Rachael Kerr explains the significance of that bizarre and mystical character of the Church during the Middle Ages, the anchoress
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast – Isaiah 26:20
We’ve all had more than enough of our chambers recently, but our struggles pale in comparison with those of the anchoress – the medieval women who would have heard these words from Isaiah as they voluntarily entered into the most extreme form of lockdown yet invented.
In a world where saints, martyrs and visionary mystics were revered as paragons, the life of an anchoress was not for the fainthearted. Unlike the hermit, who could choose to stay in one place or to wander, the anchoress – or anchorite if male – chose to withdraw completely from the world into a life of constant prayer, self-denial and asceticism, shut up in a cell usually attached to a church.
Herefordshire
United-kingdom
Gidding
Cambridgeshire
Bridlington
East-riding-of-yorkshire
Chester-le-street
Durham
King-lynn
Dame-julian
Virgin-mary
Hortus-deliciarum