In the fourth episode, Mary and Irina climb inside a tiny cell to explore the Ancrene Wisse, a guidebook written in the early 13th century, originally intended for three anchoresses, but which enjoyed a much wider audience (there was even a copy in Henry VIII’s library).
The women addressed by the text lived lives of extraordinary restriction, permanently enclosed in small anchorholds, in order to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. The Ancrene Wisse is a striking literary artefact, a piece of learned and often beautiful writing, but one which elaborates a broad and detailed conception of sin in its prescription for the control of women's minds and bodies.
This is an extract from the episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadings
Find Mary and Irina's podcast on Julian of Norwich, from their short series Encounters with Medieval Women, here:
Encounters with Medieval Women: Anchoress
Further reading in the LRB:
