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THE ANTIQUARY’S BOOKS 
 
 GENERAL EDITOR; J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. 
 
 THE HERMITS AND ANCHORITES 
 
 OF ENGLAND 
 





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 RICHARD ROI.LK, HKRMl'l' OF HAHPOLK 
 
 A/s. Cotton, /■itustina. A*. / V,/r? r.v. ii.f.Sl’. A’..I/. 
 


THE HERMITS AND 
 ANCHORITES 
 
 OF ENGLAND 
 
 BY 
 
 ROTHA MARY CLAY 
 
 t * 
 
 AUTHOR OF “the MEDIAEVAL HOSPITALS OF ENGLAND" 
 
 WITH fifty-four illustrations 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 METHUEN & CO. LTD. 
 36 ESSEX STREET W.G. 
 LONDON 
 


1 
 
 First Published in igi4 
 
 6996 ’? 
 


DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 The Reverend Canon CHARLES HILL WALLACE 
 
 WHO, LIKE THE HONOURED HERMITS OF OLDEN TIME, 
 
 HAS BEEN TO MANY 
 
 FATHER, FRIEND, AND COUNSELLOR 
 





PREFACE 
 
 I DESIRE to acknowledge my indebtedness to all those 
 who have rendered assistance in the preparation of this 
 volume, by the supply of materials, and the loan of 
 manuscripts, books, engravings, and photographs. Particular 
 mention must be made of Miss M. Leaf, who has kindly per¬ 
 mitted her drawings of the “ Prick of Conscience” window to 
 be reproduced. The valued help of a large number of cor¬ 
 respondents and helpers can of necessity only be acknowledged 
 privately, but I should like to name Canon C. W. Foster, Mr. 
 E. L. Guilford, Mr. H. B. McCall, Mr. W. Brown, Mr. J. W. 
 Clay, Mr. A. G. Little, Rev. C. H. Evelyn-White, Canon 
 Wilson, Rev. Dr. Wilson, Rev. B. Zimmerman, Canon Deedes, 
 and Mr. W. P'arrar. Mr. W. Rye, of Lammas, generously 
 granted me access to his Norfolk MSS., especially to Mr. John 
 L’Estrange’s transcripts of wills from the Norwich Registers. 
 Canon Wordsworth, Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, and Rev. H. 
 Salter freely placed at my disposal notes relating to Wiltshire, 
 Northamptonshire, and Oxfordshire ; and to other good offices 
 Mr. Salter has added that of proof-reading. To Rev. Dr. 
 J. C. Cox I owe much, both in planning and carrying out this 
 book. In conclusion, heartfelt thanks are offered to my 
 friends. Miss Arnold-Forster, Rev. M. F. Peterson, Prof. G. H. 
 Leonard, and Rev. C. S. Taylor, who have encouraged, 
 advised, and greatly assisted me in this work. 
 
 I have sought documentary evidence for all the statements 
 made in this book, taking as a motto the words of the faithful 
 old historian, Thomas Habingdon, when describing a Wor- 
 
 Vll 
 


viii HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 cestershire hermitage: “Other thinges which I receaved from 
 uncertayne rumours I will rather conceale than hazard mysealfe 
 to father an untruthe”. I trust that my readers will point out 
 errors, and will send me additional notes. The necessity of 
 condensing my manuscript has led, I fear, to a sacrifice, in 
 some cases of clearness, and in others of interest of detail. 
 
 ROTHA MARY CLAY 
 
 Miller Bridge, Ambleside 
 Sf. Ciithbert and St. Herbe^'fs Day^ ^9^3 
 


CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction .... 
 
 * • 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XV 
 
 I. Island and Fen Recluses 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 II. Forest and Hillside Hermits 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 III. Cave Dwellers 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 IV. Light-keepers on the Sea 
 
 Coast 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 V. Highway and Bridge Hermits 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 VI. Town Hermits 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 VII. Anchorites in Church and 
 
 Cloister 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 VIII. Order and Rule 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 IX. Concerning the Body . 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lOI 
 
 X. Trial and Temptation . 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 XI. Human Intercourse 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 XII. Prophets and Counsellors 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 146 
 
 XHI. Literary Recluses 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 167 
 
 XIV. The Sixteenth Century 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 Appendix A. Office for the Enclosing of 
 
 AN 
 
 Anchorite 
 
 
 
 193 
 
 Appendix B. Office for the Benediction of a Hermit 
 Appendix C. Tabulated List of Cells 
 General Index . . . . . 
 
 199 
 
 205 
 
 265 
 


4 • 
 
 A 
 



 LIST OF PLATES 
 
 Richard the Hermit of Hampole .... Frontispiece 
 From Religious Poem in Old English. 
 
 B.M. Cotton, Faustina, B.VI, pars. ii. f. 8 b. 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 I. St. Cuthbert’s Chapel, Farne. 5 
 
 From drawing by S. H. Grimm (i8th century). 
 
 B.M. Addit. MS. 15543, f. 97. 
 
 II. Coquet Island. 7 
 
 Drawn by C. F., Duchess of Northumberland, engraved Harding. 
 
 From Castles of Alnwick and Warkworth, 1823, p. 35. 
 
 III. St. Fremund. 10 
 
 (а) The Voyage. 
 
 (б) Building the chapel. 
 
 From Lydgate’s Life of St. Edmund. 
 
 B.M. Harl. 2278, f. 80, 81. 
 
 IV. Chapel of St. Tiriac the Anchorite. 12 
 
 On Chapel Island near Chepstow. Drawn by E. Ormerod. From 
 G. Ormerod’s Strigulensia, 1869. 
 
 V. St. Guthlac’s Voyage to Crowland.14 
 
 From B.M. Harl. Y. vi. 
 
 VI. St. Godric of Finchale.25 
 
 The hermit receives vision of Blessed Virgin and Child. 
 
 B.M. Cotton, Faustina, B.VI, pars, ii, f. 16 b. 
 
 VII. Finchale.26 
 
 From drawing by S. H. Grimm. 
 
 B.M. Addit. 15539, 71* 
 
 VIII. A Forest Hermit.29 
 
 B.M. Roy. 19 E. iii, f. 133. 
 
 IX. Anchor Church.32 
 
 Near Repton, Derbyshire. Photograph by Messrs. R. Keene, Derby. 
 
 X. Hermit’s Cave, Guy’s Cliffe.34 
 
 Near Warwick, in the grounds of Lord Algernon Percy. Photograph by 
 Messrs. Valentine. 
 
 XI. Guy’s Cliffe. 35 
 
 (a) Guy’s Statue, in the chapel. (6) The Cloisters, excavated in the cliff. 
 Photographs by Valentine. 
 
 XII. The Hermitage, Bridgnorth.36 
 
 Formerly known as “ Athelardston ". Photograph by Frith. 
 
 XI 
 


xii HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 TO FACE 
 
 XIII. The Chapel, Bridgnorth Hermitage. 
 
 Photogiaph by Mr. Wilding, Shrewsbury. 
 
 XIV. St. Wulsi, the Hermit-Seer. 
 
 The hermit writes his vision concerning the foundation of Westminster 
 Abbey, and gives it to a messenger. The left side of the picture 
 (now defaced) represented St. Peter appearing before the sleeping 
 saint (xiii cent. MS.). Camb. Univ. MS. Ee 59, f. 15 b. 
 
 XV. Dale Hermitage. 
 
 On the hill above Dale Abbey, near Spondon, Derbyshire. Photograph 
 by Messrs. R. Keene, Derby. 
 
 XVI. St. Robert’s Cave, Knaresborough. 
 
 (a) Foundations of Holy Cross Chapel, and entrance to Cave. Photo¬ 
 graph by Miss Rotha Clay. 
 
 ib) St. Robert’s Tomb, and traces of Altar. Photograph by Canon 
 Hancock. 
 
 XVII. St. Robert’s Chapel, Knaresborough. 
 
 {a) Entrance. (6) Interior with Altar. Photographs by Canon Hancock. 
 
 XVIII. Warkworth Hermitage.. . 
 
 (а) Chapel of Holy Trinity. Drawn by Duchess of Northumberland, 
 and engraved by Harding. Castles of A Inwick and Warkworth, 1823, 
 p. 32. 
 
 (б) Engraving by Allom. 
 
 XIX. Hermitage in Ghyston Cliff, Clifton .... 
 
 (а) St. Vincent’s Rocks and Cave. Photograph by Miss M. P. Perry, 
 taken with telephoto lens across the Avon gorge. 
 
 (б) Entrance to Cave. From engraving lent by Mr. J. E. Pritchard. 
 
 XX. St. Edmund’s-on-the-Cliff, Hunstanton .... 
 Photograph by Mr. W. E. Daw, Hunstanton. 
 
 XXI. A Lighthouse Hermitage. 
 
 Tower at St. Catherine’s, on Chale Down, Isle of Wight. East view, 
 1757. From Gent. Mag. xxvii, 176. 
 
 XXII. Redstone Hermitage. 
 
 Near Stourport, Worcestershire. Photograph by Messrs. Valentine. 
 
 XXIII. St. Christopher and Hermit. 
 
 From lithograph of wall-painting at Wedmore, Somerset. 
 
 XXIV. Brandon Hill, Bristol. 
 
 Drawn by W. Westall, engraved by E. Francis. 
 
 XXV. Redcliffe Hermitage, Bristol. 
 
 By the Avon, near St. Mary, Redcliffe. Photograph by Mr. F. Little, 
 Bristol. 
 
 XXVI. Anchorage at Hartlip. 
 
 Supposed cell at W. end of N. aisle. Photograph by Mr. P. M. Johnston. 
 
 XXVII. Anchorite’s Window, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 
 On N. side of chancel of St. John’s Church. Photograph by Mr John 
 Scott. 
 
 XXVIII. Enclosing an Anchoress. 
 
 Recluse receives the Bishop’s final benediction. From MS. Corpus Christi 
 College, Cambridge, 79. By permission of the Alcuin Club 
 ^Collections iv., fig. 18]. Block lent by Rev. R. M. Serjeantson. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 37 
 
 40 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 45 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 52 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 70 
 72 
 
 79 
 
 82 
 
 93 
 


LIST OF PLATES 
 
 Xlll 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 XXIX. Enclosing an Anchoress.96 
 
 Initial letter of Office. From xiv. cent. Pontifical, B.M. Lansd. 451, 
 f. 76 b. 
 
 XXX. Traditional Tomb of Roger and Sigar, Hermits . . 113 
 
 In St. Alban’s Abbey. The position agrees with the Chronicle, but the 
 arched recess is of later date. Photograph by Mr. Griggs. 
 
 XXXI. Hermit tempted by the Devil.117 
 
 From The Pilgrim, a French allegory translated by Lydgate. 
 
 B.M. Cotton, Tiberius. A. vii, f. 56. 
 
 XXXII. The Crucifix, Cratcliff.127 
 
 Near Rowsley, Derbyshire. Photograph by Messrs. R. Keene, Derby. 
 
 XXXIII. The Recluse in Romance. 133 
 
 (a) Ministers to wounded knights. 
 
 (b) Sir Perceval visits a cell 
 
 Roman du Saint Graal, B.M. 14 E. Ill, f. g8 b, 101 b. 
 
 XXXIV. The Hermit and the Knights.147 
 
 (a) Hermit exhorts Sir Launcelot. Ibid. f. 109. 
 
 (b) Hermit helps to bury Sir Galahad, f. 138 6. 
 
 XXXV. A Hermit-Counsellor.148 
 
 St. Guthlac consoles King Ethelbald of Mercia. 
 
 B.M. Harl. Y. vi. 
 
 XXXVI. “ Prick of Conscience ” Window, York .... 176 
 
 Illustrates the poem attributed to Richard Rolle, couplets from which are 
 inserted under the panels. Drawn by Miss M. Leaf from the window 
 in All Saints’, North Street (N. aisle), circa 1390. 
 
 XXXVII. Warkworth Hermitage .igo 
 
 Photograph by Messrs. Valentine. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The Cripple-Hermit and the Seagull.9 
 
 Legend of St. Kenyth of Gower, from cross-shaft at Dearham, Cumberland. 
 
 From Calverley and Collingwood’s Early Sculptured Crosses. Block 
 lent by Mr. W. G. Collingwood. 
 
 2, 3. The Hermit-Martyr of Malvern.18, 19 
 
 (а) Dedication of Chapel built by St. Werstan. 
 
 (б) Martyrdom of St. Werstan. 
 
 From windows at Malvern Priory Church (N. of choir). 
 
 ArchcBological Journal II. By permission of Messrs. Parker, Oxford. 
 
 4, 5. Warkworth Hermitage.46, 47 
 
 Ground-plan and Window. From C. H. Hartshorne’s Illustrations of 
 Alnwick and Warkworth, plates 57, 65. 
 
 6. Hermit of the Order of St. Paul.87 
 
 From P. Helyot, Ordres Monastiques, ed. 1715, iii. 324. 
 
 7. Symon “ THE Anker of London Wall ”.181 
 
 From Woodcut in his Fruyte of Redempcyon, printed by Wynkyn de 
 Worde, edition of 1514 in British Museum. 
 
 8. Chapel of Our Lady, Court-at-Street.189 
 
 In Aldington, near Hythe, Kent. Drawn by Mr. J. C. Wall. 
 


ANCRES AND HERMYTES 
 
 For sum fleen from the world and closen hemsilf in wallis, 
 
 And steken hem in stones, and litil wole thei speken, 
 
 To fleen sich occasiouns as foly wole fynden ; 
 
 And thees we clepen ancres in the comoun speche. 
 
 Also in contemplacion there ben many other, 
 
 That drawen hem to disert and drye [endure] muche peyne. 
 
 By eerbis, rootes, and fruyte lyven for her goddis love. 
 
 And this maner of folk men callen hermytes. 
 
 —Friar Daw Topias {Political Poems , ed. Wright, ii. 64). 
 
 XIV 
 


INTRODUCTION 
 
 I N every age and amongst all peoples a certain wonder 
 and reverence have been excited by the solitary life—a 
 life so abnormal that those who have watched it from 
 without have not only been interested in its eccentricity, but 
 also strongly attracted by its spiritual mystery. It has always 
 been felt that a life so independent of the common intercourse 
 of human relationships must possess a secret known only to a 
 few, and asceticism has therefore been venerated alike in the 
 Oriental fakir, the Stoic sage, and the Hebrew prophet. 
 
 This withdrawal from the world was not at first encouraged 
 by the Christian religion. Tertullian, writing about A.D. 197, 
 says: “We are not Indian Brahmans or Gymnosophists, who 
 dwell in woods and exile themselves from ordinary human 
 life ... we sojourn with you in the world”. During the 
 third century, however, the Church developed a monasticism 
 of her own which was in its beginning solitary, {/xovaxelvi to 
 dwell alone). Although Paul of Egypt—called “ the first 
 hermit ”—dwelt alone in his desert cave, his successor 
 Anthony attracted round him many followers, and in this 
 way the hermitage developed into the /aura or group of cells. 
 The solitary monk frequently became the founder of a body 
 of coenobites—monks dwelling in community. The great 
 Benedict himself was a son of the wilderness. 
 
 The history of many of the monastic houses of England 
 shows that they also were of eremitical origin. Guthlac and 
 his hermit companions dwelt in fenland solitude in a group of 
 single cells; but in course of time Crowland became a famous 
 
 XV 
 


xvi HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 abbey. The hermit Guy was joined by so many brethren at 
 Malvern that he formed them into a large convent. Benedict, 
 a Norman monk, lived in seclusion at Selby, and thus formed 
 the nucleus of a monastery of which he was the first abbot. 
 
 It is, however, with the solitary rather than with the social 
 aspect of monasticism that we are now concerned—with the 
 solitary but not necessarily self-centred state of life to which 
 the recluse felt himself called. From a modern standpoint 
 this retirement from the world might perhaps be considered 
 selfish; but it must be borne in mind that the problems of 
 that time were different from those of to-day, and that those 
 who thus withdrew themselves from their fellow-men did not 
 become useless to the community. It is true that their primary 
 object in retiring into solitude was the cultivation of the soul, 
 but in so doing they became living witnesses to the reality of 
 the spiritual world. Theirs was no easy religion. Indeed, 
 hermits were regarded as heroes, because of the physical hard¬ 
 ness they endured. Their life was one of strenuous effort. 
 They strove after Christian quietude by bending all their 
 activities to self-conquest. They upheld a lofty and austere 
 moral ideal in the face of self-indulgence, and their manner of 
 life was a silent rebuke to rudeness, and exercised a chastening 
 influence in an age of violence. 
 
 Further, they could not but have some social intercourse. 
 There were, indeed, two distinct classes of solitaries: the 
 anchorite^ enclosed within four walls, and the hermit, who 
 went out of his cell and mingled with his fellow-men. The 
 ideal of both was the contemplative life, but even in the case 
 of the anchorite, this concentration upon religious exercises 
 did not imply complete absorption in his own spiritual in¬ 
 terests. Intercession was his appointed work. Aelred of 
 Rievaulx mentions some of the needs which would call out 
 the sympathies of the anchoress: the misery of the poor, the 
 sigh of the orphan, the desolation of the widow, the need of 
 pilgrims, the danger of voyagers, the hardships of soldiers, the 
 vows and temptations of nuns and monks, the cares of bishops. 
 It is evident that those who lived this life of contemplation 
 


INTRODUCTION 
 
 XVll 
 
 were recognized as being qualified to exercise spiritual in¬ 
 fluence and give ghostly counsel. Awed by such austerity of 
 life, the conscience-stricken and heavy-laden resorted to them 
 in order to receive comfort and benediction after unburdening 
 themselves of their sins and sorrows. In some cases anchorites 
 devoted their quiet hours to study, and placed their literary 
 or artistic powers at the service of others. The Lindisfarne 
 Gospels were wrought and adorned with the aid of recluses. 
 Scholars sent forth from their cells books of devotion, his¬ 
 torical works, poetry, and at least one valuable dictionary. 
 Anchoresses, too, found useful occupation in making clothes 
 for the poor. 
 
 The hermit, with his larger measure of freedom and activity, 
 had a still wider sphere of influence, and undertook many 
 social duties. He taught and preached, celebrated divine 
 offices in his chapel for the benefit of wayfarers, or acted as 
 guardian of some shrine ; he gathered alms for the relief of 
 the poor at home, or for the freeing of those in captivity 
 amongst the heathen; he helped to cultivate the waste places 
 of the land and to clear the forest; he made roads and bridges 
 and kept them in repair; he erected sea-marks and lighthouses 
 for the guidance of mariners. In fact, the hermits were 
 pioneers of philanthropic works which in these days are under¬ 
 taken and carried out by public bodies. 
 
 All who embraced this separate life were under vows of 
 some kind. They were subject to authority, and had a re¬ 
 cognized place in the ecclesiastical system. The hermit, if a 
 monk, needed only the approval of his abbot; if a layman, he 
 applied to the bishop for his habit. No man or woman could 
 become an anchorite without the permission of the bishop, who 
 enclosed them in the cell with solemn rites. The Appendix 
 contains a valuable, translation of the Office for the Enclosing 
 of Anchoritesy contributed by the Rev. C. S. Taylor, to whose 
 ready and generous help this book owes much throughout. 
 It also includes, by the courtesy of Mr. F. C. Eeles, an Office 
 for the Benediction of Hermits^ transcribed by him from a 
 
 sixteenth-century Pontifical in his possession. After pro- 
 b 
 


xviii HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 fession in either of these orders, solitaries were under some 
 definite Rule of Life. The best known is the Ancren Riwle — 
 a book of wise and tender counsels for anchoresses, compiled 
 by one who knew in an intimate manner not only the homely 
 details of their outward circumstances, but also the special 
 needs of their inner life. 
 
 The solitary life thus developed into an established institu¬ 
 tion. So widespread did it become that there was not a 
 single county in England which had not at some time or 
 another a recluse’s cell. It will be seen from the Tables 
 appended to this volume that there is evidence for the exist¬ 
 ence of at least 750 cells, whilst the actual names of over 650 
 hermits and anchorites occur in the following pages. 
 
 Dim traditions exist of solitaries in Celtic Britain. The 
 Christian martyrs under Diocletian are said to have included 
 two anchorites of Caerleon. We learn from Bede that a re¬ 
 cluse was the oracle of the British Church at the time of the 
 Conference with Augustine. Elgar the kidnapped slave, 
 Kenyth the crippled prince, and the wonder-working women 
 Keyne and Modwen, are shrouded in the mists of legend, it 
 is true, but these and others, who like them lived apart from 
 the world, helped to keep the faith alive in those early days. 
 
 Among the Saxon saints are numbered many hermits ; 
 Cuthbert, drawn from his northern retreat to become a bishop, 
 and his faithful friend Herebert of Derwentwater; Guthlac, 
 the soldier-monk of the eastern fens, whose presence trans¬ 
 formed that grim wilderness into a “glorious plain,” and 
 Neot, the nobleman of the western wilds; Alnoth the serf, 
 and Edwold the prince; Plegmund and Dunstan, archbishops 
 of Canterbury; Werstan the martyr, and Wulsi the seer. 
 
 The religious revival of the twelfth century produced five 
 great ascetics; Roger, the monk of Markyate ; Christina “of 
 the Wood ”—remarkable alike for her fortitude and for her 
 gifts of wisdom and counsel; Wulfric of Haselbury—prophet 
 and confessor, stern and uncompromising alike with himself 
 and his king; Godric—the sea-roving adventurer, the tender 
 son, the pious pilgrim, the simple, stout-hearted solitary of 
 


INTRODUCTION 
 
 XIX 
 
 Finchale; and that other undaunted northerner, Bartholomew 
 of Fame—to whom, for the space of over two and forty years, 
 people resorted for comfort and exhortation. 
 
 Amongst later hermits two famous Yorkshiremen must be 
 named ; Robert of Knaresborough—the poor man’s friend; 
 Richard of Hampole—an evangelist burning with the fire of 
 love. Nor can we forget Dame Julian of Norwich “strong in 
 sure trust in weal and woe,” whose Revelations of Divine Love 
 show the eager and joyous spirit of the writer. From the 
 dawn of Christianity in England until the sixteenth century 
 many men, perhaps even more women, continued to dedicate 
 themselves to this separate life. 
 
 “The life of the recluse,” says a recent writer upon mysti¬ 
 cism, “is now seldom chosen and never respected.” In the 
 period which we are about to study, it was, however, regarded 
 as the state nearest perfection. In the Liber VitcB of the 
 church of Durham, anchorites rank second to royal bene¬ 
 factors, and take the precedence of abbots and others. The 
 life of action, indeed, was apt to be despised by religious 
 teachers, save by such rare saints as Hugh of Lincoln, who 
 would speak in this wise to persons unable to practise the 
 more perfect life of contemplation : “ By no means shall monks 
 alone, nor yet hermits, nor even anchorites, attain to the king¬ 
 dom of God ” ; adding, that when the Lord should judge any 
 man at last. He would not require of him to have been a 
 hermit or monk, but rather to have been truly a Christian—to 
 have had love in his heart, truth in his mouth, purity in his 
 life. 
 
 In the following account of the lives of English hermits 
 and anchorites no attempt has been made to consider the 
 scientific truth and value of the miraculous element in their 
 history. To ignore it, however, would be not merely a loss 
 of the picturesque, but also a denial of spiritual facts. Modern 
 science forbids us to doubt the reality of the spiritual forces 
 exercised by these self-disciplined men and women. To in¬ 
 vestigate and determine these imperfectly understood powers 
 lies beyond the scope of these pages. Indeed, no attempt has 
 


XX HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 been made to penetrate into the subject of Mysticism, which 
 has recently been so ably dealt with by Miss Evelyn Underhill. 
 The aim of this book is rather to give a picture of the daily 
 life of the lonely dwellers in fen and forest, hillside and cliff, 
 cloister and churchyard, and to show something of the way in 
 which their influence made itself felt. 
 


THE HERMITS AND 
 ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 I. ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 When saynt Jone was in the yle of Pathmos, than God schewed hym his 
 pryvytees.— Richard the Hermit 
 
 N O self-imposed barrier was so complete as that of the 
 island-recluse. Surrounded as he was by an ex¬ 
 panse of sea and sky, “ the secrecy of solitude ” was 
 his. Only a devoted friend or an earnest penitent would ven¬ 
 ture forth to visit him who was sea-bound, or encircled by 
 some wellnigh impassable morass. The hermit-inhabited 
 islands of England and Wales include Fame and Coquet, in 
 the north ; and in the west, Bardsey, off the coast of Carnarvon, 
 the Holmes, St. Tiriac’s Rock, and other islets of the Severn. 
 
 I. Isles of the Sea 
 
 (a) Fame and Coquet .—About two miles from the Nor¬ 
 thumbrian coast lay a bare inhospitable rock which became 
 famous as the abode of solitary saints. When St. Aidan, the 
 island-monk of Iona, was Bishop of Lindisfarne, he used occa¬ 
 sionally to retire to Fame for undisturbed prayer. Cuthbert 
 afterwards sought in this spot the secret solitude for which he 
 longed. It was a desert island, and ill-suited for human habi¬ 
 tation. At the presence of the man of God, however, the evil 
 spirits fled ; at his prayer water bubbled out of the rocky 
 ground ’ and by his manual labour he raised from the barren 
 soil plentiful crops of barley. With the help of the brethren 
 he built himself a small dwelling and an oratory, which are 
 thus described by Bede :— 
 
 “The building is almost of a round form, from wall to wall 
 about four or five poles in extent: the wall on the outside is higher 
 


2 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 than a man, but within, by excavating the rock, he made it much 
 deeper, to prevent the eyes and the thoughts from wandering, that 
 the mind might be wholly bent on heavenly things, and the pious in¬ 
 habitant might behold nothing from his residence but the heavens 
 above him. The wall was constructed, not of hewn stones or of brick 
 and mortar, but of rough stones and turf. . . . There were two 
 chambers in the house, one an oratory, the other for domestic pur¬ 
 poses.” 
 
 This simple beehive-hut was not the only building on the 
 island, for it proved necessary to make a large guest-house to 
 accommodate those who came continually to visit the saint. 
 Many came, not only from Lindisfarne, but from the more 
 remote parts of Britain:— 
 
 “ At first, indeed, when the brethren came to visit him, he would 
 leave his cell and minister to them. ... At length, as his zeal after 
 perfection grew, he shut himself up in his cell away from the sight of 
 men, and spent his time alone in fasting, watching, and prayer, rarely 
 having communication with anyone without, and that through the 
 window, which at first was left open, that he might see and be seen; 
 but after a time he shut that also, and opened it only to give his 
 blessing, or for any other purpose of absolute necessity.” 
 
 When Cuthbert was elected bishop he would not consent 
 to leave Fame, but the king and others went across and “ drew 
 him, weeping, from his retreat At,length he yielded to their 
 entreaties. Faithfully did the Bishop of Lindisfarne fulfil the 
 duties which he had undertaken. “ He protected the people 
 committed to his care with frequent prayers, and invited them 
 to heavenly things ... by first doing himself what he taught 
 to others.” Amid the turmoil by which the hermit-bishop 
 was surrounded, he ceased not to observe the severity of a 
 monastic life. His mission was manifold. He visited parishes 
 and religious houses, healed the sick, comforted lonely sur¬ 
 vivors of the plague, and protected the needy from the op¬ 
 pressor. As the shepherd was visiting his folds, he came one 
 day to a wild spot, where many people were gathered that he 
 might lay his hands upon them. Among the mountains no fit 
 church or other building could be found, but at night the 
 bishop and his flock were sheltered in tents and in booths 
 roughly formed of boughs from the neighbouring wood. “ Two 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 3 
 
 days did the man of God preach to the assembled crowds, and 
 minister the grace of the Holy Spirit by imposition of hands.” 
 
 After two years of strenuous labour, Cuthbert returned to 
 Fame, knowing that the time of his departure was at hand. 
 He used now to leave the cell frequently and converse with 
 those who came to visit him. He died after a short illness on 
 20 March, 687—on the same day as his friend, St. Herebert 
 (p. 12). He had earnestly desired to be buried on his island, 
 but finally yielded to the wish of the brethren, who accordingly 
 buried his body in Lindisfarne—a spot which became so sacred 
 as to win thereafter the name of Holy Island. 
 
 Cuthbert’s successor, Aethelwald, a priest of Ripon, was 
 in seclusion at Fame for twelve years. When he arrived, he 
 found the cell in a dilapidated condition. Crevices made by 
 the violence of the winds had been roughly filled up with 
 timber, hay, or mud; and the walls were crumbling. Aethel¬ 
 wald therefore begged the brethren who came thither to bring 
 him a calf-skin, which he fastened in the spot where he, like 
 Cuthbert, was wont to pray. 
 
 Bede relates how Aethelwald stilled a tempest when 
 Guthfrid and certain other brethren were in peril. The 
 story was told to Bede by Guthfrid himself. When the 
 monks were returning to Lindisfarne a tempest arose, so 
 great that neither sails nor oars availed aught:— 
 
 “ Looking out as far as we could see, we observed, on the island 
 of Fame, Father Oidiluald, beloved of God, who had come out of his 
 cell to watch our course; for, hearing the noise of the storm and the 
 raging of the sea, he had come out to see what would happen to us. 
 When he beheld us in distress and despair, he bowed his knees to the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in prayer for our life and safety; 
 whereupon the swelling sea was calmed, so that the violence of the 
 storm ceased on all sides, and a fair wind attended us even to the 
 very shore.” ^ 
 
 When they were safely landed the storm immediately re¬ 
 turned and raged throughout the day, so that it was clear 
 that the brief cessation had been granted at the hermit’s re¬ 
 quest. It was this Aethelwald who with Billfrith assisted in 
 illuminating the Lindisfarne Gospels (see chapter XIll), 
 
 ^ Bede, Ecc. Hist., ed. Stevenson, 492-3. 
 


4 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 During the time of Felgeld, the third inhabitant of the 
 place, the hermitage was rebuilt from the foundations by 
 Bishop Eadfrid. “ By means of the ruins of the holy ora¬ 
 tory,” Felgeld himself was said to have been cured of a dread¬ 
 ful disease and deformity. In earlier life he had been subject 
 to the swelling; “but now that he was living alone, and 
 bestowed less care on his person, whilst he practised still 
 greater rigidities, and, like a prisoner, rarely enjoyed the sun 
 or air, the malady increased”. When the cell was being 
 restored, devout persons begged of Felgeld relics of his prede¬ 
 cessors. Having cut into pieces the calf-skin which Aethel- 
 wald had nailed in the corner where the hermits used to pray, 
 Felgeld determined to apply the relics to his own need. 
 Steeping a piece of the covering in water, he washed his 
 face therein, and the blemish was removed. When Bede 
 wrote his account of St. Cuthbert (before 721), Felgeld, then 
 seventy years of age, was still dwelling on the island. 
 
 For a considerable period history is silent about Cuthbert’s 
 cell, but Gaufridus, the twelfth-century chronicler, states that 
 the island lapsed into a wild state, until at length the dese¬ 
 crated, time-worn oratory was cleansed and repaired by the 
 monk Edulf. 
 
 Bartholomew of Fame, the most famous of Cuthbert’s 
 followers, was born at Whitby about the year 1120. His life 
 was written by Gaufridus,^ the contemporary biographer of 
 the famous hermits of Finchale and of Fame. He seems to 
 have been of Saxon origin; but as his name Tosti met with 
 disfavour he adopted that of William. He was a careless 
 youth, and does not appear to have been awakened to spiritual 
 things even by two visions which were vouchsafed to him. 
 Desiring to travel, William sailed to Norway, where he came 
 under religious influences and was ordained priest. When the 
 wanderer came home to Northumbria, his zeal led him to seek 
 the stricter life of a monk. On entering the monastery of 
 Durham, William assumed the name Bartholomew. Before 
 long St. Cuthbert appeared to him, bidding him become a 
 hermit at Fame. In obedience to the vision, Bartholomew 
 went thither, and there he spent the remainder of his days. 
 
 ^ Printed in Rolls Series (75), as Appendix to Symeon of Durham, i. 295- 
 325. See also English Saints, iii. 
 





PLATE / 
 
 ST. CUTHBERT’S CHAPEL, FARNE 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 5 
 
 Like St. Cuthbert he lived frugally by his own labour, and 
 devoted himself to meditation. Fame became once more a 
 spiritual centre, and the guest-house was in constant use. 
 Fishermen from the mainland and seamen from all parts 
 visited the solitary, and relied on his advice, whether it con¬ 
 cerned their ships or their souls. 
 
 In this convenient harbour sailors and traders were fre¬ 
 quently detained by stress of weather. Sometimes the hermit- 
 host suffered from a scarcity of provisions, but so hospitable 
 was he that upon one occasion he killed his only cow to supply 
 the needs of his guests. Pirates frequently carried off his 
 slender stores. During the reign of Stephen, Aeistan, King 
 of Norway, ravaged the English coast, and landing on Fame 
 he killed and roasted the sheep of the hermits Bartholomew 
 and Aelwin, and even repaired his ships with the timbers of 
 their cell. 
 
 Bartholomew lived at Fame for over forty-two years, and 
 he persevered in ascetic habits to old age. He would have no 
 couch, no pillow, no prop to support his body. As long as 
 he was able, he would sit upright, or walk round the island, 
 and all the while he never ceased from prayer. During the 
 last nine days he was very ill; but, despite the diseases of his 
 body, he kept all the faculties of his mind, nor did the brave 
 old man shrink from dying in solitude. When, therefore, the 
 brethren had administered the last holy rites, they left him ; 
 and on their return from Lindisfarne they found his body lying 
 not far from the stone coffin which he had prepared for himself. 
 It was remembered that when the coffin had first arrived, Bar¬ 
 tholomew, finding it too short, had with his own hands hewn 
 it out to fit his body. He was buried in the oratory on the 
 south side, in the spot where his great predecessor had desired 
 to lie. The monks would gladly have carried the remains to 
 Lindisfarne, but Bartholomew’s love for his island-home was 
 strong, and he had expressed a wish that he should be 
 buried there in order that the place might not again be¬ 
 come deserted. Echoing the words of St. Cuthbert, he de¬ 
 clared : “I would have my body lie here, where I hope that 
 my spirit will be received by its Creator, and where I have 
 fought during a very little time for the Lord ”. 
 
 The mediaeval chapel shown in Plate 1 is still standing. 
 


6 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OE ENGLAND 
 
 It has been restored, and services are occasionally held there 
 for the lighthouse men. 
 
 South of Fame, near the mouth of the river Coquet, was 
 another sanctuary of the sea. In the days of St. Cuthbert, 
 who visited Coquet Island, it was remarkable for the number 
 of its monks. Little is known of the place, however, before 
 the time of St. Henry, early in the twelfth century. This 
 young Dane of noble family was about to be forced into mar¬ 
 riage, when, in obedience to a vision, he determined to serve 
 God all the days of his life upon a certain rock on the Nor¬ 
 thumbrian coast. Sailing, therefore, from Denmark, he ob¬ 
 tained permission of the prior of Tynemouth to build a small 
 cell on Coquet Island. Messengers followed him, urging him 
 to return to the land of his birth, where there were deserts to 
 which he might withdraw. Strong was the longing of the 
 exile, but before making his decision he cast himself down 
 before the crucifix set up in his oratory, and implored a revela¬ 
 tion of the Divine will. It seemed to him that the lips of the 
 figure moved, and that Christ, reminding him of his call, pro¬ 
 mised eternal life if he should persevere. “ Play the man, and 
 strengthen thine heart, and in nowise abandon this place of 
 solitude unto thy life’s end.” Fearing lest he should again 
 be tempted to forsake the island, the hermit prayed to be 
 stricken with some infirmity which should render this impos¬ 
 sible. He was afterwards afflicted with a loathsome disease in 
 his knee, which he bore with fortitude. Leaning on a crutch, 
 he continued to cultivate his plot of land. The ulcerated leg 
 caused him agony, but he refused assistance. Alone in his 
 cell, without fire or light, Henry passed the winter, until one 
 night (January, 1127), there was heard a choir of angels sing¬ 
 ing. The music ceased, and suddenly a bell tolled. When a 
 monk reached the hermitage, he found Henry in the sleep of 
 death, seated on a stone, holding the bell-rope, and beside 
 him burned a candle lit by no human hand.^ 
 
 In the thirteenth century the office of “ keeper of the 
 island ” was held by an energetic recluse named Martin, who 
 raised thereupon at great expense a windmill. But Robert 
 ¥itz Roger, considering Martin’s act as detrimental to the 
 
 ^ Roscarrock’s Life; Nov. Leg. ii. 22-6. 
 


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PLA I'E U 
 
 C:0(,)UET ISI.ANl) 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 7 
 
 overlord, sent thirty men with axes and mattocks to destroy 
 the mill. The terror-stricken hermit made no protest, and 
 when his servant ventured to remonstrate, they treated him so 
 ill that he barely escaped with his life. This curious story of 
 enterprise and persecution breaks off abruptly with these 
 words: “ Moreover, the said Martin was blamed by no one 
 in that he was wont to prefer to lead the solitary life. He 
 desired to attract neither the approach nor the noise of people 
 of either sex, because often in mills and play-houses irregular 
 and unlawful things are done.” ^ 
 
 The island was under Tynemouth Priory, which in its turn 
 was subject to St. Albans. When the latter convent was 
 replying to a Benedictine inquiry in 1253, it was noted that 
 no monk dwelt apart, save one hermit in a certain little 
 island called Coquet, and another in a wood. A tower, pos¬ 
 sibly used as a lantern, adjoined the chapel. It is men¬ 
 tioned in 1415 as belonging to the prior of Tynemouth. 
 At the Dissolution of Monasteries the buildings included a 
 chapel served by a chaplain. Mediaeval remains may still be 
 traced in and about the modern lighthouse. The tower 
 shown in Plate II was standing a century ago. 
 
 ( 5 ) Isles of the West ,—The West, like the North, had her 
 isles of saints ; nor can the recluses of the Welsh coast be 
 excluded, although not strictly within the scope of this volume. 
 The ascetic life was eagerly embraced by the fervent-natured 
 Celt, and from shadowy traditions it would seem that many a 
 rocky islet had its cell. 
 
 The “ Book of Llandaff ” opens with an account of Elgar, 
 hermit of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey), a native of Britain, who had 
 been carried off as an infant from his home in Devon, and 
 became a slave in Ireland. After serving King Roderic in the 
 office of executioner, Elgar obtained freedom and became a 
 sailor. Being wrecked on Bardsey, a holy island where many 
 martyrs were buried, he resolved to stay there and to lead the 
 contemplative life. 
 
 “ Having spent the space of seven years with a religious com¬ 
 munity of brethren, and sometimes in solitude, led a holy, glorious, 
 and chaste life, with scant food, slight clothing, and an emaciated 
 
 ^Chr. S. Alb., Annales, Edw. I (Rolls, 28, ii.), 477-8. 
 


8 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 countenance, he, in the following seven years . . . dwelt in his 
 hermitage, and had nothing for his maintenance except the support 
 which he received, through the providence of God, from the fish of 
 the sea, and what the eagles, or as we may say, angels, brought to 
 him.” 
 
 By the ministry of the eagles, Elgar’s table was prepared 
 in the wilderness with fishes, herbs, and water; and once 
 when he was hungry he found a large white stag which 
 supplied him with food for some time. The hermit “ led his 
 life, present to the Lord, and unknown to man ”. At length, 
 having prepared a grave for himself in the oratory, he lay 
 down beside it and expired; and the sailor-saint was after¬ 
 wards buried by sailors. The details of his life were told 
 by him at the entreaty of the teacher Caradoc who came .to 
 visit him.^ 
 
 Upon a rocky promontory on the coast of Glamorgan 
 dwelt Kenyth, a Welsh prince cast adrift on the waves in an 
 osier coracle. Friendly sea-birds bore the hapless babe to 
 Ynys Weryn—Worms Head, which is an island at high tide— 
 where they made him a nest of feathers, and drove the ser¬ 
 pents from the place. According to the legend, an angel 
 brought a brazen bell, which was regularly replenished with 
 milk by a doe. The child was found and taken home by a 
 shepherd, but when the sea-gulls gathered in flocks and at¬ 
 tacked his home, the aflrighted rustic carried him back to his 
 rocky nursery. There, on a ledge of rock, the little cripple 
 grew up with no companions save the gulls. An early Celtic 
 representation of this legend is found on the Cumberland 
 cross-shaft of Dearham, near Maryport. It is strange that the 
 story of a solitary of the Severn Sea should thus reach the 
 shores of the Solway. The rude but graphic sculpture (Fig. i) 
 shows a sea-bird with a bundle in its claws, and a deformed 
 human figure holding out a bell-shaped vessel.^ 
 
 Kenyth, who after eighteen years of solitude found a 
 companion to share his ascetic life, spent the rest of his days 
 at Burry Holmes, an island-promontory on the north shore of 
 Rhosilly Bay. He built a cell of osiers and thatched it with 
 
 ^ Liber Landav., ed. W. T. Rees, 281-7. 
 
 ^ W. S. Calverley and W. G. Collingwood, Early Sculp. Crosses, 127-30. 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 9 
 
 reeds. The hermit was revered by all. Once some starving 
 robbers, coming to those 
 parts, said among them¬ 
 selves :— 
 
 “There is a certain saint 
 not far from here, who loves 
 and instructs all, and he re¬ 
 freshes the strong as well as 
 the weak ; he invites the desti¬ 
 tute and wayfarers, and even 
 to evil-doers he is gentle. Let 
 us go, therefore, to him that 
 he may succour our need. And 
 when they arrived there they 
 were quickly received into the 
 hospice.” 
 
 After the hermit’s death, 
 his remains were removed 
 to a neighbouring church. 
 
 William Worcester records 
 his “ translation ” to St. 
 
 Keneth’s in Gowerland. 
 
 Many centuries later a 
 custom prevailed of taking 
 solemn oaths upon his re¬ 
 lics. In a quarrel which 
 arose in 1472, the arbitrator 
 adjudged that the claimant 
 should swear to the right¬ 
 fulness of his title “ in the 
 chirche of Langenytt upon Seint Kenythis hedde ”. ^ 
 
 The cell at Burry Holmes was inhabited from time to 
 time. Possibly the oratory there was the “deserted church of 
 St. Kined,” to which Caradoc retired early in the twelfth cen¬ 
 tury.^ The hermitage of St. Kenyth “ atte Holmes in Gowers- 
 
 '[a^nijus. 
 
 Fig. I. —The Hermit and the Seagull. 
 
 ^ Nov. Leg. II. 105-9 ; J- D* Davies, W. Gower, Pt. iii.; Birch, Penrice 
 and Mar gam MSS. v. 114. 
 
 ^ Caradoc left the Court of Rhys, became a monk at Llandaff, then a hermit 
 on the Isle of Ary. His final retreat was near Haverfordwest. He died in 
 1124. Nov. Leg. ii. 105-g. 
 


lo HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 land ” was still occupied during the fifteenth century, when 
 Philip Lichepoll, William Bernard, etc., were hermits.^ 
 
 Steep Holme, Flat Holme, and Barry, were often inhabited 
 by solitaries—not always as permanent abodes, but for periods 
 of seclusion between missionary journeys or during Lent. 
 These islands of Severn were a wilderness to which it was easy 
 to retire, and a centre from which work could be resumed. 
 Two famous friends abode upon Ronech and Echni (The 
 Holmes), namely, Cadoc, who chose the flat island nearest to 
 Wales, and Gildas, who inhabited the craggy rock lying off the 
 English shore. Gildas built a cell and an oratory in honour of 
 the Blessed Trinity, but his rocky bed was under the precipit¬ 
 ous cliff, where he was wont to watch and pray until midnight. 
 These holy men used to visit one another during their seven 
 years’ sojourn in the Severn. Being troubled by pirates, how¬ 
 ever, St. Gildas left Steep Holme, and went to Glastonbury, 
 where he became abbot and wrote his history (chapter XIII.). 
 Not far from Glastonbury, on the river, he built a church, and 
 there he lived once more as a hermit, clad in a hair-shirt. 
 People came from remote parts of Britain to hear his wisdom 
 and his teaching. St. Cadoc, returning to Wales, became Abbot 
 of Llancarvan. One of his disciples, Barroc, gave his name to 
 Barry, near Cardiff. “ His remains,” says Giraldus de Barri, 
 “are deposited in a chapel overgrown with ivy.” This “fair 
 little chapel of St. Barrok ” was a place of pilgrimage in 
 Leland’s day.^ 
 
 Prince Fremund was the son of the Saxon King Offa. 
 Whilst his father was yet alive the pious youth was crowned 
 as his successor; but, fired with love to God, he determined 
 to leave home and country and seek the desert. Fremund 
 and his two companions set out for Caerleon. When they 
 reached the sea they took a little barge, and without oar and 
 without food committed their passage to God’s ordinance 
 (Plate III). Driven to and fro by the wind for five days, 
 they came to land “ up an yle froward to kome to ”—deserted 
 of inhabitants, but with fair mountains, running rivers, crystal 
 
 ^ See Pat. Rolls, 1398, 1428, 1482, etc. 
 
 2 Possibly the same saint to which the fine old Derbyshire church of Nor- 
 bury was dedicated, “ St. Barlok,” mentioned in Fitzherbert wills, and com¬ 
 memorated in the glass of the S. chapel. 
 


I'LATE Iff 
 
 THE VOYAGE TO ILEFAYE 
 
 nUILDINC; IHE CHAPEL 
 
 ST. FRK.MUND 
 


■ , , . . -S. r- 
 
 ‘ ' ’ ^ ■ 
 V • * ‘ 
 
 ■ 'X ■ 
 
 t,' 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 11 
 
 wells, green meadows, and trees laden with wholesome fruits— 
 a place divinely ordained for them. 
 
 And Ilefaye men that yle calle 
 Off old tyme desolat and sauage 
 More agreable than was his stalle 
 To hooly Fremund thouh he were yong off age 
 And ther he bilte a litel hermytage 
 Be side a ryuer with al his besy peyne 
 He & his fellawis that were in noumbre tweyne. 
 
 A lytil chapel he dide ther edefie 
 Day be day to make in his praiere 
 In the reuerence only of marie 
 And in the worshepe off hir sone deere 
 And the space fully off seuene yeere 
 Hooly Fremund lik as it is found 
 Leued be frut and rootis off the grounde. 
 
 Despite privation, trial, and temptation, Fremund kept to 
 his purpose : “ stable as a wal he stood in his degre At 
 length Offa, hearing of the arrival of the Danish chieftains 
 Hinguar and Hubba, and of the death of St. Edmund (his 
 queen’s brother), sent to seek his son through that region and 
 all strange isles. The messengers told the prince of the deso¬ 
 lation brought by the paynims and besought his aid. Then 
 stood Fremund in a sore plight. By his profession he was 
 pledged to live apart and to eschew bloodshed ; yet in that 
 world which he had forsaken, the helpless were oppressed, 
 the Church despoiled, and Christ’s faith brought to destruction. 
 Perplexed, the hermit fell to prayer, and he was bidden in a 
 vision to hasten home to his country, and be strong in spirit 
 like Christ’s champion. Fremund straightway left Ilefaye, and 
 was victorious when he led his people against “ the miscreants 
 of Denmark ”. Whilst he knelt in thanksgiving, however, he 
 was murdered by a Saxon renegade to the faith who was in 
 league with the Danes. The hermit-martyr’s story is depicted 
 in the beautiful MS. of Lydgate’s “ Life of St. Edmund.” ^ 
 Near the old passage of Severn, at the mouth of the Wye, 
 is Chapel Island with its “ chapel of St. Tiriac the anchorite 
 The earliest known record concerning this place is a licence of 
 the Bishop of Hereford, given in 1290 to Brother John Sterre, 
 a Benedictine monk, to officiate in the chapel of St. Tryak of 
 
 1 B.M. Had. MS., 2278. 
 


12 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Beachley.^ In the year 1405 “a multitude, both of English 
 and Welsh,” were wont to resort thither on pilgrimage. In 
 the time of Henry VIII, the capella S, Triads standing in the 
 sea, is described as being worth nothing. The ruined oratory, 
 which measured 31-^ feet by 14-^ feet, was drawn by Miss 
 Eleanor Ormerod many years ago (Plate IV). 
 
 There is no clue as to the identity of the dedication-saint. 
 St. Triaculus occurs on one Patent Roll. William Worcester 
 refers to Sanctus Tiriacus anachorita^ and to Rok Seynt Tryacle. 
 Leland speaks of S. Tereudacus Chapel. Modern maps com¬ 
 plete the confusion by printing St. Tecla. 
 
 II. Inland Isles 
 
 {a) In Lakes. —Many a saint sought solitude upon some 
 inland-islet, shut off from the world by the waters of the mere, 
 the marsh, or the river. The holy Herebert dwelt upon an 
 island in Derwentwater :— 
 
 “There was a certain priest, venerable for the probity of his 
 life and manners, called Herebert, who had long been united with the 
 man of God, Cuthbert, in the bonds of spiritual friendship. This 
 man, leading a solitary life in an island of that great marsh from 
 which the Derwent flows, was wont to visit him every year, and to 
 receive from him advice concerning his eternal salvation.” 
 
 In the year 696 Cuthbert and Herebert met in Carlisle 
 for the last time. The bishop told his friend of his approach¬ 
 ing death, and the hermit won from him the assurance that 
 his own soul should depart at the same time. 
 
 More than eight centuries later, Leland writes of “ St. 
 Herebert’s Isle wher is a Chapel ”. It had long been visited 
 as a hallowed place. In 1374 Bishop Appleby of Carlisle 
 offered an indulgence to such parishioners of Crosthwaite as 
 should accompany the vicar thither when the mass of St. 
 Cuthbert was celebrated on St. Herbert’s Day (the 13th of 
 [the kalends of] April, i.e. 20 March). “ What a happy holy- 
 day must that have been for all these vales ; and how joyous 
 on a fine spring day must the lake have appeared, with the 
 boats and banners from every chapelry, and how must the 
 
 ^ Reg. Swinfield (Cant, and Yk. S.), 238-g. Beachley is in Tidenham, near 
 Chepstow. 
 



 PLATE IV 
 
 CHAPEL OF ST. TIRIAC THE ANCHORITE 
 



 
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 \ 
 
 * . ’ • * 
 
 « 
 
 / 
 
 
 4 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 *■, A 
 
 « t 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 


ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 13 
 
 chapel have adorned that little isle, giving a human and 
 religious character to the solitude! ” “ Its ruins are still 
 there,” adds Southey, “ in such a state of total dilapidation 
 that they only make the island, mere wilderness as it has 
 now become, more melancholy.”^ One of Wordsworth’s 
 Inscriptions was written for the spot where the hermitage 
 stood:— 
 
 . . . Stranger! not unmoved 
 Wilt thou behold this shapeless heap of stones, 
 
 The desolate ruins of St. Herbert’s Cell. 
 
 Here stood his threshold; here was spread the roof 
 That sheltered him, a self-secluded Man, 
 
 After long exercise in social cares 
 And offices humane, intent to adore 
 The Deity, with undistracted mind, 
 
 And meditate on everlasting things, 
 
 In utter solitude.—But he had left 
 A Fellow-labourer, whom the good Man loved 
 As his own soul. And, when with eye upraised 
 To heaven he knelt before the crucifix, 
 
 While o’er the lake the cataract of Lodore 
 Pealed to his orisons, and when he paced 
 Along the beach of this small isle and thought 
 Of his Companion, he would pray that both 
 (Now that their earthly duties were fulfilled) 
 
 Might die in the same moment. Nor in vain 
 So prayed he:—as our chronicles report, 
 
 Though here the Hermit numbered his last day 
 Far from St. Cuthbert, his beloved Friend, 
 
 Those holy Men both died in the same hour. 
 
 There was an island cell “within the water of Winder- 
 mere,” on Lady Holm near Bowness. The earliest known 
 reference is to “ the hermit brethren of St. Mary’s” (1272). 
 The Chapel, also described as hospital or chantry, was 
 served by two priests, some of whom came from Segden 
 hermitage, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. After the Dissolution 
 of Religious Houses, the Survey mentions “a Fre Chapel 
 within the parishinge of Wynondermere called our ladie 
 Chapelle of tholme ”. According to local legend it was a 
 monk of Lady Holm who silenced for ever the ghostly 
 “Crier of Claife”. Travellers from Kendal to Hawkshead 
 crossed the narrow lake by ferry. The fell between Winder- 
 mere and Esthwaite is called Claife Heights. Thence one 
 stormy night a fateful voice cried “ Boat! ” The ferryman 
 
 ^ Southey, Colloquies (More), i. 337. 
 


14 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 rowed across expecting some passenger, but he saw some 
 dreadful apparition, and returned speechless to die. The 
 story of the boatman’s last voyage struck terror into all 
 hearts, and after nightfall none would venture upon the lake. 
 At length a priest of St. Mary’s went forth to lay the ghost, 
 and henceforth the awful “Crier” was heard no more. 
 
 {d) In the Fens .—Encircled by fenny swamp or flooded 
 river, Saxon solitaries took up their abode at Crowland, Pea- 
 kirk, Thorney, Huneia, Bethney, and other islands. 
 
 Felix, himself a monk of Crowland, describes the terrible 
 marsh which Guthlac made his home—with its stagnant 
 pools, its spongy moss, its wreaths of dark vapours, its 
 watercourses winding between woods and islands. Now 
 when the young monk of Repton heard of this huge desert 
 he went straight thither. Inquiring of the inhabitants their 
 knowledge of this vast solitude, Guthlac heard of a more un¬ 
 cultivated part of that wide wilderness. One of those who 
 stood by, Tatwine by name, declared that he knew another 
 island in the hidden parts of a yet more remote desert, which 
 many who had tried to live there disliked on account of 
 unknown monsters and terrors of different kinds. Guthlac, 
 who in youth had ever been ready for a wild raid, was still 
 eager for holy adventure. He was guided by Tatwine to the 
 place of dreadful desolation. The voyage to Crowland is 
 shown upon the fine Harley Roll (Plate V), which also 
 depicts the construction of the chapel under the hermit’s 
 direction. 
 
 Traces of Guthlac’s church and cell remained until last 
 century on a mound not far from the abbey.^ The cistern or 
 well mentioned by the eighth-century chronicler has also been 
 uncovered. A cottage here was known in the eighteenth 
 century as “Anchor Church House”. 
 
 Pega, Guthlac’s famous sister, settled as a recluse at Pea- 
 kirk, “ being the first dry land she reached after coming by 
 water from Croyland ”. On the traditional site of her dwell¬ 
 ing stands a chapel, which was formerly known as the hermit¬ 
 age of St. Bartholomew—the saint who appears constantly in 
 the life of Guthlac as his patron. According to the continuator 
 
 ^ Bvit. ArchcBol. yoiirnal^ XXXV, facing p. 133. 
 


ri A TE J 
 
 ST. (iUTHLAC'S VOYA(iE TO CROWI.AND 
 





ISLAND AND FEN RECLUSES 
 
 15 
 
 of Ingulph's Chronicle^ the chapel of St. Pega was rebuilt 
 by Abbot John Wysbech about 1469, “after the same had 
 been for many years levelled with the ground If this be 
 true, the nave (now used as a reading-room) may represent 
 the abbot’s work. The chancel is older, dating probably from 
 the latter part of the thirteenth century. 
 
 At Thorney (once Ancarig, island of anchorites) dwelt, 
 according to uncertain tradition, Thorncred, Thortred, and 
 Bosa. To this spot in the tenth century Athelwold, Abbot 
 of Abingdon, and Bishop of Winchester, was wont to retire at 
 certain seasons, and a monastery was afterwards founded 
 there. In Thorney Abbey were preserved the relics of Huna, 
 the chaplain of St. Etheldreda. The priest had long practised 
 great austerity of life, and after he had performed the last 
 offices for the holy abbess, he spent the rest of his days in 
 seclusion upon a small island near Ely, called Huneia after 
 the saint. Near Hunney farm, on the borders of Chatteris, 
 traces have been found of an ancient building, supposed by 
 some to have been the chapel where Huna was buried, before 
 the translation of his body to Thorney. 
 
 (^r) hi Rivers .—Bertellin or Berthelm (by some identified 
 with Beccel or Beccellin, Guthlac’s disciple), a wild young 
 prince who had become a penitent recluse, went in disguise to 
 his father, the King of Mercia, and begged from him a little 
 island in the river Sow, where now is Stafford. After his 
 father’s death, the hermit was dispossessed, and, leaving Beth- 
 ney, he retired to the desert places of the mountains. This 
 last retreat is supposed to have been Dovedale, possibly near 
 Ham, where the shrine and well of St. Bertram are still to be 
 seen, and also certain ancient cross-shafts which may once' 
 have marked the saint’s grave. ^ 
 
 Modwen is said to have dwelt upon a plot of ground be¬ 
 tween two branches of the river, near Burton-on-Trent. “ Re¬ 
 turning to England from Rome, she came to the place which 
 is called Scaleclif, by the hill where the river Trent makes, as 
 it were, an island. Having built an oratory in honour of St 
 Andrew, she lived the anachoritical life for seven years.” A 
 sixteenth-century rental mentions “Andrew’s Isle, alias Mud- 
 
 ^ Bishop of Bristol, St. Bertram's Shrine at Ham. 
 
 boston college LIBliAKY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 


i6 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 win’s chappell The story of St. Modwen’s hermit-friend, 
 Hardulch, is told in chapter III. 
 
 Plegmund, the learned friend of King Alfred, once lived 
 the solitary life upon “an island of Chester, called by the in¬ 
 habitants Plegmundesham”—probably Plemondstall, about 
 four miles from Chester. The good priest was summoned 
 from his place of retirement by Alfred, whose instructor and 
 ‘ counsellor he became (chapter XIII.). The Saxon Chronicle 
 for the year 890 records that: “ This year was Plegmund 
 chosen of God, and of all the people, to the Archbishopric of 
 Canterbury”. “At this time,” says another historian, “Arch¬ 
 bishop Plegmund, so faithful and so famous, ruled the Church 
 of Christ; a reverend man, bright with the fruits of wisdom.” 
 He is said to have crowned Edward the Elder, and to have 
 died at an advanced age in 914. The memory of the hermit- 
 archbishop was treasured in his former retreat, where his name 
 was adopted. The “Christening Well,” near the church of 
 Plemstall, was called “ St. Plegmund’s Well ” in the time of 
 Edward VI.^ 
 
 An island called Andersey, by the river Parrett in Somer¬ 
 set, was inhabited during the twelfth century by Herduin, a 
 venerable solitary; the place was granted to him by charter, 
 and he afterwards presented it to Athelney Abbey. The Wye 
 had a hermit’s isle near Winforton, in Herefordshire; it was 
 about a quarter of a mile south of the church, and had a chapel 
 dedicated to St. Kenedr. The first occupant of the cell was 
 Walter the priest. His successor. Brother Stephen, planted 
 a quickset hedge about the hermitage, finding, perhaps, that 
 even the river did not protect him sufficiently. 
 
 ^ Hook, Archbishops, i. 312 sq.; E. Conybeare, Alfred in the Chroniclers, 
 106, 127, 156, 203 ; Chester and N. Wales Hist. S., N.S., XVI, 56, 67. 
 


11 . FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 A little lowly hermitage it was, 
 
 Down in a dale hard by a forest’s side. 
 
 —Spenser, Faerie Queene 
 
 T he densely wooded wilderness or hidden cave of the 
 mainland afforded seclusion almost as complete as 
 that of the sea-girt sanctuary. Celtic recluses in 
 particular seem to have loved the depths of the forest. Several 
 of these have left their memory in Somerset. The village of 
 Keynsham, for example, is supposed to derive its name from 
 the Welsh princess Ceneu or Keyne, who is believed to have 
 lived the contemplative life in those parts ; whilst Congresbury 
 and St. Decumans are associated with Cungar and Degeman. 
 The watery, woody spot where Cungar—otherwise called 
 Docwin—settled in the days of Ina, King of Wessex, be¬ 
 came under his care flowery meadows; so cultivated, indeed, 
 did the Congresbury valley become that the holy man crossed 
 the Severn to seek a more fit hiding-place in the wilds of 
 Glamorganshire. Crossing the Severn Sea—the hermit’s high¬ 
 way—^the Welsh prince Degeman disembarked from his rude 
 raft in the neighbourhood of Dunster. The tract between 
 Exmoor forest and the Quantocks, with its high hills and 
 deep ravines, was densely wooded. There he dwelt for 
 many years, subsisting upon herbs and roots, and he was 
 martyred at a spot afterwards known as St. Decuman’s Well. 
 
 Another hermit-martyr was Alnoth, a herdsrnan of St. 
 Werburg, who, winning favour by his faithfulness, was re¬ 
 leased from serfdom, and became a solitary:— 
 
 This foresayd Alnotus by synguler grace 
 Refused this worlde pleasures and vanyte 
 Went unto wyldernesse and machoryte was 
 Whome theues martyred to heuen blysse went he 
 At Stow besyde Bukbrydge buryed was trule. 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 


18 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The place of his murder was Stow Wood in Bugbrooke, 
 near Weedond 
 
 The Saxon saints included prince as well as serf. After 
 the martyrdom of St. Edmund the people desired to make his 
 
 ^ H. Bradshaw, Lyfe of St. Werburge (Chetham S. 1848), loi, 103. 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 19 
 
 brother Edwold king in his stead. From his youth up Edwold 
 
 
 PeLAMOTTCiiftCAViSIOi: A 
 
 Fig. 3.—The Hermit-Martyr of Malvern. 
 
 had given himself to the exercises of religion, and had earnestly 
 longed to retire into the wilderness. It was revealed to him 
 


20 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 that he should depart from East Anglia and travel far until he 
 should reach a fountain called “ the silver well After travers¬ 
 ing many shires Edwold reached Dorset, where on a hillside, 
 some four miles west of Cerne, he found the spring and built 
 his hut. The spot which he sought was indicated to him by 
 a shepherd, who afterwards supplied him with milk and bread, 
 and received from the solitary in return silver pennies. When 
 St. Edwold died, he was buried in his cell, but his body was 
 eventually translated to Cerne. 
 
 Of the martyr-monk of the Malvern Hills little is known. 
 Leland notes that near the priory stood the chapel of St. John 
 Baptist, where St. Werstan suffered martyrdom. Within the 
 priory church is a series of painted glass windows (c. 1460), 
 which depict a part of his story. On a flower-covered hill 
 kneels the hermit. Above is seen a vision of angels, ap¬ 
 parently indicating the spot where he should build his hermit¬ 
 age. In the next window (Fig. 2) angels are represented 
 as assisting in the consecration of the oratory. In the third 
 compartment a figure of St. Edward the Confessor is intro¬ 
 duced, which suggests that he was in some way Werstan’s 
 benefactor or protector. The last subject (Fig. 3) is the 
 death of the saint, whose head is being struck off at the 
 window of his cell.^ 
 
 William of Malmesbury tells of another solitary who dwelt 
 “ in that vast wilderness which is called Malvern Aldwin 
 lived with a fellow-hermit named Guy, and he was minded to 
 accompany Guy on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He 
 sought counsel, however, of Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester 
 (1062-1095), who urged him to stay at Malvern, foreseeing 
 that a great work lay before him. Aldwin therefore remained, 
 and he lived to see the establishment through his influence 
 of the priory at Great Malvern. An inquisition entered in 
 Bishop Giffard’s Register (1268) states that in the time of 
 Edward the Confessor or earlier, Aldwin lived in a wood 
 granted to him by Hudde, Earl of Gloucester, where now 
 stood the priory. The foundation is elsewhere attributed to 
 Urso d’Abytot.^ 
 
 Early in the twelfth century a group of fen and forest re- 
 
 ^ Albert Way, in Archceological yournal, II, 48-65. 
 
 ^Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. S.), II, 178; Abbrev. Placit. (Rec. Com.), 331. 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 21 
 
 cluses were dwelling miles apart in the counties of Hunting¬ 
 don, Bedford, and Hertford, whose lives were interwoven in a 
 singular manner. Edwin lived on the island of Higney, near 
 Ramsey. He surrounded his hermitage by a dyke, over which 
 there was a drawbridge. When he endeavoured to make an 
 outer dyke—because, for some unknown reason, certain shep¬ 
 herds of the neighbourhood endeavoured to burn down his 
 hut, but failed in the attempt—the men of Saltrey succeeded 
 in hindering him, and indeed drove him away; but after a 
 while he returned and made himself secure. 
 
 The assistance of Edwin, probably the hermit of Higney, 
 was sought in time of distress by Theodora (afterwards called 
 Christina), the young daughter of a certain Autie of Hunting¬ 
 don, and Beatrix his wife. Although vowed to maidenhood, 
 she had been forced into marriage by her parents, and cruelly 
 persecuted:— 
 
 “ She had noe means to free herself but by flight; being ascisted 
 by one Edwine an Erimite, who procured her a horss, and a boye to 
 Convaye her, to one Alfwina an Anchorisse of Flamsteed . . . ; 
 from thence she went to one Roger a holie Ermitt, whoe lived in a 
 desert not farr from Dunstable.” 
 
 Rogers hermitage was situated “by the wayside on the 
 right hand as you go from St. Albans to Dunstaple, hard by 
 the village which in these days is called Markyate”—a spot to 
 which he was said to have been led by the ministry of angels 
 on his return from pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Christina was 
 destined to become the devoted disciple of Roger, but family 
 claims and church order had first to be satisfied:— 
 
 “ But before she came thither, Edwine, by Roger’s means, whoe 
 refused to admitt her, imparted her case to Radulfe, Archb. of 
 Canterburie. . . . After this Burfred her husband together with the 
 Preist whoe had maried them, came with others to the Ermitage of 
 the forenamed Roger, and there in the presence of five Ermittes gave 
 her leave, notwithstanding that which had passed, to dispose of her 
 self as she pleased; and Thurstane Archb. of Yorke disolving the 
 Match with their consent, permitted him to Marrie, and shee to enter 
 into Religion.” 1 
 
 When the Archbishop of Canterbury died, Roger turned to 
 the Archbishop of York. As a monk of the proudly inde- 
 
 ^N. Roscarrock, Life of St. Christina^ in Nov. Leg. ii. 532-6. 
 


22 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 pendent Abbey of St. Albans, he would acknowledge no 
 allegiance to the Bishop of Lincoln ; indeed, he had himself 
 been ordained sub-deacon by an Irish bishop, who had been 
 called in by the abbot to perform certain rites. Archbishop 
 Thurstan, moreover, was a personal friend of Roger, whom he 
 revered for his goodness. The archbishop, wishing to speak 
 privately with the maiden concerning her purpose, bade Roger 
 send her to him at Redbourn. Travelling thither with 
 Godescal of Caddington and his wife, Christina was received 
 by Thurstan, who, having bestowed salutary counsel upon her, 
 sent her back to Roger:— 
 
 “ Now there was a building adjoining the oratory of the said 
 Roger, with which it made an angle. This [angle], having a board 
 before it, might so be concealed as to lead the outside beholder to 
 suppose that no man was in this space. ... In this prison Roger 
 placed the joyful Christina, and set for a door a proper oaken plank, 
 which was so heavy that the anchoress could by no means move it 
 either to or fro. ... If she would have had Roger come to her she 
 must call to him or smite upon the door, and how could the hidden 
 virgin do this, who dared not utter even half a sigh? For she feared 
 lest some other than Roger might be near, who at the mere sound of 
 her breath might discover her hiding-place; and she would rather 
 have died in her prison than make herself known at that time to 
 any person outside.” ^ 
 
 There the recluse dwelt for over four years, enduring misery 
 with great fortitude (chapter X.). So did she grow in grace that 
 the old monk cherished the hope that she should become heir 
 to his hermitage, and it was revealed to her that it should be 
 even so. “ At last Roger, leaving this world at the call of the 
 God whom he served, went the way of all flesh.” 
 
 Hearing of Roger’s death, Thurstan sent for Christina, 
 treated her with great kindness, and offered to provide for her. 
 “ After this, she havyng Choyce of sundrie places, preferred 
 Sainct Albons, where she had vowed virginitie, and where her 
 deare frind Roger laye buried : and Alexander Bishop of Lin- 
 colne vailing her, she lived under the obedience of the Abbott 
 of St. Albons as Roger before had done.” 
 
 It is noteworthy that no less than two archbishops, three 
 
 ^ Gest. 'Abb. (Rolls, 28, iv.) i. g8-g, trans. G. G. Coulton, Mediaeval 
 Garner, 510. 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 23 
 
 bishops, two mitred abbots, and a pope are concerned in the 
 life story of this young recluse. Her case is committed by 
 one friend to Ralph d’Escures, Archbishop of Canterbury {d. 
 1122), and by another to Thurstan, Archbishop of York {d. 
 1140); she is persecuted by Ralph Flambard, the wicked 
 Bishop of Durham {d. 1128); Robert Bloet of Lincoln {d. 1123) 
 is amongst her detractors, but she receives the veil from his 
 successor, Alexander. She becomes the counsellor of the 
 powerful Abbot Geoffrey, who appoints her first prioress of 
 Markyate ; whilst Abbot Robert uses her as an instrument in 
 his dealings with the English Pope, Adrian IV, whose favour 
 he won by the gift of three mitres and a pair of sandals ex¬ 
 quisitely embroidered by Christina. Lastly, Henry II makes 
 a grant for her support, fifty shillings a year being paid out of 
 the exchequer (1155) “in corn which the king gives to Lady 
 Christina of the Wood 
 
 Nor was Christina the only woman in that neighbourhood 
 who lived thus in seclusion. In a wood close to St. Albans two 
 holy women made a wattled hut of boughs and twigs and logs 
 covered with bark. They lived “ in wonderful abstinence” for 
 some years, until Abbot Geoffrey, who approved the lives of 
 these recluses, added to their number, and the settlement at 
 Eywood became Sop well Nunnery. In one charter it is stated 
 that this cellula was rebuilt by Roger. 
 
 Sigar, another monk of St. Albans, dwelt at Northaw. 
 In that richly-wooded part of Hertfordshire nightingales 
 abounded, and their chorus disturbed the hermit’s devotions. 
 He, therefore, made supplication that they might be removed 
 “ lest he might seem to rejoice rather in the warbling of birds 
 than in the worship whereunto he was bound before God 
 John Amundesham declares that in his own day nightingales 
 not only never presumed to sing, but never appeared within a 
 mile of the hermitage. Sigar was wont to walk every night 
 to St. Albans in time for matins. He was buried in the abbey 
 in the same tomb as “St. Roger” (see p. 113). 
 
 A northern hermit now arose to fame. Godric of Finchale 
 dwelt in various waste places before he finally settled down 
 beside the river Wear. In his youth he followed successively 
 
 ^ Pipe R., ed. Hunter, 1844, 22. The priory, called Holy Trinity de 
 BoscOy was in Caddington, at Markyate, now Market Street, 
 


24 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the callings of sailor, trader, and household steward. The first 
 longing to embrace the solitary life came to him as the result of 
 a visit to Fame, although he did not at once become a fol¬ 
 lower of St. Cuthbert, but went on pilgrimage to St. James of 
 Compostella in Spain, to the hermitage of St. Giles in France, 
 and to Rome. When he resolved to make the journey to 
 Rome a second time, he was accompanied by his mother. The 
 pilgrims set out on foot, and when they came to ford or ditch 
 Godric carried Aedwen on his back. Beyond London there met 
 them in the way a lovely maiden, who asked permission to 
 join in their pilgrimage. They readily assented, and hence¬ 
 forth she served them with grace and diligence. They knew 
 not who she was or whence she came, and none of the com¬ 
 pany save themselves saw the mysterious maiden. When 
 they were returning, and had reached the place where they 
 had first met, she bade farewell with words of benediction. 
 
 After Godric had restored his mother in safety to his 
 father’s protection and had received their blessing, he sold all 
 that he had and made his way to Carlisle, where, in the 
 neighbouring forest of Inglewood, he searched for the empty 
 den of some wild beast. Desiring to follow the example of 
 John Baptist in the wilderness, he lived on herbs and wild 
 honey, with acorns, nuts, and crab-apples. He slept upon the 
 bare ground, and, rising at daybreak, went forth to gather 
 food, falling on his knees in prayer every few paces. Godric 
 then became the disciple of an aged hermit at Wolsingham in 
 Weardale (p. 128). After Aelric’s death, the wanderer went 
 off a second time to the Holy Land. There he worshipped 
 at the sacred Sepulchre, and bathed in the Jordan; and whilst 
 staying in Jerusalem he ministered to his fellow-pilgrims in 
 St. John’s hospital. The attraction of the solitary life was 
 irresistible, and he went to see the hermits dwelling in the 
 subterranean caves of the Judean deserts. 
 
 On Godric’s return to England, he found a secret place in 
 the forest near Whitby, and for over a year dwelt in a turf- 
 covered log hut in Eskdale. He at length discovered, in the 
 forest north of Durham, the unknown valley of Finchale, 
 where St. Cuthbert in a vision had bidden him ultimately 
 settle; whereupon he made a cave in the earth near the bank 
 of the river Wear. Possibly this was at the place still called 
 





PLATE VI 
 
 ST. (;01)K1C OF FINCHALE 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 25 
 
 “ St. Godric’s Garth,” in the lower whin-covered open ground 
 nearly a mile above Finchale. The hermit afterwards be¬ 
 took himself to a more favourable spot, “ well fitted both by 
 situation and view for habitation It was a level plot at the 
 bend of the Wear, sheltered by the rushing river, with its steep, 
 rocky, densely wooded banks. During a part of his sojourn 
 it became an island, encircled by the flood which rose so high 
 on one occasion that he was nearly swept away. He en¬ 
 countered many perils. He was once bound and all but 
 killed by marauding Scots, who broke into his cell in the hope 
 of securing treasure. He would have been in danger from 
 the beasts of the forest, had he not possessed that mysterious 
 power over the lower creation which has been attributed to 
 many saints, and especially to those of the desert. Upon his 
 arrival at Finchale (which was the bishop’s hunting-ground), a 
 wolf rushed at him as though it would tear him to pieces. 
 He made the sign of the cross and adjured the creature to 
 depart, whereupon it crouched at his feet as if begging pardon. 
 “ The number of serpents was fearful, but they were all tame 
 towards the man of God ”. Sometimes, as he sat by the 
 fire, they would coil themselves round his legs, or settle in 
 his dish. They so multiplied, however, that they hindered his 
 devotions, and he bade them enter no more. The picturesque 
 legends describe Godric as a gentle companion, but firm master, 
 of the wild creatures, forbidding the stag to touch his trees, or 
 the leveret his herbs. He was the protector of beasts pursued 
 in the chase; he delivered birds from the snare of the fowler; 
 he nursed back to life little animals which were half-dead 
 through the severity of the northern winter. 
 
 The legend round the figure of Goderyke heremit^ depicted 
 in Plate VI, runs thus :— 
 
 In wasterne and in wildernes . whare nane wont bot wilde 
 
 I went and in halines . a heremitage i plylde 
 
 The fendes with faindinges of my flesche . fayne walde me haue filede 
 
 Bot gode his grace to me gune dres . elles hade i bene gilde.^ 
 
 There are two graphic descriptions of Brother Godric, one 
 
 1 B.M. Cott. Faust. B. vi, pars. ii. f. 16 h. 
 
 wont, dwelt; plylde, ? build ; faindinges, temptations; filed, defiled; 
 the last line may be translated “ unless God had begun to address (or 
 direct) his grace to me, I should have been beguiled 
 


26 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 recalling his strength in the prime of life, the other portraying 
 him in the grace and dignity of advanced years ;— 
 
 “ He was a man earnest in spirit and fond of work, in body 
 vigorous, of undiminished strength, moderate in stature, having broad 
 shoulders, a wide chest, a long face, eyes grey and brilliantly flashing, 
 thick eyebrows, a broad forehead, wide nostrils, a well-shaped hooked 
 nose, a narrow chin, with a beard thick and rather long, a comely 
 mouth, lips moderately full, the hair of his head and of his beard 
 black in his younger days, but in old age of a hoary whiteness. His 
 neck was short and thick with full lines of sinews and veins; shins 
 moderately thick, feet with good insteps, knees thickened and hard 
 through his often kneelings; the skin of his body was very rough, 
 but in old age all that roughness was turned to softness.” ^ 
 
 This stalwart, steadfast solitary remained at Finchale for 
 sixty years. His extraordinary asceticism seemed only to 
 harden him; but at length he was conquered by infirmity, 
 and was stricken with disease. The last stage of life is thus 
 described by an eye-witness, William of Newborough :—• 
 
 “ When then he had lived to a feeble old age, he lay for a few 
 years before his death in great weakness of body, and for a long 
 time preserved some measure of life in his perishing body by small 
 draughts of milk. In those days I was privileged to see him and 
 to speak with him as he lay in his own oratory near the high altar. 
 When then he appeared to be in his body under the shadow of 
 death, he nevertheless spoke readily enough those words which were 
 often on his lips : ‘ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and 
 of the Holy Ghost,’ repeating them over and over again. In his 
 countenance, moreover, there appeared a certain dignity and beauty 
 unknown before. Thus he passed away, old and full of days, and 
 his body now occupies the very spot of ground in which he was wont 
 to lie prostrate in prayer or in sickness.” ^ 
 
 St. Godric died on 21 May, 1170. The grave which he 
 had himself prepared became the resort of thousands of pil¬ 
 grims. The priory of Finchale (Plate VII) grew up round 
 the shrine, where many miracles of healing were wrought. 
 
 Not infrequently, as in the case of Finchale, the cell de¬ 
 veloped into a monastery. It happened that Ralph Aldlave, 
 chaplain of Henry I, fell ill at Pontefract. Going one day 
 
 ^ Anon, chronicler (probably Reginald). See Vita, 30, 31 n. 
 
 Hist. Rerum Angl. (Rolls, 82), i. 150. 
 


PLATE I'// 
 


/ 
 
 , ^ • 
 
 i 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
 r. 
 
 cV 
 
 
 0 
 
 » .M 
 
 *1 
 
 'I 
 
 y,' 
 
 N. 
 
 
 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 27 
 
 into the woods on his recovery, he found there certain men 
 living in seclusion—-probably Gilbert, hermit of St. James, 
 Nostell and his brethren, mentioned in an early charter. 
 Adlave (or Adelwold) became the first prior of the community 
 of St. Oswald’s.^ Radmore, in the royal chase of Cannock, 
 was granted to Clement and Hervey; but finding the foresters 
 troublesome, the hermits removed to Stoneleigh where they 
 built a priory. Beaulieu Priory grew out of the hermitage 
 of Moddry Wood, once tenanted by Ralph de Nuers, a monk 
 of Lichfield. 
 
 Many monasteries sent forth monks to inhabit desolate ^ 
 parts of their territory. Whitby Abbey appointed monks to 
 lonely outposts at Goathland, Eskdaleside, Saltburn, and MuL 
 grave. About the year 1220 there was a hermit at Shap 
 in Westmorland, probably a brother from the abbey, who 
 received by the will of Agnes de Clifford one mark. 
 
 In the Cumberland forest of Inglewood there were her¬ 
 mitages at Sebergham and Ilekirk. That of St. Hilda at 
 Ilekirk was held by Roger Goky, and was afterwards granted 
 by royal charter to Holme-Cultram Abbey. In 1223 the 
 abbot himself, Adam de Kendal, retired thither. He had be¬ 
 come insane after the failure of ambitious schemes, and dwelt 
 there until his death under the care of the monk Ralph.^ 
 
 There were cells also in Charnwood Forest. Charley Hall, 
 with the field called Priests’ Close, occupies the site of St. 
 Mary’s hermitage. It was at one time under Luffield Priory, 
 but the Earl of Winchester became patron both of Charley and 
 Ulverscroft. The hermitage of Ulverscroft developed into an 
 abbey. That of Haliwell Haw was under Garendon Abbey. 
 
 Several solitaries dwelt in the forests of Wychwood and 
 Brill. The king, as lord of the forest, was usually the original 
 patron of the cells, but in course of time they were placed under 
 religious houses; Loughborough (“Lovebyri” or Low Bar- 
 row, near Leafield) was granted to Lechlade, Lockeslegh to 
 Deerhurst, Muswell to Missenden, and Brill to Chetwode. 
 The foregoing were actual hermitages, but the word was occa¬ 
 sionally given to semi-parochial chapels served by secular 
 
 1 Nostell MS. in Scott. Hist. Rev. No. 26, pp. 153-4; ^f. V.C.H. Yorks, 
 HI. 234. 
 
 “ Fordun, Scotichron,, ed. Goodall, ii. 12. 
 


