 231–2 5: 17, 17, 264 8: 7, 151 Wisdom 1: 10, 36 1: 15, 32 3: 6, 208 Ecclesiasticus 1: 29, 141 2: 5, 208 3: 27, 26, 184 5: 8–9, 123, 242 7: 40, 47, 196 11: 34, 113, 182, 235 17: 27, 123 18: 32, 63 21: 11, 72, 210 22: 3, 43, 194 26: 10, 79, 214–15 31: 1, 56

31: 15, 25, 184 34: 9, 88 35: 21, 93 Isaiah 1: 15, 31 2: 10, 111, 233 3: 12, 73 3: 16–24, 212 3: 24, 41 5: 7, 257 5: 20, 34 6: 5, 62 7: 14, 16, 180 10: 2, 169 10: 5, 70, 209 11: 1, 16, 180 11: 2–3, 176 14: 11, 82 14: 12–15, 201 14: 12, 21, 182 18: 7, 137, 253 28: 15, 118 30: 15, 32 32: 17, 32, 189 42: 8, 108 47: 11, 84 49: 15, 149 49: 16, 149, 262 51: 23, 101, 227 53: 5, 138 53: 7, 198 61: 7, 135 64: 4, 154 64: 7, 153 64: 12, 153, 264 65: 13, 82 Jeremiah 2: 21, 257 2: 24, 81, 215

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Jeremiah continued 3: 1, 148 6: 26, 118 6: 30, 108, 231 9: 1–2, 60–1, 204 9: 21, 184 15: 17, 60, 204 Lamentations 1: 2, 118, 239 2: 19, 122, 241 3: 26–7, 61, 204 3: 28, 61, 204 3: 30, 61 3: 51, 25 3: 65, 111, 147, 260 4: 1, 43, 194 4: 4, 248 4: 19, 74 Ezekiel 13: 8, 34, 190 16: 49, 160 35: 6, 141 Daniel 3: 57, 9, 172 7: 9, 251 Hosea 2: 14, 65, 207 7: 9, 85, 123, 217 8: 9, 81, 215 11: 9, 65 Joel 1: 7, 58, 203 1: 17, 227, 243 2: 25, 115, 236

Amos 3: 8, 116 Micah 6: 8, 5 Nahum 1: 9, 117 3: 5, 122, 241 Zechariah 8: 2, 36 10: 6, 115 Matthew 2: 11, 59 3: 16–17, 62 4: 1, 68 4: 2, 62 5: 3–11, 176 5: 8, 168 5: 9, 98 5: 36–7, 29 5: 44, 71 5: 45, 259 6: 2, 57 6: 13, 87 7: 15, 28, 185 7: 16, 105 8: 20, 99 8: 31, 87 11: 11, 61, 204 11: 29, 107 12: 1–2, 226 12: 36, 33, 57, 189, 202 13: 31–2, 199 13: 43, 137, 250 13: 44, 59 14: 19–21, 248 14: 23–33, 14, 178 14: 23, 205



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Matthew continued 16: 24, 200 18: 6, 241 19: 6, 71 19: 27, 64 19: 28, 135 23: 25–7, 5, 171 23: 34, 3, 169 24: 5, 28, 185 24: 31, 81 25: 33–4, 237 25: 35–45, 176 25: 41, 116 26: 6–13, 268 26: 36–44, 205 26: 38, 138 26: 39, 138 26: 41, 56 26: 56, 147 27: 34, 90, 193–4, 220 27: 42, 71 27: 56, 193 Mark 6: 3, 3, 169 9: 49, 54 11: 11, 99, 226 15: 23, 194 15: 25, 263 15: 34, 138 15: 40, 193 16: 1, 140, 141, 142, 193 Luke 1: 18–20, 204 1: 28, 62, 172 1: 31, 16 1: 35, 15, 17, 179 1: 38, 16, 17, 31, 180 1: 39–55, 188 1: 42, 62, 172

1: 46, 10, 15, 174, 180 1: 62–79, 204 2: 7, 98 2: 41–51, 188 6: 12, 50, 202 6: 37, 50 7: 36–50, 178, 268 9: 58, 51, 53, 199 10: 34, 277 10: 38–42, 267 11: 27, 73 12: 7, 57, 202 12: 37, 56 12: 49, 151 15: 20, 148 17: 10, 52 18: 10–14, 243 21: 18, 57, 202 22: 24, 111 22: 31–2, 89 22: 44, 45 24: 1, 226 24: 16, 136, 253 24: 36, 94, 96 John 1: 29, 116, 238 2: 1–11, 256 8: 11, 129, 247 8: 31–2, 94, 223 8: 44, 33, 118 11: 7, 122, 223 11: 33–43, 243 12: 1–8, 268 13: 35, 94, 223 14: 6, 33 14: 23, 257 14: 27, 94 16: 7, 153 16: 33, 64 19: 25–7, 206

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John continued 19: 28, 46 19: 30, 90, 152, 220 19: 39, 140 21: 15–17, 144, 257 Acts 4: 32, 4, 96, 170, 224 8: 32, 49, 198 10: 38, 98, 225 13: 22, 22–3, 183 Romans 6: 5, 136 7: 18, 127 8: 6, 140 8: 17, 132, 249 9: 10–13, 203 12: 19, 70, 108, 209 13: 10, 146 1 Corinthians 1: 23–4, 106, 230 2: 9, 154, 265 7: 34, 206 10: 4, 234 10: 13, 87 11: 6, 159 11: 10, 159 11: 31, 116, 238 13: 1, 145 13: 3, 145 13: 4–7, 176 13: 12, 37, 191 2 Corinthians 4: 7, 63 4: 9–10, 143 5: 10, 117, 238 6: 15, 118 11: 14, 85, 218

12: 2, xxv, 250 12: 5–10, 250 12: 7, 89 12: 9, 89, 230 Galatians 2: 20, 133 3: 1, 43, 194 3: 3, 43, 194 5: 24, 200 6: 14, 132, 133, 249, 250 Ephesians 5: 14, 123, 216 5: 25, 146 Philippians 2: 8, 135 3: 16, 1 3: 17–19, 136 3: 20–1, 136 Colossians 3: 3–4, 133, 250 1 Thessalonians 5: 15, 71 1 Timothy 1: 5, 1 2: 12, 29 4: 8, 1, 145 5: 7, 214 2 Timothy 2: 5, 90 2: 12, 132, 249 2: 17, 39 Titus 1: 15, 145



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Hebrews 4: 13, 125 9: 22, 262 11: 13–16, 223 11: 33, 94, 223 12: 3, 100, 226 12: 4, 100, 226 12: 11, 72 13: 14, 132 James 1: 2, 72, 135, 252 1: 12, 69 1: 26, 30, 187 1: 27, 3, 4, 169 2: 13, 126 4: 7, 94 1 Peter 2: 11, 132 2: 22, 72, 210

4: 1, 100 4: 7, 63, 205 5: 8, 63, 205 5: 9, 94 1 John 4: 16, 223 Apocalypse 1: 5, 149 2: 17, 37, 191 3: 15–16, 43, 151, 194 3: 17, 68 3: 19, 70 5: 5, 18, 181 12: 1, 64, 206 14: 4, 65, 83, 206–7 18: 6, 82 18: 7, 82, 216 20: 12–15, 223

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