“Wide-ranging and fully accessible, this book reflects an exciting international scholarly collaboration, offering a broad and compelling analysis of the influence of anchoritism and its associated traditions upon the spirituality of Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages. Disrupting traditional geographical boundaries, the essays draw together with some of the more canonical writings a number of hitherto underexplored or overlooked expressions of this form of the solitary life.”

Liz Herbert McAvoy, Swansea University

“Emerging from a powerful meeting of the International Anchoritic Society in Japan in 2008, this volume explores the development of anchoritism across Europe, including in works by spiritual writers such as Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Dorothy of Mantau. Deepening our understanding of the linguistic features of the originary texts as well as the development of lay spirituality, these essays make a significant contribution to the recent efflorescence of critical attention to the history of spirituality.”

Elizabeth Robertson, University of Glasgow