28 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 priests. Thus Chetwode had a so-called “ hermitage ” (dis¬ 
 tinct from that of Brill), founded by Robert, lord of Chetwode. 
 Lord Ralph nominated to it a chaplain, who was “ canonically 
 instituted therein as perpetual guardian with the duty of a 
 vicarage”. Bishop Grosseteste enters in his register the following 
 illuminating memorandum : “ This place is commonly called by 
 lay people a hermitage, on account of its loneliness, not because 
 any hermit at any time was accustomed to dwell there, but a 
 chaplain serves there, after the manner of a secular, and is 
 bound to live there with a suitable household ”. 
 
 In the Forest of Dean there were cells at Ardland, St. 
 Briavels, and Taynton. Ardland, or Ertlond, seems to have 
 been between Cinderford and Newnham-on-Severn. Henry II 
 gave this place to a certain William the hermit, who afterwards, 
 in the days of Richard I, entered stricter seclusion at that 
 chapel. He was taken under the protection of the Abbot of 
 Flaxley, who promised him food and clothing. In 1225 Panye 
 de Lench became a recluse at Ardland, and was granted by 
 Henry HI four acres of land and also two oaks for the con¬ 
 struction of her dwelling. 
 
 The hermitage of St. Briavels is mentioned early in the 
 twelfth century. It was afterwards granted by Henry HI to 
 Grace Dieu Abbey (Monmouthshire), on condition that three 
 priests should celebrate there for the souls of his ancestors. 
 The wildness of the spot is shown by the fact that, as late as 
 1361, the chantry was removed to the abbey on account of the 
 depredations of the beasts of the forest. There are said to be 
 traces of the chapel at Stowe Grange. 
 
 Whilst the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were pre-emi¬ 
 nently the period of the solitary, there were throughout the 
 fourteenth century some retreats in wood and wilderness. In 
 1323, for example, there was a hermit at Dalby in Pickering 
 Forest. Again, the chapel of Losfield in Clewer (now called 
 St. Leonard’s Hill), which had been occupied by a certain 
 William the hermit in Henry Hi’s time, was afterwards in¬ 
 habited by a succession of solitary priests. In 1355 it was 
 held by another William, and seems, from the following peti¬ 
 tion, to have been a place of pilgrimage :— 
 
 “ Whereas William the hermit, chaplain of St. Leonard, Loffield, 
 in Windsor forest, lives a solitary life, and serves God alone, and 
 


rLA TE .V.Vl '// 
 
 ANC H OR i r K’S WI NI )0W, N KAVCASTI ,K-U FON-'J'VN K 
 





/ 
 


PLATE /■/// 
 
 A FOREST HERMIT 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 29 
 
 whereas a multitude of people flock to the chapel, the pope is prayed 
 to grant an indulgence to those who visit the said chapel . , . and 
 give alms to the fabric.” ^ 
 
 In the same year there was, as formerly, a hermit living 
 on the slopes of the Wrekin. The first tenant of this cell on 
 Mons Gilberti was N icholas de Denton, a clerk, who received a 
 piece of land from Shrewsbury Abbey. The king granted 
 him another plot for an oratory, and also contributed six 
 quarters of corn every year in order to give him greater 
 leisure for holy exercises, and to support him so long as he 
 should be a hermit on the mountain. 
 
 The woods and hills of Somerset and Dorset had their 
 solitaries. In 1317 a chaplain was instituted to the hermit¬ 
 age in Rechych or Neroche Forest. At Winscombe on the 
 Mendips there was a hermit at the place commonly called 
 locus S. Romani (1331). Polden Hill had a cell made for 
 herself by the chapel of St. Thomas by a woman named 
 Elneva. In 1505 John the hermit of St. Thomas super 
 Powldon received 4^. as the bequest of a neighbour at Cossing- 
 ton. The chapel in the forest near Wimborne was inhabited in 
 1395, when Lady Alice West bequeathed 40s. “to the Reclus 
 frere Thomas atte seynt lames in the Holte 
 
 A succession of chaplains dwelt at Clipston in the royal 
 forest of Sherwood. To one of these King John paid qoj’. a 
 year, and Henry III continued the grant to one Benedict, 
 hermit of St. Edwin at Birkland. Priests were instituted to 
 this chantry throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
 The sixteenth-century commissioners reported that “ itt hathe 
 no mancyon butt a parlor under the chappell of no valewe ”. 
 
 Turning from history to romance, Sherwood is the scene 
 of the exploits of the hermit-poacher who unwittingly enter¬ 
 tained his king. It befell in good King Edward’s days—^so 
 runs the popular minstrel’s tale of the fourteenth century ^— 
 that the king went a-hunting. Towards eventide he missed 
 his way, and espying a hermitage, asked harbour. The inmate 
 replied that it was but a poor place, yet since it was far from 
 the town he consented to receive the stranger. “ I dwell here 
 
 ^ Papal Reg., Petitions, i. 270; Lett. iii. 572. 
 
 2 W. Carew Hazlitt, Early Pop, Poetry, 11-35. 
 


30 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 among wild beasts in the wilderness, living upon roots and 
 rinds,” says the solitary. “ Did I dwell in this forest,” ex¬ 
 claims the other, “ when the foresters were asleep, then would 
 I cast off my habit and stalk deer, to glad me and my guest 
 —for the king needs not the venison! ” The man replies 
 piously that his work is not archery, but prayer and penance; 
 as for himself, he eats no meat. He sets before the king 
 bread and cheese and thin ale. After a while the hungry 
 huntsman discovers that the cell can produce not only white 
 bread, but collops of deer’s flesh. “ Wyllym Alyn,” the serv¬ 
 ing-lad, goes out to feed the horse, and when host and guest 
 are left alone, they make merry over a pot of wine. The 
 huntsman admires the skill and strength that can bend such a 
 bow as hangs over the bed, and invites the hermit to visit him 
 in the town, adding: “Jhake Flecher, that is my name; all 
 men knowys me at home”. Next morning the solitary shows 
 the stranger his way; after leaving him the king blows his 
 bugle, and at the blast come anxious knights and foresters who 
 had sought him in vain. They ride away, and the MS. breaks 
 off before the hermit has fulfilled his promise of visiting his 
 whilom guest. This old tale was retold by Sir Walter Scott 
 in “ Ivanhoe,” where the Clerk of Copmanhurst entertains the 
 Black Knight.^ 
 
 Mention must also be made of the murdered monk of 
 Eskdaleside. In the time of Henry II, certain barons were 
 hunting in a wood belonging to the Abbot of Whitby. Having 
 found a great wild boar, the hounds ran him near about the 
 hermitage of Eskdaleside, where dwelt a solitary monk of 
 Whitby. The boar, hotly pursued, went in at the chapel door, 
 and there died: whereupon the hermit shut the hounds out 
 and remained within at his meditations. Following the cry 
 of the hounds, the huntsmen came to the cell, where they 
 found the boar lying dead. In fury thdy rushed violently at 
 the hermit with their boar-staves, and he died soon afterwards. 
 Before his death, however, the monk desired the abbot to send 
 for those who had wounded him, and freely forgave them, but 
 he enjoined a certain penance upon them for the salvation of 
 their souls. 
 
 ^ The cave cell of Friar Tuck is shown at Copmanhurst near Fountain Dale. 
 


FOREST AND HILLSIDE HERMITS 
 
 31 
 
 The names and dates incorporated in the legend are not 
 confirmed by records. The date given is the fifth year of 
 Henry 11 ; the murderers are William de Bruce and Ralph de 
 Perci, whilst the abbot is Sedman, a name unknown in the 
 annals of Whitby. The cartulary of Meaux shows that 
 about this time a hermit called Sedeman was dwelling at 
 St. Leonard’s, near Egton, in Whitbystrand. This cell, 
 however, did not belong to Whitby; it was at first in the 
 hands of William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, and was 
 granted by him to Meaux.^ 
 
 The popular story of the monk of Whitby passed into 
 “ Marmion ” :— 
 
 In wrath for loss of sylvan game 
 Saint Hilda’s priest ye slew. 
 
 ^ B.M. Cott. Vesp. E., xix. f. 80 6; Burton, Monast. Ebor. 78-9. 
 


III. CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 Far from men in the wilderness . . . enclosed in a cave . . . deep down in 
 the grey rock .—Life of Edward the Confessor 
 
 T he solitary dwelt not only in desert or mountain, 
 but in dens and caves. It seems natural to associ¬ 
 ate him with hidden haunts in deep valleys or 
 riverside crags. 
 
 Hollowed out at the base of the Cratcliff rocks, near 
 Stanton-in-Peak, is a cave, small and bare indeed, but perhaps 
 the most impressive of our hermitages. There dwelt a solitary 
 whose name has not been recorded, but graven in the rocky 
 wall is a lasting memorial of his faith. In a recess at the 
 eastern end is a simple, striking rood (Plate XX XI^ The 
 crockets on the cross suggest the budding foliage of the tree of 
 life. The features are defaced, but the sacred figure is boldly 
 executed. A manuscript Rule of hermits, dating from the 
 fourteenth century (probably contemporary with this sculp¬ 
 ture), says: “ Let it suffice thee to have on thine altar an 
 image of the Saviour hanging upon the cross, which repre¬ 
 sents to thee His passion which thou shalt imitate, inviting 
 thee with outspread arms to Himself”.^ 
 
 In the same county, near Repton, is the cave-pierced 
 rock called Anchor Church (Plate IX), which from its name 
 is believed to have sheltered an “ anker It has been 
 suggested that this was the abode of the hermit mentioned 
 by John of Tynemouth, who used to visit Modwen, the legend¬ 
 ary lady of Burton (chapter I.). The tradition of his name 
 and dwelling-place has been preserved in a fragment of an 
 early printed book ;— 
 
 “ [One] tyme dwelled an holy heremyte, whose name was 
 [Hajrdulche in a place named Bredon. He herde tell 
 
 ^ Camb. Univ. MS., vi, 17, f. 74 b, 75. 
 
 2 Compare Anchor Church House, Crowland, Nichols, Leicestershire, 
 IV, Pt. I, p. 2. 
 
 32 
 


rLA TE IX 
 
 ANCHOR CHURCH 
 





CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 33 
 
 [of Modjwen’s holy lyuynge and wente oft to her and bare 
 [bokejs of holy sayntes lyues. On a daye this holy man 
 [left h]is boke at home, and therfore she made great 
 \wailing\ and sayd, Father why bringest thou not thy 
 booke 
 
 [like a]s thou were wonte to do. Madame he sayde I 
 [haue] forgoten. That tyme saynt Hardulche had a 
 celle in 
 
 [a cjlyffe a lytell frome trent.” ^ 
 
 Then St. Modwen sent two of her maidens in a boat to his 
 hermitage to fetch the book. A tempest arose and overturned 
 the boat, but (needless to relate) they were rescued by the 
 miraculous intervention of their mistress. Anchor Church is, 
 it is true, some miles from Breedon-on-the-Hill (where the 
 church is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Hardulph), but in 
 those remote times the parish of Breedon, or the lands of its 
 monastery, may have extended to the Trent. Probably the 
 original hermitage—if such it was—consisted of “church” and 
 cell. There are now four chambers in a semicircle, one of 
 which commands a view of the Trent valley. The river no 
 longer runs beneath the rock, but a pool indicates its former 
 course. 
 
 There was perhaps no hermitage which possessed a more 
 beautiful situation than that of Guy’s Cliffe, near Warwick. 
 This rugged precipice, washed by the Avon, is clad in living 
 green. Leland saw in this spot—with its mossy caverns, 
 clear springs, and flowery fields—a place of more than ordinary 
 beauty. Its silence was only broken by “ the river rollynge 
 with a praty noyse over the stones ”. 
 
 In the time of King Athelstan—so the story goes—this 
 cliff became the retreat of Guy of Warwick. Returning from 
 pilgrimage, the famous warrior arrived at Warwick, and re¬ 
 ceived an alms from Felicia his wife, who failed to recognize 
 him in his pilgrim’s weeds. He then carried out his resolve 
 to retire into a cave not far distant from his lady’s castle:— 
 
 “ He repaired to an heremite that resided amongst the shady woods 
 hard by, desiring ... to receive some spiritual comfort, where he 
 
 ^ Sir Matthew Joyce’s pamphlet on “ St. Hardulph ” contains a facsimile of 
 the page of black letter bound as a flyleaf into a volume in Lord Kenyon’s 
 library. 
 
 3 
 


34 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 abode with that holy man till his death, and . . . succeeded him in 
 that Cell . . . and continued for the space of two years after; but 
 then discerning death to approach, he sent to his Lady their wedding 
 Ring by a trusty servant, wishing her to take care of his burial: add¬ 
 ing also, that when she came, she should find him lying dead in the 
 Chapel, before the Altar; and moreover, that within xv dayes after 
 she her self should depart this life. She came accordingly, and 
 brought with her the Bishop and others, and did honourably interre 
 [his body] in that Heremitage.” 
 
 • « 
 
 This romantic tale, derived frorp Gerard of Cornwall, is re¬ 
 corded in the chronicle of Hyde Abbey, under the date 927. ^ 
 
 The hermit’s cave (Plate X) is small, narrow, and almond- 
 shaped. It is about 14^ feet long, and barely 5 feet at its 
 widest point. The rudely-hewn entrance, being 5 feet above 
 the floor, is more like a window than a door. Opposite this 
 opening is a panel in the rocky wall, bearing an obliterated 
 inscription. According to an ingenious, but doubtful, reading, 
 it is rendered : Remove^ 0 Christy from thy servant this weight 
 — Guthi} If this were a genuine record of some recluse’s 
 prayer, it would add a living interest to the cell, but the 
 semi-runic characters are regarded with suspicion by scholars. 
 
 Guy’s cave and Guy’s well are mentioned by Leland. 
 “ Men shew a cave there in a rok hard on Avon ripe, where 
 they say that he used to slepe. Men also yet showe fayr 
 springs in a faire medow thereby, where they say that Erie 
 Guido was wont to drinke.” The well, reached by a path 
 along the riverside, is in an arched recess. Richard Beauchamp 
 “ enclosyd the silver welles in the medow with pure whit slike 
 stone like marble ”. The carved slab in which the twin-basins 
 are scooped, is time-worn and overgrown with creeping liver¬ 
 wort, but a never-failing spring bubbles out of the rock into 
 the well. 
 
 Early in the thirteenth century Brother Wiger, canon of 
 Oseney, took up his abode in the hermitage, having deter¬ 
 mined, with the consent of his abbot, to lead the solitary life at 
 the place called Gibbecliff.^ Gilbert, described in an ordina¬ 
 tion list (1283) as the hermit “of Warwick,” may have dwelt 
 
 Liber de Hyda (Rolls, 45) 122-3; Dugd., Warwickshire^ i. 273, 275; see 
 also Romance of Guy of Warwick (E. E. Text S., 1875), 302-7. 
 
 ^ R. Carr, 1870, “Anglo-Saxon Epigraph “ (Warwick Museum). 
 
 3 B.M. Cotton. Vitell. E., xv., 186, per Rev. H. Salter. 
 


PLATE X 
 
 HERMIT'S CAVE, GUV'S CLIFFE 
 


PLATE El 
 
 guv’s statu k 
 
 THE CT.OISTKKS 
 
 (;UV'S CLIKFK 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 35 
 
 here. The names of Thomas de Lewes, Robert Maudith, and 
 John Burry also occur as hermits of Gibbeclifif. 
 
 At one time the cell was under the care of the priory at 
 Warwick, but the earl, recovering the patronage, converted it 
 into a chantry. In the Rows Roll, Richard Beauchamp is 
 represented bearing the chapel in his right hand and the 
 young king in his left. He was the kinsman and guardian 
 of Henry VI (see p. 155) in the first year of whose reign he 
 obtained licence to found a perpetual chantry in the chapel 
 called Gibbeclifif, wherein two priests should perform divine 
 service for the souls of the king and of the founders. He did 
 so “ that God would send him heir male,” prompted thereto 
 by the prophetic visions of an anchoress at York :— 
 
 “ He did hyt by the styrryng of a holy anchoras namyd dam Em 
 Rawghtone dwellyng at all halows in the northe strete of york and 
 for hyt to her apperyd our lady vii tymes in on yer and seyd that in 
 tyme to cum . . . hyt shuld be a gracious place to seke to for eny 
 dises or gref and on of Seynt Gyes Eyris shuld bryng hys Reliks a 
 geyn to the same place.” ^ 
 
 William Worcester notes in his Itinerary that Richard 
 Beauchamp caused a fair house to be made for the priests called 
 hermits, and Leland mentions “ a praty howse of stone for the 
 cantuary prists by the chapel ”. It is uncertain to which of 
 the rock-hewn dwellings the travellers nefer. The lofty hall 
 with pillars and arches, surrounded by an ambulatory, is known 
 as the cloisters (Plate XI). There is a range of cells in 
 both upper and lower cliffs. Some of them have small square¬ 
 headed windows and other signs of habitation. 
 
 The “ right goodly chapell of St. Mary Magdalene ” is still 
 in use, after careful restoration in 1875. The ancient door is 
 massive, carved and iron bound. A huge oak chest has been 
 preserved. Within the chapel, cut in the rock, is a gigantic 
 statue of Sir Guy; it is about 9 feet high and represents 
 him as warrior, the victor over Colbrand the Dane. Shake¬ 
 speare doubtless had this figure in his mind when he writes: 
 “ I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand, to mow them 
 
 ^Rows Roll, ed. 1845, sect. 50 (John Rows was chantry priest at Guy’s 
 Cliffe; he was aged in 1491. His Vetustates Clivi Guidonici perished by fire.) 
 Dame Emma was instrumental in the appointment of Richard Beauchamp as 
 Regent, see chapter xii. 
 
 2 Dimensions 32 x 28 ft., or excluding ambulatory 23 x 12J ft. 
 


36 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 down before me It appears to date from the early part of 
 the thirteenth century, although according to Leland it was 
 Earl Richard who set up there “an ymage great lyke a giant”. 
 Richard Beauchamp held his famous ancestor in especial 
 honour. Like Guy he went on pilgrimage, and like Guy did 
 deeds of prowess. Richard Neville, “ the king-maker,” pur¬ 
 posed “ to have woltyd and butracyd sir Guys caue for fallyng 
 downe of the hangyng rok . . . and to let peynt Sir Gyes 
 Image”. His further scheme to enlarge the chantry as an 
 almshouse was never carried out, owing, probably, to the 
 Wars of the Roses. 
 
 Fuller, after describing the charms of Guy’s Clifife, adds;— 
 
 “ Many hermites . . . being sequestred from the world, retreated 
 hither. Some will say it is too gaudy a place for that purpose, as 
 having more of a paradice then wilderness therein. . . . But seeing 
 hermits deny themselves the company of men, let them be allowed to 
 converse with the rarities of nature.” 
 
 The hermitage near Bridgnorth (Plate XII) is said to date 
 from the tenth century, and the rock of Athelardston, in the 
 royal forest of Morf, was, by the tradition preserved by Leland, 
 the habitation of a brother of Athelstan. Nothing authentic is 
 known before the fourteenth century, when the Crown nomin¬ 
 ated several persons. A Patent Roll entry sets forth that:— 
 
 » 
 
 “ Whereas Roger de Burghton, chaplain, inflamed with the fervour 
 of devotion, has arranged to take the habit of a hermit, and has made 
 instant supplication to the king to grant him for life the hermitage 
 at Atherlaston on the high road by Bruggenorth now void, wherein to 
 dwell, that he may pray for the king, queen Philippa and their 
 children: the king has granted his petition.” 
 
 Athelardston, now Hermitage hill, is near the top of the 
 sandstone ridge above the Severn valley. The rock con¬ 
 sisted of four chambers. A small door opens into the largest 
 cave, about 33 feet long, including the chapel (Plate XII), 
 which is the most complete part remaining. A passage and 
 flight of steps lead to the upper cave, which, like the lower 
 side cave, is now roofless, the soft stone having crumbled 
 away.^ 
 
 The county of Worcester had several habitable caves, as, 
 ^ Hubert Smith, Shropshire Arch. Trans, i. 
 


PLATE XII 
 
 I'} IK HKRMlTACiK, P.Rl I)(INORTH 
 


PLA PE 
 
 xm 
 
 'I'HK CHAI'EL, ItRllXiNOR'l'H HERMI'I'AC.R 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 37 
 
 for example, those at Redstone, Blackstone, and Southstone. 
 That of Redstone (Plate XXII), near Stourport, contained a 
 chapel with an altar and several chambers, all hewn in the rock. 
 Over the altar there was formerly a wall-painting which de¬ 
 picted an archbishop saying Mass, and above it an inscription 
 declaring some indulgence to those who frequented this place 
 with devotion. Those who trafficked on Severn used to make 
 offerings of their commodities to the hermit as they passed. 
 Some suppose that Layamon dwelt here when compiling his 
 translation of Wace’s Brut. “ It appearethe the Hermittes 
 weare buryed heere, althoughe the stone hardly yeeldethe a 
 grave.” 
 
 In some unknown cave in the neighbourhood of Evesham 
 dwelt one of the most influential recluses of the west. “ On 
 the slope of a wood, enclosed in a cave, deep down in the grey 
 rock,” Wulsi lived in seclusion through the troublous reigns of 
 Cnut, Edward the Confessor, Harold, William the Conqueror, 
 and William Rufus. He was brought up in Worcestershire, 
 but became a Benedictine monk at Crowland. He was un¬ 
 skilled in literary pursuits, and could neither sing in the choir, 
 nor cater in the market; but he felt that he had a vocation for 
 the contemplative life. He therefore sought to become an 
 anchorite, that he might pray unceasingly for the whole com¬ 
 munity and for himself. A few years passed peacefully, but 
 upon Cnut’s death there was an upheaval in the kingdom. A 
 multitude of men, women, and children took refuge at Crow- 
 land, and they “everlastingly” disturbed the whole monastery. 
 But more than all, they distracted Wulsi ; for day and night 
 they consulted him, crowding to the doors of his humble cell 
 as though it were some royal palace. The din made Wulsi 
 weary of his life, and he had not time for devotion. Worn out, 
 and fearing lest, while people called him holy, he should fall 
 into utter desperation and rush headlong into depths of wicked¬ 
 ness, he at length, by the advice of the prior, sought tranquillity 
 at Evesham, and there in a cavern and in the chapel of St. 
 Kenelm hard by, he served God in all holiness of life.^ 
 
 Some years later, a vision was vouchsafed to the hermit.^ 
 
 ^ Peter of Blois, Continuation of Ingulph’s Chron., ed. Riley, 252-5. 
 
 2 Flete, Hist, of Westminster (ed. J. A. Robinson), 45, 46, from Aelred’s 
 Life oj St. Edward (R. Twysden, Hist. Angl. Script, x., col. 382). 
 


38 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 One night, after much prayer and meditation, the Apostle 
 Teter, bright and beautiful, appeared saying:— 
 
 “Fear not, brother; I am Peter, who keep the keys of Heaven. 
 Tell Edward the king that his prayer is accomplished; of all his sins 
 he has pardon, and absolution from his vow ... on the condition 
 that to me he make a house, where he may have a convent of 
 monks. ... At London is the spot marked out, two leagues from 
 the city, at Thorney, where is a church, ancient and low . . . towards 
 the west on the Thames. I myself will consecrate the spot with my 
 hands. . . . Whatever I have here said to you, clearly put it in 
 writing." 
 
 Wulsi delayed not. In the morning he wrote it on parch¬ 
 ment, and caused it to be carried as from St. Peter to the 
 king (Plate XIV). The writing and receiving of the roll are 
 well depicted in the thirteenth-century manuscript.^ Mean¬ 
 while the messengers (who had gone to obtain a release from 
 the king’s vow to go on pilgrimage) returned from Rome, 
 and since the two messages agreed, the Divine will seemed 
 clear: “ For the one comes from the east, and the other from 
 the west . . . hence every one is assured of it, because no 
 tidings could have reached the recluse, who was very far away 
 in the country of Worcester, far from men in the wilderness." 
 
 After living in seclusion for seventy-five years Wulsi died, 
 and was buried at Evesham. The shrine of “St. Wlsin" was 
 one of the treasures of that abbey. 
 
 The solitary life was embraced by persons of every estate, 
 not only by the noble lord of Warwick and the high-born 
 monk of Worcester, but by a baker of Derby and a citizen of 
 York. The narrative concerning the pious townsman of Derby 
 —“ not a tale, but a circumstance which most certainly hap¬ 
 pened ”—is recorded by Thomas de Musca.^ The baker was 
 a Godfearing man, intent on good works, “ being in a measure 
 another Cornelius". Whatever food and clothing he could 
 procure during the week beyond what was needful for his 
 family he would bring on Saturday to St. Mary’s church, for 
 distribution amongst the poor. At length, yielding to a call 
 
 ^ La Estoire de S. Aedward, Camb. "Univ. MS. Ee. 59. See Lives of 
 Edward (Rolls, 3), p. 8; Kemble, Cod. Dip. iv. 175. 
 
 2 Trans, by Mr. W. H. St. J. Hope. 
 


FLA TE XIV 
 
 S'l\ WLILSI, rHK IlKRMri'-SKER 
 


. J 
 
 I 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 39 
 
 which seemed unmistakable, he exchanged social life for soli¬ 
 tude, commerce for contemplation, prosperity for privation. 
 
 “ It happened that on a certain day in autumn when he had given 
 himself up to repose at noon, there appeared to him in his dreams 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary, saying: “ Thy alms are acceptable before 
 my Son and me. But now if thou wilt be perfect, leave all that thou 
 hast and go to Depedale and there thou shalt serve ray Son and me 
 in solitude.” 
 
 Awaking, he straightway left all that he possessed. 
 Ignorant of the place for which he was bound, he turned east¬ 
 wards, and in passing through a village, heard a woman bidding 
 a maiden drive the cattle into Depedale; he followed forth¬ 
 with. 
 
 “ He found that the place was a marsh, exceeding dreadful, and far 
 distant from every habitation of man. And turning himself to the 
 south-east of the place, under the side of the mountain, he cut out 
 for himself in the rock a very small dwelling, and an altar turned to 
 the south which has been preserved to this day, and there, by day 
 and night, he served God in hunger and thirst, and cold and naked¬ 
 ness.” 
 
 Now Ralph Fitz Geremund was hunting one day in his 
 woods of Ockbrook. He caught sight of smoke ascending 
 from the cave, and was indignant that anyone had dared to 
 make himself a habitation. But seeing the miserable case of 
 the man of God who was clad in rags and skins, the baron 
 was smitten to the heart, and granted him the place, giving 
 him also for his support the tithe of the mill of Burgh. Lack¬ 
 ing water, the hermit wandered about near his abode until he 
 found a spring, beside which he made a hut and built an 
 oratory in honour of God and the Blessed Virgin. In almost 
 unendurable solitude the hermit of Dale steadfastly carried 
 out his resolve, until at length “ having finished the struggle 
 of his life laudably in the service of God, he passed happily 
 from the prison of his body to the Lord ”. 
 
 Dale hermitage (Plate XV) is situated in a steep wooded 
 hillside above the dale and its ruined abbey. The rock is 
 overhung with beeches which seem to be embedded in the 
 sandstone. The cave is about 20 feet long, 9 feet wide, 
 and 9 feet high. Possibly it was originally of two compart¬ 
 ments. It has a doorway and two other openings. The 
 


40 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OE ENGLAND 
 
 walls are much defaced, but there is a niche to the west. 
 In an orchard at the foot of the hill a spring which never runs 
 dry is still called “ the hermit’s well 
 
 Robert of Knaresborough was a citizen of York. Accord¬ 
 ing to a fourteenth-century chronicle, his surname was Koke. 
 Leland calls him “ one Robert Flowr, sunne to one Robert 
 ' Flowr, that had beene 2 tymes Mair of York”. Other 
 authorities give his father’s name as Touke or Tok Flour, 
 and his mother’s as Onnuryte, Simunina, or Sunniva.^ The 
 pious youth became a lay brother of Newminster in North¬ 
 umberland, but after a few months he sought stricter seclusion. 
 Being doubtless well acquainted with Knaresborough (only 
 eighteen miles from his home), he determined to join a certain 
 knight, rich and famous, who, having fled from the lion-like 
 wrath of Richard I, was living apart from men on the banks 
 of the Nidd. The two men dwelt together in a cave; but, 
 after the king’s death, the fugitive warrior returned to the 
 world:— 
 
 Langir lyked hym noght that lyffe 
 Bott als a wreche wentt to hys wyffe, 
 
 leaving the “soldier of Christ” alone. 
 
 The young solitary was befriended by a virtuous matron 
 named Helena, who gave him the chapel of St. Hilda at 
 Rudfarlington in Knaresborough forest.^ There he abode 
 for a while, but when thieves broke into his hermitage, he 
 moved on to Spoffbrth. Then, fearing lest the crowds which 
 followed him should move him to vainglory, he accepted the 
 invitation of the monks of Holy Trinity, York, to join some 
 of their number at Hedley. The young zealot, clad in an old 
 white garment, who would eat nought but barley bread and 
 vegetable broth, was not a comfortable companion, and 
 Robert, regarding his fellows as “ fals and fekyll,” returned to 
 St. Hilda’s. The noble dame was passing glad to see him, 
 and provided a barn and other buildings for his use. William 
 de Stuteville, Constable of Knaresborough, passing by, saw 
 
 ^ Lanercost Chr. (Bannatyne Club, 1839), 25-7; Metrical Life (Roxburghe 
 Club); N. Roscarrock’s Life, Camb. Univ. MS. C.Add. 3041, 377-96. 
 
 2 R. Stodley, Vita, B.M. Hark, 3775 f. 76; “ ubi quondam uilla grandis 
 que Rothferlington vocabatur ”. Rudfarlington, once a large township, is now a 
 farm. A field towards Crimple Beck is called Chapel Garth. 
 


PLATE A’I 
 
 PALK hp:rmita(; 
 


V 
 
 
 I. 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 \ 
 
 > 
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 • \ 
 
 
 I. 
 
 
 
 • ♦ 
 
 t 
 
 V ' 
 
 
 
 » ? 
 
 'S ^ 
 
 j i 
 
 -r '. 
 
 . •'.I 
 
 it 
 
 / 
 
 . / 
 
 •- •»■ 
 
 f' I 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 N* 
 
 K 1 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 % ^ 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 41 
 
 the dwelling, and when he heard that one Robert, a devoted 
 servant of God, lived there, he cried: “ This is a hypocrite 
 and a companion of thieves ! ” and bade his men “ dyng doune 
 hys byggynges The homeless hermit took his book and 
 fared through the forest to Knaresborough:— 
 
 To a chapell of sayntt Gyle 
 Byfor whare he had wouned a whyll 
 That bygged was in tha buskes wyth in 
 A lytell holett; he hyed hym in. 
 
 But again the lord of Knaresborough went a-hunting, and 
 when he saw smoke rising from the hut, he swore that he 
 would turn out the tenant That night there “ appered thre 
 men blakker than Ynd,” who roused him from his restless 
 sleep. Two of them harrowed his sides with burning pikes, 
 whilst the third, of huge stature, brandished two iron maces 
 at his bedside: “Take one of these weapons and defend thy 
 neck, for the wrongs with which thou spitest the man of God 
 William cried for mercy and promised to amend his deeds, 
 whereupon the vision vanished. Early in the morning the 
 terrified tyrant hastened to the cell, and humbly sought 
 pardon:— 
 
 Roberd forgafif and William kyssed 
 And blythely wyth hys hand hym blyssed. 
 
 The penitent baron then bestowed upon Robert all the land 
 between the rock and Grimbald Kyrkstane, besides horses and 
 cattle. 
 
 William de Stuteville was succeeded by Brian de Lisle, 
 who regarded the hermit as his faithful friend. It was he 
 who besought King John to visit Robert (seep. 153). This 
 visit resulted in the further endowment of the cell. John bade 
 Robert ask what he willed, but he replied that he had enough, 
 and needed no earthly thing. When Ive found that alms for 
 the poor had not been asked, he persuaded his master to follow 
 the king, from whom he received the grant of a carucate of 
 land. This land was appropriated to the use of the poor, and 
 Robert refused to pay tithe for it to the rector, to whom he 
 indignantly granted “crysts cursynge” for his covetousness. 
 Robert was “to pore men profytable”. He gathered alms 
 for the needy, fed them at his door, and sheltered them in his 
 cave. The complaint made by the angry baron that the 
 


42 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 hermit was a receiver of thieves had some truth in it. In the 
 rhyming life, Robert speaks of the corn required for “ my 
 cayteyffes in my cave”. His favourite form of charity was 
 to redeem men from prison :— 
 
 To begge an brynge pore men of baile, 
 
 This was hys purpose principale. 
 
 St. Robert died on the 24 September, 1218.^ He had 
 been a benefactor to many, and great was the grief of the 
 mourners. As he had foretold on his death-bed, the monks 
 of Fountains sought to bear away his body, but Ive carried 
 out his master’s wish to be buried in the chapel of the Holy 
 Cross, where he had himself prepared a rock-hewn grave. 
 
 I wyll be doluen whar so I deghe 
 Beried my body thare sail ytt be 
 Wyth outen end here wyll I rest 
 Here my wounyng chese I fyrste 
 Here wyll I leyud here wyll I ly 
 In this place perpetuely. 
 
 The chroniclers call St. Robert’s first hermitage “ the 
 chapel of St. Giles,” describing it as a dwelling under the 
 rock formed by winding branches over stakes in front of a 
 cave. They relate how his brother Walter, who was mayor 
 of York, thought this cavern and wattled hut no fitting habitation 
 for him, and suggested that he should join some community. 
 Robert replied: “ This is my resting-place for ever: here 
 will I dwell, for I have chosen it ”—an answer which recalls 
 the antiphon sung when a recluse was about to enter his life¬ 
 long retreat. Walter therefore sent workmen from the city 
 who laid the foundations of a chapel in honour of the Holy 
 Cross, built of hewn stone. Evidently this chapel adjoined 
 the cave, and replaced the humble oratory of St. Giles. 
 
 St. Robert’s Cave is about a mile below the castle. On 
 the north bank of the river is a low cliff about 20 feet in 
 height. The descent is made by a narrow flight of steps, 
 which ends in an uneven platform of rock about 40 feet in 
 length of two levels, the upper one being the floor of the 
 chapel, with traces of an altar at the eastern end (Plate XVI). 
 Before the altar-steps is the tomb, deeply cut in the rock, 
 
 ^ 8 kal. Octobris, 1218, Chr. Lanercost, 25. The Diet. Nat. Biog. gives 
 c. 1235, but Chart. R. 1227 grants land of Brother Robert “ formerly hermit there ” 
 to Ive. 
 


PLATE A77 
 
 CAVE AND TOMl! OF ST. ROIJERT, KNARKSROROUGH 
 





CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 43 
 
 which has a groove for a slab to cover it. i A mossy lichen- 
 covered wall on the south shows the extent of the original 
 building. On the north of the chapel (which now has a 
 natural roof of beech and trailing greenery) is the picturesque 
 ivy-clad cliff of a warm yellow and red tint. A low doorway 
 gives access to the cave. ^ 
 
 After Robert’s death, the cell was claimed as Crown pro¬ 
 perty. A writ was issued (1219) to the Constable of Knares- 
 borough to cause “our hermitage” to be given into the 
 custody of Master Alexander de Dorset. The original grant 
 was afterwards confirmed to Brother Ive, hermit of Holy 
 Cross (1227).^ The chapel became a place of pilgrimage, and 
 many miracles of healing were wrought there, especially about 
 twenty years after the saint’s death. “The same year (1238) 
 shone forth the fame of St. Robert the hermit at Knares- 
 borough, from whose tomb medicinal oil was brought forth 
 abundantly.” Matthew Paris, naming in 1250 the chief per¬ 
 sonages of the last half-century, mentions in particular St. 
 Edmund of Pontigny, St. Robert of Knaresborough, and St. 
 Elizabeth of Hungary.'^ Although there seems to be no re¬ 
 cord of actual canonization, the hermit was universally regarded 
 as a saint. The Papal records for the year 1252 contain an 
 offer of indulgence to those who should help in completing 
 “ the monastery of St. Robert of Gnarebur, where that saint’s 
 body is buried ”. This new priory (or “ House of St. 
 Robert”) was granted to the Trinitarian Friars, and it was 
 fitting that the “ Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemp¬ 
 tion of Captives ” should become successors of the saint who 
 had delighted in releasing men from prison. The name Holy 
 Cross or Holy Rood was superseded by that of the hermit. 
 In 1257 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, confirmed to the Order 
 the chapel of St. Robert. In the following century, letters of 
 
 ^ The grave measures 6 ft. 5 in. and is from 14-21 in. broad ; at the bottom 
 is a hole 15 x 6 in. 
 
 ^ The cave is 16 ft. 8 in. from east to west, and is about 8 ft. at its widest; 
 it is 5 ft. 10 in. high. At the N.E. corner is a recess 3 ft. 9 in. long. It is also 
 known as “ Eugene Aram’s Cave,” from the tragedy rendered famous by Lord 
 Lytton and by Hood. 
 
 ^ The metrical life affirms that Ive gave the place to Coverham Abbey by 
 charter. 
 
 Chr. Maj. (Rolls, 57) iii. 521; iv. 378; v. 195. 
 


44 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 protection whilst collecting alms were granted by Edward 
 HI to a follower of the saint who was also his namesake 
 and fellow-citizen, “Brother Robert of York, hermit of the 
 chapel of St. Robert 
 
 Henceforth St. Robert was “ the peirles patrone of this 
 place”. Other chapels were built and dedicated to his 
 memory. Nothing is known of the history of the chapel 
 now called “St. Robert’s,” in the crag below the castle. 
 The tiny building contains an altar (Plate XVII), piscina, niche, 
 and seat, all carved out of the rock. ^ Near the entrance is a 
 figure with a drawn sword, the origin and meaning of which 
 are alike unknown (Plate XVII). Leland alludes but briefly 
 to this place : “ A litle beneth March-Bridge ... I saw an 
 old Chapelle yn a Rok hewen owte of the mayne stone 
 There is no ground for believing that it was ever the habita¬ 
 tion of St. Robert. 
 
 The rock-hewn cells of Pontefract and of Bristol will be 
 described in chapter VI. The history of St. Vincent’s her¬ 
 mitage, Clifton (Plate XIX), is obscure. William Worcester 
 describes it as situated in the dangerous rock called Ghyston 
 Cliff. He speaks of “the hermitage with the church,” and 
 again of “ the hermitage and chapel The “hall” and “ kit¬ 
 chen ” must refer to the caverns, but it is possible that the 
 chapel stood on a projecting ledge of limestone, now fallen. 
 An episcopal brief relating to it is preserved as a memorandum 
 in the episcopal register of Ely (1492). An indulgence is 
 offered to such as should assist and relieve Thomas Dene, 
 warden of the chapel of St. Mary and St. Vincent, and should 
 visit the chapel by way of pilgrimage or contribute to its pre¬ 
 servation or the maintenance of lights and ornaments.The 
 word “ preservation ” seems to suggest that the oratory had 
 been constructed, not merely hewn out of the rock. Some 
 support is given to this theory by the fact that an encaustic 
 tile and the fragment of a small Gothic window have been 
 found. It is evident that the chapel was the chief feature 
 of the place. It was a landmark, for Worcester records the 
 
 ^ The chapel is not more than 12 ft. long, including a miniature apse about 
 3 ft. in which the altar stands; it is 8 ft. wide. In the centre of the floor is a 
 shallow cavity, 17 x ii in. 
 
 2 Reg. Alcock, f. 79-83. 
 


ri.ATK X] JI 
 
 S'l'. ROliKRT’S C:HAPKI,, KNARKSliOROUdH 
 


PLATE XVIII 
 
 WAR KWOK'I'H H ERM ri'Al IK 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 45 
 
 height from the chapel to the summit of the lofty cliff, and 
 down to the water below. Measurements would hardly have 
 been given to him in this form had the chapel been out of 
 sight. Worcester was struck with its perilous position ; but 
 even this steep wall was by no means inaccessible, and the 
 indulgence, dated within twelve years of the famous traveller’s 
 visit in 1480, shows that Thomas Dene expected his chapel to 
 be the resort of the faithful. 
 
