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Tom Licence.
Hermits and Recluses in English Society, 950-1200.

Publisher: Oxford University Press.
Publication date: January 6th, 2011.
Size: 234x156mm.
Page count: 256pp.

Publisher's recommended price
Hardback ISBN 9780199592364, £55.00

Description:

In the central Middle Ages, English society lavished unprecedented attention on a category of would-be outcasts who repudiated its ambitions and spurned its aspirations. Hermits and recluses (collectively 'anchorites') had their own, very different vision of how life should be lived, and yet nobles retained them on their estates, parishioners did their bit to support their local recluses, and every tier of society from the peasantry up to royalty journeyed to rural hermitages for prayer, advice, and spiritual instruction. Anchorites were everywhere, dotted across the landscape, striving to restore humanity's broken image, in their own lives and in their clients. The respect that came of their endeavour grew from a heightened sense of the conflict between society's worldly concerns and its spiritual ideals, in the minds of their admirers.

Contents:
Introduction. 1: The Anglo-Saxon and European background. 2: The rise of the hermit in England. 3: The rise of the recluse. 4: How anchorites made a living. 5: Eradicating sin, in theory. 6: Eradicating sin, in practice. 7: How anchorites helped others. 8: How anchorites became saints. Conclusion.