
This early thirteenth-century West Midlands guide for women recluses is not only one of the major works of early Middle English prose, but is also a key document for the development of medieval spirituality. It reflects the 'democratization' of religious experience which was...


The early thirteenth-century devotional guide Ancrene Wisse, or "Anchoresses' Guide," is a revision of an earlier work written to instruct three noblewomen enclosed as anchoresses in the West Midlands in their religious devotion; its readership had expanded to more than twenty...


Translation of the Middle English manual 'Ancrene Riwle' ('Rule for Anchoresses'), which was composed between 1225 and 1240 for the spiritual instruction of women. This edition contains an introduction by Dom Gerard Sitwell and a preface by J.R.R. Tolkien.









The Ancrene Wisse is perhaps the most notable monument of Middle English prose, its influence evident from the time of its composition in the early thirteenth century until at least the Reformation. As the only Early Middle English work of considerable length to survive in more...
![The English text of the Ancrene riwle [English, Middle] 0811539598 Book Cover](https://image-plz.thriftbooks.com/l/74B175252CF3433686F86AC6D86548A5.png)