 Warkworth hermitage (Plate XXXVII), overhung by trees, 
 with its well-defined architectural features, is a striking con¬ 
 trast to the rude caverns in the bare and precipitous rocks of 
 the Avon gorge. It is pictured thus in the ballad The Hermit 
 of Warkworth :— 
 
 Then scoop’d within the solid rock, 
 
 Three sacred vaults he shows ; 
 
 The chief a chapel, neatly arch’d, 
 
 On branching columns rose. 
 
 Up to the altar’s ample breadth 
 Two easy steps ascend ; 
 
 And near, a glimmering solemn light 
 Two well-wrought windows lend.^ 
 
 The hermitage is approached from the riverside by a flight 
 of steps (Plate XVIII). The chapel of the Holy Trinity is 
 reached through a tiny vestibule, in which is a rood. The 
 chapel (about 20 feet long and feet high) is of three bays 
 (see ground plan. Fig. 4). It contains an altar, piscina (A), 
 quatrefoil window (H), and hagioscope (j). These, with the 
 shafts and capitals and the ribs of the roof are graven in the 
 rock. In a recess to the south-east is a recumbent effigy, ap¬ 
 parently that of a female, and above it a figure of a knight— 
 monuments which suggested Bishop Percy’s romantic ballad. 
 The west wall is pierced with four lancet windows, beyond 
 which is a small chamber, now open at the west end, having a 
 window looking south upon the river. A long narrow chamber 
 adjoins the principal chapel on the north and communicates 
 with it by a doorway and by a fine Decorated window (Fig. 
 5). At the eastern end there is a small roughly-hewn oratory 
 (c) containing traces of an altar, stoup (b), aumbry (d), and a 
 hagioscope commanding the altar in the adjoining chapel. 
 
 ^ Percy, ReliqueSy iii. 310. 
 


46 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Probably this narrow chamber was the original cell, entered 
 from the west (l) by stone steps, some of which remain. It 
 
 Fig. 4.—Warkworth Hermitage. 
 
 was perhaps the inmate’s living room, and the recess (e) may 
 have held a bed. 
 
 There are considerable remains of a later building erected 
 at the south-west corner. These were probably the hall and 
 


CAVE DWELLERS 
 
 47 
 
 kitchen mentioned in Stockdale’s Survey of the Lands of the 
 Percies (1586) ;— 
 
 “There hath been in the said parke one house hewen and 
 wrought in a cragg or rock of stone, called the Harmitage, having 
 in the same a hall, kytchen, chamber, and chapell, with a little 
 orchard and garden adjoyning the same; in which house hath been 
 kept in times past an heremity or priest to doe and celebrate divine 
 service.” 
 
 Fig. 5.—Window in Warkworth Hermitage. 
 
 The garden above is reached by winding steps. The holes 
 in a rock near by may be traces of a lean-to byre. The hermit 
 was allowed pasturage for horses and cattle, and received twenty 
 marks a year and twenty loads of firewood. Once a week he 
 might net salmon, for he had the right to “ one draught of fishe 
 every Sondaie in the yere, to be drawn fornenst the said army- 
 tage, called the Trynete draught The hermit’s well is still 
 shown. 
 
 Nothing is known of the foundation of Warkworth hermi¬ 
 tage. The occupants were sometimes called “ chaplains of the 
 


48 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 chantry ” ; but in 1515 Edward Slegg is described as “ hermit 
 in the chapel of Holy Trinity”. In 1531 Henry, Earl of 
 Northumberland, in consideration of the services of his chap¬ 
 lain Sir George Lancastre, appointed him to “ myn armytage 
 bilded in a rock of stone within my parke of Warkworth,” 
 whilst he on his part should pray for the good estate of certain 
 persons (see p. 190). 
 
 There was a dwelling not far from the church at Sneinton 
 near Nottingham, excavated, probably, in the low sandstone 
 cliff by the Trent. A rental of 1544 notes : “ There is a house 
 under the ground in a rock of stone that some time was called 
 Hermitage ” ; and again (1591) : “ the Ermitage of Sneynton 
 being a house cut out of rock and payeth yearly 2 s/\ A later 
 deed mentions “ Hermitage Close on the top of the rock of the 
 hermitage near Sneinton church ”. It is not unlikely that 
 some of the Rock Holes in Nottingham Park were occupied 
 by hermits. Two monks used to minister in the chapel of St. 
 Mary of the Rock under the castle. 
 
 There is a subterranean oratory cut in the chalk at 
 Royston, the walls of which are carved with rude figures— 
 a Crucifixion, St. Katharine, and St. Christopher. At Oxton, 
 near Exeter, there is a “hermit’s cell” cut in the red rock. 
 The chamber has a Gothic doorway, a lancet window, a niche, 
 a ledge round the walls, and a kneeling-place with a cross 
 carved above it. Other caverns remain which may have been 
 the abode of recluses, although documentary evidence is 
 wanting. On the banks of the Eamont, near Brougham, are 
 the chambers hewn in the rock, mentioned by Leland; and 
 above the Eden at Wetheral are “ St. Constantine’s Safe¬ 
 guards ”. Another cave-dwelling is the “ Holy Austin Rock ” 
 at Kinver Edge in Staffordshire. The “Hermit’s Hole” is 
 shown in the midst of Culver Cliff in the Isle of Wight. 
 Tradition says that the caves on the seashore at Buxsted and 
 Hastings were once used as hermitages. A separate chapter 
 must, however, now be devoted to some of the sea-coast 
 solitaries. 
 


PL A TE XIX 
 
 hermitagp: in ghyston cliff, clifton 
 



 
 / 
 
 f 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 % 
 
 j r iP 
 
 \ . 
 
 { 
 
 
 A 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 j 
 
 
 «w 
 
 7 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 
 k 
 


IV. LIGHT-KEEPERS ON THE SEA COAST 
 
 It is a pious work to help Christians exposed to the dangers of the sea, so 
 that they may be brought into the haven out of the waves of the deep. 
 
 (Patent Roll, 1247) 
 
 _ • 
 
 W HILST the hermits of the island, the forest, or the 
 cave, chose their haunts chiefly with a view to 
 solitude, there were others who took up their 
 abode with more regard to the direct service of their fellow- 
 men. 
 
 The Church was the pioneer in many works of mercy and 
 utility, including the provision and maintenance of beacons, 
 bridges, roads, harbours, and even forts. Tynemouth Priory 
 kept up a lamp on St. Mary’s Island near South Shields, and in 
 foggy weather a bell used to ring from the chapel for the benefit 
 of mariners. Probably the towers upon Inner Fame and on 
 Coquet Island (Plate II) were designed for a similar purpose. 
 When a sea-mark was required on the coast of Ireland, a 
 tower was built at Hook (Co. Wexford) by the monastery 
 of St. Saviour, with the assistance of the Earl of Pembroke. ^ 
 The chapel of St. Nicholas on Lantern Hill, about 100 
 feet above the haven of Ilfracombe, was, and still is, used 
 as a lighthouse. Year by year throughout the winter a 
 beacon burned on the top of this chapel “ as if it were a star 
 flashing in the night”: so wrote Bishop Veysey in 1522, 
 when he testified to its usefulness in stormy weather, and 
 invited people to stretch forth a helping hand for the upkeep 
 of the guiding light. ^ On the promontory near St. Ives, there 
 was another conspicuous sea-mark. “ There is now,” says 
 Leland, “ at the very point of Pendinas a chapel of S. Nicolas, 
 
 1 G. B. Hodgson, S. Shields, 287; Pat. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 
 
 2 Oliver, Monast. Exon. 29 n. 
 
 49 
 
 4 
 


50 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 and a pharos for lighte for shippes sailing by night in those 
 quarters.” 
 
 Hermits used frequently to act as coastguards and light- 
 keepers at these lonely stations. In the days of Edward III, 
 John Puttock settled on the seashore near Lynn, where he 
 erected, at his own great cost and charge, “ a certain remark¬ 
 able cross of the height of no feet,” which proved a boon to 
 seamen sailing up the Wash. Recognizing the services of the 
 solitary of “ Lenne Crouche ” (who dwelt in a cave in the 
 bishop’s marsh), the mayor and commonalty petitioned the 
 Bishop of Norwich to admit him to the order of hermits 
 (1349). Possibly some such ministry was performed by the 
 hermits of Cley by Blakeney Haven and of Cromer. 
 
 It seems probable that a leading light was shown from the 
 chapel at St. Edmund’s Point. Near the old village of 
 Hunstanton, the low-lying shore of the Wash is broken by a 
 ridge, rising at places to 60 feet in height. On the highest 
 part of the cliff, near the lighthouse, are the ruins of St. Ed¬ 
 mund’s chapel (Plate XX), founded, as tradition says, by the 
 saint after he had escaped from shipwreck. The building 
 seems to date from Norman times, with doors and windows 
 of later date. The site has been recently excavated, and the 
 walls (3 feet thick), show that the chapel was 79 x 24 feet. 
 Possibly this was the cell occupied by Thomas Cooke the 
 hermit, who in 1530 was maintained by the L’Estranges of 
 Hunstanton. 
 
 There were other hermitages on the shores of the North 
 Sea, at Saltfleet Haven, at Skegness (near Ingoldmells Point), 
 and at the mouth of the Humber. The last-named, the 
 chapel of Ravenserespourne, was re-built at great expense by 
 Matthew Danthorpe, shortly before 1399*. Because it was 
 situated “ where the king landed at the last coming into 
 England,” Henry IV granted the place and the chapel of St. 
 Mary and St. Anne to this hermit and his successors “ with 
 wreck of sea and waif and all other profits on the sand for 
 two leagues round ”. The possession of these privileges 
 seems to have called out the sympathies of the succeeding 
 chaplain, for in 1427 Richard Reedbarowe had much on his 
 heart the dangers of the Humber and the frequent disasters, 
 for lack of sea-mark and lighthouse :— 
 


PLATE XX 
 
 ST. EI)MUNI)’S-ON-THE-CLIFF, HUNS'FANTON 
 





LIGHT-KEEPERS ON THE SEA COAST 
 
 51 
 
 So that the seid Richard, havyng compassion and pitee of the 
 Cristen poeple that ofte tymes are there perisshed, and also of the 
 Godes and Marchaundise there lost, hath begunne in weye of Charite, 
 in Salvacon of Cristen poeple, Godes and Marchaundises comyng 
 into Humbre, to make a Toure to be uppon day light a redy Bekyn, 
 wheryn shall be light gevyng by nyght, to alle the Vasselx that comyn 
 into the seid Ryver of Humbre.^ 
 
 This enterprising man had begun his tower, but needed 
 assistance in finishing it. He accordingly made a petition to 
 Parliament, setting forth that the tower “ may not be made 
 nor brought to an ende withouten grete cost,” and proposed 
 that a tax should be levied on every ship entering the Humber ; 
 to this suggestion the merchants and seamen of Hull had 
 already agreed. The Commons, in response to these business¬ 
 like proposals, made special request to the king’s Council, and 
 the matter was settled. It was arranged that for ten years the 
 mayor should take tolls from each ship at a fixed tariff accord¬ 
 ing to her tonnage, and that the money thus raised should be 
 applied under the survey of certain merchants and mariners in 
 completing the tower to serve as a beacon, and in finding a light 
 to burn therein. Whether Richard Reedbarowe ever saw the 
 fulfilment of his enterprise does not appear. ^ 
 
 The terrible frequency of wrecks is shown by the duty in¬ 
 cumbent upon the coastguard-chaplain of Reculver. On that 
 cliff was a chapel “ ordeyned for the sepulture of suche persons 
 as by casualty of storms or other incident fate or mysaventures 
 were perished ”. When the hermitage was founded is not 
 known; but it was becoming ruinous in i486, when Thomas 
 Hamond, “ hermyte of the chapell of St. Peter, St. James, and 
 St. Anthony being at our lady of Rekcolver,” was granted a 
 commission to collect alms for the rebuilding of the roof which 
 had fallen down.^ Perhaps he was not successful in his quest 
 for alms, or it may be that another fifty years of exposure to the 
 winds had reduced it again to a state of disrepair, for Leland 
 notes : “ Ther is a neglect chapel, owt of the church-yard 
 The sea was rapidly encroaching, and eventually the cliff was 
 swept away at that point. 
 
 A hermit kept watch at St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe on the South 
 
 ^ P.R.O, Anc. Petitions, No. 1232: Rot. Pari., iv., 364-5. 
 
 - B.M. Harl., 433 f. 216. 
 


52 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Foreland. In 1367 Brother Nicholas de Legh dwelt in this 
 hermitage of “St Margaret atte Staire ” : the “Stair” was 
 probably (like “ St. Margaret’s Gate ”) a passage from the Bay 
 to the cliff. Local tradition declares that the cell was cut in 
 the chalk cliff, near the modern lighthouses, and that a lantern 
 was hung up there to guide ships at sea. Possibly the her¬ 
 mitage on the Sussex cliff at Seaford was used for a similar 
 purpose. 
 
 Upon Chale Down, in the Isle of Wight, there was in 1312 
 a hermitage and chapel in honour of St. Catherine. Two years 
 later a shipwreck occurred, which led to the foundation of a 
 lantern tower at St. Catherine’s. A French ship belonging to 
 a religious house was wrecked, and the mariners, who sold the 
 cargo to certain men of the island, were afterwards charged 
 with sacrilege for having appropriated Church property. It is 
 said that a papal bull was issued threatening the chief offender, 
 Walter de Godeton, with excommunication. In expiation he 
 was charged to build a lighthouse on the Down near Nyton, 
 above the scene of the disaster. A letter of Bishop Stratford 
 proves that the tower had already been erected in 1328. A 
 chantry priest was to keep up a bright light to warn mariners 
 sailing by night on that dangerous coast. A survey of 1566 
 shows the buildings as they then existed, with little stacks of 
 wood ready piled for the beacon. The octagonal tower with 
 its conical roof is about 35 feet high (Plate XXI). It is 
 in good preservation, having been strengthened during the 
 eighteenth century as an important sea-mark. It stands 750 
 feet above sea level. Into the walls of the old lighthouse a 
 piscina is built, which probably came from the oratory, now 
 demolished. 
 
 There stands on the Dorset coast another mediaeval light¬ 
 house from which an idea may be gained of the kind of 
 provision formerly made upon our shores. The chapel on 
 St. Aldhelm’s Head (in the Isle of Purbeck) is 440 feet above 
 the sea. Within this oratory, which was in existence in 
 1291,^ prayers were offered on behalf of mariners, whilst 
 without, a beacon blazed for their benefit. There is no actual 
 record that St. Aldhelm’s was served by a hermit, but the fact 
 
 ^ Hutchins, Dorset, ed. 1774, i. 228. 
 


PLA TK XXI 
 
 A LIGHTHOUSE HERMITAIJE 
 



 j ■ ■ 
 
 _ ^«t 
 
 «. 
 
 / , 
 
 I* .' 
 
 c 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 r 
 
 h' 
 
 f 
 
 
 • •l" 
 
 . » 
 
 i 
 
 t ■ 
 


LIGHT-KEEPERS ON THE SEA COAST 
 
 53 
 
 that no institutions occur in the Sarum registers suggests that 
 this lonely chantry was held by some semi-independent 
 person. 
 
 Plymouth Hoe had a hermitage beside which stood a cross 
 for a sea-mark. The chapel is described as an old one in 
 1413. Indulgences were frequently offered by the bishop to 
 those who should give alms for its preservation. In 15 ii 
 there was a “ hermyt of Seynt Kateryn Leland writes : 
 “ Ther is a righte goodly walke on a hille without the toun 
 by south caullid the HoWy and a fair chapel of S. Catarine on 
 it ”. Several other seacoast cells were standing in his day. 
 Describing Branksea (or Brownsea) Island in Poole Haven, he 
 observes: “Ther is yet a chapelle for an heremite”. An 
 earlier traveller, William Worcester, mentions one dedicated 
 to St. Anthony, in the midst of “ the island of Camber,” near 
 Winchelsea. This chapel was destroyed by Flemish pirates 
 in 1536. “The men of Rye say that these men burnt the 
 hermitage of the Camber in despite and hewed an image of 
 St. Anthony with their swords, bidding it call upon St. George 
 for help.” 
 
 There was also a hermit’s cell in the cliffy at Dover, some¬ 
 times called the Chapel of Our Lady in the Rock. A re¬ 
 ference to this place is found in the disbursements of John, 
 King of France, before embarking for Calais in July, 1360: 
 “ Un homme de Douvre, appelle le rampeuVy qui rampa devant 
 le Roy contremont la roche, devant hermitage de Douvre, pour 
 don fait a li par le Roy, 5 nobles, valent 33J. 4^. One David 
 Welkes was hermit of Dover in 1399 when Henry IV con¬ 
 tinued to him a life-annuity of 40^. granted by Richard 11 . 
 When Henry VIII returned from France in 1532, he visited 
 the oratory and gave alms : “ Item . . . paied to the kings 
 owne hands for his offering to our lady in the Rocke at 
 Dover iiijT. v\]d. 
 
 The hermitage had recently been rebuilt (1530) by Joachim 
 de Vaux, the French ambassador, who afterwards declared that 
 the little chapel in the cliff had been restored by himself “ in 
 honour of Our Lady and of that holy peace of which their 
 majesties made him the instrument Discord, however, 
 
 ^ Arclif, cf. hermit of Occlive near Dover (Pat. 1308). 
 
 ^ Comptes de VArgenterie (Soc. de I’Hist. de France), p. 274. 
 


54 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 arose in connexion with the chapel, because it was served 
 by a French chaplain, Jean de Ponte, who was always in 
 trouble with the comptroller of the king’s works at Dover, 
 or with the mayor and townsmen. The arms of England and 
 France were impaled over the door. A letter written to 
 Thomas Cromwell in 1535 set forth that “certain naughty 
 persons have razed out the French king’s arms from a table 
 that stands upon the altar”. Henceforth there was constant 
 trouble about the chaplain.^ On one occasion he was arrested by 
 the mayor and put in prison. He was released, but not long 
 afterwards he was attacked one evening by some labourers work¬ 
 ing at the new fortifications. By the friar’s own account he 
 was much ill-used. “ One,” says he, “ knelt on my breast, and 
 with a stone knocked me on the mould of the head till I was 
 as dead.” Froude, indeed, paints the man as a martyr:— 
 
 “ While the harbours, piers, and the fortresses were rising at 
 Dover, an ancient hermit tottered night after night from his cell to 
 a chapel on the cliff, and the tapers on the altar, before which he 
 knelt in his lonely orisons, made a familiar beacon far over the 
 rolling waters. The men of the rising world cared little for the 
 sentiment of the past. The anchorite was told sternly by the work¬ 
 men that his light was a signal to the king’s enemies, and must 
 burn no more. And when it was next seen, three of them waylaid 
 the old man on his way home, threw him down, and beat him 
 cruelly.” ^ 
 
 By the men of his own day, however, the friar was regarded 
 as a “ false French knave ”. The comptroller of the works 
 himself begged Cromwell to command the mayor to expel 
 him, because he advertised strangers of all that was done in 
 those parts. It is of interest to notice that it was partly the 
 light shown in the hermitage which provoked ill-feeling. 
 ‘‘These persons,” complained Jean de Ponte, “because I have 
 a light in my chapel at night when I go to bed or to my book, 
 say I have a light for the king’s enemies, which is not true.” 
 But the light was soon to be extinguished. At this opportune 
 moment (1537), the authorities determined to extend the har¬ 
 bour works to Arcliff, nor is it surprising that the Sieur de 
 Vaux sought in vain to turn from their purpose those who 
 
 1 L. and P. Hen. VIII, Vols. IX-XII. 
 
 Hist. ed. 1858, III. 256-7 n. 
 


LIGHT-KEEPERS ON THE SEA COAST 
 
 55 
 
 intended to destroy the chapel by the contraction of a bulwark. 
 For some years, indeed, a fisherman peacefully occupied the 
 cell; but the place having been undermined by Arcliff fort, 
 it was eventually swept away by a tempestuous sea. 
 
 The great sea-mark on the cliffs of Dover was the ancient 
 Roman watch-tower which still stands by the church of Dover 
 Castle. It is always known as the Pharos,^ although there is 
 no record of its use as a lighthouse. There was formerly a 
 second tower, but this was already ruinous when Leland visited 
 Dover. He describes it as “ a mine of a towr, the which has 
 bene as a pharos or a mark to shyppes on the se ”. 
 
 During the sixteenth century many of the old beacons 
 were destroyed or fell into disrepair owing, doubtless, in many 
 cases, to the suppression of religious houses. It was, however, 
 a happy circumstance that the Fraternity of the Bles.sed Trinity 
 had recently been founded at Deptford. This religious guild 
 was instituted in 1514 for the benefit of mariners. In 1536 a 
 similar guild of the Holy Trinity was founded at Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, and was empowered to erect stone towers at the 
 mouth of the Tyne for “ signals, metes, and bounds,” and the 
 two towers were to be “ perpetually lighted at night By an 
 Act of Parliament the erection of sea-marks for the guidance 
 of navigators was afterwards committed to the sole charge 
 of the Trinity House, Deptford. This Act (1566) contains 
 a tribute to the work done by way of charity in bygone 
 days :— 
 
 “ Forasmuche as by the dystroyeng and taking awaye of certaine 
 Steeples Woods and other Markes standing upon the mayne Shores 
 . . . being as Beakons and Markes of auncyent tyme accustomed for 
 seafaring Men to save and kepe them and the Shippes in their Charge 
 from sundry Daungers thereto incident, divers Shyppes . . . have 
 by the lacke of suche Markes of late yeres ben myscaried peryshed 
 and lost in the Sea, to the great Detryment and Hurte of the Comon 
 Weale, and the perysheng of no smale number of People,” ^ etc. 
 
 ^ So called from the Island of Pharos, whereon Ptolemy Philadelphus built 
 his famous lighthouse tower, one of the seven wonders of the world. It was of 
 white marble, and could be seen at a distance of 100 miles. On the top fires 
 were kept burning to direct sailors into the Bay of Alexandria (Lempriere, Clas¬ 
 sical Diet.). 
 
 2/v. and P. Hen. VIII, xi. 376. 2 Statute, 8 Eliz., c. 13. 
 


56 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Henceforth the story of the watchers of our coasts must be 
 sought in the annals of the Trinity House. The scientifically- 
 equipped lighthouses on Coquet Island, Spurn Head, St. 
 Edmund’s Point, and St. Catherine’s, form, it is true, a striking 
 contrast to the ancient cells upon those headlands, but it is 
 well to remember that, in the day of small things, even the 
 simple signal was to the seafarer a “ bright beacon of God,” 
 and that the hermit helped to lay the foundations of the present 
 elaborate system for the distribution of maritime lights. 
 
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V. HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE HERMITS 
 
 “To ordain a hermit to stay in the hermitage and labour with his hands for 
 the maintenance of the highway, which has long been a nuisance for lack 
 thereof .”—Patent Roll, 1447 
 
 S IR Thomas Malory, looking back in imagination to 
 the golden age of King Arthur, says that “ in these 
 dayes it was not the guyse of heremytes as is now 
 a dayes Formerly, they had been men of worship and 
 prowess: “ and the heremytes helde grete housholde, and 
 refresshed peple that were in distresse During the Middle' 
 Ages, however, ministering hermits, often of the peasant 
 class, were found throughout the country, dwelling beside the 
 highways, bridges, and fords. Their duties were those of host, 
 guide, light-bearer, labourer, alms-gatherer, turnpike man, or 
 bridge-warden. 
 
 Before the year 1114, Goathland hermitage, on the moors 
 near Whitby, was a house of hospitality for the poor. It was 
 under the care of Osmund the priest and other brethren. 
 Another philanthropic solitary was Hugh Garth, “an heremyt 
 of great perfection,” who, after gathering alms for that purpose, 
 founded a hospital—probably to shelter travellers—at Cocker- 
 sand, in the sandy wastes between the estuaries of the Lune 
 and Coker, a place described by Leland as “ standing veri 
 blekely and object to all wynddes ”. This refuge, founded 
 shortly before 1184, afterwards developed into an abbey. 
 
 Other hermits acted as guides at the passages of rivers. 
 There were cells above Rownham Ferry near Bristol; by the 
 Severn at Redstone; by the Itchen at Southampton; at 
 several Norfolk fords; and by the ferry and haven at 
 Gorleston. 
 
 The work of light-bearer at the riverside is illustrated by 
 the story of St. Christopher. In that beautiful legend it is 
 a hermit who bids Offerus serve travellers, and lights the 
 
 57 
 


58 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 giant in his pious labours. In many drawings of St. Christo¬ 
 pher depicted on the walls of our ancient churches, the solitary 
 stands on the bank with a huge lantern, to light him as he 
 fords the river, carrying the Christ-Child; as, for example, in 
 the wall-paintings at St. John’s, Winchester (now destroyed), 
 and at Poughill (restored). The painting in Shorwell church 
 shows on one shore a cell, and on the other, a tripod-beacon and 
 cross.^ That in St. Laurence, Winchester, depicted a flaming 
 beacon outside the chapel, and on the opposite bank, a cottage. 
 
 Road-hermits begin to appear early in the fourteenth 
 century. Throughout the Middle Ages the upkeep of highways 
 was left to the charity of the few. Some of the religious houses 
 did their share, and the bishops encouraged almsdeeds in this 
 form. Langland, the fourteenth-century social reformer, ex¬ 
 horted the charitable to repair “ wikked ways ” and “ brygges 
 to-broke ”. The complaint of the ancient rhyme that “ London 
 Bridge is broken down ” was echoed in other towns, and how 
 to build it up again was often a problem. A considerable 
 amount of work was undertaken during the fourteenth century. 
 The state of the common ways at this period has been so fully 
 described by M. Jusserand in his Way faring Life that it is not 
 necessary to say more about the subject than actually concerns 
 the office of the hermit. 
 
 The bridge-maker’s chief duty was to raise funds for 
 materials and wages. Brother John le Mareschal went about 
 the country collecting alms for the sustenance of himself and 
 of the men working at the causeway between Blyth and 
 Mattersey, and at Mattersey Bridge. This fourteenth-cen¬ 
 tury stone bridge over the Idle is still standing. It was begun 
 in the previous century, for Archbishop Wichwane issued a 
 brief for it in 1284. The privilege of raising pavage or pontage 
 —to use the technical terms—was occasionally given for a term 
 of years. Tolls were levied at Doncaster in order to fill up 
 certain pits near the king’s highway, and to repair the pave¬ 
 ment near the bridge. Geoffrey de Bolton, “ who out of 
 charity undertook that work,” was permitted to take a penny 
 on every cart, and a farthing on every pack-horse laden with 
 goods for sale. 
 
 ^ yourn. Brit. Arch, ^55. x. pi. 10, 11 ; P. G. Stone, Antiq. I. of W., pi. 
 
 CXI. 
 


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HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE HERMITS 
 
 59 
 
 The office of these bridge-keepers was at once secular and 
 religious. One of the hermits of Lancaster bought twenty-six 
 oaks from John of Gaunt ; he paid for them in advance and 
 selected them with the chief forester of Wyresdale.^ Another, 
 thirty years later, received from Henry of Lancaster, after his 
 accession, a gift of vestments of his chapel: Item, a termite de 
 Lancastre un chesible, aube, amite, stole, et fanon, deux draps dor 
 ragmas rouges, un corporas et un towaille? The keepers of 
 this “ Bridge of Loyne ” received a yearly grant from the 
 Duchy. 
 
 The overlord sometimes granted material assistance. The 
 king, as Earl of Chester or Duke of Lancaster, supported work 
 which was designed to benefit his tenants. By writ of Richard 
 II, the forester of Mara was ordered to deliver to the hermit of 
 Tarvin one oak for the repair of “ Holmestrete” and of Stanford 
 bridge. Henry IV granted five timber oaks for Warrington 
 bridge. 
 
 The power that lay in the hands of such men is illustrated 
 by the story of one keeper of Bow Bridge. An abbot of 
 Stratford Langthorne once appointed a certain Godfrey Pratt 
 (not necessarily a hermit) as his agent. He was given a house 
 on the causeway and an allowance of food. Perceiving that, 
 by the alms of passers-by, Godfrey was a gainer, the abbot 
 withdrew his daily dole. But the man was a match for his 
 master ; he barred the bridge and refused to let cart or horse¬ 
 man pass without fee. “ At length, wearied with toyle ”—so 
 Stow charitably has it—“ hee neglecteth his charge, whereof 
 came the decay and mine of the stone bridge and way.”^ This 
 bridge of Stratford-le-Bow afterwards had a chapel dedicated 
 to St. Katherine, which in 1344 was in the custody of Brother 
 John de Ware, hermit. 
 
 In the forest, the labours of the roadmender were most 
 necessary. The rough tracks were often impassable on account 
 of fallen trees, and deep ruts in the mire, whilst the low wooden 
 bridges of remote country districts were frequently swept away 
 in flood-time. Several instances from the neighbourhood of 
 
 ^ John, “ called the hermit of Syngelton,” was at Ribble bridge before he 
 went to the Lune (Loyne; the Lancaster toast is “ luck to Loyne”). 
 
 P.R.O., Pat. 4 Hen. IV. pt. 2, m. 27. 
 
 ^ Archceologia, xxvii, 80, 
 


6o HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 York occur on the Patent Rolls. Adam de Whenby, who dwelt 
 by St. Helen’s chapel at Shipton in the parish of Overton, 
 undertook to make a convenient road in certain dangerous 
 parts. He was granted protection and safe conduct “ while 
 seeking means of carriage and alms to enable him to make a 
 safe way in the forest of Galtres, at a place called les Folks^ 
 where many accidents have occurred by reason of the depth 
 of the ways ”. Adam continued his labours there between 
 1327 and 1332, but was succeeded by Robert de Skitheby, 
 hermit of St. Augustine’s chapel at Huntington by York. 
 This Brother Robert, formerly of St Augustine’s chapel at 
 Skeeby, near Richmond, had collected for the building of a 
 bridge over the Gilling beck. There are other records of work 
 going forward in the vicinity. The hermits of Skip Bridge 
 and Stainforth Bridge spent large sums in repairing the ways 
 over the moors. Similar improvements were effected in other 
 wild districts. At Wragmire, about six miles from Carlisle, in 
 the parish of Hesket in the Forest, dwelt John of Corbridge, 
 who in 1354 was occupied in mending the highway between 
 Carlisle and Penrith. It was small wonder if this lonely road, 
 through the heart of Inglewood Forest, was a “ foul way,” for 
 at this very time the paved streets of London were a disgrace, 
 that between Temple Bar and Westminster being full of bogs 
 and holes. 
 
 Travellers in the fens were constantly in peril. It can have 
 been no light task to keep open several miles of highway, which, 
 in that land of watercourses, suffered from serious inundations. 
 The absolute necessity of the work is set forth in an indulgence 
 issued by the Bishop of Ely (1458) in order to facilitate com¬ 
 munication with the cathedral city :— 
 
 “Since our church of Ely is surrounded by waters and marshes, 
 and the relics of the Holy Virgins lying in it can only be visited over 
 bridges and causeys, requiring daily repair, we commend to your 
 charity William Grene, hermit, who, at our command and with con¬ 
 sent of our church of Ely, has undertaken the repair of the causeys 
 and bridges of Stuntneye and Some ”. 
 
 About the year 1400 there are frequent grants of a similar 
 character in the episcopal registers.^ At Cambridge one man 
 
 1 See notes by Rev. J. H. Crosby in Ely Diocesan Remembrancer. 
 


HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE HERMITS 
 
 6i 
 
 had charge of the great bridge at the Castle end of the town, 
 and of two lesser ones over branches of the river at Newnham, 
 and also of the road to Barton ; another kept the road towards 
 Trumpington. A certain John Lucas kept the bridge and 
 causeway between Great and Little Shelford; later, he made 
 Whittlesford Bridge his centre, and constructed a chapel there. 
 “ Foulmire,” a place-name in that neighbourhood, suggests the 
 discomforts which travellers had to endure. Hermits worked 
 between Royston and Arrington, between Waterbeach, Denny, 
 and Stretham, between Haddenham and Earith. The bishop 
 issued a brief to hold good for life on behalf of John Thomp¬ 
 son of Earith causeway, offering indulgence to all who should 
 supply him with food, or contribute to the work committed to 
 him. 
 
 When funds were being raised, the collector required either 
 an episcopal or royal certificate, which might run as follows :— 
 
 “Edward the king 
o date'] hearing that Newbrygge and the 
 two causeys leading from it, the one to Standlake and the other to 
 Kingston, all of which were made of charity by John Golofre, knight, 
 deceased, are out of repair and dangerous, gives his protection to 
 Thomas Brigges, hermit dwelling by that bridge, who, moved by 
 piety, proposes to collect money in Oxon, Berks, and Gloucester for 
 the repair of the bridge and causeys ”. 
 
 About the year 1434 there was a hermit of Newbridge 
 who was highly respected. He made his office an opportunity 
 for talking openly on the subject of temptation and sin. The 
 learned Thomas Gascoigne, who doubtless heard him when on 
 his way to Oxford, gives in his theological dictionary a brief 
 account of “ good William of Cornwall 
 
 The office of bridge-warden was one which was liable to 
 abuse. Some of the persons placed in these independent posi¬ 
 tions proved untrustworthy. In Piers Plowman^ Langland 
 inveighs against false hermits that “edify’’ the highway—men 
 who were once labourers and ill off, but took the habit for the 
 sake of an idle life, preferring alms to wages. He pictures a 
 time of dearth, when even hermits seized spades and dug, in 
 dread of death by hunger. Langland would have rich men give 
 to the lunatic rather than to the “ loller,” who gathers alms at 
 eventide to roast his back by the hot coals, drink deep, and 
 
 ^ Gascoigne, hihev Veritatum, ed. J. E. T. Rogers, 105-6. 
 


62 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 go to bed ; rising when he will, he roams out to espy where 
 he may get a repast—a round of bacon, some meat, a loaf or 
 at least half a loaf, a lump of cheese—and carries it home to 
 his cot Thus does he live “in ydelnesse and in ese and by 
 others trauayle”. The roadmender, indeed, was much in the 
 world and might readily fall into bad company. Langland’s 
 Glutton finds a hermit in the tavern with a pedlar, a ratcatcher, 
 and the hangman of Tyburn.^ 
 
 The hermitage of St James near Chester (at Handbridge, 
 beyond the Dee) fell into bad repute. John Bennet was 
 indicted for receiving robbers there, and keeping a house of 
 ill-fame. His successor, leuan ap Blethyn ap Caswet, was 
 nominated by the king, who directed the mayor and sheriffs 
 to inquire into his conduct and rule of life (1455). The 
 following entries on the Patent Rolls show that there were 
 others who disgraced their habit: “ Pardon to Thomas de 
 Anderstowe, hermit of Corbridge, of the king’s suit for the 
 stealing of a pig worth 3^. whereof he is indicted or appealed, 
 and of any consequent outlawry Thomas Shelve, hermit of 
 St. Katharine, dwelling on Teme bridge, Ludlow, late hermit 
 of Leintwardine, was pardoned “ for all felonies, trespasses, and 
 misprisions committed by him ”. 
 
 The vow of Richard Ludlow of Maidenhead shows the 
 abuses to which this office, at once religious and secular, was 
 liable. He undertook to have the minister’s profession in 
 worship and reverence, to live to his life’s end in temperance, 
 soberness, and chastity, to eschew all open spectacles, common 
 scot-ales, taverns, and other suspect places of sin; to hear 
 Mass, pray, and fast; and lastly, he undertook that whatever 
 he should receive by way of charity, he would expend truly, 
 without deceit, upon the mending of the bridge and common 
 ways of the town, reserving only sufficient to support himself. 
 The bishop’s charge in the office for the benediction of a 
 hermit (see Appendix B), included a clause declaring that he 
 must labour with his hands in order to obtain food, and also 
 in making roads and bridges: “ for idleness is the enemy of 
 the soul ”. 
 
 In too many cases, however, these men were expected 
 
 ^ Ed. Skeat (E.E. Text S.) Text C, ix. 183 ; x. 140-52; vii. 368. 
 


HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE HERMITS 
 
 63 
 
 to fulfil important duties without being responsible to any 
 competent local authority. This seems to have been remedied 
 to some extent during the fifteenth century. Henry IV when 
 granting pontage to the hermit of Stony Stratford appointed 
 overseers of the repairs. The public-spirited wardens of St. 
 Christopher’s gild, Thame, took the matter in hand, them¬ 
 selves proposing to found a hermitage at Tetsworth “and 
 to ordain a hermit to stay in the hermitage and labour with 
 his hands for the maintenance of the highway between Stoken- 
 church and Hareford Bridge, which has long been a nuisance 
 for lack thereof”. The hermits of Stratford-on-Avon were 
 members of the town gild, which was a guarantee of good 
 conduct. The appointment to such posts was often made by 
 the commonalty of the town. Letters-patent sealed by the 
 mayor of Oxford were granted to Nicholas Wadekyns, keeper 
 of Pettypont, who found pledges that he would mend the 
 bridge according to his ability. The mayor, bailiffs, and 
 aldermen appointed William Cardon to be warden of the 
 South Bridge. Evidently he was to go about the town 
 collecting, for the deed asks people in general that when he 
 comes to them and asks alms, they will trust him and con¬ 
 tribute to the repair of the bridge and of dangerous places in 
 the ways about the town. At Henley, the hermit was under 
 an official “ Bridgeman,” who even supplied his clothes. 
 
 The making and mending of roads continued to be regarded 
 as a work of individual piety and private enterprise. Simon 
 Cotes of Westbourne had the needs of travellers much on his 
 heart; he therefore founded on his own property the hermitage 
 of St. Anthony, and himself set to work to improve the means 
 of communication in that neighbourhood. At his death in 
 1527, he bequeathed the house, chapel, and garden to the 
 Earl of Arundel, to the intent that a professed hermit might 
 dwell there, to pray for the souls of his own ancestors and those 
 of his lord, and to maintain the bridges and highways which 
 he had made. 
 
 Such labours, faithfully carried out, were appreciated by the 
 people, as appears from bequests. A butcher of Northampton 
 defines in his will (1528) the work which he desires to be 
 done : “ Also I wyll that Stonton the Hermyt of Saynt Thomas 
 chapell have delyvered to him . . . vj^ viij^- to the men[ding] 
 


64 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the cawsey ” ; after describing the situation of the stony bit of 
 street, the testator offers a like sum for the repair of a little 
 causeway between the Tabard Inn and the stone bridge; whilst 
 a third instalment is to be expended “ at the dyscretion of the 
 sayd Armytt ” in filling up with ramell (rubbish) the holes in 
 the street towards Coton. 
 
 As late as 1532 Nicholas Wodhull directs his executors to 
 repair the hermitage “ at the Brigg foot ” at Banbury (i.e. in 
 Grimsbury on the Northamptonshire side of the river), to place 
 therein an honest man to pray for him and his friends. 
 
 The repair of bridges and of the adjoining highways became 
 a matter for legislation in 1530-1. Justices of the Peace were 
 charged to inquire “ of anoysances of bridges broken in the 
 highe wayes to the damage of the Kynges liege People ”. In 
 cases where no person was liable to repair them, taxes might 
 be levied for this purpose by appointed collectors.^ 
 
 There followed close upon this statute, however, the Sup¬ 
 pression of Religious Houses, which resulted in the crippling of 
 communications for many years. After the Dissolution bridge- 
 cells disappear, like other religious institutions directly or indi¬ 
 rectly associated with the monastic life. Leland notes ; “At the 
 very end of Thrapeston Bridge stand mines of a very large 
 Heremitage and principally welle buildid but a late discoverid 
 and suppressid ”. The hermit of Chippenham causeway lin¬ 
 gered on until the days of Edward VI, when it was recorded 
 that: “ Tharmyte holdyth without copye iij acres of pasture 
 . . . by th’ armytage In 1554 the causeway became charge¬ 
 able upon the borough. 
 
 Wayfaring men suffered sadly through the suppression of 
 religious houses. The new owners of church property did not 
 consider themselves to be under any obligation to carry on 
 charities of this kind. The people preferred to be almsgivers 
 rather than ratepayers. In 1588 they were complaining that 
 since the Suppression they were burdened, taxed, and charged 
 for the repair of divers great bridges. Even in the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth, when the hermits of the highway were already 
 dim figures of a bygone age, their work, however imperfect, 
 won recognition as useful to their own days and to the days 
 
 ^ Statute 22 Hen. VIII, c. v. 
 


HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE HERMITS 
 
 65 
 
 that followed. In 1596 the story was being handed down in 
 Highgate that: “ Where now the Schole standeth was a her- 
 mytage, and the hermyte caused to be made the causway 
 betweene Highgate and Islington, and the gravel! was had from 
 the top of Highgate hill, where is now a standinge ponde of 
 water 
 
 In due course, when the social upheaval of the sixteenth 
 century had righted itself, things were placed on a sounder 
 basis. It was, of course, far better that the maintenance of 
 roads should become a public charge, organized by a local body 
 which had continuity. The work of the pioneer need not, 
 however, be forgotten, and it merits at least the slight record 
 which has been attempted in this chapter. 
 
 5 
 


VI. TOWN HERMITS 
 
 If a hermit dwell in a borough, town, or city, or nigh thereto where each 
 day he can well beg his daily bread, let him before sunset distribute to Christ’s 
 poor that which remains of his food .—Rule of Hermits, Bodleian MS. 
 
 T he city of London seems a strange place in which 
 to seek solitude, yet there were hermits by Cripple- 
 gate, Aldgate, Bishopsgate, and also near the 
 Tower. In the present Monk well Street stood the cell of 
 St. James, “ in the corner towards the west near Cripple- 
 gate,” that is, in the comparatively retired spot formed by the 
 north-west angle of the city wall, between the gate and the 
 bastion which may still be seen in the churchyard of St. Giles. 
 It was an ancient foundation, for the architectural features 
 of the crypt below the chapel were Norman. Brother Warin, 
 chaplain of Richard I dwelt here. It was afterwards granted to 
 Robert Bat, rector of St. Bride s, with the provision that he 
 entered the hermitage ^ immediately and religiously stayed 
 therein. Probably he did not comply with the condition, for 
 Jordan de Eston was subsequently appointed to serve it. One 
 of Henry Ill’s last nominees was Robert de S. Laurencio. 
 After remaining there for over twenty years, he became in¬ 
 capacitated, and William de Wyntreburn, chaplain, was ad¬ 
 mitted to the cell—“provided that he behave himself well and 
 honourably, that he devote himself to his sacred office, minister 
 to Brother Robert, the hermit of the place, who is feeble, and 
 maintain him in a fitting manner for as long as he lives ”. Three 
 months later the old man died, and was succeeded by his com¬ 
 panion, who stayed four years and then resigned. 
 
 In 1311, the Bishop prohibited Thomas de Byreford, who, 
 living as hermit there, took upon himself to hear confessions, 
 administer sacraments, offer indulgences, and do other un- 
 
 ^ Usually hermitage, but inclusorium occurs 1253 (Nicholas, Leic., iii. Pt, ii. 
 840). In 1265 Richard de Ginges became a recluse there, 
 
 66 
 


TOWN HERMITS 
 
 67 
 
 authorized things. Some time previous to 1290, St. James's 
 hermitage was enlarged, and, in 1332, the king granted the 
 custody thereof to William Lyons and two other priests, and 
 to Alan Chaims, hermit. When in old age William Lyons 
 was “ broken with bodily weakness,” a chaplain was sent to his 
 aid. 
 
 All these men were nominated by the Crown, but the cell 
 changed hands frequently, and, during voidance, damage was 
 done to the muniments, ornaments, and goods. Edward I 
 committed the custody of the place to the mayor, and after¬ 
 wards to the Constable of the Tower. Edward III, however, 
 granted the advowson to the abbot and convent of Garendon. 
 One of their nominees, John de Flytewyk, stayed only one year. 
 He was a priest on the staff of the lazar-house of St. Mary de 
 Pre near St. Albans. He failed to obtain permission to 
 depart, but went nevertheless to the Cistercian Abbey of 
 Garendon, by whom he was admitted to the hermitage. He 
 afterwards resumed the Benedictine habit. ^ 
 
 About this time the Cripplegate cell became a chantry 
 chapel. In 1347, new endowments were provided by the 
 Countess of Pembroke, who founded a chantry for the soul 
 of Aymer de Valence. John Ayobanensis (formerly bishop- 
 suffragan in the sees of Canterbury and Exeter) dated his will 
 from this place in 1380.^ During the fifteenth century it ap¬ 
 pears to have been a corporate body with a common seal.^ 
 After the Dissolution, the property came into the hands of 
 the Clothworkers’ Company, and became known as “ Lambe’s 
 chapel ”. 
 
 There was also a hermitage on the south side of Aldgate. 
 This cell was built in a turret of the city wall by John the 
 hermit—possibly that John le Megre, who in 1259 was 
 allowed to “ transfer himself from the hermitage of Alegate, 
 where he has lived for some years,” to that of Cripplegate. The 
 Hundred Rolls record that the building encroached on the 
 highway to the extent of 4 feet in one direction and 33 feet 
 in another. Brother Berengar afterwards dwelt at the chapel 
 of St. Mary and St. Nicholas in the torella of the city wall, by 
 
 ^ Pap. Lett. II. 554. 
 
 "^Ex. Reg. Brantyngham, i. 3. 
 
 ^B.M. Seals, lxviii. i. 
 


68 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OE ENGLAND 
 
 the Tower. During the fourteenth century, this place was in 
 the hands of the mayor and aldermen, who granted it to Sir 
 John de Elyngham, chaplain, on condition that he should keep 
 it in repair and protect it against wind and rain. In this docu¬ 
 ment it is described as being near Bishopsgate. 
 
 Of the Bishopsgate cell little is known. In 1342 the custody 
 of the king’s hermitage within Bishopsgate was given to John 
 de Warrewyk. Four years later, protection was granted to 
 Robert, hermit of Bishopsgate, who was dependent upon 
 alms.^ 
 
 Another hermitage was situated by St. Katharine’s hos¬ 
 pital, near the Tower. It was visited in 1360 by John, the 
 captive King of France, who gave two crowns as alms on 
 Ascension Day, and a fortnight later, attended Mass and 
 offered \ 2 d? This was evidently the place called “ le Swan- 
 nesnest,” where in 1371 John Ingram was hermit. In the 
 same year one Sir Robert was “ a recluse monk near the 
 Tower ”. 
 
 A more rural spot was the hermitage of St. Katharine, on 
 the site now occupied by Charing Cross Post Office. Henry 
 HI granted to the Bishop of Llandaff permission to lodge “in 
 the close of the king’s hermitage of La Charryng ”. In 
 1268 he appointed Simon de Bragham to succeed Richard de 
 la March as chaplain of “the free chapel of the hermitage of 
 la Cherring”. The Exchequer Roll of 1272 mentions two 
 chaplains who performed divine service there for the soul of 
 the king’s father. In 1361, a bequest was made to the hermit 
 near Charrynge-crouche. 
 
 In other parts of the kingdom, too, the “ solitary ” made 
 his habitation in many frequented places. Lawrence Burgeys 
 (or Abingdon), bailiff of Reading, obtained permission from 
 Abbot Helyas to build a chapel in honour of St. Edmund, 
 beside which he might dwell as a hermit.^ This chapel was 
 situated on rising ground nearly opposite the west end of the 
 friary. In a memorial issued against the abbot of Reading in 
 the fifteenth century this allegation was made : “ a chapelle at 
 
 ^ Comptes de VArgenterie (Soc. de I’Hist. de Fr.), 248, 252. 
 
 2 Possibly this cell became the abode of stricter recluses ; cf. “ the anchorite 
 within the gate of Bishopsgate on the wall towards Cripplegate,” etc. 
 
 3 B.M. Cott. Vesp. E. v. f. 81 b. 
 


TOWN HERMITS 
 
 69 
 
 the west end of the towne, of Seynt Edmunds, and feyre londs 
 therto, for to have God worshyppyd in that chapelle, wherein 
 lyeth the bonys of many chrysten people, and now they have 
 made a barne therof, and put therin come and hey, and tye 
 therin horse and bests When the remains of St. Edmund’s 
 were discovered a few years ago, some stones were removed 
 to the museum at the abbey gateway. 
 
 There was a hermitage in the suburbs of Salisbury. The 
 bishop licensed the hermit of Fisherton to celebrate divine 
 service in the chapel there, but his office was usurped by a 
 certain layman who assumed clerical dress and pretended to 
 be a hermit. This schismatic person was in the habit of 
 ringing a bell to collect the people in the slums of Fisherton, 
 thus “ tempting the people, as Jeroboam did Israel ”. Offer¬ 
 ing years of pardon to those who attended the Mass which he 
 presumed to say, he in this manner deceived the simple and 
 extorted money from them. Bishop Wyvil therefore laid the 
 chapel under an interdict (1352). Bishop Mitford afterwards 
 licensed Thomas, hermit of St. Anne’s chapel, to conduct 
 service, subject to the vicar’s consent. In 1418, the hermit John 
 petitioned that he might be shut up in a confined place at 
 the end of the chapel to lead the stricter life of an anchorite. 
 Bishop Chandler commissioned two of the canons of Salisbury 
 to inquire whether there were any impediment to his complying 
 with this request, and empowered them to perform the cere¬ 
 mony of inclusion if the inquiry proved satisfactory.^ 
 
 Some hermits lived in the heart of the town, and others on 
 the outskirts. At Shrewsbury, for example, there was one at 
 Cadogan’s Cross, and another at Spelcrosse, a waste place on 
 the Meole road. We hear of hermitages at Durham, Leicester, 
 Ely, Colchester, Coventry, Crewkerne, Canterbury, Lydd, 
 Chichester, etc. 
 
 There were two cells in the town of Pontefract, and another 
 on the hill of St. Thomas. The series of underground cham¬ 
 bers in or under Back Lane is evidently the place “ in a cer¬ 
 tain lane leading from Malfaygate to the house of the Friars 
 Preachers,” which was granted in 1368 to Brother Adam. The 
 rent paid by the inmates was a white rose at midsummer. 
 
 ^ Reg. Wyvil, i. f. 210 ; Reg. Mitford, f. 115 ; Reg. Chandler, iii. f. 5. 
 


70 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The grants made to the various hermits of Pontefract are diffi¬ 
 cult to ascertain. West of the cell founded by the Layrthorps 
 and occupied by Adam and afterwards by the priest Laurence, 
 lay a garden (90 x 30 feet) in which Thomas Elys permitted 
 John de Crayk to build a hermitage ; and eastwards the land 
 belonged to the prior of Nostell, to whom eventually this 
 second hermitage passed. The present garden is surrounded 
 by walls, three of which are ancient. The ground below is a 
 network of cellars, one of which is an oratory and contains a 
 stone altar: another, the dwelling-place, has a hole in the floor 
 for fuel, and a flue cut out of the rock. The inmates obtained 
 water from a clear well, which was reached by a winding 
 staircase. A ground-plan and description of these excavations 
 were prepared for a visit of the Society of Antiquaries, and 
 may be found in the Proceedings for 1869. 
 
 A solitary used to dwell on the hill near the castle at 
 Pontefract. John of Gaunt permitted William de Byngham 
 to inhabit certain houses by the mount where Thomas, Earl of 
 Lancaster (the popular hero and “ saint ”) had been put to 
 death. These buildings, which were then in a ruinous condi¬ 
 tion, the tenant agreed to keep up at his own charges. Lord 
 Scrope made a bequest to John the hermit of the hill at 
 Pontefract. 
 
 Brandon Hill by Bristol (Plate XXIV), from a fancied re¬ 
 semblance to Mount Calvary, was regarded as a holy place. 
 The summit was in the possession of Tewkesbury Abbey. 
 Probably there was already a cell in 1192, when the place 
 is referred to as “waste land at St. Brendan’s”. In 1313, 
 Walter, a monk of Garendon, sought permission to lead a soli¬ 
 tary life in St. Brendun’s chapel.^ Walter de S. Cruce seems, 
 nevertheless, to have remained at Garendon, where he eventu¬ 
 ally became abbot; and in 1350 he was translated to be the 
 first abbot of St. Mary Graces, London, at the invitation of 
 Edward III. At this very time, Lucy de Newchurch, was 
 beseeching the Bishop of Worcester to allow her to be enclosed 
 at that hermitage (p. 91). In 1403, the famous Bishop of 
 Winchester, William of Wykeham, issued letters of indulgence 
 to benefactors of St. Brandan’s chapel, Bristol, or of Reginald 
 
 ^ Reg. Sede Vac. (Wore. Hist. S.), 147. 
 


rLA I'E XXIV 
 
 IIRANDON HJI.L, I'.RlS'l’OT, 
 





TOWN HERMITS 
 
 71 
 
 Taillour, a poor hermit there.^ A later inmate was visited by 
 William Worcester (1480). This hermit told the chronicler 
 that sailors and discreet men declared that the hill-chapel was 
 higher by 18 fathoms than the spire of Redcliffe or any 
 other church. The length of the chapel was about 2 5 x 15 
 feet (8-J X 5 virgas). The wall enclosing the cell measured 
 180 steps. The chapel is said to have been frequented by 
 mariners arriving at Bristol port. 
 
 In Bristol itself, or rather, in Redcliffe, is the picturesque 
 hermitage shown in Plate XXV. William Worcester de¬ 
 scribes it as situated on the west side of the church (i.e. the 
 hospital chapel) of St. John, above the river Avon in the red 
 cliff. It stands in the Friends’ Cemetery, Jones Lane. The 
 chamber cut in the sandstone is only 9 feet by 8 feet, with an 
 arched doorway and a rough recess which forms a seat. This 
 cell was founded in 1347 by Thomas, Lord Berkeley, who 
 placed there one John Sparkes to pray for him and his family. 
 
 Town-hermits often undertook definite employment. There 
 were those, as we have seen, who kept the bridges and roads of 
 Lancaster, Chester, Derby, Doncaster, Northampton, Oxford, 
 Cambridge, Marlborough, etc. Some dwelt by the gates, as at 
 Lynn and Bury St. Edmunds. At Norwich, a hermit used 
 to inhabit a chamber over St. Stephen’s Gate, and there 
 were others near most of the gates. According to Blome- 
 field, the hermit of Magdalen Gate presided over the lepers. 
 Such men were sometimes employed by hospitals to gather 
 alms on their behalf. Letters of protection were granted by 
 Edward III to Richard de Breton, hermit of the leper-house 
 at Southbroom outside Devizes, and also to John Trewe, of St. 
 Thomas’s hospital by Marlborough. At the end of the town 
 of Bicester (in St. John’s, now Sheep Street) there was a hermit- 
 age-chapel, of which the hermit, Nicholas Jurdan, obtained 
 permission “ to found a hospital for poor and infirm persons 
 
 In two disused Norfolk churches solitaries acted as resident- 
 caretakers. About the time of the Black Death, the Norwich 
 parish of St. Margaret, Newbridge (or Colegate) being de¬ 
 populated, the monastic patrons converted the church into 
 a hermitage. When St. Giles’s, Thetford, was annexed to 
 
 ^Reg. Wykeha 7 n, Pt. III. f. ccclvii. 
 
 Pat. R. 1337, 1338, 1340, 1355. 
 


72 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 St. Cuthbert’s, the church was let to a hermit at a yearly rent 
 of \ 6 d. The tenant, doubtless, gathered alms for its repair. 
 
 In the fifteenth century we still find churchyard-cells. At 
 Sudbury, a hermitage was built in the churchyard of St. 
 Gregory’s at the cost of the parish, and one John Levynton 
 was dwelling there in 1433. At this time, another townsman, 
 Richard Appelby by name, applied to the bishop to be ad¬ 
 mitted to the order of hermits, but the bishop declined until 
 he could be assured that the man would dwell “ in a solitary 
 place, wher virtues myght increase and vice be exiled ”; 
 whereupon the mayor of Sudbury and certain parishioners 
 of St. Gregory’s undertook that Richard should share John’s 
 abode, and they made supplication to the bishop to admit 
 Richard. 
 
 In the busy seaport of Sandwich, the hermit seems to have 
 acted as a special chaplain. It was his duty to minister to 
 strangers and the poor, and to pray for the people. His chapel 
 of St. James, near St. Mary’s church, had a burial-ground, 
 which was afterwards used as the cemetery of the parish. The 
 churchwardens’ accounts for the year 1447 show an expendi¬ 
 ture of I 2 d. upon reparation of the chapel. The sum'of 
 4^*. \d. was paid “ for a stone to lay ovyr sir Williem ye 
 herimyte withyn seynt Jamys chirchezerd The last chap¬ 
 lain, John Steward, who as late as 1538 received a bequest 
 as “ Sir John the Heremit,” became vicar of St. Mary’s. The 
 churchwardens probably secured his appointment in recogni¬ 
 tion of his services to the parish. The chapel was destroyed 
 in the time of Edward VI. 
 
 Solitaries in towns, and especially in churchyards, usually 
 belonged to the stricter order of anchorites, and to them we 
 must now turn our attention. 
 


PLATE L Xr 
 
 KKI K'l.l FI' K HKHMI'I'AFK, I'.RIS rOI 
 


f 
 
 Ui 
 
 r'*'- 
 
 T# . 
 
 
 «► ( 
 
 i-.yl \* 
 
 - '• -r 
 
 


VII. ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 
 
 Recluses who dwell under the eaves of the church .—Ancven Riwle. 
 
 He sawe a chappel where was a recluse whiche hadde a wyndowe that she 
 myghte see vp to the Aulter.— Malory, Morte d'Arthur. 
 
 T he anchorite differed from the hermit in that he 
 lived in stricter seclusion, and was not free to 
 wander at will. He was not merely, as the word 
 avaxo^pTjTTj^ signifies, withdrawn from the world : he was 
 inclusus^ shut up in a strait prison, whether in church, chapel, 
 convent, or castle. 
 
 Various names were given to the enclosed person : inclusus, 
 inclusa, reclusus^ reclusa^ and the indefinite anachorita are used 
 synonomously in records. Ancre was of common gender in 
 Middle English ; anker and ancresse occur later. Lucy 
 “ y® ankereswoman ” is mentioned in the Hundred Rolls. 
 A study of the Christian names which appear in the Ap¬ 
 pendix to this volume seems to show that more women than 
 men undertook this austere vocation. So large is their num¬ 
 ber, indeed, that for lack of space only a few typical persons 
 ! can be mentioned. 
 
 j I. The Anchorite 
 
 I. Adjoining Parish Churches 
 
 ^ The author of the Ancren Riwle makes a play upon the 
 , word ancre; she is “ anchored under the church as an anchor 
 under a ship, to hold the ship so that neither waves nor storms 
 , may overwhelm it”. Enclosed persons were usually attached 
 to some church in order that they might derive spiritual ad- 
 I vantages from it, and at the same time confer spiritual benefits 
 upon the parish. Being a holy place, it was suitable for a 
 i dedicated person, and it was also a frequented spot for one 
 ! who lived partly upon alms. The churchyard not only stood 
 
 73 
 
 - 
 


74 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 for a wilderness, but seemed a fitting habitation for one, as it 
 were, dead to the world. 
 
 The most celebrated anchorite of mediaeval England was, 
 perhaps, Wulfric, enclosed for twenty-nine years at Haselbury, 
 a village near Crewkerne. Wulfric was born at Compton, 
 probably Compton Martin. He became priest of Deverill 
 near Warminster, but at that time he was more addicted to 
 sport than to spiritual exercises. Upon his conversion, he 
 determined to devote himself entirely to a life of contemplation 
 and rigorous asceticism at Haselbury—“ burying himself in 
 Christ in a cell adjoining the church Sir William FitzWalter 
 had a great respect for his saintly neighbour ; he sent provisions 
 to him and visited him from time to time. Wulfric numbered 
 among his intimate friends Osbern, the village priest; William, a 
 lay-brother of Ford Abbey; and Brichtric, who seems to have 
 joined him as a disciple or attendant. During the reigns of 
 Henry I and Stephen, he exercised a powerful influence, not 
 only in his own neighbourhood but also at the court. The story 
 of Wulfric as prophet and wonder-worker is related elsewhere. 
 
 Wulfric died in 1154, and was buried in his cell by the 
 Bishop of Bath who had visited him on his death-bed. The 
 monks of Montacute sought to obtain possession of the saint’s 
 body, but Osbern the priest interposed, and the remains were 
 translated to the adjoining church. Miracles subsequently 
 took place there, and the shrine became a place of pilgrimage. 
 The north chapel is still known as “Wulfric’s aisle”. 
 
 Another interesting recluse was Lauretta, Countess of 
 Leicester. Her mother and brother were amongst those 
 persons “miserably famished” at King John’s command. Her 
 father, William de Braose, a man of singular piety, escaped, and 
 died in an abbey in France. Lady Lauretta wedded Robert 
 Fitz Parnell, Earl of Leicester, who, after distinguishing him¬ 
 self in the Crusades, died in 1204, and the widowed countess 
 eventually retired into solitude at St. Stephen’s, Hackington. 
 
 A more familiar name is that of Katherine of Ledbury. 
 She was the daughter of John Giffard, Baron of Brimsfield, 
 and was born in 1272. Her husband, Nicholas, Baron Audley, 
 died in 1299, leaving her with two young sons and a daughter.^ 
 
 ^ For genealogy see Staffs. Coll., N.S., IX. 264. 
 


ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 75 
 
 No more is heard of the Lady Audley until 1312, when she 
 gave away into lay hands a portion of her maternal inheritance. 
 Since the deed is witnessed at Ledbury by the bishop and the 
 vicar, it may be presumed that she had already taken up her 
 abode there, or was about to be enclosed by the bishop. In 
 1323, “Katherine de Audele, recluse of Ledbury,” was receiv¬ 
 ing ;£^30 a year through the sheriff, and as the sum was paid 
 out of lands which were in the custody of her husband’s exe¬ 
 cutor, it seems probable that she had made some arrangement 
 about her property in order to obtain a pension. 
 
 Around these prosaic facts the following poetic legend grew 
 up. In obedience to a vision which bade her not to rest until 
 she came to a town where the bells should ring untouched by 
 man, Katherine and her maid Mabel wandered from place to 
 place, following out of Worcestershire into Herefordshire the 
 hoof-marks of the lady’s mare which had been stolen—prints 
 still shown in the sandstone at Whelpley Brook. The expected 
 miracle was manifested at Ledbury, and there, it may be 
 under the shadow of the bell-tower, the Lady Katherine de¬ 
 termined to remain. The story is familiar through Words¬ 
 worth’s sonnet :— 
 
 When human touch (as monkish books attest) 
 
 Nor was applied nor could be, Ledbury bells 
 Broke forth in concert flung a down the dells, 
 
 And upward, high as Malvern’s cloudy crest; 
 
 Sweet tones, and caught by a noble Lady blest 
 To rapture ! Mabel listened at the side 
 Of her loved mistress : soon the music died, 
 
 j 
 
 I And Catherine said. Here I set up my rest. 
 
 Warned in a dream, the Wanderer long had sought 
 A home that by such miracle of sound 
 I Must be revealed :—she heard it now, or felt 
 
 I The deep, deep joy of a confiding thought; 
 
 1! And there, a saintly Anchoress, she dwelt 
 
 Till she exchanged for heaven that happy ground. 
 
 I The title “ Saint ” Catherine of Ledbury is a late addition 
 
 I to the tale, suggested, doubtless, by the dedication-name of 
 the hospital of St. Katharine, a house founded years before the 
 j birth of Katherine de Audley. 
 
 ! There were also cells attached to many town churches, 
 
 j The foundation of some of these was so remote as to be lost in 
 I obscurity. Chester, for example, had an anchorage by the col- 
 i legiate church of St. John. The tradition handed down by 
 
 1 
 


76 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis was, that King Harold, sorely wounded, 
 fled from Senlac to Chester, “ and lyued there holily an ankers 
 lyf in Seint lames celle faste by Seint lohn his chirche, and 
 made a gracious end 
 
 At Oxford there were six or seven churches where recluses 
 were dwelling between ii8o and 1280.^ One, Matthew, was 
 enclosed at Holywell, outside the town. It was said to have 
 been revealed to this holy man that the church of Dorchester 
 contained the bodies of two Saxon bishops. He heard a voice 
 saying : Birinus inpavimento^ Bertinus I'eti'o ostium ; and when 
 the relics were discovered, miracles occurred—a dead man came 
 to life, a leper was cleansed, and one learnt to speak French 
 in three days. These startling events were duly recorded 
 at an inquiry held by the archbishop in 1224. Soon after 
 this, Henry III issued an order for a reclusorium to be made 
 at Holywell church of which he was the patron. Another 
 was founded at St. Budock’s :— 
 
 “ Intimation to R[obert Grosseteste] bishop of Lincoln that, 
 yielding to the prayers of Alice, the bearer, who has made a vow to 
 serve God in some solitary place, the king has granted that on the 
 north side of the church of St. Bodhuc, Oxford, she may build herself 
 a cell, where she may for her life serve God and the Blessed Virgin.” 
 
 In the quietude of the closet, many a solitary strove to shut 
 out the city’s turmoil. Edward III gave alms to eight ancho¬ 
 rites, as well as to three hermits, in London and the suburbs, s 
 It was the same in other cities, e.g. Norwich, Lincoln, York. 
 By comparing scattered records, it is possible to gather a few 
 facts about some of these persons. There was, for example, 
 a cell at St. Leonard’s, Exeter. In 1397, the bishop com¬ 
 missioned John Dodyngton, canon of Exeter, to enclose a 
 certain Alice in a house in the cemetery. Three years later, 
 when the canon died, he bequeathed qoy. to her. That same 
 year the bishop permitted Alice Bernard to choose a confessor 
 with plenary powers. The rector of Little Torrington left to 
 her 20s. and a book of sermons in English. Another bequest 
 was made as late as 1430. 
 
 1 Higden, Polychron., J. Trevisa (Rolls S. 41), vii. 245. 
 
 2 See Appendix. The vision of the Eynsham monk concerns a recluse, 
 possibly at St. Thomas’s. 
 
 F. Devon, Issues of Exchequer^ 395, cf. 160, 
 


ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 77 
 
 Eifteenth-century wills abound in references to persons 
 living the solitary life. Lord Scrope bequeaths money to 
 anchorites in twenty villages and market towns, as well as 
 to those in and about London and York, and to any others 
 found within three months of his death. 
 
 (2) In Conventual Houses 
 
 The great Benedictine communities of Crowland, Durham, 
 Westminster, Worcester, and Sherborne had their solitaries, as 
 had also many other monastic houses. Mottisfont Priory was 
 founded by William Briwer, and his brother, a wonder-worker 
 known as “the holy man in the wall,” probably dwelt in the 
 precincts of that monastery. Even the more secular hospital 
 might be used as a place of seclusion. The Bishop of Exeter 
 founded a cell by the chapel of St. Laurence, Crediton, and 
 appointed Brother Nicholas as the first inmate. Alice was 
 enclosed at the church of St. Giles in the suburbs of Hereford 
 (1321); and clearly this was the hospital, for a will of the pre¬ 
 vious year mentions not only the anchorite of St. Giles but the 
 brethren and sisters there. With the assent of the master and 
 brethren of Holy Innocents’ outside Lincoln, the king, as 
 patron, permitted Elizabeth de Elm to become a recluse by 
 the chapel of the hospital. Probably the infirm materially 
 benefited by the presence of such persons in their precincts. 
 
 The Austin Friary at Droitwich had a cell on the south 
 side of the choir of the conventual church. It was founded by 
 Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who stipulated that 
 the candidate nominated by the founder’s heirs, should be 
 religious and devout, of the same order as the convent, or 
 willing to submit to the prior; and that he should not be a 
 burden on a house which was pledged to poverty. 
 
 The White Friars and the Black Friars favoured the 
 solitary life. The Carmelites of Norwich had two cells. 
 Thomas Bradley (p. 163) dwelt in that next the entrance of the 
 friary. Dame Emma, daughter of Sir Miles Stapilton, was 
 probably enclosed in the chamber under Holy Cross chapel, 
 set apart for women. She was buried in the church of the 
 friary in 1442. Other Carmelite nuns took similar vows, e.g. 
 Alice Wakleyne of Northampton, Margaret Hawten, Joanna 
 


78 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Catfelde of Lynn, and Agnes Gransetter of Cambridge. Bale 
 mentions elsewhere that Mistress Alice Wakelyn, a woman of 
 illustrious family, died on 13 June, 1426" and was succeeded by 
 Margaret Hawton, who died on 17 November (the year is 
 not recorded). 
 
 Dominican friars were enclosed at Lynn, Lancaster, New¬ 
 castle, Arundel, and Canterbury; and Dominican sisters at 
 Norwich, Bristol, and Worcester. 
 
 3. Adjoining Chapels 
 
 There were cells attached to chapels which were neither 
 parochial nor directly monastic. Henry II pensioned Geldwin, 
 inclusus of St. Aedred at Winchester, and Richard, of St. 
 Sepulchre’s, Hereford. Henry III appointed others to several 
 royal free chapels, including those of the fortresses in London 
 and Dover. In 1237, he ordered the Constable of the Tower 
 to admit Brother William to the cell by St. Peter’s church 
 in the bailly which was dedicated to St. Eustace. Idonea de 
 Boclaund afterwards occupied this chamber, and received the 
 daily dole of a penny, and every year a robe. Emma de 
 Skepeye was enclosed by the church of St. Mary in Dover 
 Castle (1234). Twenty-three years later, the king, before setting 
 sail from Dover, ordered that the customary alms (three half¬ 
 pence a day) should be made to her for life. 
 
 In the tower of Bristol Castle there was a chapel and 
 anchorage dedicated to St. Edward. Directions were sent by 
 Henry III for certain alterations in the fortress:— 
 
 “ Block up the doors of the chapel beside our great hall there, and 
 let a door be made in the chancel towards the reclusorium: in which 
 reclusorimn let there be made an altar in the chapel of the blessed 
 Edward, and above that reclusorium in the turret let the chamber of 
 the clerks be made ”. 
 
 A chaplain, probably a recluse, was to perform masses for the 
 soul of Alienora of Brittany, the king’s cousin. 
 
 During the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, a 
 succession of solitary women dwelt in the chapel of St. Helen 
 by the castle at Pontefract. They were in receipt of a pension 
 from the lords of the town.^ 
 
 ^ P.R.O. Due. Lane. Aeeounts (Various) Bdle. 27, No. 3; Lane, Bk. 79. 
 


ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 79 
 
 Cells were frequently situated in places of thoroughfare, e.g. 
 “ in the midst of the town ” at Wakefield, at the end of French- 
 gate Street in Richmond, by bridges at Doncaster and Derby. 
 Speed s plan of Kendal marks the Ankeriche^ which tradition 
 describes as a small beehive hut, concealed by fences from 
 the road which encircled it. 
 
 II. The Cell 
 
 The place of seclusion is called indifferently domus ana- 
 choritcB^ reclusoriurn^ inclusorium^ reclusagium^ and anchoragium. 
 Since English sources of information are scanty on this subject, 
 we are obliged to turn to foreign writers. Grimlaic in his 
 Regula Solitariorum ^ directs that the dwelling be very small 
 and surrounded, if possible, by an enclosed garden. Two 
 anchorites might share a single chamber. If the recluse had 
 disciples, they dwelt in a separate apartment and served him 
 through the window. The cell communicated with the church ; 
 but if the inmate were a priest, he also had a consecrated 
 oratory. A Bavarian Rule directs that the cell be of stone, 
 12 feet square. Through one window, towards the choir, the 
 recluse partook of the Blessed Sacrament; through another, 
 on the opposite side, he received his food; a third, closed with 
 glass or horn, lighted the dwelling.^ 
 
 In the Ancren Rzwle, particular instructions are given con¬ 
 cerning the windows. “ Hold no conversation with any man 
 out of a church window, but respect it for the sake of the holy 
 sacrament which ye see therethrough.” Communication was 
 held through a parlour window, small, narrow, and always fast 
 on every side.^ Even when the recluse unclosed her shutter, 
 she was hidden by a curtain—a black cloth bearing a symbolic 
 white cross. “ The black cloth also teacheth an emblem, doth 
 less harm to the eyes, is thicker against the wind, more difficult 
 to see through, and keeps its colour better against the wind and 
 other things.” 
 
 The house, which might consist of several apartments, often 
 
 ^ L. Holstenius, Codex Reg., ii. 464-600. 
 
 2 Ducange, Glossarium, “ Inclusagium ”. 
 
 In the Norwich Museum is preserved an old oak window frame, about 2 feet 
 square, with iron bars. It was found in the south wall of the Cathedral (choir), 
 and may possibly have communicated with a cell [per Mr. F. Johnson]. 
 


8o HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 included an oratory in which Mass was celebrated from time 
 to time. There was an austere simplicity about the building. 
 Abbot Aelred did not approve of covering the naked walls with 
 pictures and carvings, or of decking the chapel with a variety 
 of hangings and images : such ornaments savoured of vanity. 
 He decreed that the altar should have upon it only a fair white 
 cloth and a crucifix :— 
 
 “Now shal I she we the how thou shalt arraye thyn oratory. 
 Arraye thyn autier with white lynnen clothe, the whiche bitokeneth 
 both chastite and symplenesse. ... In this autere sette an ymage 
 of cristis passion, that thou may have mynde and se hou he sette and 
 spredde his armes abrood to resceyve thee and al mankynde to mercy, 
 if thai wil axe it. And if it plese the, sette on that oo side an ymage 
 of our Lady, and a nother on that other syde of seynt John.” ^ 
 
 The Rites of Durha^n contains a description (i 593) of one 
 such chamber within the cathedral. It was a loft, evidently a 
 wooden structure, close to the high altar and behind St. Cuth- 
 bert’s shrine :— 
 
 “At the east end of the North Alley of the Quire, betwixt two 
 pillars opposite, was the goodlyest faire porch, which was called the 
 Anchoridge, havinge in it a marveillous faire roode, with the most 
 exquisite pictures of Marye and John, with an altar for a Monke to 
 say dayly masse; beinge in antient time inhabited with an Anchorite. 
 
 . . . The entrance to this porch or anchoridge was upp a paire of 
 faire staires adjoyninge to the north dore of St. Cuthbert’s Feretorie.” 
 
 There was also an anchorage adjoining Chichester Cathe¬ 
 dral. William Bolle, rector of Aldrington, resigned his benefice, 
 and obtained permission to construct a cell and retire thither. It 
 was agreed that after his death it should pass into the bishop’s 
 hands. The chamber, 29 feet long and 24 feet wide, communi¬ 
 cated with the Lady chapel. 
 
 The anchorite attached to Sherborne Abbey dwelt in the 
 chapel of St. Mary le Bow on the south of the thirteenth- 
 century Lady chapel (now part of the School). An inmate of 
 this place is mentioned in the codicil to the will of Lady Alice 
 West: “Also, for hit was for-yete byfore in this testament, I 
 
 ^ Bodl. MS. 423, f. 186, 186 h (cf. InfoYmacio, cap. xi. in Englische Stndien, 
 vu, 315-6); Regula, cap. xxxiv., xxxviii. 
 


ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 8i 
 
 bequethe to the Reclus of Shirbourn, whos Surname is Arthour/ 
 k\s. for to do and to preye as othere Reclus forseyd Shulleth 
 don and preye 
 
 The cell at Worcester was next the cathedral on the north, 
 between the porch and the west end. In a fifteenth-century 
 account-book of the priory is an entry of xs. paid : “ for brycks, 
 lyme, and sonde, to y^ repa’ con of y® anckras house by 
 y® charnel howse”.^ 
 
 There was no rule as to the situation of such dwellings. 
 The records are apt to be vague, as, for instance, that a religious 
 woman abode “ in a remote corner of the church”. Informa¬ 
 tion is sometimes supplied incidentally, e.g. a testator of 
 Faversham desires to be buried on the north side of the 
 churchyard, opposite the door of the anchoress. Occasionally, 
 however, some particulars are given. Juliana, anchoress of 
 Worcester, dwelt at the north-west corner of the church of 
 St. Nicholas, in an angle of the churchyard, bounded by the 
 main street and by a side street. She petitioned for the en¬ 
 largement of her courtyard, and the king, satisfied that this 
 would not be to the nuisance of the city, granted permission 
 to widen the court on three sides, by 7, 5, and 4 feet, re¬ 
 spectively.^ Situated in a busy thoroughfare (now “ The 
 Cross”) it was conspicuous to all passing to and from the 
 Foregate. 
 
 Writing of the Norwich church of St. John Baptist, Tim- 
 berhill, Blomefield says : “ Anciently a recluse dwelt in a cell 
 joining to the north side of the steeple, but it was down before 
 the Dissolution ”. The anchorage at St. Edward’s was also 
 on the north. From numerous examples it seems that the 
 ascetic would deliberately forego the sunshine with the rest of 
 Nature’s gifts. Rare instances occur of a brighter aspect. The 
 Westminster anchorage was on the south side of the chancel 
 of St. Margaret’s.^ The cells at Droitwich and Polesworth 
 
 ^ Since going to press Canon Wordsworth sends an extract dated 1397. 
 Indtilgencia pro Edmundo Artur, anchorita “capelle B. Marie vocat’ le Bowe 
 infra scalare cimiterii ecclesiae conventualis de Shireburn ”. Reg. Metford, f. 
 cxxi. b. 
 
 The charnel vault under the courtyard, near the Deanery gate. 
 
 ^ The cells at Droitwich (p. 77), and Winterton (p. 92) had enclosures 
 (clausura). 
 
 Westminster MS. Extra Parcels, No. 14 [per Mr. C. Welch]. 
 


82 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 were also on the south. That at the west end of Crewkerne 
 church was still standing in the seventeenth century. 
 
 Although so many recluses were dwelling “ under the eaves 
 of the church/’ the church itself has in many cases been rebuilt, 
 and no traces of the cell can be found. Thus even in ancient 
 buildings (for example, in St. Michael’s and St. Peter’s 
 at St. Albans) there is no clue as to the position of the 
 annexed chambers. In none of the eleven fine churches 
 described by Mr. McCall in Richmondshire Churches have indi¬ 
 cations of cells been found, although recluses are known to 
 have dwelt in three of those parishes, viz. Burneston, Kirkby 
 Wiske, and Wath. It must not be forgotten, however, that 
 the dwelling might stand apart in the churchyard, as at St. 
 John’s, Chester. 
 
 In several churches architectural features confirm the re¬ 
 cords. Two cells in the south have been described by Mr. 
 P. M. Johnston, and three in the north by Mr. J. R. Boyle. 
 
 Hartlip (Kent).—That of Hartlip (Plate XXVI), where a 
 certain Robert was anchorite, remains at the west end of the 
 north aisle. 
 
 Hardham (Sussex).—The same writer ^ traces the site of a 
 chamber on the south side of the chancel, which may have 
 been the abode of the recluse to whom the bishop bequeathed 
 half a mark in 1253. All that remains is a thirteenth-century 
 squint. 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, —The vestry on the north of the 
 church of St. John Baptist seems originally to have been an 
 anchorite’s house. This conjecture is supported by a docu¬ 
 ment, dated 1260, confirming to Christiana Umfred a place 
 {locum inclusionis) in St.John’s churchyard to be her habitation 
 for life. The original grant had been made by the bishop, 
 prior, and convent of Carlisle (patrons of the mother-church of 
 St. Nicholas), with the assent of the mayor and burgesses. 
 Christiana probably witnessed the services through the cross¬ 
 shaped opening shown in Plate XXVII, which is about 14 feet 
 above the present floor. The chamber was probably of two 
 stories. There is a blocked thirteenth-century window on the 
 north. It may be observed in passing that the cell founded in 
 
 ^ Stissex Arch, Coll., XLII, 176-7 ; Arch. Journ., LVIll, 66-8. 
 


r • 
 


PLATE XXl'I 
 
 ANCHORA(;K .\T HAK'n.II 
 


ANCHORITES IN CHURCH AND CLOISTER 83 
 
 Gateshead churchyard in 1340 was replaced by a vestry, which 
 retains the name Anchorage. 
 
 Stamdrop. —Mr. Boyle describes a chamber with an ancient 
 fire-place over the vestry of this church. At the head of the stone 
 newel staircase is a square-headed window of three lights, the 
 mullions of which are cut askew from east to west in order to 
 command the high altar. 
 
