A Companion to Ancrene Wisse [Paperback]

The thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse is a guide for female recluses. Addressed to three young sisters of gentle birth, it teaches what truly good anchoresses should and should not do, offering in its examples a glimpse of the real life women had in England in the middle ages. It is also important for its evidence for the continuation of the Anglo-Saxon tradition of prose writing, being produced in the West Midlands where Old English writing conventions continued to develop even after the Norman conquest. The Companion addresses the cultural and historical background, the affiliations of the versions, genre, authorship and language; the various approaches also include a feminist reading of the text. Contributors: ROGER DAHOOD, RICHARD DANCE, A.S.G. EDWARDS, CATHERINE INNES-PARKER, BELLA MILLETT, CHRISTINA VON NOLCKEN, ELIZABETH ROBERTSON, ANNE SAVAGE, D.A. TROTTER, YOKO WADA, NICHOLAS WATSON.Ancrene Wisse introduced through a variety of cultural and critical approaches which establish the originality and interest of the treatise.What is Ancrene Wisse - Yoko WadaThe Genre of Ancrene Wisse - Bella MillettThe Communal Authorship of Ancrene Wisse - Anne SavageThe AB Language: the Recluse, The Gossip and the Language Historian - Richard DanceThe Anglo-French lexis of Ancrene Wisse: a re-evaluation - D A TrotterThe Middle English Manuscripts and Early Readers of Ancrene Wisse - A S G Edwards'This Living Hand': Thirteenth-Century Female Literacy and the Female Reader of Ancrene Wisse - Elizabeth RobertsonThe Legacy of Ancrene Wisse: Translations, Adaptations, Influences and Audience, with Special Attention to Women Readers - Catherine Innes-ParkerThe Recluse and its Readers: Some Observations on a Lollard Interpolated Version of Ancrene Wisse - Christina von NolckenAncrene Wisse, Religious Reform and the Late Middle Ages - Nicholas WatsonAncrene Wisse and the Identities of Mary Salome - Roger Dahood