1. Anchoritic Life

The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages.^[1] Examples of the dwellings of anchorites and anchoresses survive. A large number of these are in England. They tended to be a simple cell (also called anchorhold), built against one of the walls of the local village church.^[2] In Germanic-speaking areas, from at least the 10th century, it was customary for the bishop to say The Office of the Dead as the anchorite entered his cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite were walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. Some anchorites, however, freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church.^[3]

Most anchoritic strongholds were small, perhaps no more than 3.7 to 4.6 m (12 to 15 ft) square, with three windows. Viewing the altar, hearing Mass, and receiving the Eucharist was possible through one small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint". Anchorites would also provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors through this window, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.^[4] Another small window would allow access to those who saw to the anchorite's physical needs, such as food and other necessities. A third window, often facing the street, but covered with translucent cloth, would allow light into the cell.^[5]

Anchorites were supposed to remain in their cell in all eventualities. Some were even burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or other attackers were looting and burning their towns.^[6] They ate frugal meals, spending their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others. Anchorites' bodily waste was managed by means of a chamber pot.^[7]

In addition to being the physical location wherein the anchorite could embark on the journey towards union with God, the anchorhold also provided a spiritual and geographic focus for people from the wider society who came to ask for advice and spiritual guidance. Although set apart from the community at large by stone walls and specific spiritual precepts, the anchorite also lay at the very centre of that same community. The anchorhold has been called a communal 'womb' from which would emerge an idealized sense of a community's own reborn potential, both as Christians and as human subjects.^[8]

An idea of their daily routine can be gleaned from an anchoritic Rule. The most widely known today is the early 13th century text known as Ancrene Wisse.^[9] Another, less widely known, example is the rule known as De Institutione Inclusarum written in the 12th century, around 1160–62, by Aelred of Rievaulx for his sister.^[10] It is estimated that the daily set devotions detailed in Ancrene Wisse would take some four hours, on top of which anchoresses would listen to services in the church, and engage in their own private prayers and devotional reading.^[11]

2. Famous Anchorites

The earliest recorded anchorites lived in the 3rd century CE. For example, Hilarion (Gaza, 291–Cyprus, 371) was known as the founder of anchoritic life in Palestine.^[12]

The anchoritic life proved especially popular in England. Well-known anchorites include:

• Bede records that, prior to a conference in 602 with Augustine of Canterbury, British churchmen consulted an anchorite about whether to abandon their Celtic Christian traditions for the Roman practices which Augustine was seeking to introduce.
• Towards the end of the 7th century, Guthlac of Crowland, related by blood to the Kingdom of Mercia, withdrew from the monastery at Repton to an island in the Lincolnshire Fens, where he lived for some 15–20 years.^[13]
• Wulfric of Haselbury was enclosed as an anchorite in a cell built against the church in his village of Haselbury.
• Christine Carpenter, who submitted a petition in 1329^[14] and was granted permission to become the Anchoress of Shere Church^[15] (aka. The Church of St. James), in the Borough of Guildford, England. She received her food and drink from friends and family through a metal grating on the outside wall. In the interior of the church a quatrefoil shape was cut out of the wall through which she could receive the Eucharist and a hagioscope for her use for prayer and reflection. She left her cell, and in 1332 she applied again and was granted permission to be re-enclosed.^[16]
• Margaret Kirkby (possibly 1322^[17] to 1391–4), an anchoress at Hampole, Yorkshire for whom Richard Rolle wrote his vernacular guide The Form of Living.^[18]
• Walter Hilton composed the first book of his Scale of Perfection for an unnamed enclosed woman.^[19]
• Julian of Norwich, whose writings have left a lasting impression on Christian spirituality.^[20] Her cell, attached to St Julian's Church, Norwich, was destroyed during an air raid during World War II. The church itself was gutted but the original walls remain, and it was rebuilt. On the site of the cell is a modern shrine to Julian.^[21]

The evidence supports the existence of a total of around 780 anchorites on 600 sites in England between 1100 and 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by Henry VIII, which brought anchoritism in England to an end. Women were more numerous among the anchorites than men, especially in the 13th century.^[22]

English anchorholds can still be seen at Chester-le-Street in County Durham and at Hartlip in Kent.

3. Notable People

• Anthony the Great
• Walter Hilton
• Julian of Norwich
• Nazarena of Jesus
• Richard Rolle
• Henry Suso