 Chester-le-Street. —This church has retained what is prob¬ 
 ably the most complete anchorite’s house remaining in England. 
 It is at the west end of the church, on the north side of the 
 tower, partly within and partly beyond the ancient walls. 
 Two of the four rooms, one above the other, have been formed 
 by walling off the western bay of the north aisle. This inner 
 room is about 18 by 10 feet, whilst the two outer rooms are 
 about 10 feet square. The recluse’s upper chamber had a 
 hagioscope commanding the altar in the south aisle ; the slit 
 on the church side is only about 10 inches high and i or 2 
 inches wide. The west window consists of a large slab pierced 
 with four rectangular openings and a lancet. Below the floor 
 is a well, which is probably ancient. There appears to have 
 been an outside stairway to the upper story of the outer room, 
 which has a window and a slit aperture. There is no archi¬ 
 tectural clue to the date of “ the ankers house,” which is 
 mentioned in the Chantry certificate of i 548. Its subsequent 
 history is told in chapter xiv. The house contains several 
 doors, windows, and recesses, but it has suffered under altera¬ 
 tions, and is now used for heating apparatus and lumber. The 
 small upper chamber, once a museum of antiquities, contains a 
 fine sculptured Saxon cross-shaft. 
 
 Yo 7 'k: All Saints\ North Street. —At the west end of the 
 north aisle are the supposed traces of a two-storied cell, which 
 was inhabited by a recluse famous during the reign of Henry 
 VI (p. 35). Both the upper and lower windows command 
 the high altar.^ 
 
 It may be well to mention certain supposed cells, which 
 have not at present been authenticated by documentary 
 evidence. 
 
 Bengeo (Herts) and Chipping Ongar (Essex).—These 
 
 ^ The lower window was carefully opened out by the Rector and Miss M. 
 Leaf, 1909. 
 


84 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 “ ankerholds ” were investigated by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite 
 and Mr. Dewick.^ In both cases openings were found in the 
 north walls, and above them holes which might have held 
 the timbers supporting a lean-to building. At Chipping Ongar 
 traces of a shuttered lancet window were discovered. 
 
 Letherhead (Surrey).—The foundations of a chamber on 
 the north side of the chancel were excavated by Mr. Johnston, 
 and were described and illustrated in the Surrey Archceological 
 Collections (XX). 
 
 Compton .—Another Surrey church has a chamber annexed 
 to it on the south side. A narrow window communicates with 
 the churchyard, but the outer doorway is blocked. The arch 
 of the inner doorway, leading into the church, springs from the 
 capital of the sanctuary arch. The hagioscope, deeply splayed, 
 is so close to the high altar as to be over the aumbry adjoining* 
 the piscina ; it is cruciform, of graceful and uncommon design. 
 
 Michaelstow (Cornwall).—On the north side of the chancel 
 are traces of a cell. About 4 feet 8 inches from the floor is a 
 diamond-shaped stone, pierced with a quatrefoil aperture.^ 
 
 Traces of the anchorage, then, may reasonably be sought 
 near the chancel. It might be an upper room, but a chamber 
 in the tower or over the porch was a most unlikely abode for 
 the recluse. Since the term “leper’s window” has become 
 discredited, there is a tendency with some to describe any in¬ 
 explicable low-side window as an “ anchorite’s squint It is 
 well to bear in mind that even where a habitable room exists, 
 with fire-place, seat, or book-desk, it may have been a sacristy 
 or a priest’s lodging. There is abundant opportunity for 
 research on this subject, and it is much to be desired that 
 architects should follow up the clues supplied by records. 
 
 ^ AycU. yourn. XLIV, 26-9 ; XLV, 284-7, with plates. 
 
 ‘■^J. C. Cox, County Churches. 
 


VIII. ORDER AND RULE 
 
 What sawest thou before thee when thou didst vow thyself to this manner 
 of life ?— Rule of St. Aelred. 
 
 Do you now ask what rule ye anchoresses should observe ? Ye should by 
 all means, with all your might and all your strength, keep well the inward rule, 
 and for its sake the outward. . . . The outward rule may be changed and varied 
 according to every one’s state and circumstances ... it is only a slave to help 
 the lady to rule the heart.— Ancren Riwle. 
 
 T he eremitical life, it has been truly said, “ was once 
 a career, and not the abdication of all careers Re¬ 
 
 cluses were therefore set apart for their vocation, 
 whether they were regular or secular clergy, nuns, or men and 
 women who had as yet taken no vows. A monk might become 
 a hermit by permission of his abbot, but he could only be ad¬ 
 mitted to the order of an anchorite by the joint consent of his 
 superior and of the bishop. A lay person required the sanction 
 of the bishop before taking either step. 
 
 I. Hermits 
 
 The place of the hermit in the ecclesiastical system is hard 
 to define. There were many kinds of solitaries—all, perhaps, 
 of a less conventional and canonical type than other churchmen, 
 —but all, in theory at least, recognized by the Church. Some 
 were in close touch with a monastery. The monk Bartholomew 
 and the lay-brother Godric were both under the aegis of the 
 Benedictine house of Durham, the prior of which exercised the 
 right to “ create ” hermits. The secular clerk naturally turned 
 to the bishop for licence, institution, or ordination. He might 
 be admitted to minor orders, or even to full orders if the cell 
 were sufficiently endowed for it to be accounted a benefice. 
 Robert of Lilbourne, for example, after being made successively 
 acolyte, sub-deacon, and deacon, was ordained priest on the 
 “ title ” of five marks a year from his patron, Robert de Hawk- 
 well. Unlettered hermits were also licensed, for episcopal recog- 
 
 85 
 


86 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 nition was required even by civil law. The vagrancy statute 
 of 1388 exempts “approved hermits having letters testimonial 
 of their ordinaries”.^ Such approval is frequently entered in 
 episcopal records, e.g. the Bishop of Sarum gave J. Spensar 
 letters testimonial that he had received the habit. 
 
 The ceremony of receiving the habit was a feature in the 
 Office of Benediction (Appendix B). The candidate appeared 
 before the bishop, bare-headed and barefoot, carrying on his 
 left arm the scapular and other garments suitable to the pro¬ 
 fession of a hermit. During the service the old garments were 
 put off, and the new ones, after being blessed, were put on 
 with appropriate prayers. The hermit signed a deed of pro¬ 
 fession, made a vow, and received a charge as to his future 
 manner of living. 
 
 Some English hermits belonged to a branch of Augus- 
 tinians ^ called “the Order of St. Paul the first Hermit In 
 1431 Richard Spechysley took the following vow at-Hartle- 
 bury :— 
 
 y Rychard Spechysley sengleman not wedded promytte and 
 solempne a wowe make to god, to hys blessed moder Marie, and all 
 the seyntes of heuene yn presence of your reuerent Fadyr yn cryst 
 Thomas by the grace of god busshopp of Worcestr fulle and hole 
 purpose of chastity perpetually to be kept by me after the Rule of 
 seynt poule yn name of the fadyr and sone and holy gost amen 
 et faciat heremita cnice super cedula7n. 
 
 Similar instances occur elsewhere, but chiefly within the 
 last fifty years of hermit-life in England ; e.g. Robert Michyll 
 and John Smith were professed before the Bishop of Ely in 
 1494; John Ferys took the vow at Norwich (1504); John 
 Colebrant received the habit from the Bishop of Rochester 
 (i 509). Geoffrey Middleton, Richard Pury, and Nicholas 
 Heage, all of Sarum diocese, likewise joined this Order. The 
 Lydence Pontifical (1521) contains the special service for ad¬ 
 mission into the Order of St. Paul ^ (see Appendix B). The 
 habit worn by its members is shown in Fig. 6. 
 
 Various Rules of Life are extant, including the following ;— 
 
 1 Statute 12 Ric. II, c. 7. 
 
 2 The “ Augustinian Hermits ” or “ Friars Hermits of the Order of St. Augus¬ 
 tine ” have nothing to do with our subject ; they were mendicants living in 
 community. 
 
 ^ See also Exeter and York Pontificals. 
 


ORDER AND RULE 87 
 
 (a) Regiila Heremitarum (Cambridge MS.), sometimes 
 ascribed to Richard Rolle. 
 
 
 Fig. 6 .—Hermit of the Order of St. Paul. 
 
 {U) De pauperate^ statu^ et vita Heremitarum (Bodleian 
 MS., fourteenth century). 
 
 {c) Rule^ called “ of Pope Celestine,” a manuscript which 
 


88 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 belonged to the House of St. Mark, Bristol. It begins: 
 “ Thyes are the notable rewles of the lyfe heremiticalle . . . 
 made by Pope Celestine The preface and much of the 
 matter are similar to {b). 
 
 (d) Rule, called “ of Pope Linus” (Lambeth MS., fifteenth 
 century, bound as fly-leaf into a Carmelite work). It begins : 
 “ Lyne owre holy fadyr [Pope] of Rome he ordeyned thys 
 rowle to all solytary men that takys the degre of an here- 
 myte ” ; and ends : “ Thys is ye charge of an hermygtis 
 lyffe 
 
 [e) Episcopal Charge, or form of living (Pontifical, six¬ 
 teenth century, see Appendix B). 
 
 These documents contain directions about times of labour, 
 eating, sleep, silence, and worship. Obedience in the monastic 
 sense was not required. “ The hermit should make obedience 
 to God alone, because he himself is abbot, prior, and prefect 
 in the cloister of his heart.” To Almighty God he may, if he 
 so desire, vow poverty and chastity before the bishop, but not 
 by any man’s commandment. Minute instructions are given 
 as to the repetition of the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Angelic 
 Salutation, at the set hours. He was to hear Mass daily, if 
 possible, and to be houselled once a week. Regulations con¬ 
 cerning food, dress, etc., are referred to in the chapters which 
 follow. 
 
 Although celibacy was doubtless customary among those 
 professed as hermits, it was not obligatory. It is recorded 
 that “ John Shenton, Armett, and hys wyfife ” took charge of 
 the ornaments of the chapel at Derby bridge (1488). Nor is 
 this a mere instance of laxity of discipline. When it was noti¬ 
 fied to Archbishop Arundel that Adam Cressevill, after taking 
 a hermit’s vow, had married a certain Margaret, the archbishop 
 adjudged that the reception of such a habit did not de jure 
 bring upon any one a tacit or express profession of religion, 
 nor include in itself holy orders, so as to preclude a subsequent 
 contract of “ marriage which was instituted in Paradise ”. 
 The Adam of 1405 was, therefore, declared to be effectually 
 bound and held to the observance of the marriage.' 
 
 In theory, the solitary was canonically appointed and 
 
 1 Lambeth, Reg. Arundel, Pt. I, f. 438 h. 
 


ORDER AND RULE 
 
 89 
 
 placed under definite rule, but every age has its free-lances. 
 The difficulties connected with due order and discipline were 
 as old as sixth-century monachism. The Benedictine Rule 
 declares that there were not only hermits trained in the 
 monastery, but also self-appointed ones, some of whom roamed 
 from cell to cell. Self-constituted or wandering solitaries 
 were bound to interfere with parochial, monastic, or episcopal 
 rights. When Archbishop Thurstan was granting a charter 
 to the priory of Holy Trinity, York, he inserted this clause: 
 “ Let no hermit or anyone else presume to construct a chapel 
 or oratory of any kind within the territory of that parish 
 church, without the permission and free consent of the prior 
 and chapter ”. ^ 
 
 The Church prohibited hermits of irregular life or belief. 
 About the year 1231 the Bishop of Lincoln excommunicated 
 Elias, a monk notorious for excesses, and a chaplain was ad¬ 
 mitted in his place to Mirabel hermitage in Stockerston. In 
 1334, heresy and schism are recorded both in north and south. 
 The Archbishop of York issued a mandate forbidding anyone 
 to listen to the teaching of Henry de Staunton, hermit.^ The 
 Bishop of Exeter took proceedings against a peculiar person 
 named William, who had set himself up as a hermit at St. 
 David’s chapel in Ashprington.^ Two years later Ranulf, an 
 apostate friar, being “ a heretic in the habit of a hermit,” 
 was examined by theologians, and convicted of holding false 
 doctrines; but the prisoner was released by death.^ 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, the habit was assumed by mere beg¬ 
 gars :— 
 
 “ William Blakeney, shetilmaker . . . was brought into the 
 Guildhall ... for that, whereas he was able to work for his food 
 and raiment, he . . . went about there, barefooted and with long 
 hair, under the guise of sanctity, and pretended to be a hermit, say¬ 
 ing that he was such, and that he had made pilgrimage . . . and 
 under colour of falsehood he had received many good things from 
 divers people.” 
 
 1 Cal. Doc. France, ed. J. H. Round, 443. 
 
 Dixon, ed. J. Raine, Fasti, i. 421. 
 
 ^ Ex. Reg. Grandisson, Pt. II, 751-2. 
 Chron. Edw. I (Rolls, 76), i. 365. 
 


90 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The impostor, who had lived by fraud for six years, was con¬ 
 demned to the pillory (1412).^ 
 
 The desire to be independent of authority led some persons 
 to seek the solitary life. William Stapleton, clerk, left St. 
 Tenet’s, Holme (where, as he confesses, he had often been 
 punished for laziness), went to London, and purchased from 
 Cardinal Wolsey a dispensation to be a hermit. The truth 
 was, that his whole mind was set on necromancy. He used 
 enchantments in digging for hidden treasure, and practised 
 spirit-raising. When he returned to Norfolk and showed his 
 licence, his friends motioned him to go about his “ science ” again, 
 saying they would help him to his habit. This runaway 
 monk was intimate with Wolsey (to whom, in 1528, his long 
 letter is addressed), Cromwell, More, and the Duke of Norfolk. 
 Whether he became solitary or sorcerer does not appear.^ 
 
 Even authorized hermits were apt to upset the parochial 
 system, if persons resorted to their chapels to the neglect of 
 their parish church. A long-standing grievance at Hinxton 
 was met by an agreement between the vicar, wardens, and 
 parishioners, and William Popeley, hermit of Whytford Bridge. 
 Tithes and dues were commuted for fixed oblations at the 
 principal feasts, when the bridge-chaplain must, like all other 
 parishioners, make his oblations. The vicar was to say mass 
 yearly at St. Anne’s chapel, and in return for his labour, should 
 receive 4^. and a good dinner from the hermit. 
 
 H. Anchorites 
 
 Turning to the stricter order, we find that the permission 
 of the bishop of the diocese was required before any person 
 could be enclosed. A notable exception was Wulfric of 
 Haselbury ; for “without any appointment of the bishop, with 
 no solemnity of benediction, but by the authority of the Holy 
 Spirit who dwelt within, he buried himself with Christ in a 
 cell close to the church”. A canon of St. Edmund (1233) 
 enacted that anchorites should not be made without the 
 bishop’s special approval; and Lyndwood, commenting on 
 this clause, observes that assistant bishops may not give the 
 
 ^ H. Riley, Memorials, 584. 
 
 ^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, IV (2), No. 5096; Norfolk Archaeology, I, 59. 
 


ORDER AND RULE 
 
 91 
 
 requisite licence, nor may an abbot enclose a person on his 
 own authority^ 
 
 It was also necessary to obtain the consent of the in¬ 
 cumbent and patron of the church to which the person was to 
 be attached. Henry III permitted Celestria to be enclosed at 
 his chapel of Kingesham (probably Kingsholm in the manor 
 of King s Barton at Gloucester), the sheriff having signified that 
 this would not be detrimental to the Crown. The approval 
 of the patrons was not sought by the parishioners of St. 
 Michael’s, Bristol, and the chronicler of Tewkesbury therefore 
 records that: “ Both the townsmen of Bristol and the anchoress 
 intruded into the cell (^reclusagiuni) of St. Michael on the hill 
 without Bristol confessed that they had acted presumptuously 
 and contrary to justice, and sought forgiveness from Robert, 
 the Lord Abbot”. 
 
 The prefatory note to the Sarum Office declares that no 
 one ought to be enclosed without the will of the bishop, who 
 was to cause the candidate to be instructed and warned how 
 he should examine his conscience and consider his motives, 
 whether he is setting himself to please God, or to acquire gain 
 or the praise of man. Nor was the applicant accepted without 
 close investigation. A commissary was appointed to inquire 
 into the circumstances of the case, not only as to the suitability 
 of the proposed place, but as to the person’s estate, whether 
 maiden, married, or widow, and, above all, concerning her 
 character. Sometimes the mandate included permission to 
 induct the candidate, should the examination prove satisfactory. 
 The following charge was given by the Bishop of Worcester 
 concerning Lucy, who was eagerly desirous to inhabit the cell 
 upon St. Brandan’s Hill, near Bristol:— 
 
 “ John by the mercy of God Bishop etc. greeting, to our beloved 
 son Master John de Severley, Archdeacon of Worcester, peace and 
 blessing. 
 
 “Lucy de Newchirche has approached us many times with 
 earnest and humble devotion, as was clear to us from her appearance 
 and demeanour, asking to be enclosed in the hermitage of St. Brandan 
 at Bristol in our diocese. But as we have no knowledge of the life 
 and conversation of the said Lucy, we commit to you, in whose 
 trustiness, diligence, and caution we have full confidence, an enquiry 
 
 ^W. Lyndwood, Provinciale, ed. 1525, Lib. Ill, f. clv. clvi. 
 


92 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 from men and women worthy of credit with regard to the conversa¬ 
 tion of this Lucy, and whether you would consider her to be of pure 
 and praiseworthy life, and whether she excels in those notable virtues 
 which ought to prevail in persons who give up the life of the world. 
 And if at a day and time appointed, at your discretion and in 
 accordance with law and reason, for her examination, you should 
 find her to be resolutely and firmly set on the pure purpose with 
 regard to which we have burdened your conscience in the presence 
 of God, we commit to you our power, so far as by the divine law 
 we can, of enclosing her, either personally or by deputy as an 
 anchoress in the aforesaid hermitage.” ^ 
 
 Since the bishop himself had been impressed by Lucy’s 
 earnestness, it is probable that she was enclosed. Barrett cites 
 a deed referring to land near St. Brendan’s which the anchoress 
 held. Who the petitioner was does not appear ; but two years 
 previously a certain Lucy de Newchurch, from the diocese of 
 Hereford, obtained a papal indult to choose a confessor who 
 should give her plenary remission at the hour of death. 
 
 The would-be anchoress might be some maiden “ without 
 the habit of a nun ” who desired to devote herself to religion 
 in the village where she had been brought up, as, for example, 
 Matilda de Campden, who sought to be enclosed in the church¬ 
 yard at Chipping Campden. She might be one who, like 
 Emma Sprenghose of Shrewsbury, “ from childhood always 
 affected, and still affects, the solitary life”. She might be 
 already in a convent. A nun of Stainfield, Beatrice Franke 
 by name, petitioned the Bishop of Lincoln to be enclosed at 
 Winterton Church ; the Abbot of Thornton, therefore, released 
 her from her previous vows and proffered to her new vows at 
 high mass in that church. The anchoress might even be some 
 matron. A curious case is that of the vowess Emma Cheyne 
 — “late the wife of the recluse of Bury St. Edmunds, aged 
 sixty-eight years and professed for twenty-two years in the 
 order of widowhood and daily persevering in honest conversa¬ 
 tion ”—who dwelt at St. Peter’s, Cornhill.^ 
 
 The applicant might be one of the regular or secular clergy. 
 William de Pershore, priest, sought permission to be enclosed 
 in the parish of Wickwar, and he vas given a dispensation to 
 
 ^ Reg. Thoresby, f. 21. 
 
 2 Pat. 28 Hen. VI., Pt. i, m. ii. The veiled widow may have dwelt in the 
 anchorite’s cell, without being actually enclosed. 
 


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ORDER AND RULE 
 
 93 
 
 build a little house for that purpose, subject to the consent of 
 the rector as patron of the church. Robert Cherde, a Cistercian 
 monk of Ford, who desired to become a solitary at Crewkerne, 
 brought letters from his abbot, and made his petition in person 
 before the bishop at Wells. 
 
 In certain cases it was thought advisable to fix a period 
 of probation. In May, 1403, the Bishop of Exeter commis¬ 
 sioned the Abbot of Hartland and Rector of Southill to place 
 Cecilia Moys in a house in the cemetery of Marhamchurch, 
 assigning her until Christmas as a time of probation. 
 
 The ceremony was performed by the bishop or his deputy. 
 The Bishop of Lichfield empowered his Suffragan, Robert 
 Prissinensis (1376) to administer Holy Orders, etc., and to 
 enclose anchorites.^ Episcopal prerogative might, however, 
 be overruled by papal privilege. Richard Gilbard, an Augus- 
 tinian canon of Longleat, obtained licence “ to choose and 
 remain in any hermitage in the realm in order to lead therein a 
 solitary life” (1399)-^ The Mendicant Orders were free from 
 episcopal jurisdiction. John Toker, a Franciscan, gained per¬ 
 mission to be enclosed, without licence of his superiors, at 
 Buckland ; he was fifty years of age and had been a friar since 
 he was thirteen. Carmelite recluses were professed before the 
 Provincial of the Order. Again, the Abbot of St. Albans en¬ 
 closed members of the community at will. He himself cele¬ 
 brated the solemn mass when (at the instance of Edward IV 
 and his queen, and “at the supplication of divers magnates 
 dwelling in the king’s household”) Elizabeth Katherine 
 Hoisted was admitted to the anchorage at St. Peter’s.^ 
 
 As a general rule, however, the bishop was, by virtue of 
 his office, the guardian of every solitary in his diocese. The 
 Archbishop of York made himself responsible for a religious 
 refugee from Scotland. The nuns of Coldstream having been 
 dispersed (probably in 1296, when Edward I made his head¬ 
 quarters in their house) Beatrice de Hodesak, for this just and 
 reasonable cause, left the nunnery by permission of the bishop 
 and prioress. She afterwards, with the licence of Archbishop 
 Thomas, became an anchoress at Sprotburgh, near Doncaster, 
 at the house adjoining St. Edmund’s chapel by the bridge. It 
 
 '^Staffs. Coll., N.S., VIII, 131. ^ Pap, Lett., v. 200. 
 
 ^Chr. S. Alb. (Rolls, 28, Pt. VI.); Registers, II. 202. 
 


94 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 had been founded by Lord Fitzwilliam, who provided yearly 
 for each of the women five quarters of corn. When Beatrice 
 settled there about the year 1300, her companion was that 
 Sibil de Lisle who had been enclosed in 1294 by the Abbot of 
 Kirkstall. Beatrice probably died before 1328, when the Dean 
 of Doncaster was commissioned to enclose Joan, daughter of 
 William of Easingwold, who desired to live with Dame Sibil.^ 
 
 There are numerous liturgical forms for the enclosing of 
 anchorites. The earliest extant seems to be that entitled Ad 
 recludendum Anchoritam^ in a fragmentary twelfth-century Pon¬ 
 tifical.^ Of later examples, Cambridge has several—the Clifford 
 Pontifical (Plate XXVI 11 ) at Corpus Christ! College, the 
 Chichele Pontifical at Trinity, the Sarum Manual at St. John’s, 
 and the Russell Pontifical in the University Library. In this 
 chapter we draw chiefly upon three published offices, namely, 
 those found in the Exeter Pontifical belonging to Bishop 
 Lacy (1420-55), the York Pontifical of Archbishop Bainbridge 
 (1508-14), and the Sarum Manual (printed in 1506).^ 
 
 The “ Order of enclosing servants or handmaidens of God,” 
 according to the Sarum Use, provided that the candidate, 
 before being admitted to the cell, should fast and make his 
 confession, and should keep vigil throughout the preceding 
 night. On the morrow the bishop or his commissary made an 
 exhortation to the people and to the one who was about to be 
 enclosed, and the office opened with versicles and psalms. The 
 celebrant proceeded to mass, which included special prayers. 
 After the Gospel the includendus, having offered his taper to 
 burn upon the altar, stood at the altar-step and read his pro¬ 
 fession in a clear voice. He then made the sign of the cross 
 with a pen on the roll, and placing it upon the altar with 
 bended knee, prayed. Next came the sprinkling and blessing 
 of the habit, in which the newly-professed was clad. Whilst he 
 lay prostrate before the altar, the celebrant chanted over him 
 Veni^ Creator Spiritus, when. Mass being finished, all, includ¬ 
 ing the novice who carried his taper, moved in procession 
 
 % 
 
 ^ Northern Reg. (Rolls 61), 196-8; Raine, Fas^i, 380 ; Reg. Romeyn, f. 46; 
 Reg. Melton, f. 175. 
 
 2 B.M. Cott. Vesp. D., xv., f. 61-5. 
 
 ^ Liber Pontif., ed. R. Barnes; (S.S. 61); Sartwi Man. {S.S, 
 
 63); see Appendix A to this volume. 
 


ORDER AND RULE 
 
 95 
 
 towards the cell. The bishop advanced, and, taking him by 
 the hand, led him to his habitation, whilst the clerks chanted 
 a litany. The bishop, having hallowed the altar and house, 
 went out and brought in the includendus^ and after solemn 
 prayers and benedictions, he—now the inclusus —was left 
 alone. The bishop recited the antiphon in a loud voice, 
 audible, may be, in the utter silence of the cell, the door of 
 which had been firmly shut. After united prayer for the 
 solitary, the procession formed again and returned into the 
 church. 
 
 The Exeter Office bears a general resemblance to the fore¬ 
 going. The opening rubric directs that the would-be recluse, 
 if a clerk, should prostrate himself barefoot in the midst of the 
 choir ; if a layman, he should lie outside the gate of the choir; 
 if a woman, in the western part of the church, where women 
 are wont to worship. Having recited certain psalms and a 
 litany, the bishop and his ministers should come to the pros¬ 
 trate person, with cross, thurible, and holy water, and after 
 sprinkling and censing him, the bishop, with another venerable 
 person, should raise him up. Holding a taper in each hand, 
 the candidate should listen devoutly as this lection was read 
 from Isaiah : “ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, 
 and shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a 
 little moment, until the indignation be overpast ”. The Gospel 
 was taken from St. Luke : “ Jesus entered into a certain village : 
 and a certain woman named Martha received him into her 
 house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at 
 Jesus’ feet, and heard His word,” etc. Having read the form 
 of profession, the candidate should kneel at the altar-step, 
 repeating thrice : “ Receive me, O Lord, according to Thy 
 word ”. After further prayers, “ let the bishop make a dis¬ 
 course to the people, explaining the manner and form of living 
 of a recluse, and let him commend the person about to be en¬ 
 closed to the people that they may pray for him ”. The Mass 
 of the Holy Spirit was now celebrated, by \}ciQinclude7idus\{\m- 
 self, if he were in holy orders, but if not, by the bishop or by 
 another priest. The bishop, having led the novice to the door 
 of the reclusorium^ was to enter, and consecrate the whole house 
 by prayers, holy water, and censing. He should then go out 
 to the waiting person and say : “ If he wishes to enter, let him 
 


96 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 enter The bishop then began to perform rites which were 
 designed to impress upon the devotee the fact that in a strict 
 sense he was henceforth dead to the world. The office of ex¬ 
 treme unction was performed, with the commendation of the 
 soul, lest death should anticipate the last rites. “ These things 
 being done, let the grave be opened, entering which, let the 
 recluse himself, or another in his name, sing : This shall be 
 my rest for ever Dust was scattered with the words ; From 
 dust wast thou created^ etc. Before going out, the bishop made 
 a final exhortation, and the door of the house was built up. 
 
 “We left her, as is believed, in peace and calm of spirit, 
 in the joy of her Saviour ” : so it was reported of the nun 
 Beatrice (p. 92), who almost from her youth had craved for 
 this life. 
 
 In this solemn manner the self-dedicated person was ad¬ 
 mitted to the “order” of an anchorite, as it was termed. It 
 was “in the order of an ancresse ” that one Margery made 
 her profession in 1521 in the church of the Blackfriars, in the 
 following words:— 
 
 “ I sister Margerie Clyute offereth and giueth myselfe to the 
 mercie of Godd in the order of an Ancresse to lyue in his seruice 
 after the rule of an ancresse and here in the presence of you worthy 
 father in Godd Thomas Bishop of Lydene ^ I make myne Obedience 
 to the worshipful father in Godd lord Ric. fitz James Byshop of Lon¬ 
 don and to his successours 
 
 This word “ order ” often occurs in documents, but, in the 
 Ancren Riwle^ recluses were warned against using the term in 
 a limited sense: “If any ignorant person ask you of what 
 order ye are, as ye tell me some do . . . answer and say that 
 ye are of the order of St. James,” that is to say, of those who 
 keep themselves unspotted from the world. 
 
 The recluse’s Rule of Life consisted of friendly counsel 
 rather than rigid regulations. Several such books of instruc¬ 
 tion were written in England for English women—by an 
 abbot, by some unknown churchman, by a layman-hermit, 
 and by an Augustinian canon. 
 
 {a) Rule of Aelred (twelfth century).—The Regula, Informa- 
 
 ^ In 1495 the Bishop of Lydda was Suffragan to Bishop Blyth of Sarum. 
 This Thomas Lydensis owned the Pontifical mentioned elsewhere. 
 


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ORDER AND RULE 
 
 97 
 
 cio^ or Institutio Inclusarum ^ was compiled by Aelred of Rie- 
 vaulx, “a man glowing with enthusiasm for the solitary life”. 
 It is dedicated to his sister, who had long besought him for a 
 form of living. He says in his preface that being her brother 
 after the flesh and in spirit he could not refuse her request, 
 but he would she had asked one wiser and more experienced 
 than himself: “ Natheles after that simple felynge that god 
 hath youen me I shal write to the a forme gadert out of holy 
 fadirs tradition”. The first chapter is entitled: “ How the 
 eremitical life was appointed ”. Looking back to the ancients, 
 many of whom dwelt alone in the wilderness, Aelred inquires 
 wherefore this life was undertaken. Some, he says, find it harm¬ 
 ful to live in a crowd, and profitable to be in solitude ; finding 
 in the world a freedom of loveliness and possibility of wander¬ 
 ing, they think it safer to be confined within a cell. Aelred 
 gives wise counsel on spiritual and material matters, extracts 
 from which will be found in succeeding chapters. After giving 
 some details as to dress, he adds: “ These things, dear sister, 
 I have written at thy request concerning the manner of outward 
 conduct, not on account of zeal for antiquity, but for the short¬ 
 ness of our time here on earth ; setting forth a certain form of 
 life adapted for weaker sisters, leaving to the stronger ones to 
 go forward unto fuller perfection ”. The humble abbot con¬ 
 cludes with a personal plea: “If any one shall have profited 
 by the discourse of this book, let her render back to me this 
 return for my labour and study: that she may intercede for 
 
 my sins with my Saviour whom I love, with my Rewarder for 
 
 \ 
 
 whom I look, with my Judge whom I fear”. 
 
 ib) Ancren Riwle^ (thirteenth century).—The Rule bearing 
 this name is a handbook of devotion, conduct, and household 
 management. The author was familiar with Aelred’s work 
 and quotes from it (p. 122). He was the personal friend of 
 those for whom he wrote—“ my dear sisters, women most dear 
 to me ”. He enjoins the three-fold vow of obedience, chastity, 
 and constancy of abode. They must be guided by an inward 
 
 1 L. Holstenius, Codex Regularum, iii. 186-239. Also English paraphrase, 
 Bodl. MS., 423, f. 178-92: “ Here endith the Reule of a Recluse that seynt 
 Alrede wrote to his suster ”. Another copy, Vernon MS., is transcribed by 
 Horstman in Englische Studien, ed. E. Kolbing, vii. 304-44. 
 
 2 Camden Soc., O.S. 57 (1853) contains original and translation; latter re¬ 
 printed in 1905 by Abbot Gasquet {King's Classics), 
 
 7 
 


98 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 law—that of love which regulates the heart. Mere outward 
 rules might vary according to each one’s estate and circum¬ 
 stances. The precepts contained in the book are, he declares, 
 written for themselves alone; other anchoresses must not say 
 that he, by his own authority, makes new rules for them. 
 The regulations may be changed at will for better ones: “ In 
 regard to things of this kind that have been in use before^ it 
 matters little 
 
 The question of authorship has yet to be solved. It was 
 formerly attributed to Richard Poer, Bishop of Salisbury 
 (1217-29), but the evidence is insufficient. The preface to one 
 imperfect Latin copy, preserved at Magdalen College, Oxford, 
 states that Bishop Simon of Ghent (1297-1315) wrote it for 
 his sisters, anchoresses at Tarrent, but this is clearly a transla¬ 
 tion and the original English work is of considerably earlier 
 date. The researches of Prof. Koelbing and Dr. Thummler 
 will doubtless contribute much to the question of date and 
 authorship. Their critical edition is to be published by the 
 Early English Text Society (see note on p. 100). 
 
 The writer was a man of high ideals, a practical person, 
 with sound judgment and clear insight. A marked gift of 
 sympathy is shown by his tender, delicate, and understanding 
 instructions. Careful thought and infinite labour were be¬ 
 stowed upon the work :— 
 
 “ In this book read every day, when ye are at leisure—every day 
 less or more ; for I hope that if ye read it often it will be very bene¬ 
 ficial to you through the grace of God, or else I shall have ill 
 employed much of my time. God knows, it would be more agreeable 
 to me to set out on a journey.to Rome, than to begin to do it again.” 
 
 {c) Form of Perfect Living^ (fourteenth century).—This 
 treatise was written by Richard Rolle for his friend. Dame 
 Margaret. It is an intimate spiritual letter rather than a set 
 rule. The second chapter (often found as a separate tract) 
 deals with the solitary life, its peculiar trials and joys. Of its 
 mystical teaching the following is a specimen:— 
 
 “ For that thou hast forsaken the solace and the joy of this 
 world, and taken thee to solitary life ... I trow truly that the com¬ 
 fort of Jesus Christ and the sweetness of His love, with the fire of 
 
 ^ C. Horstman, R. Rolle^ i, 3-49. 
 


ORDER AND RULE 
 
 99 
 
 the Holy Ghost that purges all sin, shall be in thee and with thee, 
 leading thee and teaching thee how thou shalt think, how thou shalt 
 pray, what thou shalt work, so that in a few years thou shalt have 
 more delight to be by thyself and speak to thy love and thy spouse 
 Jesus Christ, that is high in heaven, than if thou wert lady here of a 
 thousand worlds. Men ween that we are in pain and penance: but 
 we have more joy and very delight in a day than they have in the 
 world all their life. They see our body, but they see not our heart, 
 where our solace is. If they saw that, many of them would forsake 
 all that they have, for to follow us.” 
 
 (d) The Scale (or Ladder) of Perfection} written by Walter 
 Hilton, an Augustinian canon who died in 1396. It deals 
 with the life of action and of contemplation, but especially with 
 the latter. He addresses it to a woman “ closid in a hous,” 
 and reminds her that the cause of her bodily enclosure is that 
 she might thereby the better come to a “ ghostly closynge ”. 
 Since her estate required of her to be contemplative, it behoved 
 her to be right busy both night and day with travail of body 
 and of spirit, in order to come as nigh as she might to that 
 life. 
 
 [e) Book for Recluses (fifteenth century), containing advice 
 based upon various reasons for embracing this life, whether 
 (i) intention of living at her own will without labour, (2) fer¬ 
 vent repentance, (3) avoidance of sin, or (4) desire for Divine 
 contemplation. The first counsels of the preface aim at 
 changing the purpose of any whose first motive had been tem¬ 
 poral solace, comfort, independence, acquisition of goods. The 
 remainder of the book is entirely devotional. The first part con¬ 
 tains plain teaching drawn from the Old and New Testaments. 
 Prayer is illustrated by David and Hezekiah, Moses and 
 Joshua, Elijah and Elisha; repentance, by David, Peter, Mary 
 Magdalene, and “ the publican asking mercy ”. The second 
 part is a call to praise, and treats of the excellence and might 
 and goodness of God as maker and keeper of all things. There 
 is pathos in the suggestion made to one so straitly shut up that 
 she might stir her heart to praise by thinking upon the merry 
 noise of birds in their sweet song, the delight of flowers and 
 fruits, the usefulness of beasts, which follow without fail the 
 
 ^ First printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1494. Latest edition, 1901. 
 
 2 B. M. Harl. 2372. 
 


100 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 law of nature and are every year marvellously renewed to the 
 behoof of man. But chiefly was she to meditate upon “ the 
 glorious Passion of our Lord The third part, which is un¬ 
 finished, contains sacramental teaching. 
 
 The Order and Rule have necessarily been dealt with only 
 in outline. Details of the outer life will now be considered, 
 whilst an account of the inner life with its trials and discipline 
 is reserved for a subsequent chapter. 
 
 Note on the “ Ancren Riwle'\ 
 
 Since going to press Professor Gollancz has called my 
 attention to a fourteenth-century version of this Rule, recently 
 edited by Joel Pahlsson {The Recluse, University of Lund, 
 1911). The original is found at Magdalene College, Cam¬ 
 bridge (MS. Pepys, 2498). It is addressed to men and 
 women, and several of the intimate touches of the Ancren 
 Riwle are omitted, e.g. allusions to the circumstances of the 
 three sisters (see pp. 97-8, 105-6, 109, 131, 136 of this 
 volume). In place of the homely allusion to the scullion 
 Slurry, the Camb. MS. preaches the patient endurance of 
 insolence from underlings. “ Our lay-brethren ” and “ our 
 order” are not mentioned, but the religious of the later 
 version include friars. The Camb. MS. inserts passages 
 which are wanting in the Cottonian; but the full practical 
 directions found at the end of the latter are given in briefest 
 outline* The compiler describes himself as “ him that drew 
 it out into this language ”. 
 


IX. CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 A bird sometimes alighteth on the earth, to seek his food for the need of the 
 flesh. . . . Even so, the pious recluse, though she fly ever so high, must at times 
 come down to the earth in respect of her body—and eat, drink, sleep, work, 
 speak, and hear, when it is necessary, of earthly things.— Ancren Riwle. 
 
 A lthough the true solitary was chiefly occupied 
 with the affairs of the soul, either he himself or 
 his neighbours were bound to take thought for his 
 bodily needs. The possession of a little plot of land enabled 
 the hermit to be more or less independent, but the anchorite 
 could not maintain himself. The hermit’s absorbing interest 
 in his garden was even supposed to become an obstacle to his 
 spiritual progress. In the Hortus Deliciaruin^ compiled by a 
 German abbess in the twelfth century, the ladder to perfection 
 is depicted in symbol, with the climbers and their respective 
 hindrances. Among men of religion, the hermit is foremost, 
 although his garden has proved a stumbling-block; whilst 
 the anchorite is kept back by sloth, represented by a bed} 
 
 I. Food 
 
 The early hermits lived a primitive life as tillers of the soil, 
 and their food consisted of herbs, roots, grain, and fruit. 
 Godric of Finchale used to refuse the gifts of food offered to 
 him, and cultivated his garden as long as he was able; we 
 read of his planting and grafting, and of his crops. He also 
 kept cows, and in his old age, lived almost entirely upon milk. 
 Robert of Knaresborough was another hermit-husbandman. 
 He fared frugally, but one day he was left hungry, for robbers 
 invaded his dwelling and stole his bread and cheese. After a 
 time he was granted as much land as he could dig, and later, 
 as much as he could till with one plough. He was also given 
 two horses, two oxen, and two cows. Robert’s parable was 
 an ear of corn (p. 153); and the miracles ascribed to him are 
 
 ^ L. Eckenstein, Woman tinder Monast., 246. 
 
 101 
 


102 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the miracles of a farmer. He tames the wild cow, and yokes 
 to his plough the stags which trample his corn:— 
 
 Hertes full heghe of hede and horn • 
 
 Vsed to come to Robertt corn . . . 
 
 He wentt and wagged att them a wand 
 And draffe thise dere hame wt hys hand. 
 
 This legend and also that of a counterfeit cripple, who begged 
 a cow from St. Robert, were depicted in a window set up in 
 Knaresborough church in 1473.^ 
 
 In some cases the hermit had no land to cultivate. Richard 
 Rolle, for example, was homeless. At first he was provided 
 with food and shelter by Sir John and Lady de Dalton, but 
 when they died, he became a wanderer, dependent upon alms. 
 Ill-clad and ill-shod, he suffered severely from exposure. At 
 times he subsisted on mouldy bread, and had but a scant 
 supply of water. Yet Richard did not refuse proper sus¬ 
 tenance when it was provided. He had eaten and drunk of 
 the best, not for love of good food, but for nature to be sus¬ 
 tained in God’s service. He would not appear unto men to 
 fast, but conformed himself to them with whom he dwelt, 
 fearing lest he should feign holiness, and win praise. He 
 advised the contemplative not to attempt too much fasting, 
 lest “for febilnes of body he myght not synge”.'^ Enemies 
 were therefore not slow to say that he would not abide but 
 where he might be delicately fed; whilst as a matter of fact 
 he frequently suffered exhaustion from abstinence. 
 
