Economies of Salvation in English Anchoritic Texts, 1100-1400
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School April 2019 Economies of Salvation in English Anchoritic Texts, 1100-1400 Joshua Edward Britt University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the European History Commons, and the Medieval History Commons Scholar Commons Citation Britt, Joshua Edward, "Economies of Salvation in English Anchoritic Texts, 1100-1400" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7751 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Economies of Salvation in English Anchoritic Texts, 1100-1400 by Joshua Edward Britt A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Giovanna Benadusi, Ph.D. Anne Koenig, Ph.D. William Murray, Ph.D. Jennifer Dukes-Knight, Ph.D. Date of Approval: April 15, 2019 Keywords: Medieval English Anchorites, Salvation, Mysticism, Hermits, Twelfth-Century Vitae Copyright © 2019, Joshua Edward Britt Dedication To my parents, Bruce and Linda; and my in-laws, Kathy, Ken, and Judy. Without your support, this project would not have been possible. To my children, Ella, Claire, and Griffin. You shared your dad with this seemingly endless work. Most of all, this is dedicated to my wife, Kimberly. Your sacrifices and patient, steadfast love truly made this project possible, and any honors for its completion belong as much to you (if not more) as to me. Table of Contents Abstract ii Chapter One – Introduction 1 Chapter Two – The Desert 22 Chapter Three – John of Forde’s Life of Wulfric of Haselbury 50 Chapter Four – The Vita of Christina of Markyate 77 Chapter Five – Fourteenth-Century Mysticism 112 Chapter Six – Conclusion 145 References 150 i Abstract This dissertation explores the different ways medieval authors conceived of anchoritism and solitary life by focusing on three important phases of the movement which are represented by Wulfric of Haselbury, Christina of Markyate, and fourteenth-century mystics. It is grounded in the medieval English anchoritic literature that was produced by religious scholars between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Initially, lacking a tradition of their own and a language to articulate the anchoritic experience, medieval hagiographers borrowed the desert imagery from the story of the early fathers who lived in the Syrian and Egyptian deserts, which they viewed as a place of solitude and physical suffering and in which they sought perfection and salvation. While acts of penitence and the sacrament of penance would never be removed from the economy of salvation, by the eleventh century, the desert was no longer a viable analogue for salvation. I argue that in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, new ideas of what constituted salvation and how it was fulfilled were elaborated. The cell became the place in which devotion to the sacraments was fulfilled, and it was this sacramental devotion, particularly the Eucharist but also marriage and holy orders, not physical isolation that imbued anchorites with exceptional holiness and led them to salvation. A century later a new understanding of the economy of salvation emerged, which deemphasized the physical body and was grounded in ii mysticism or the inward migration of the spiritual center. This was the final transformation in medieval English anchoritism and the narratives of the reclusive changed to reflect that turn. iii Chapter One Introduction This dissertation analyzes medieval English anchoritic literature that was produced by scholars and hagiographers between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. In particular, I trace the different ways medieval authors conceived of anchoritism and solitary life through representatives of three important phases of the movement: Wulfric of Haselbury, Christina of Markyate, and fourteenth-century mystics. Lacking a tradition of their own and a language to articulate the anchoritic experience, early medieval hagiographers borrowed the desert imagery from the story of the early fathers who lived in the Syrian and Egyptian deserts as an act of living martyrdom. The desert imagery used by contemporary authors to describe the dwellings of hermits and anchorites stretches back to the third and fourth centuries even if English anchorites lived in forests, island, and swamps. The desert was a place typically cast as a site of struggle rather than contemplation, a crucial metaphor that explained a religious vocation that sought perfection in a life of solitude and physical suffering. The desert operated as an ecosystem of salvation whose arid environs provided the means for bodily penance and the solitude necessary for contemplation and illumination, and finally, salvation. While acts of penitence and the sacrament of penance would never be removed from the economy of salvation, by the eleventh century, the desert, with its long literary and religious tradition of suffering and pain, was no longer a viable analogue for Christian salvation and the cell of the recluse ceased to be described 1 as desert. I argue that in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, new ideas of what constituted salvation and how it was fulfilled were elaborated. The cell became the place in which devotion to the sacraments was fulfilled, and it was this sacramental devotion, not asceticism and physical isolation that imbued the anchorite with exceptional holiness. In the twelfth century, the sacramental turn shifted the primary mode of salvation toward the observance of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist but also marriage and holy orders. A century later a new understanding of the economy of salvation emerged, which deemphasized the physical body and was grounded in mysticism or the inward migration of the spiritual center. This was the final transformation in medieval English anchoritism and the narratives of the reclusive changed to reflect that turn. Anchorites have occupied an ambiguous place in modern scholarship.1 Although the vocation was ubiquitous in medieval society, as evidenced by its inclusion in several medieval literary genres such as hagiographies, guidance texts, pontificals, missals, and personal correspondence, the meaning of the anchoritic vocation within the context of medieval communities has been difficult to pin down. This is perhaps because the vocation of the anchorite has been hard to define. Anchorites were men and women who chose to live as 1 The terminology used to refer to solitaries throughout the Middle Ages is complicated. The simplest explanation is that hermits and anchorites, the two most common terms for solitaries, were differentiated by their mobility. Hermits were permitted to move from one location to another, work the land, and often, perform public works service such as repairing roads and bridges, etc. Anchorites were usually enclosed in a cell connected to a parish church or cathedral and were not allowed to leave, for the remainder of their lives. Tom Licence uses the term recluse to refer to refer specifically to what are traditionally considered anchorites, and he applies anchorite as an umbrella term to identify both hermits and recluses. In England, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the terms anchorite and hermit were still interchangeable. In this chapter, I will use the term hermit to refer to those holy men who live in the eastern deserts and the countryside of western Europe, and anchorite to refer to Eustochium, Eve, and the three enclosed sisters to whom Ancrene Wisse was written as their conditions are more congruent with anchoritism. For more on terminology see Tom Licence, Hermits and Recluses in English Society, 950-1200 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 10-21. 2 solitaries enclosed in cells attached to churches or cathedrals. Because there was not a universally accepted rule for anchorites, like the Rule of St. Benedict was for monks and nuns, anchorites enjoyed a unique kind of freedom to spend their days as they wished within the confines of their cells (or anchorholds). Many anchorites, however, desired to live according to a rule, and, often, requested one to be written by a trusted spiritual advisor. These guidance texts, usually written by male priests for female anchorites (anchoresses), account for much of what is known today about the anchoritic life, such as the motivations for someone taking on such an austere lifestyle, how they were expected to live, and what their function might have been in medieval society. Additionally, anchorites became the subjects of vitae (lives), which were biographies of holy men and women who either already were, or were thought eligible to become, saints. The number and proliferation of these text attest to the intrigue with which the vocation was viewed by medieval society. Anchoritism and monasticism both have their roots in the deserts of fourth-century Syria and Egypt. The solitary life of the desert drew men and women who sought piety through a life of ascetic withdrawal from the luxuries found in towns and villages. While some of these ascetics went on to found the first Christian monasteries, others remained solitary hermits (from the Latin word eremus, often spelled heremus in medieval latin, which means desert or abandoned, solitary place). By the fifth century, the monastic lifestyle had migrated to Western Europe, and with it the solitary life of the hermit. In England, hermits found their deserts on rocky coastal islands and in swampy marshes. Often, although they lived apart, hermits were members of local monasteries, and they were supplied with food and other necessities by their monastic brothers. 3 In England, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the terms hermit and anchorite were used synonymously, and it was not until the twelfth century that the terms took on different meanings.