ANCRENE RIWLE (“Rule of the Anchoresses”). — An ascetical treatise by an unknown author, dedicated to recluses and hermits, composed before 1225. An outstanding literary and historical document, also on account of the prose in which it is written (a Wessex dialect), it has recently been attributed (J. R. C. Hall, Selections from Early Middle English, II, Cambridge, p. 375) to St Gilbert of Sempringham (between 1135 and 1154).
After an introduction, its eight parts (divine service, custody of the heart and senses, monastic life and its respective virtues, external and internal temptations, confession, penance, love, domestic rules) set forth in an organic summary the precepts and counsels of a life devoted to prayer and work. The hermits in question did not live in complete solitude, since the A. R. is addressed to three women living in community. The text, in a simple and bare, original and lively form, abounds in picturesque passages of realistic description. Its spiritual doctrine is marked by kindly wisdom and moderation: for example, the use of the hair-shirt and excessive abstinence are discouraged for the recluse, and she is permitted to keep a cat near her for company.