 Flesh was rarely tasted by the hermit. It was lawful to 
 partake of it on the three great festivals, and on the four 
 following days ; also in time of sickness, or strenuous work— 
 “ for grete labore past or labor for to come yf nede ax yt ”. 
 At the commandment of the bishop or patron, he might indulge 
 in meat for a single day. He was directed to fast three days 
 in the week, and on Friday upon bread and water. He was 
 also required to observe seasons of abstinence, namely, forty 
 days before Christmas and Easter, and nine days before Whit¬ 
 sunday and Michaelmas.^ 
 
 ^Dodsworth, Church Notes. (Rec. S., 34), 158. The glass is said to have 
 been removed during the last century (? into Lincolnshire). Further information 
 will be welcomed by the writer. 
 
 ^Fire of Love (E.E. Text S.), 25-6. 
 
 ^Bristol City Library, MS. 6 (cf. Appendix B). 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 103 
 
 In one Rule interesting directions are given under the 
 heading Of provisio 7 i in his cell :— 
 
 “ If a hermit dwells in a borough, town, or city, or nigh thereto, 
 where each day he can well beg his daily food, let him before sunset 
 distribute to Christ’s poor that which remains of his food. But if he 
 abides afar, as in a country village or a desert spot one or two miles 
 from the abode of men, let him make provision for one week strictly 
 from Sunday to Sunday, or he may begin on another day of the week ; 
 and if aught remains over, let it be given to the poor forthwith, un¬ 
 less on some ground he can excuse himself in the sight of God, as 
 that he is sick or weak, or that he is tending a sick man, or is busy 
 at home with works bodily or spiritual which are well pleasing to 
 God.”i 
 
 This encouragement to town hermits to beg their bread was 
 mischievous. Langland complains that there were false her¬ 
 mits living in idleness and ease by others’ travail (p. 61-2). 
 More than one Rule, however, devoted a clause to manual 
 labour, and impressed the apostolic saying ; “ He that laboreth 
 not, owght not to ete ”. 
 
 Anchorites, on the other hand, could not support themselves. 
 There are, indeed, two chapters in Aelred’s Rule (vi., XI.) to 
 the effect that the recluse should live by the labour of her 
 hands, or, if she were not in want, bestow the price upon the 
 church or the poor. But if either sickness or tenderness did 
 not allow this, let her, before she is enclosed, seek out certain 
 persons from whom day by day she may receive food. 
 
 The bishop was careful not to license anyone unless he 
 was satisfied that sustentation was secure and permanent; 
 indeed, if the solitary were in want, the burden of maintenance 
 fell upon the bishop, as in the case of a clerk ordained without 
 a title. ^ Archbishop Arundel granted permission for the 
 enclosure at Broughton (Lincolnshire) of the monk John 
 Kyngeston, “ according to the appointment and disposition of 
 certain venerable friends of his ”. 
 
 Maintenance was provided in money or in kind. The al¬ 
 lowance varied according to the person’s estate. During the 
 century 1160-1260 royal pensioners were usually granted 
 or \d. a day; but Adam, a recluse at Gloucester, had the 
 liberal dole of 2d. a day, paid out of the farm of the city. 
 
 ^ Bodl. Rawl. MS., C. 72. ^ Lyndwood, Provinciate, Lib. III. 
 


104 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The ample yearly allowance of iooj. was made to the 
 anchoress of Iffley, who also frequently received oaks for her 
 fire. Other donors gave smaller sums, even \d. or 2 d. a week, 
 supplemented, perhaps, by food, fuel, or clothes. In some 
 cases, anchoresses received a grant of corn, but this was often 
 commuted for-a money payment. 
 
 The recluse lived on simple foods, chiefly vegetarian. The 
 rules direct that she have potage made of herbs, peas, or 
 beans, furmity sweetened with milk, butter, or oil, and fish 
 seasoned with apples or herbs. On Wednesday, FTiday, and 
 Saturday, Lent meals only were allowed. During Lent she 
 might have one kind of potage daily, but on Fridays only 
 bread and water. No flesh or lard was eaten except in great 
 sickness. The hour of the meal was noon, but in Lent, not 
 until after vespers.^ Langland says that he will give alms to 
 anchorites “ that eten nought but at nones, and no more ere 
 morrow 
 
 The inmate of a cell which was dependent upon a monastic 
 house usually received a corrody, or fixed allowance of food 
 and clothing; thus in the compotus rolls of Worcester Priory 
 are entered the portions of bread and ale given out to two re¬ 
 cluses. About the year 1235 it was ordained that the anchor¬ 
 ess of St. Michael’s church at St. Albans should enjoy the 
 corrody left to the abbey by Adam the Cellarer. At Whalley 
 the provision seems liberal. The sum of '^^d. a week was paid 
 to the three inmates of the cell, who received every week 
 seventeen loaves such as were usually made in the monastery, 
 and seven loaves of an inferior sort (each loaf to weigh fifty 
 shillings sterling), with eight gallons of beer. At the feast of 
 All Saints they were given ten large stock fish, one bushel of 
 oatmeal, and one bushel of rye. For the lighting and warm¬ 
 ing of the house oil, turfs, and faggots were provided. 
 
 Some persons contributed towards their maintenance. 
 Agnes Booth or Shepherd (a nun of Norton Priory) was en¬ 
 closed at Pilling in Garstang, a chapelry of Cockersand. 
 Eight years later, in 1501, the following entry occurs in the 
 rental : “ M^ yat Annes Scheperte hasse payn to James y^ 
 
 ^ Reg. Inchis., cap. xix.; Bodl. MS., 423, f. 182. 
 
 Piers Plowman (E.E.T.S., 38), Text B., pass, vi., 147-8. But in summer 
 two meals were permitted, see Ancreti Riwle. 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 105 
 
 Abbott of Cokersand for her lyuing—ii^tome&vi® viii^ 
 to ye Convent”. 
 
 The necessaries of life were sometimes provided from the 
 manor-house. The ladies for whom the Ancren Riwle was 
 written were maintained in an unusual degree of comfort:— 
 
 “For ye take no thought for food and clothing, neither for 
 yourselves nor for your maidens. Each of you hath from one friend 
 all that she requireth; nor need that maiden seek either bread, or 
 that which is eaten with bread, further than at his hall.” 
 
 The writer adds emphatically that “ many others know 
 little of this abundance, but are full often distressed with 
 want ”. 
 
 The recluse was warned not to grumble at her meat and 
 drink, were it ever so stale; if it were actually uneatable she 
 might ask for more palatable food, but reluctantly and tactfully ; 
 for it were a sin to cause men to say : “ This anchoress is dainty, 
 and she asks much ”. Only sheer necessity should drive her to 
 make a request: “ yet humbly shew your distress to your 
 dearest friend”. If fragments could be spared from her meals, 
 she should send them secretly to poor women and children who 
 had laboured for her. Waste, untidiness, and neglect of house¬ 
 hold duties were forbidden. The category of faults to be con¬ 
 fessed included these: “ Dropping crumbs, or spilling ale, or 
 letting a thing grow mouldy, or rusty, or rotten; clothes not 
 sewed, wet with rain, or unwashen; a cup or a dish broken, or 
 any thing carelessly looked after which we are using ”. 
 
 II. Clothing 
 
 In a convent it was customary, for uniformity’s sake, that all 
 should be attired alike; “but wherever a woman liveth, or a 
 man liveth by himself alone, be he hermit or anchorite, of out¬ 
 ward things whereof scandal cometh not, it is not necessary 
 to take so much care”. Foolish people, supposing that the 
 “order” consisted in kirtle or cowl, would question recluses 
 about the colour and cut of their garments, as though religion 
 were a matter of a wide hood, or of a black, white, or grey cowl. 
 
 As the visible sign of separation, however, a habit was 
 essential. No man felt himself a hermit until he had assumed 
 some distinctive dress. Even that most unconventional of 
 


io6 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 solitaries, Richard Rolle, when about to flee from home, per¬ 
 suaded his sister to send to him in the wood two garments and 
 his father’s raincloak, whereof he fashioned a habit and hood. 
 Putting off his own clothes, he put on his sister’s white tunic. 
 Above this he wore her grey tunic, thrusting his arms through 
 the holes which he had left by cutting out the sleeves; and 
 over all he drew on the cloak, “ so that, in some measure, he 
 might present a confused likeness to a hermit”. Sir John de 
 Dalton then provided him with “ garments suitable to a 
 hermit”. Long afterwards, when he was established as a 
 hermit, his friends removed a tattered habit, mended it, and 
 put it on again, whilst he was in spiritual absorption.^ 
 
 The Rules direct that the hermit’s dress be according to the 
 bishop’s ordinance; it must not too closely resemble that of 
 any order, lest it cause offence. “ Let hys clothyng be humyle 
 and not curius. . . . And yf he wyll of devosyon were next 
 hys flesh a cylyce it ys laufull.” He was to wear plain shoes 
 without hose, or else go barefoot. In his coat or kirtle, girded 
 with a cord, he slept, and he was at length buried in it: “ and 
 he shall be graved whan he ys ded in hys habyt as he gothe ”. 
 
 The habit varied as considerably as did the office. It 
 usually consisted of loose garments of sober hue, caught up 
 with a cord. A wall-painting at Rampton shows a hermit 
 with sleeved surplice, tippet, and skull-cap. Another type of 
 dress is shown in Fig. 6. 
 
 There was no regulation dress for the anchoress. Against 
 the winter she was to have a pilch, a thick garment made of 
 skins; and in summer, a kirtle with a black mantle. The 
 head-covering was not to be of fine texture or varied colour, 
 but of a mean black. If the ladies dispensed with wimples, 
 they should have capes and veils. Clothing was to be simple 
 and serviceable. “ Because no man seeth you, nor do ye see 
 any man, ye may be well content with your clothes, be they 
 white, be they black; only see that they be plain, and warm, 
 and well-made—skins well tawed; and have as many as you 
 need, for bed and also for back.” Underclothing was to be of 
 coarse linen or woollen material. Shoes must be thick and 
 warm, but in summer recluses were at liberty to go barefoot. 
 
 ’ Officium, York Breviary (S.S., 75), App. V. 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 107 
 
 They might wear no ring, brooch, ornamented girdle, or 
 gloves. 
 
 The male anchorite probably wore some clerical garb. 
 Symon, of Allhallows, London Wall, is represented in the 
 frontispiece of his book as a priest (Fig. 7). 
 
 Offerings were sometimes made to the recluse in the form 
 of garments. Wulfric of Haselbury, scantily clad in his chilly 
 cell, received a welcome gift from Bristol:— 
 
 “The man of God was very frequently benumbed with extreme 
 cold, to such a'degree that a certain man from the neighbourhood of 
 Bristol, being warned by a vision, sent to him a new covering of fox- 
 skin wherewith he should cover himself. For the Lord said to him 
 in a vision : ‘ My servant Wulfric is tortured with cold, but thou, 
 indeed, art pleasantly warm; get up as quickly as possible and send 
 this covering with all speed ’. And so it was done.” 
 
 But mantles which men might make, mice might mar. As 
 Wulfric sat one day in his cell, he observed that his cloak had 
 been gnawed by a mouse. “ May the mouse perish which has 
 thus presumed to damage my mantle ! ” The words were no 
 sooner uttered than, behold, the creature, starting out from 
 the wall, fell dead at the feet of the recluse. Seized with com¬ 
 punction, Wulfric called the priest and humbly confessed that 
 his thoughtless curse had slain the mouse. The priest ex¬ 
 claimed in reply; “Would that a like anathema might utterly 
 exterminate all the mice of this district! ” 
 
 By a will, dating from the time of King John, a super-tunic 
 of bijie was left to Dame Lucy, who was enclosed in the church¬ 
 yard of Bury St. Edmunds. The anchorite of Colemans- 
 church in London received from a canon of St. Martin’s two 
 fur garments. Geoffrey le Scrope made a substantial legacy 
 to the anchorite of Holy Trinity, Lincoln, namely, 20s.^ a 
 tunic furred with calaber with a double hood, and a cloak 
 furred with gris. A priest of Lynn made a grim gift to the 
 anker in the friary (i 504) ;— 
 
 “ I beqwethe to the seid Fryer William a blak vestment and a 
 blak clothe steynyd with an ymage of deth. And I wyll the sam 
 cloth be set vpon my hers in the day of my buryyng. Item I 
 beqwethe to the seid Fryer William a red cloth that lyeth on my 
 bed.” ' 
 
 ^ Wills, Bury St. Edmunds (Camden S.), 105. 
 


io8 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 About the recluse’s toilet a word must also be said. Some 
 of the extreme ascetics with their unchanged haircloth-shirts 
 seem almost to have gloried in dirt and squalor. So absorbed 
 were they in an ideal of holiness that they ignored the practical 
 needs of the poor body. It was well that rigid discipline in¬ 
 cluded immersion in cold water. The Rules gave no encour¬ 
 agement to personal neglect. One directs: “Wash your¬ 
 selves as often as ye please Another quotes a saying of St. 
 Bernard: “ I haue louyd pouerte but y neuer louyd fylth”.^ 
 
 HI. Property 
 
 To forsake all was the initial step of the hermit’s career. 
 The rhyming chronicler puts typical words into the mouth of 
 Ive, the companion of Robert of Knaresborough :— 
 
 I wyll forsake all thatt I se 
 Fadyr and frend and folowe the 
 Gold and goods ryches and rentt 
 Towne and toure and tenement 
 Playng and prosperyte 
 In pouerte for to won wyth the. 
 
 But although the recluse’s renunciation of the world in¬ 
 cluded houses and land, fresh grants were made to him for his 
 maintenance. St. Robert gave up his own inheritance; but, 
 as hermits, both he and his successor, Ive, came to possess 
 considerable property, held in trust for the relief of the poor. 
 
 The solitary was sometimes the owner, but usually the 
 life-tenant, of the cell. He frequently granted it to some 
 religious house, ,e.g. Geoffrey, hermit of Mosehude (a place not 
 identified), granted his house there and all his possessions to 
 the Knights Templars. Personal property he might dispose 
 of at will. Robert, an inmate of the Cripplegate cell, London, 
 was ministered to during the last months of his life by William 
 de Wyntreburn, who received by the old man’s will the sum 
 of SOJ*., three messuages, and sundry small rents. William, 
 hermit of Linstock, owned six cattle and a little money. He 
 bequeathed two cows to Carlisle Cathedral, in the precincts 
 of which he wished to be buried ; another he devised to his 
 parish church of Stanwix ; the price of a fourth was to be 
 divided amongst the priests and clerks who should conduct 
 
 ^ Bristol MS.; cf. Bodl. MS., “ Paupertatem dilexi, sordes nunquam”. 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 109 
 
 his obsequies. Twenty shillings was to be expended on the 
 bridge over the Eden, and a few legacies were made to friends. 
 
 Hermits were, as we have seen, sometimes married men, 
 or widowers, and family claims were not disallowed. There 
 is a reference in the Bridlington Cartulary (c. 1220) to the 
 hermit’s wife, and also to their son who did homage for his 
 father’s land at Bridlington. Thomas Wylkys, of Ewelme, 
 left 20s. to his daughter. Simon Cotes (p. 63), whose will 
 is witnessed by his son, left to him all moveable goods; but 
 his house and chapel at Westbourne, built upon ground which 
 he had inherited, he bequeathed for the use of a successor who 
 should carry on his work. 
 
 Whilst the hermit might own his three acres and a cow, 
 the anchorite might not possess such things as would tend to 
 draw the thoughts outward. Enclosed women were warned 
 against becoming absorbed in household cares. There are 
 women, says Aelred, who are busy gathering worldly goods, 
 cattle and wool, and in multiplying pence and shillings. 
 They arrange food for their beasts, and at the year’s end 
 they reckon their number and price; then follow buying and 
 selling, which lead to covetousness and avarice.^ The Ancren 
 Riwle is still more explicit:— 
 
 “ Ye shall not possess any beast, my dear sisters, except only a 
 cat. An anchoress that hath cattle appeareth as Martha was, a better 
 housewife than anchoress ; nor can she in any wise be Mary, with 
 peacefulness of heart. For then she must think of the cow’s fodder, 
 and of the herdsman’s hire, flatter the heyward, defend herself when 
 her cattle is shut up in the pinfold, and moreover pay the damage. 
 Christ knoweth, it is an odious thing when people in the town 
 complain of anchoresses’ cattle. If, however, any one must needs 
 have a cow, let her take care that she neither annoy nor harm any 
 one, and that her own thoughts be not fixed thereon.” 
 
 Trading is condemned: “ an anchoress that is a buyer and 
 seller, selleth her soul to the chapman of hell”. She was for¬ 
 bidden to gather alms in order to give away. 
 
 The alms of visitors or passers-by were dropped into a box 
 placed near the cell; Langland says that “ at ancres there a 
 box hangeth”. Hoccleve refers {c. 1411) to this popular form 
 of largesse:— 
 
 ^Bodl. MS., 423, f. 178. 
 


no HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 To every chirche and recluse of the toune 
 Bad hem eeke of golde geue a quantite.^ 
 
 The hermits and anchorites of Lynn were regularly assisted 
 from the funds of the Trinity Gild. Among the expenses in¬ 
 curred at John Paston’s burial in 1466 was an alms of ^od. to 
 the ancors of Carrow by Norwich. Small annuities were some¬ 
 times provided. In the schedule of charges incumbent on St. 
 Alban’s Abbey in keeping the anniversary of Humphrey, Duke 
 of Gloucester, occurs this entry : “ Item to a ankres at Sent 
 Petur chirch, a nother at Sent Mich, the seid day, yerly, to 
 euerych xxd.'\ Alms were frequently bestowed upon these 
 religious women of St. Albans.^ When the prioress of St. 
 Mary de Pre was paying certain estate-charges, she set aside 
 a few pence by way of charity (1487-9) ; “ Item spente at the 
 ankers of Seint Petres whan I sawe the fermours indentures of 
 Bemond iiijc/.”. When passing through the town in 1502 
 Elizabeth of York gave 3^'. 4d. to the anchoress of St, 
 Peter’s, and the following year, 26,^. Sd. to the anchoress of 
 St. Michael’s. 
 
 During the fifteenth century, alms were so liberally bestowed 
 that money became a snare. A Harleian MS. (2372) of that 
 period shows that the anchoress was tempted to live in com¬ 
 fort, to receive poor folks and pilgrims, and to support needy 
 cousins ;— 
 
 “ Some Recluses in these dayes [dwell] nat in wildernesses but in 
 the citees that they may there receyue large almes wher of thei may 
 holde greet meynee [i.e. company] and helpe and promote more 
 largely her kyn and her freendes than thei myghte in othir estat and 
 lyue more delicatly than thei were likly haue doon in seculer plyt.” 
 
 Ithough the Ancren Riwle speaks disparagingly of “ rich 
 anchoresses that are tillers of the ground, or have fixed rents,” 
 the recluse did, for the sake of maintenance, retain houses and 
 lands and receive rent for them. Not infrequently she made 
 over her property to a religious house, accepting in lieu thereof 
 a definite allowance for life ; thus the abbey of Oseney made 
 yearly payments to Childlove, anchoress of Faringdon. Mar¬ 
 garet, of St. Edward’s, Norwich, issued charters, sealed with 
 her own seal, whereby she conceded land to Langley Abbey, 
 
 1 PicYi Plowman (E.E.T.S.) B., xv. 208 ; Reg. of Princes (E.E.T.S.), 156. 
 
 ^ Dugd., II. 202 n.; iii. 360 ; for bequests see Herts Genealogist, i., ii. 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 111 
 
 and the abbot in return granted her 6 s. a yeard If such agree¬ 
 ments were not kept, a plea might be sent to the itinerant 
 justices, or a petition lodged in chancery. The case of Cecily, 
 recluse of St. James’s, Colchester, is entered on the Assize 
 Roll (1272) ; the abbot of St. Osyth’s, who had not fulfilled 
 his promise to pay her an annual rent of five quarters of wheat, 
 undertook to do so, and to pay arrears. Aline of Wigan fell 
 on evil days. Her benefactor. Sir Robert Holand, being in¬ 
 volved in the rebellion of 1321-2, forfeited his property; hence 
 “ la povre recluse ” lacked the sum of '^od. which he had 
 granted annually for her sustenance. Aline, unable to obtain 
 her allowance from John Travers or John de Lancastre, who 
 had charge of the forfeited lands, at length appealed to the 
 King for restitution. The law recognized the right of enclosed 
 persons to hold property, if need be, and to defend it.^ The 
 learned judge Littleton, writing in the time of Edward IV, 
 declares that albeit the recluse could not leave his cell to ap¬ 
 pear in court—“ for this kind of Order always dwells separate 
 and apart from civil life ”—yet he could appear by attorney, 
 on the principle that “ inability suspends the operation of the 
 law ”. ^ 
 
 If the solitary fell into a condition of helplessness, the 
 bishop constituted himself her guardian. When Dame Joan 
 of Blyth was weak and poverty-stricken, Archbishop Wich- 
 wane took her under his protection, and arranged for the 
 administration of her affairs, lest she should suffer loss. “ She 
 is now fallen into sickness, so that she scarcely possesses things 
 needful for her bodily welfare, and has been obliged to give up 
 those lawful occupations in which she formerly spent her 
 time.” The archbishop deputed the vicar to look after his 
 poor parishioner and her household, directing “that in all 
 things both with regard to persons and goods, while she 
 survives or when she is taken away from our midst, they 
 be kept in all honesty and always treated with discretion, 
 as we will that an account shall be required of you concerning 
 the matter”. 
 
 1 B.M. Add. ch. 14558, etc. 
 
 2 Cf. case of W. Lucas, who appealed in Chancery for repayment of loan, 
 C. Welch, Churchwardens^ Accounts of Allhallows, xxx., xxxi. 
 
 ^ Coke, Littleton’s Institutes, ed. Butler, ii. 
 


112 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Although goods and chattels could be disposed of at will, 
 they seem usually to have been given for pious purposes. 
 Robert, the anchorite of Hartlip, gave a silver chalice to the 
 cathedral church of Rochester. Two enclosed monks of 
 Westminster Abbey caused it to be enriched with paintings.^ 
 Brother John Myrymouth spent 26^. Zd. upon an altar-piece for 
 St. Benedict’s chapel. The more famous Brother John London 
 provided a painting above the altar of St. John Baptist; he is 
 also named among the benefactors of Syon monastery. Dame 
 Agnes Vertesance, of St. Michael’s church at St. Albans, 
 bestowed upon the shrine of St. Alban a gold ring.^ An in¬ 
 ventory of the goods of Allhallows, London Wall (1501) 
 includes this item : “ Agrett paxe with iij Images of sylver by 
 the gyfftt off the Anker ”. Successive recluses were liberal 
 donors to the fabric fund. The sum of 4s. 6\d. was paid by 
 “ the ankyr Syr Symon of the gaynes of a stande of ale whiche 
 he gave to thecherche ”. On another occasion he gave 9^. 3<^., 
 “ the gyft of dyuersse men and women of ther dewocion at 
 dyuersse tymys ”. When a new aisle was being built, he lent 
 32i-., and gave 32^-., besides supplying the scaffolding.^ 
 
 The treasures of the cell were usually of a devotional 
 character, consisting of sacred vessels, rosaries, and relics. A 
 set of beads {i Par Pater Master Geinsid de gete) was left to 
 the anchorite of Westminster by Lord Scrope ; another, of 
 mestylden gauded with Calsedonys was given by a Norwich 
 citizen to the anker of the White Friars. The relics of the 
 parish church at Tavistock included “ a little cross of 
 silver, the gift of John Armytt in which is a piece of the holy 
 cross”; and there the anniversary of the donor, John the 
 hermit, was kept. 
 
 The possessions of the solitary might, however, be given 
 to friends, or even sold. Sir Brian Stapelton owned a silver 
 basin with an image of Our Lady in alabaster which had 
 belonged to the anker of Hampole.^ Another testator (John 
 de Dodyngton, canon of Exeter and rector of Crewkerne) 
 mentions in his will “ a cup with a cover, formerly the pro¬ 
 perty of one Stephen, a recluse” (1400).^ Thomas Coke, the 
 
 1 Stanley, Memorials, ed. 1868, p. 609. Cott. Nero D., 7, f. 137. 
 
 3 Welch, Churchwardens'' Accounts, 52, 56-9, 68. 
 
 ^Test. Ebor. (S.S. 4), i. 199. ^ Ex, Reg. Stafford, 379. 
 


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 I'O.MI! ROdKK AND SKIAR, HKRMI'I'S 
 
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CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 113 
 
 anchorite-priest, dwelling in Kexby chapel, sold a missal and 
 a great portifer to Sir Thomas Ughtred, who agreed that the 
 priest should have them in his keeping during his lifetime. 
 
 After the death of Margaret, anchoress of Richmond, a dis¬ 
 pute arose respecting the disposal of her property (1490). It 
 was settled that, after her debts were paid and the anchorage 
 (which belonged to the burgesses) repaired, the remainder of 
 her goods should go to the Grey Friars, from whom she had 
 received the habit; whilst the effects of her successor were to 
 pass to Easby Abbey. In some cases the enclosed person was 
 able to make a will, witness that of Katherine Dytton, of St. 
 Albans (1437).^ 
 
 IV. Burial 
 
 In early days it was customary for the cell to become the 
 tomb of its tenant, whether hermit or anchorite. We read in 
 the lives of Bartholomew, Godric, and Robert how each was 
 buried in his oratory in a tomb prepared by himself, which had 
 for years served as a solemn reminder of the end. 
 
 Sometimes, however, the solitary was buried elsewhere. 
 Tynemouth Priory claimed the body of Henry of Coquet. 
 When Roger of Markyate died, his body was borne to St. 
 Alban’s Abbey and was placed with honour “ in an arched 
 tomb built into the south wall of the church, hard by the choir 
 of the brethren ”. In the same spot Sigar of Northaw was 
 also buried. When Henry III visited St. Albans in 1257, he 
 gave offerings at various shrines, including rich cloths for that 
 of these famous monks.^ Over the recess of their traditional 
 tomb (Plate XXX) is the inscription:— 
 
 Vir domini uerus iacet hie Heremita Rogerus 
 Et sub eo clarus mentis Heremita Sigarus. 
 
 Human remains have frequently been found on the sites 
 of hermitages. In the Hermitage Field at Tarporley, the 
 plough turned up a stone coffin containing a skeleton. Local 
 tradition tells of a burial-ground at Oath Farm, in or near a 
 field called Chapel Five Acres. In 1328 the sick recluse of 
 Oath petitioned that when he died he might not be buried 
 
 1 Somerset House, Reg. “ Stoneham,” f. 31 b. 
 
 ^Gest. Abb. i., loi, 105, 184; y. Amund., i., 433. 
 
 8 
 


114 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 in his cell as the custom was, but in Aller churchyard or else¬ 
 where. 
 
 During the fifteenth century it seems to have become usual 
 to bury the hermit in his parish church or in any other cemetery 
 that he willed. One of the hermits of Newbridge in Ickburgh 
 desired to be interred in Munford church porch, another at the 
 Chapel-in-the-Fields, Norwich. Robert Leake of Blythburgh 
 was buried before the font. There is at Wellingham a monu¬ 
 mental brass inscribed Hiciacetenim Thomas Leeke Herernita ; 
 this is clearly the memorial of Thomas Leek who at the be¬ 
 ginning of the sixteenth century was hermit of Weasenham, 
 close to Wellingham. 
 
 In the case of the enclosed person, the tomb was sometimes 
 prepared before his admission to the cell, and lay ever open 
 to his gaze (p. 96). The same custom prevailed when the 
 Ancren Riwle was written. The anchoress was bidden not 
 only to meditate upon death but actually to scrape up earth 
 every day out of the pit. “ She . . . hath her death always, 
 in a manner, before her eyes.” At the close of the fourteenth 
 century, one of the Westminster recluses was buried in the 
 oratory adjoining his chamber, in a leaden coffin with iron 
 clasps. The keeper of Westminster Palace suborned a plumber 
 of the convent, who, after flinging the mortal remains into the 
 well in the cloister-cemetery, removed the coveted chest to 
 the palace. Divine retribution fell on both partakers in this 
 act of sacrilege. 
 
 Few churches have preserved monuments of the solitaries 
 who dwelt under their shadow. The tradition that Lady 
 Lauretta was buried at Hackington church under the large 
 stone on the altar steps is recorded by Hasted. There is at 
 St. John’s, Lewes, the curious memorial of Magnus the Dane.^ 
 The inscription (which is supposed to date from the thirteenth 
 century) is built into the wall on fifteen stones arranged in a 
 double semi-circle. 
 
 CLAUDITUR HIC MILES, DANORUM REGIA PROLES; 
 
 MANGNUS NOMEN El, MAiVGN^ NOTA PROGENEI : 
 
 DEPONENS MANGNUM, SE MORIBUS INDUIT AGNUM, 
 
 PREPETE PRO VITA, FIT PARVULUS ARNACORITA 
 
 which may be rendered : “ Here is enclosed a soldier of the 
 
 ^ M. A. Lower, Hht. of Sussex, ii. 25. 
 


CONCERNING THE BODY 
 
 115 
 
 royal race of Denmark, whose name Magnus bespeaks his 
 noble lineage: laying aside his high estate, he assumes the 
 demeanour of a lamb, and exchanges a life of ambition for 
 that of a lowly anchorite 
 
 In Lower Quinton church (Gloucestershire) is the tomb of 
 Joan, Lady Clopton, who (from the use of the word clauditur 
 in her monumental inscription) is supposed to have been 
 enclosed there after the death of Sir William Clopton. The 
 fine brass lies on an altar tomb at the east end of the south 
 aisle. The costume shows the veiled head-dress with the 
 barbe^ the sign of widowhood. In the chancel of Faversham 
 church is the brass of William Thornbury, the vicar, who is 
 said to have been preparing to become a recluse in 1472. 
 The meaning of the inscription is obscure, but it seems 
 probable that he retired to live in solitude in his “ chapel and 
 parvise situated in the corner of the churchyard,” described 
 in his will.^ 
 
 The year 1846 saw the death of two recluses at Allhallows, 
 London Wall. The sum of 6 s. %d. was paid by the church¬ 
 wardens “ ffor the Berynge of the nue Ancker, that is to say, 
 for the grete Bell for his knyll ”. 
 
 1 See Arch. Cant. xi. 26-g, plate, p. 27. 
 


X. TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 Lord, for Thy great pain have mercy on my little pain.— Margery Kempe 
 OF Lynn. 
 
 He said not: “Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, 
 thou shalt not be afflicted,” but He said: “ Thou shalt not be overcome — Julian 
 OF Norwich. 
 
 T here are times when the human heart longs to 
 escape from the overwhelming evil and sorrow of 
 the world. The Psalmist yearned for the wings of 
 the dove that he might escape from the tempest and wander 
 far off and remain in the wilderness. Obeying this impulse, 
 world-weary souls have oftentimes fled to some remote spot 
 as to a place of refuge. 
 
 The hermits have been stigmatized as weak and morbid 
 persons who sought retirement in order to avoid the struggles 
 of life ; but, in truth, the very object of the true solitary when 
 he set his face toward the wilderness was to enter into fierce con¬ 
 flict with the tempter. “The fiend tempteth much those who 
 lead a solitary life, for envy that he beareth them : but he is 
 there always overcome. For our Lord himself standeth by 
 them in the fight, and emboldeneth them to resist strongly, 
 and giveth them of his strength.” 
 
 The desert, then, was a place for combat and conquest— 
 not “ a retreat for the feeble, but a training-place for the 
 strong”.^ So terrible was the warfare, that raw recruits were 
 not permitted to engage in it; they had first to prove them¬ 
 selves disciplined soldiers of Christ. St. Benedict, himself an 
 anchorite, ordains thus in his Rule :— 
 
 “The second kind [of monks] are the hermits, that is, settlers in 
 the wilds, who, not in the first fervour of religious life, but after pro¬ 
 bation in the monastery, have learned by the help and experience of 
 others to fight against the devil, and going forth well armed from the 
 
 ^ Farrar, Saintly Workers, 51, 
 
 116 
 





PL A TE JCXXr 
 
 UKRM rr I'KM i' l'KI) liV 'I'HK DKVII. 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 117 
 
 ranks of their brethren to the single-handed combat of the wilderness, 
 are able without the support of others to fight by the strength of their 
 own arm and the help of God against the vices of the devils and their 
 evil thoughts.” 
 
 The same ideal of spiritual warfare inspired the recluse in 
 England. Cuthbert, even in the monastery, would withdraw to 
 the most secluded spot, there to contend with the invisible 
 adversary; and, when he went to Fame, he ousted “ that 
 wicked enemy with all his followers ”. Nearly seven centuries 
 later, another Northumbrian hermit retired to Norham, that 
 there, apart from the turmoil of men, he could fight with the 
 old enemy. Indeed, the reality of the personality of the devil 
 was so strong to the minds of men like Cuthbert, Guthlac, 
 Roger, Godric, Robert, and Richard, that they seemed them¬ 
 selves—like Anthony of Egypt—to have actual conflicts with 
 demons, whose insults and attacks are described at length in 
 the lives of these saints. 
 
 The inexperienced solitary was warned against the snares 
 of the devil :— 
 
 “ Account no vision that ye may see, waking or sleeping, or in a 
 dream, to be anything but an illusion, for it is one of his stratagems. 
 He hath often thus deceived wise men of holy and pious life, as him 
 . . . whom he made to believe that he was an angel, and of his own 
 father that he was the devil, and made him kill his father.” 
 
 The allusion here is to the popular allegory of The Pilgj'im. 
 The tempter “full of fetheres bryght and clere ” went to a cer¬ 
 tain hermit in the desert, bidding him beware of Satan who 
 would assail him on the morrow in the likeness of his father. 
 Thus counselled, “ this innocent, this sely man ” started up 
 anon, and took a knife and slew the old man (Plate XXXiy 
 
 Richard the hermit warns his solitary friend Margaret 
 against the quaint and subtle temptations of the fiend. He 
 relates the story of an anchoress to whom the evil one often 
 came in the form of a good angel, saying that he was come to 
 take her to heaven. Overjoyed, she told this to her shrift- 
 father, who, doubting the vision, counselled her to bid the 
 angel show her the Blessed Virgin. At her request, he showed 
 her the fairest woman that might be ; but when she knelt and 
 
 1 Lydgate’s translation. B.M. Cotton. Tiberius A., vii. f. 56, go. 
 


ii8 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 said Ave Maria^ the fair figure vanished. Richard himself 
 was specially anxious to help recluses and others who were 
 vexed by evil spirits. He was once summoned to a lady’s 
 death-bed, whence, by means of prayer and holy water, he 
 ejected a multitude of horrid demons.^ The mediaeval belief in 
 daemonology was of a highly superstitious character, and the 
 terror of death was enhanced by the thought that devils and 
 angels were wrestling for the departing soul. 
 
 The apparition sometimes assumed human shape. To 
 Robert of Knaresborough, much tried with “imps and war- 
 lows,” the devil appeared as a lad gaping and grinning at him ; 
 but the sturdy saint took his staff and beat “ Sir Gerrard ” 
 soundly.2 To the sick Emma, he seemed to take the form of 
 a physician, who desired to touch her person and prescribe a 
 cure ; but the holy woman exorcised him by the sacred spell 
 Verbum caro factum est? 
 
 The subjection of the body was the lifelong labour of 
 recluses. The seriousness of the struggle is shown by the 
 extreme measures devised by way of training. Wulfric, for 
 example, “ used to mortify his members with much fasting, 
 and bring them under control by toil of vigils, so that his flesh 
 scarcely hung on his bones”. He and certain other cham¬ 
 pions of the ascetic life, were clad not only in spiritual but 
 material armour. Night and day the iron habergeon pressed 
 the rough hair-shirt upon the emaciated frame. When Wul¬ 
 fric, having worn out one penitential suit, obtained a new one 
 from Sir William FitzWalter, its length impeded his kneeling. 
 The knight offered to send the coat of mail to London to be 
 shortened, but the anchorite bade him in God’s name take a 
 pair of shears and cut it. Whilst he hesitated, thinking the 
 good man mad, Wulfric brought shears out of the house, and, 
 having drawn a thread through the rings of the chain-armour 
 to mark where it should be cut, he placed it in the window 
 before the knight, saying : “ Be steadfast, and fear not. I go 
 to pray to my Lord about this matter ; meanwhile do you set 
 about it confidently.” The two warriors were now busily occu- 
 
 1 C. Horstman, R. Rolle, i. 12, 13; Offieiiiniy col. 798-g. 
 
 " Godric also had nicknames for his tormentors, viz., Carcaueresard, Corin- 
 brand, 
 
 ^ Lanercost Chr. (Maitland Club), 185. 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 119 
 
 pied, the one in praying, the other in cutting. Their work 
 prospered, and the iron seemed like a linen texture. Amazed, 
 Sir William fell at Wulfric’s feet, but he raised him and bade 
 him tell no man. Such things, however, cannot be hid, and 
 the fame of the wonder-worker traversed the whole realm. 
 “ From that time the man of God, without any shears, with his 
 own weak fingers, but with no less faith, distributed rings of 
 the coat of mail to heal the diseases of all who asked it of him 
 in charity.” Godric wore the lorica for fifty years. Indeed, 
 he wore out three in succession, the metal rings of which were 
 treasured as relics. 
 
 Another ascetic practice was that of standing in cold water 
 for hours, sometimes throughout the night. Godric often 
 stood in a hollowed rock in the icy waters of the Wear, or 
 descended into a tub sunk in the floor of his oratory. Such 
 being likewise Wulfric’s habit, it is not surprising to learn that 
 he was wont to suffer torture with the cold (p. 107). 
 
 Nor was the anchoress less ready to endure almost incon- 
 ceivable misery. Christina was shut into the corner of a hut, 
 huddled up on the bare floor. The door was so fastened that 
 she could not herself open it, and she was released once a day, 
 at dusk :— 
 
 “ Here the handmaiden of Christ sat crouching on the hard cold 
 stone. . . . Oh, what discomfort she there endured from heat and 
 cold, hunger and thirst, and daily fasting! The place was too 
 narrow for her to wear the clothing needful for cold weather, whilst 
 in the heat this close-fitting closet allowed her no refreshment.” 
 
 The description of physical agony is too painful to repeat, 
 and “ to all these sufferings were added many and terrible 
 diseases”. Roger, her spiritual father, was remarkable for his 
 asceticism. William of Malmesbury says that he led an 
 austere life, “ seldom heard of in our times ” {c. 1125). He had 
 been on pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, where he resolved 
 upon a life of sacrifice and self-abnegation. The ardent 
 receptive nature of his young disciple led her to emulate his 
 austerities. After she had endured much suffering for over 
 four years, a vision of comfort was vouchsafed to her. One 
 fairer than the sons of men appeared, bringing a golden cross. 
 He bade her take up this cross, as all must needs do who 
 


120 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 would fain go to Jerusalem; but He promised that she should 
 not bear it long. When Christina told this vision to Roger, 
 he wept for joy, saying in the vulgar tongue; “Rejoice with 
 me, Myn gode Sonendayes doghter (that is, my good daughter 
 of the Lord’s day) for your tribulation will shortly be ended ” : 
 and so it came to pass. 
 
 Roger, Christina, and Wulfric, Godric and Bartholomew, 
 all lived in the twelfth century. When the Ancren Riwle 
 was compiled (early in the thirteenth century, as is supposed) 
 there were still persons performing similar penances :— 
 
 “I know a man who weareth at the same time both a heavy 
 cuirass and haircloth, bound with iron about the middle too, and his 
 arms with broad and thick bands, so that to bear the sweat of it is 
 severe suffering; he fasteth, he watcheth, he laboureth, and, Christ 
 knoweth, he complaineth and saith that it doth not oppress him, and 
 often asketh me to teach him something wherewith he might give his 
 body pain ... I know also a woman of like mind who suffereth 
 little less. And what remaineth but to thank God for the strength 
 that He giveth them ? ” 
 
 Although the compiler of the Rule could not but admire their 
 courage, he did not commend their practice as a pattern for 
 other recluses. Those who have not physical strength to 
 fast, keep vigil, endure cold, and such other hardships, as many 
 can bear and many cannot, may very well be excused, and 
 please God with less. He forbids the misguided self-torture 
 practised by the great ascetics:— 
 
 “ Wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor hedgehog-skins; and do not 
 beat yourselves therewith, nor with a scourge of leather thongs, nor 
 leaded; and do not with holly nor with briars cause yourselves to 
 bleed without leave of your confessor; and do not, at one time, use 
 too many flagellations.” 
 
