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Ancrene Wisse (also Ancrene Riwle) or
Guide for Anchoresses is a monastic rule (or manual)
for anchoresses, written
in the early 13th century.[1]
'Ancrene Wisse' was originally written for three 'sisters' who
chose to enter the contemplative life. 'Ancrene Wisse' is made up
of eight Parts: Parts 1 and 8 deal with what is called the "Outer
Rule" (relating to the anchoresses' exterior life), Parts 2-7 with
the "Inner Rule" (relating to the anchoresses' interior life). The
conflict between the external and internal worlds is a fundamental
concern of the author, as illustrated by this passage from Pt.
2:
"Hwether ei totilde ancre fondede eaver this, the beaketh eaver
ut-ward as untohe brid i cage? Hwether the cat of helle cahte eaver
towart hire, ant lahte with his cleavres hire heorte heved? ... To
wrather heale beakede swa ut ancre."
Language and textual
criticism
It is written in an early Middle English dialect known as 'AB language'. This
comes from the sigla of MSS Bodley 34 (A) and Corpus
Christi 402 (B). Bodley MS 34 contains the final revision of
Ancrene Wisse. Corpus Christi MS 402 contains Ancrene
Wisse together with a set of texts that have become known as
the "Katherine
Group": 'Katerine', 'Margerete', 'Iuliene', 'Hali Meiðhad' and
'Sawles Warde'. AB language was described by J.R.R. Tolkien as "a faithful transcript of
some dialect...or a 'standard' language based on one' in use in the
West Midlands in the 13th
century."
Ancrene Wisse is found in seventeen manuscripts. There
are eleven manuscript versions in existence containing all or part
of the text in its original Middle English; there are also four
versions in Anglo-Norman French, and a further four Latin translations. The oldest
manuscript in English is kept at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge. A number of the 17 manuscripts have only extracts of
the text. The shortest extract is the Lanhydrock Fragment (Oxford,
Bodleian Library), made up of only one page. 'Ancrene Wisse' has a
very complex manuscript history. Paul Zumthor has suggested that
given the way mediaeval texts were transmitted, we should see many
mediaeval works not as "a single, completed entity but as something
more fluid and open-ended, constantly adapted as it travelled
through space and time".
Many scholars since Tolkien have worked on editing some of the
versions.
Editions
(selected)
- J. R. R.
Tolkien, N. R. Ker, eds. (1962) The English Text of the
Ancrene Riwle (Ancrene Wisse, Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS
402). (Early English Text Society; 249). Oxford University Press ISBN
0-19-722249-8
- Arne Zettersten, Bernhard Diensberg, eds. (1976) The
English Text of the Ancrene Riwle, The 'Vernon' Text; Bodleian
Library MS Eng. poet. a. I.. (Early English Text Society;
310). Oxford U. P. ISBN 0-19-722314-1
- Geoffrey Shepherd, ed. (1959) Ancrene Wisse: Parts six and
seven, London: Nelson
- Robert Hasenfratz, (2000) online edition at
rochester.edu
- Joseph Hall (ed.) (1920) "Ancrene Wisse; Ancrene Riwle"
(extracts) in his: Selections from Early Middle English,
1130-1250. Oxford: Clarendon Press; vol. 1, pp. 54-76; 2, pp.
354-407 (The seven deadly sins; The outer rule. Based on CCCC 402,
Cotton Nero A.xiv and 3 other MSS.)
References
- J. R. R. Tolkien, Ancrene Wisse and Hali
Meiðhad (in Essays and Studies; 1929).
- Eric John Dobson, Robert Grosseteste, Moralities on the
Gospels: New Source of "Ancrene Wisse" Oxford: Clarendon Press
(1975) ISBN 0198120567
- Anne Savage, Nicholas Watson, Benedicta Ward, Anchoritic
Spirituality: "Ancrene wisse" and associated works, Paulist
Press (1991), ISBN 0809132575 Google Books Search
- Elizabeth Robertson, Early English Devotional Prose and the
Female Audience, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 1990)
- Jennifer Potts, Lorna Stevenson and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, eds.
Concordance to "Ancrene Wisse": MS. Corpus Christi, Cambridge
402, 1249 p. (Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1993)
- Hugh White, Ancrene Wisse: Guide for Anchoresses
Harmondsworth, New York: Penguin, 1994.
- Yoko Wada, ed. A Companion to 'Ancrene Wisse'
(Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2003).
- Christopher Cannon, 'The Grounds of English Literature',
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Uni-hd.de (German)
External
links
| Works by J. R. R. Tolkien |
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| Fiction |
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Posthumous
fiction |
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| Academic |
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1920s
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1930s
|
The Name "Nodens"
(1932) ·
Sigelwara
Land Parts I and II, in Medium Aevum
(1932-34) · Chaucer as a
Philologist: The
Reeve's Tale (1934) ·
Beowulf: The Monsters and the
Critics (1936) ·
The Reeve's Tale: version prepared
for recitation at the "summer diversions"
(1939) · On
Fairy-Stories (1939)
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1940s
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1950s
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Ofermod and Beorhtnoth's
Death (1953) · Middle English "Losenger": Sketch
of an etymological and semantic enquiry
(1953)
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|
|
1960s
|
Ancrene
Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle
(1962) · English and Welsh
(1963) · Introduction to Tree and Leaf
(1964) · Contributions to the Jerusalem
Bible (as translator and lexicographer)
(1966) · Tolkien on Tolkien
(autobiographical) (1966)
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Posthumous
academic |
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