 Their food had seemed to him less than was fitting, and 
 he bids them fast no day upon bread and water without per¬ 
 mission. For the devil craftily suits the temptation to the 
 nature of the recluse ; knowing, therefore, that he cannot make 
 this one sin through gluttony, “he incites her to so much ab¬ 
 stinence that she is rendered the less able to endure fatigue in 
 the service of God, and leads so hard a life, and so torments 
 her body that her soul dieth ”. The night’s rest must not be 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 I2I 
 
 neglected; “ in bed, as far as you can, neither do anything 
 nor think, but sleep”. Foolhardiness concerning health is 
 sternly condemned. “ Sickness is a fire which is patiently to 
 be endured—sickness which God sends; but not that which 
 some catch through their own folly.” 
 
 Richard the hermit also writes against self-neglect. With 
 him it was a matter of personal experience, he having frequently 
 been so exhausted by abstinence as to suffer excruciating head¬ 
 ache. The tempter, he says, sometimes entices thus: “ Eat 
 little, drink less, reck not of sleep, wear the hair and the 
 habergeon, so that there be none that pass thee in penance ”. 
 This so enfeebles them that they cannot love God as they 
 should. He reckons it no virtue but a sin to withhold neces¬ 
 saries from the body. The young anchoress should eat and 
 drink, better or worse, as it comes; when she is proved, and 
 knows herself and God better than she did, she may take to 
 more abstinence. 
 
 The ascetics sought to discipline themselves until all the 
 desires or shrinkings of nature were changed. Thus Margery 
 Kempe so dwelt upon the thought of Christ’s Passion that all 
 pain was transformed “ in the sight of the soul ”. She saw 
 Christ in every sufferer and “ she had great mourning and 
 sorrowing that she might not kiss the leper when she met them 
 in the way, for the love of our Lord : which was all contrary 
 to her disposition in the years of her youth and prosperity, for 
 then she abhorred them most ”. She even desired pain for 
 herself, but it was revealed to her that inward communion was 
 better than any outward observance: “ Daughter, if thou wear 
 the habergeon or the hair, fasting bread and water, and if thou 
 saidest every day a thousand Pater Nosters, thou shalt not 
 please me so well as thou dost when thou art in silence, and 
 suffereth Me to speak in thy soul 
 
 It was for strict, self-controlled recluses of this kind, who 
 were inclined to excessive penance, that both the Ancren Riwle 
 and Form of Living were written. There were others, how¬ 
 ever, who considered comfort and health overmuch and raised 
 objections to discipline. “ My dear sir,” one of them is heard 
 to say, “ is it wisdom now for a man or woman thus to afflict 
 
 ^ Treatise of Contemptation^ ed. E. G. Gardner, see p. 178. 
 


122 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 themselves ? ” But the writer of the Rule replies that Christ’s 
 followers must surely imitate Him in suffering ; and he quotes 
 from the earlier Rule to enforce the lesson that not without 
 bodily discipline can purity be maintained:— 
 
 “ Let not any one handle herself too gently, lest she deceive 
 herself. She will not be able, for her life, to keep herself pure, nor 
 to maintain herself aright in chastity without two things, as St. 
 Ailred wrote to his sister. The one is, giving pain to the flesh by 
 fasting, by watching, by flagellations, by wearing coarse garments, by 
 a hard bed, with sickness, with much labour. The other thing is 
 the moral qualities of the heart, as devotion, compassion, mercy, 
 pity, charity, humility, and other virtues of this kind. . . . Yet many 
 anchoresses, more is the harm, are of such fleshly wisdom, and so 
 exceedingly afraid lest their head ache, and lest their body should 
 be too much enfeebled, and are so careful of their health, that the 
 spirit is weakened and sickeneth in sin.” 
 
 One fault to which solitary women were prone was that 
 of sitting too long at the parlour window. “ Wherefore, my 
 dear sisters, love your windows as little as possible; and see 
 that they be small,—the parlour’s smallest and narrowest.” 
 Within the shutter was a heavy curtain bearing on both sides 
 “ the white cross appropriate to white and unstained maiden 
 purity, which requires much pains well to preserve ”. Convent- 
 bred or sheltered in her own home, the inexperienced inmate 
 of the cell found herself exposed to new temptations. The 
 extreme monotony made her yearn for diversion and excite¬ 
 ment ; hence the warnings of Aelred {Cap.Vl.). Danger might 
 arise from that old woman, who, hoping for alms, comes as a 
 messenger, and whispers soft words in her ears. Bad women 
 will come as well as good. Settling down before the window 
 they utter a few pious phrases and then pass to secular matters 
 and even weave love-tales : thus they drive away from the recluse 
 almost all sleep. Bearing in mind that she was an anchoress, 
 “ a woman in whom such confidence is put,” she was to keep 
 a strict watch over herself, lest she should bring reproach upon 
 her holy calling: “ for who can with more facility commit 
 wickedness than the false recluse?” Constant vigilance was 
 needed. “ Surely our foe, the warrior of hell, shoots, as I 
 ween, more bolts at one anchoress than at seventy and seven 
 secular ladies.” Hers was by no means one great renunciation 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 123 
 
 followed by years of freedom from tribulation, as was pointed 
 out by her sympathetic spiritual guide:— 
 
 “ An anchoress thinks that she shall be most strongly tempted in 
 the first twelve months . . . and when, after many years, she feels 
 them so strong, she is greatly amazed, and is afraid lest God may 
 have quite forgotten her, and cast her off. Nay! it is not so. In 
 the first years, it is nothing but ball-play.” 
 
 For the young and feeble are spared at first, and drawn out 
 of this world gently and with subtlety; thus are they gradu¬ 
 ally taught to fight and to suffer want. 
 
 Secret faults, such as spiritual pride and a desire for praise, 
 were to be shunned :— 
 
 “ For the sorcerer would fain cajole you, if he might, and with 
 flattery render you perverse, if ye were less gentle and docile. There 
 is much talk of you, how gentle women ye are; for your goodness 
 and nobleness of mind beloved of many; . . . having, in the bloom 
 of your youth, forsaken all the pleasures of the world and become 
 anchoresses.” 
 
 Richard Rolle alludes to the temptation of ostentatious 
 piety: “ Men that come to thee, they love thee, for they see 
 thy great abstinence . . . but I may not love thee so lightly 
 for aught that I see thee do without ”. The prefatory note to 
 the Sarum Office strikes a note of warning against self-satis¬ 
 faction, lest at the outset the person to be enclosed should 
 imagine that he was being separated on account of merit, but 
 rather, lest he should infect his fellow-men. He must consider 
 himself as it were condemned for sin and committed to a soli¬ 
 tary cell as to a prison. 
 
 The much-tried anchoress was inclined to low spirits. She 
 was therefore reminded that the Lord would sometimes with¬ 
 draw Himself for her good—^like some fond mother who hides 
 from her darling, and waits until he calls Dmne ! Dante ! when 
 she leaps forth laughing and kisses away his tears. 
 
 “ When two persons are carrying a burden, and one of them letteth 
 it go, he that holdeth it up may then feel how it weigheth. Even so, 
 dear sister, while God beareth thy temptation along with thee, thou 
 never knowest how heavy it is, and therefore, upon some occasion, 
 he leaveth thee alone, that thou mayest understand thine own feeble¬ 
 ness, and call for his aid, and cry aloud for him. If he delay too 
 long, hold it up well in the meantime, though it distress thee sore.” 
 


124 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Some of the sicknesses and sins of the solitary life were in¬ 
 timately connected. Indolence, languor, apathy, despondency 
 —all arising from accidie, a besetting sin of the cloister—were 
 not unknown to the recluse. Doubtless, her mind became 
 morbid and her nerves overwrought by the unintermittent 
 strain of existence under conditions so unnatural ; this re¬ 
 sulted in peevishness, and she was obliged to confess to having 
 grumbled and having been of gloomy countenance. She was 
 therefore counselled never to be idle, but to work, read, or 
 pray, and be always doing something from which good may 
 come. 
 
 A tender leniency and strong commonsense are shown by 
 the writer of the Ancren Riwle with regard to illness. Reme¬ 
 dies might be used, but over-anxiety was to be avoided, both 
 because it was displeasing to God, and because “ we often 
 dread a bodily disease before it come ”. In times of physical 
 weakness, enclosed women ought to do nothing that might be 
 irksome, but rather talk with their maidens, and divert them¬ 
 selves together with instructive tales: “Ye may often do so 
 when ye feel dispirited, or are grieved about some worldly 
 matter, or sick. Thus wisely take care of yourselves . . . 
 when ye feel any sickness, for it is great folly, for the sake of 
 one day, to lose ten or twelve.” Prudence was based on the 
 highest motives. They were so to rest that long thereafter they 
 might labour the more vigorously in God’s service. The infirm 
 person was to shorten her devotions. “Whoso is very ill, let 
 her be free from the whole service, and take her sickness not 
 only patiently, but right gladly, and all is hers that holy church 
 readeth or singeth.” 
 
 To learn to suffer, and to suffer well, was one of the chief 
 ambitions of the anchoress. Matilda, who was enclosed for 
 sixteen years at Wareham, was a signal example of unmur¬ 
 muring patience. This stoical woman would not tolerate 
 complaining in the cell, and when her handmaiden Gertrude 
 (afterwards her successor) was suffering agonies with toothache, 
 Matilda told her that she herself had uttered no word or groan 
 even when her jaw had been in such a state of disease that it 
 seemed to be breaking away.^ 
 
 ^ B.M. Cott. Faust. B. IV (Vita S. Wulfrici), ii. f. 97. 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 125 
 
 In a life of untold hardship, the recluse must surely have 
 fallen a ready prey to disease. One was unable to occupy her¬ 
 self on account of failing eyesight, whilst another was a prisoner 
 in herself through deafness. Indeed, when we read of the ill- 
 health of Joan of Blyth (p. iii), of the paralytic seizures and 
 consequent loss of speech suffered by Margaret Kirkby 
 (p. 139), and of Dame Julian’s severe attack of sickness, we 
 cannot but marvel that frail women were able thus to endure 
 want and weakness. For this illness Julian had longed and 
 had definitely prayed, though she afterwards confessed: “ If I 
 had wist what pain it would be, I had been loth to have 
 prayed ”. She lay for several days in a helpless condition, and 
 on the fourth night received the last rites of the Church. 
 During the succeeding three days she seemed to be at the 
 point of death. Some minute details of the illness are re¬ 
 corded, as though they were fresh in the writer’s mind. “ The 
 persons that were with me beheld me, and wet my temples ; 
 and my heart began to comfort.” Once, indeed, her mother, 
 believing her to be dead, lifted her hand to close her eyes. 
 When the priest came, with his acolyte, Julian was unable to 
 speak, but fixed her gaze upon the crucifix which he set before 
 her. Then sight began to fail, and it was dark about her and 
 murky, as it had been night, save in the image of the cross. 
 Julian seemed to see and actually to share Christ’s sufferings, 
 and sank exhausted. But, suddenly, all the pain was taken 
 away from her. “ I was brought to great rest and peace, 
 without sickness of body or dread of conscience.” Through 
 this experience she gained a firmer faith : “ then saw I well, 
 with the faith that I felt, that there was nothing betwixt the 
 cross and heaven that might have distressed me ”. 
 
 At the time of her illness, which occurred in 1373, Julian 
 was “ thirty winters old and a half”. She was still living in 
 1413, when she would be in her seventy-second year.^ “I 
 saw,” she says in her Revelations, “ that the age of every man 
 shall be made known in heaven. . . . And specially the age of 
 them that willingly and freely offer their youth unto God, 
 passingly is rewarded and wonderfully is thanked ”. 
 
 ^ Blomefield seems to have read the date in the MS. as mccccxlij. The true 
 reading is mccccxiij. See Mr. Harford’s introduction to Comfortable Words, 
 p. 7; also Mr. Edmund Gardner’s article on Dame Julian in the Catholic 
 Cyclopedia. 
 


126 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The hermit’s venerable aspect was proverbial. It was not 
 merely that hardship produced a premature appearance of 
 great age, but the rigour of his life seems actually to have 
 preserved his health and promoted longevity. Hermits of 
 England carried on the traditions of those of Egypt, where 
 Paul had died at the age of 113 years, and was buried by 
 Anthony, who was already ninety. Despite “ frosts and fasts, 
 hard lodging and thin weeds,” the solitary “overpassed his 
 days,” until he was indeed, as pictured by Shakespeare, “ a 
 withered hermit, five-score winters worn 
 
 Shortly before the Norman Conquest, three ancient anchor¬ 
 ites were dwelling at Evesham; Basing had been in seclusion 
 seventy-two years, but ^Ifwinand Wulsi no less than seventy- 
 five years. There were also three aged ascetics in the twelfth 
 century. Wulfric lived to be “full of days”. Bartholomew 
 enjoyed good health throughout almost the whole of his 
 sojourn of forty-two years at Fame:— 
 
 “ He was so strong and in such full possession of his powers that 
 his face was always cheerful and full of the beauty of bright colour, 
 so that even when he was following a course of the sharpest fasting, 
 and neglected all care of his body, any one would think that in all 
 respects he fared delicately 
 
 Bartholomew retained all his faculties to the end, but in 
 his last days he suffered from an internal abscess, haemorrhage, 
 and heart disease. Turning to Godric, “ the athlete of Christ,” 
 who passed sixty years at Finchale, we marvel, with Charles 
 Kingsley, “not only at the man’s iron strength of will, but at 
 the iron strength of constitution which could support such 
 hardship, in such a climate, for a single year ”} The weather¬ 
 beaten old sailor-hermit was bedridden for nearly eight years, 
 and unable even to turn on his side without help. 
 
 How pathetic, and yet how striking, a picture the vener¬ 
 able solitary presented! In his earlier days the famous 
 anchorite of Westminster had been the counsellor of kings 
 
 (p. 154):— 
 
 “ He had reached the extremity of age allowed to man, even, it 
 was said, his hundredth year. For sixty years he had been immured. 
 Those who conversed with him (but of late his discourse was wild) 
 
 ^ The Hermits, 311. 
 



 
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 I’HE CRUCIFIX, CRATCLIFF 
 


TRIAL AND TEMPTATION 
 
 127 
 
 saw through an iron grating a long, bent figure, with white hair and 
 white beard reaching to his waist. His face was like the face of some 
 corpse which had escaped corruption—so thin, so white, so sunken 
 it was ; but for the gleaming of his eyes one would have thought him 
 the figure of Death as he is painted in the cloister of Paul’s.” ^ 
 
 The chronicler also gives an impression of the spiritual strength 
 of the veteran. “ Formerly he would recount engagements 
 with devils . . . but of late the devils being routed, he was 
 left to his meditations . . . and for the last year or two his 
 soul being rapt, his voice spoke only words uncertain.”^ 
 
 From first to last, as we have seen, the mystic was waging 
 war with demons. To strive to dwell in thought solely upon 
 the invisible was a severe strain upon the mind. Some of his 
 fightings and fears were the result of self-repression and shat¬ 
 tered nerves ; some apparitions were hallucinations or feverish 
 dreams. Nevertheless, the indomitable will of these men and 
 women command admiration. We see in them not feebleness 
 but fortitude. They lived a life of unflinching sacrifice—a life 
 typified by the nakedness of the cell with its dominating cruci¬ 
 fix (Plate XXXII). Voluntarily they stripped themselves of 
 the natural joys of life. Patiently they persevered in hardness 
 of living and unremitting moral effort. Contemporary writers 
 witness to the reality of their discipline. Langland says ;—^ 
 
 To prey ere and to penaunce * putten heom monye, 
 
 For loue of vr lord • liueden ful harde, 
 
 In Hope for to haue ' Heuen-riche blisse ; 
 
 As Ancres and Hermytes * that holdeth hem in heore Celles. 
 
 And the ascetics themselves testify that they found a rich 
 recompense in thus faithfully performing in what they con¬ 
 ceived to be their duty. “ Full swete melody makis mery the 
 solitary man,” says the hermit of Hampole. “In the end after 
 long tpil. He giveth them sweet rest, here, I say, in this world, 
 before they go to heaven ; and then the rest seemeth so good 
 after the labour.” So writes, out of her own experience, the 
 anchoress of Norwich. 
 
 ^ This description may be compared with Sven Hedin’s affecting account of 
 a Tibetan lama, who died, within living memory, after being immured for sixty- 
 nine years. 
 
 ^ Given on the authority of Sir W. Besant, see p. 155, n. 
 
 2 Piers Plowman (E.E.T.S. 28), Text A. Prol., 25-8. 
 


XL HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 Let him never be alone, if he can conveniently have with him a companion 
 or servant .—De Vita Hereniitarum. 
 
 So ready and so buxom be thou in will for to speak with thine even-cristen 
 when he cometh to thee; for thou knowst not what he is, nor why he cometh, 
 nor what need he hath of thee, nor thou of him, till thou hast assayed.—W. 
 Hilton, How an Anchoress shall behave Her. 
 
 1 . Companionship in the Cell 
 
 T he “solitary” was not condemned to a self-centred 
 and self-sufficing life of utter separation and si¬ 
 lence. Companionship was permitted, and even 
 encouraged, on the ground that to live entirely apart from 
 human converse was positively dangerous to the soul. “ He 
 thinks himself to be that which he is not; for this, indeed, is 
 wont to happen to him who has not with him one who can 
 test his work.” The Rules therefore impress the advisability 
 of fellowship with another of like mind and purpose. That of 
 Grimlaic has a clause xvil.) directing that never less than 
 two or three be solitaries together. Although enclosed in 
 single cells, they could communicate through the window, and 
 stir up one another in the service of God. 
 
 Guthlac formed one of a group of recluses who were in 
 touch with one another. They included Tatwine (p. 14) and 
 Ecgberht, Cissa, and the clerks Beccel and Wilfrid. When a 
 man became renowned for sanctity, others desired to dwell near 
 him and emulate his manner of life. Thus around Roger were 
 gathered five hermits and an anchoress (pp. 21-2). In cases 
 of failing health, the services of a young disciple were sought. 
 Godric joined an aged monk at Wolsingham. Entering the 
 hermit’s cave, he received the unexpected salutation, “ Wel¬ 
 come, Brother Godric ! ” to which—though as yet they were 
 strangers—he replied : “ How dost thou fare. Father Aelric ? ” 
 
 128 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 129 
 
 They lived together for two years, and when Aelric became 
 feeble, Godric waited on him and carried him about, and at 
 length, fetched a priest to administer the last rites. At 
 Finchale Godric in his turn was served by a young nephew ; 
 and in his old age he had a priest living with him. In the 
 same way, Lucian the priest ministered to Ernald the hermit 
 at Loughborough in Wychwood Forest. 
 
 Robert of Knaresborough was joined by Ive and by several 
 servants, who shared his labours. The story of Ive seems to 
 show that even in the “ solitary ” life, two were better than 
 one, for the strong would lift up his fellow. One day Ive 
 attempted to return to the world which he had renounced. 
 In passing through the forest, however, he broke his leg with 
 the bough of a tree, and fell into a ditch, where he sat cry¬ 
 ing “ alas ! alas ! waloway! ” Robert, supernaturally aware of 
 what had happened, hastened thither, and not without mirth at 
 his friend’s plight, pointed the moral: “ No man, having put 
 his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the king¬ 
 dom of God”. Robert then blessed his leg and bade him 
 stand. The two hermits returned to Knaresborough, and 
 continued to live together until Robert’s death, when Ive 
 received his last benediction and became his successor. 
 
 Brethren, however, did not always dwell together in unity. 
 The solitaries of Fame and Coquet had their trials in the way 
 of uncongenial companionship. Arriving at Fame, Bartholo¬ 
 mew found the cell already occupied. Aelwin was much 
 annoyed, and would fain have cast out the intruder; he en¬ 
 deavoured to excite him to anger, but Bartholomew would not 
 sin with his lips, and bore with patience Aelwin’s perpetual 
 nagging. When Aelwin perceived that persecution availed 
 nought, he retired and left Bartholomew alone. Bartholomew 
 himself had afterwards to suffer a like trial. The new-comer 
 was Prior Thomas, who, having been deposed from his office 
 at Durham, was seeking seclusion. During years of solitude 
 Bartholomew had acquired certain habits which unfitted him 
 for society ; these he gave up, even changing his hair-shirt out 
 of consideration for his companion. But there were limits to 
 his complaisance. He was not prepared to linger over the 
 pleasures of the table, such as they were, and Thomas, who 
 enjoyed a hearty meal, made painful insinuations, questioning 
 
 9 
 


130 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 his motive in withdrawing so hastily. In such close quarters, 
 familiarity without true fellowship became intolerable, and 
 Bartholomew at length retired to the monastery of Durham. 
 After he had remained there for a whole year, he was persuaded 
 that it was his duty to return to the island. Perhaps a little 
 social intercourse had done good to the lonely monk, whilst an 
 interval of unbroken solitude may have refreshed the harassed 
 ex-prior, worn out with governing a large community. At 
 all events, it proved on Bartholomew’s return that a trans¬ 
 formation had taken place, and henceforth the two men lived 
 “ in complete tranquillity both of tongue and soul ”. 
 
 A similar story is told of the relations between Henry the 
 hermit and the keeper of the island of Coquet, with whom he 
 had constant dealings, though probably they did not dwell 
 together. This monk did not cease to attack Henry daily 
 with harsh and opprobrious words ; but at length, admiring 
 his immense humility and holiness, he fell at his feet with tears, 
 entreating forgiveness. Henry raised him from the ground 
 with joy of heart, and the two men became united in the bond 
 of spiritual friendship. 
 
 But friction did not always end in fellowship, as is shown 
 by another Northumbrian tale. A certain Gilbert de Nidden- 
 dale associated with a hermit called Seman de Botelesham. 
 The latter was attacked by his companion, who beat him and 
 left him on the moor for dead, taking away his clothes and a 
 penny. Gilbert fled, but was seized by an official and taken 
 prisoner for the robbery. In the meantime the hermit had 
 recovered, and the King’s servant caused him to behead with 
 his own hands his former comrade, such being the custom in 
 that wild border country when a man was caught red-handed. 
 
 Nor did the enclosed person necessarily live alone. Wulfric, 
 for example, seems to have had the company of Brichtric (p. 74). 
 Richard le Coupe of Swepestone, priest, and Geoffrey Richard, 
 layman, dwelt together in London in the churchyard of St. 
 Lawrence, Jewry (1367).’ Ela, the niece of Walter, Bishop 
 of Norwich, had companions at Massingham. Margaret and 
 Alice were anchoresses at St. Olave’s, Norwich. Isabel and 
 Olive lived together at Fordham. Those for whom the Ancren 
 
 ^ Reg. Wykeham (Hants Rec, S.), ii. 122-3. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 131 
 
 Riwle was written were three sisters—“ of one father and of 
 one mother 
 
 Recluses had to avoid the pettiness, suspicion, and ill- 
 temper which a narrow life might foster. The above-men¬ 
 tioned Rule comments thus upon the ungenerous person who 
 is not willing to share her good things: “ See, now, how 
 different are the envious from our Lord ! The anchoress who 
 refused to lend a book to another had turned her eyes of faith 
 very far from Him.” A spirit of unity was to be cultivated: 
 “ Let your dear faces be always turned to each other with 
 kind affection, a cheerful countenance, and gentle courtesy”. 
 One must never heed a rumour whispered about another by 
 the devil’s messenger, who would separate them by anger or 
 envy. Nevertheless, one sister should warn another sweetly 
 and affectionately of anything that she does wrong, if she 
 knows it with certainty; but the person who bears such a 
 message must repeat it often before she go out to deliver it, 
 that she may not report it otherwise, nor patch anything more 
 upon it. The other sister should receive such admonition 
 humbly and readily. Should any resentment be caused, none 
 ought to receive the Blessed Sacrament, nor even behold it, 
 lest they should look with anger towards Him who came down 
 to earth to make peace. A peacemaker’s blessing is offered 
 to the one who restores peace by taking the blame upon her¬ 
 self, although the other might be more in fault. These pas¬ 
 sages seem to show that the individuals composing the little 
 community were living to some extent a separate life. 
 
 It was customary for the enclosed person to have servants. 
 Loretta, Countess of Leicester (an elderly widow, p. 74) had 
 a serving-man who was granted exemption from being put on 
 juries, etc., during her lifetime. Katherine, anchoress of St. 
 Michael’s church at St. Albans, was attended by a certain 
 Joan Gerard, and also by Philip Gerard (1424, 1433). The 
 enclosed lady usually had a confidential companion. Christina 
 of Markyate had her maid Doet; nor is the faithful Mabel 
 unremembered in the story of Katherine of Ledbury (p. 75). 
 The recluse’s attendant held a responsible post Cecile, hand¬ 
 maid of the anchorite at St. Chad’s chapel, Chester, appeared 
 (probably to represent her mistress) as plaintiff in the Court 
 of Piepoudre against several persons. If she were a suitable 
 


132 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 person, she might even succeed her mistress. Already familiar 
 with the life, she might in turn be professed as an anchoress. 
 An instance occurs early in the twelfth century at Wareham 
 (p. 124). Agnes Vertesance who, in 1424, was one of the 
 companions of Katherine Dytton of St. Albans, became her 
 successor; she died in 1478, having spent at least fifty-four 
 years in that cell by St. Michael’s church.^ 
 
 Aelred describes the qualifications and duties of the waiting- 
 women :— 
 
 “ First chese an honest anxient womman in lyvynge, no jangler, 
 ne royler aboute, noo chider, noo tidynges teller, but such oon, that 
 may have witnesse of hir good conversacyon and honesty. Hir 
 charge shal be to kepe thyn houshold and thy lyflod, to close thy 
 dores, and to resceyue that shuld be resceyved, and to voide that 
 shuld be avoided. Under hir governaile shuld she have a yonger 
 womman of age, to here gretter charges, in fettynge of wode and 
 water, and sethynge, and greithynge of mete and drynke. And that 
 she be ouerloked under gret awe.” ^ 
 
 The Ancren Riwle ordained that the elder woman, who 
 went out on business, should be very plain, whilst the younger 
 one should generally stay within doors. The chapter “Of 
 Domestic Matters ” contains “ the rule concerning your maids,” 
 which was to be read to them every week until they knew it 
 well. It was imperative that they should be well looked after : 
 “ for ye may be much benefited by them, and, on the other 
 hand, made worse ”. There was a danger lest through them 
 the lady might hear gossip : “ for people say of anchoresses that 
 almost every one hath an old woman to feed her ears ”. It was, 
 indeed, a common saying that “ From mill and from market, 
 from smithy and from ancre-house, men bring tidings ”. When 
 upon some errand, the women were to behave with propriety, 
 and never linger or converse; even their attire should be such 
 that it might be easily seen to what life they were dedicated. 
 Should they meet with annoyance when fetching their food, 
 they must take it meekly : “be glad in your heart if ye suffer 
 insolence from Slurry, the cook’s boy, who washeth dishes in 
 the kitchen ”. The maidens were to be considerate :— 
 
 1 B.M, Cotton. Nero. D. vii. f. 137. 
 
 Bodl. MS. 423 f. 179. 
 


Vv r 
 
 t . 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 * I 
 
 
 I .-.I 
 


PL A I E XXXIII 
 
 KECLUSE MINISTERS 'TO WOUNDED KNKIHTS 
 
 SIR TKRCKVAI. \ ISTTS A CEl.I. 
 
 THK KFX'IJ'SK IN RO.MAXCK 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 133 
 
 “ Let them, by all means, forbear to vex their mistress ; and 
 whenever they do so, let them before they either eat or drink make 
 obeisance on their knees . . . and say Mea culpa ; and accept the 
 penance that she layeth on them, bowing low. And let not the 
 anchoress ever again thereafter upbraid her with the same fault, when 
 vexed, except she soon afterwards fall into the same, but drive it 
 entirely out of her heart.” 
 
 The mistress, on her part, was to be affectionate and gentle, 
 and seldom stern. “ It is right that they should both fear and 
 love you ; but that there should be always more of love than 
 of fear. Thus it shall go well.” 
 
 II. Intercourse with the World 
 
 Having considered the question of daily companionship, 
 we turn to that of communication with the world outside. 
 There was a great diversity of practice according to the char¬ 
 acter and circumstances of the individual. His love for silent 
 contemplation might grow with the exercise of it, and his life 
 shrink into ever narrower isolation; or, full of human interests, 
 he might be constrained to social service by some pressing call. 
 St. Cuthbert, as we have seen, passed through both these stages. 
 It is significant that the island of Fame had two buildings— 
 the cell and the guest-hall. Pilgrims and sailors alike found 
 shelter in the house of hospitality by the seashore. Long after 
 the days of St. Cuthbert, many persons crossed to Fame to 
 receive the help of Bartholomew, or of Aelric. Bartholomew 
 was equally ready for solitude or service. His bright, out¬ 
 spoken, sympathetic manner attracted people. Many were 
 drawn to him by the report of his holiness, to whom he gave 
 advice and consolation :— 
 
 “Troubled therefore by the throngs and crowds, and fearing lest 
 their esteem should lead him into vanity, he proposed to be 
 enclosed, so that in proportion as he cut himself off from the cares 
 and gossip of men, he should grow nearer to God. But ... he 
 continued ^ven to the end content with that measure of quiet which 
 he had at first, following that word of wisdom of the apostle, who, 
 when he had a desire to depart and be with Christ, thought it 
 needful for the welfare of many to remain in the flesh, choosing in 
 his loving soul not that which was better for himself but for others.” 
 


134 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Godric of Finchale was an austere reserved man, and held 
 no intercourse with strangers unless they had been recom¬ 
 mended by the Prior of Durham. In the early years of his 
 retirement he maintained strict silence, even to the extent of 
 using a code of signs for purposes of communication; but he 
 abandoned this practice. He was dutiful and affectionate to 
 his family, several of whom followed him to Finchale; namely, 
 his mother, who died there, his brother, and his nephew. His 
 sister Burchwene lived the solitary life in a cell hard by his 
 own, but falling ill she was nursed until her death in a 
 hospital at Durham. He was kindly to his servants, and was 
 venerated by those who visited him. Godric’s visitors were 
 usually admitted to his little church, dedicated to St. John 
 Baptist; only a privileged few were ever allowed to enter his 
 inner dwelling-place with its oratory of the Blessed Virgin. 
 His friends included Aelred, the saintly Abbot of Rievaulx, 
 Robert of Newminster, Cuthbert, Prior of Guisborough, 
 William, Bishop of Durham; and his biographers. Prior 
 German and the monk Reginald. 
 
 The genial, generous Robert of Knaresborough was ever 
 surrounded by a crowd of poor pensioners and pilgrims, for 
 which he built a guest-house near his cell:— 
 
 Heghe and lawe vnto hym hyed 
 
 In faith for to be edified. 
 
 Richard of Hampole, too, was of a sociable disposition. 
 When first the youth comes before us, at a crisis of his life, he 
 was indeed silent. During the dinner to which he was bidden 
 after his first sermon (p. i6l) “he was such a perfect keeper 
 of silence that no word proceeded out of his mouth ”. When 
 asked by Sir John de Dalton^ whether he were indeed the 
 son of his familiar friend, William Rolle, Richard, fearing lest 
 he should be hindered in his purpose, replied, “ Perchance I 
 am ” ; but he was afterwards prevailed upon to talk with his 
 host. P'riendliness was, however, his leading characteristic : 
 he would be all things to all men if he might thereby save 
 
 ^ A certain John de Dalton {rnilitis, armiger) and Margery his wife, of Kirkby 
 Misperton, are mentioned in 1371, when their son, John, was dealing with the 
 property (Final Concords of Lands, 44 Edw. Ill) Bodl. MS. Dodsworth, i. f. 
 505. R. Rolle’s birthplace was Thornton, probably Thornton le Dale, between 
 Pickering and Kirkby Misperton. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 135 
 
 some. It was his custom to go in and out of houses, and 
 even to eat and drink with the people. His wanderings were 
 so habitual that his biographer makes a kind of apology for 
 him—lest he should be confounded with those roving hermits 
 who were in ill-repute—and explains that he moved about 
 in order better to edify the people. Richard confesses that 
 he was wont to go from place to place, and maintains that 
 there is no harm in leaving the cell with good reason: “ Cellis 
 forsoth to leue for cause resonable, to harmetis is not ill, and 
 eft, if it accorde, to the same to turn agayn Some of the 
 old fathers had done so, though they suffered man’s “ grutch- 
 ing ” for it. But Richard himself speaks of “ rynnars aboute, 
 that ar sclaunderes of hermyts”.^ Langland, too, would give 
 alms to some ancres and heremytes—“ but Robert renne 
 aboute shall nought have of mine According to more 
 than one Rule, the hermit ought not to go often about the 
 country for his errands, but should send a servant, if he should 
 have one, because by unlawful wandering or straying he might 
 lose devotion by negligence. 
 
 Whilst the hermit might leave his dwelling and mix with 
 men, the anchorite abode always in one place, and conversed 
 only with those who came to his window. Some considered 
 it wrong for the enclosed person even to extend a hand out 
 of the window for the purposes of healing. Wechelen, the 
 Welsh recluse of Llowes, was advised by Cistercian monks not 
 to put forth his hand to cure the blind, lame, and sick who 
 resorted to him; but he was persuaded by the famous arch¬ 
 deacon of Brecknock to make use of his healing touch.^ Wul- 
 fric is said to have exercised a similar power (p. 152). 
 
 Although recluses were permitted to speak at discretion, 
 they bore the reputation of being taciturn; “ little will they 
 speak ”. A sixteenth-century critic refers to the iron grating 
 through which they peep “when they will vouchsafe to speak 
 with any man at whose hand they hope for advantage”. 
 Silence, however, was by no means a thing to be condemned 
 in one supposed to be dead to the world. Many are the 
 counsels how a recluse should speak, and when. Only at 
 
 col. 792-3; Fire of Love (E.E.T.S. 106), 32, 35. 
 
 spiers Plowman (E.E.T.S. 38), Text B, pass. vi. 1 . 150. 
 
 ^ Giraldus Cambr., Opera (Rolls, 21) I, 92. 
 


136 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 stated hours was she permitted to talk with visitors, and even 
 with her fellow-inmates. In Lent she must be silent altogether, 
 or if that were impossible, speak i seldom, with her confessor 
 and her maidens only, unless some reverend person should 
 come from afar. 
 
 The anchoress was expected to confine her very thoughts 
 within the cell. It was not enough to keep her body and 
 limbs within walls whilst her mind and senses were frittered 
 away by wandering thoughts, wasted with care and weariness, 
 even stirred up by unworthy desires; or her tongue, maybe, 
 ran idly to and fro the livelong day through streets and cities, 
 market-places and fairs.^ She was therefore shielded from 
 everything that could engross her mind or excite her emotions. 
 She was not to become a teacher, almoner of the poor, or 
 guardian of church property. Aelred strictly forbids access to 
 children, condemning a practice which he touchingly describes:— 
 
 “ Let not boys or girls approach thee. There are some recluses 
 who undertake the teaching of girls and turn their cell into a school. 
 She sits at the window and they settle down in the porch. She 
 watches them one by one, and according as each behaves, now she 
 is angry, now she laughs, now she threatens, now she beats them, 
 now she coaxes them, now she kisses them, now calls a weeping 
 child to come nearer to be beaten, she strokes her face, she draws 
 up her head, and eagerly embracing her, calls her now daughter, now 
 darling.” ^ 
 
 The Ancren Riwle permits to the solitary woman at least a link 
 with child-life. “ Her maiden may, however, teach any little 
 girl concerning whom it might be doubtful whether she should 
 learn among boys, but an anchoress ought to give her thoughts 
 to God only.” 
 
 Aelred says moreover: “ Let not the poor cry out around 
 the cell, nor orphans weep, nor widow lament”. If she ask 
 how this can be prevented, he replies, that she must sit still, 
 keep silence, and restrain herself until they depart worn out, 
 perceiving that they will receive nothing. “ Thou mayest ex¬ 
 claim that this is cruel: but if thou hast aught besides food 
 and clothing, thou art not a nun.” Prayer and pity she ought 
 to give, but not alms. 
 
 ^ Aelred, Cap, ii. 
 
 Ibid. Cap. VI. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 137 
 
 The canon formulated by St. Richard of Chichester (1246) 
 ordains not only that recluses should have narrow and suitable 
 windows, and avoid communication with persons concerning 
 whom sinister suspicions might arise, but forbids that they be 
 entrusted with the charge of vestments^ A similar warning 
 occurs in the Ancren Riwle against the use of the cell as a 
 depository of goods: “ neither receive under your care the 
 church vestments, nor the chalice ... for oftentimes much 
 harm has come of such caretaking”. 
 
 The recluse’s one regular visitor was her father-confessor. 
 If the cell were dependent upon some monastery, the abbot 
 would appoint to that office. A secular chaplain nominated 
 by the abbot said mass for the recluse of Whalley and her two 
 servants.^ When Emma Stapilton was professed as a Carmelite 
 anchoress, the Provincial appointed as her advisers and pro¬ 
 tectors the prior and subprior of Norwich and three others of 
 that convent.^ Not infrequently the recluse held the bishop’s 
 licence to select her own ghostly counsellor. The name of 
 Alice, anchoress of Hereford, occurs amongst those to whom 
 papal indults were granted to choose confessors, who should 
 give them, being penitent, plenary remission at the hour of 
 death.^ It was a matter of great importance what manner of 
 person was sent to her, or summoned by her. The Rules 
 direct that the shrift-father be a priest of good life, prudent, 
 and not young—“ not young of wit, nor yet foolish old men ”. 
 Without his direction, the recluse was advised to speak with 
 no visitors, except a bishop, or abbot, or prior of high char¬ 
 acter, and even then, it should be in the presence of some 
 other person. She was bidden never to allow messengers to 
 run to and from between her and any man under colour of 
 charity or spiritual friendship, neither should she receive or 
 send gifts and letters without leave. She was warned to 
 accept “not so much as a race of ginger” from any man whom 
 she distrusted. 
 
 In conversation with visitors, the anchoress was to exercise 
 restraint and discretion :— 
 
 ^Wilkins, Concilia, I, 693. 
 
 2 Towneley’s MS. Transcripts from Monastic Cart., p. 151, penes W. Farrar. 
 
 ^ B.M. Hark, i8ig, f. 197* [per Rev. B. Zimmerman]. 
 
 ^ Pap. Lett., III. 504. 
 


138 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 “ When you have to go to your parlour window, learn from 
 your maid who it is that is come ; for it may be some one 
 whom you ought to shun. . . . Say first, Confiteor^ and then 
 Benedicite^ which he ought to say; hear his words and sit quite 
 still, that when he parteth from you, he may not know either 
 good or evil of you. . . . Some one is so learned and of such wise 
 speech, that she would have him to know it, who sits and talks to 
 him and gives him word for word, and becomes a preceptor who 
 should be an anchoress, and teaches him who is come to teach 
 her; and would, by her own account, soon be celebrated and known 
 among the wise. Known she is well; for, from the very circumstance 
 that she thinketh herself to be reputed wise, he understands that she 
 is a fool. . . . For, at last, when he is gone away, he will say, ‘ This 
 anchoress is a great talker 
 
 Many a recluse was perplexed because she could not pre¬ 
 vent worldly people from coming and telling tales, sometimes 
 of vanity. One woman confided her difficulty to a friend, 
 probably Walter Hilton, who wrote a letter advising her 
 how she should conduct herself. He tells her that intercourse 
 ought to be a help, not a hindrance. Although she ought not to 
 go out of the house to seek occasion to do deeds of mercy, she 
 should love her fellow-Christians, and be ready to help them ; 
 she must “ speke gudely, gladly, and mekely to thaim all ”. 
 Even should she be called away from her devotions to the 
 visitor, let her not think that in so doing she is leaving God 
 for the sake of any man. “ Methinks not so in this case,” 
 declares the writer, “ for if thou be wise, thou shalt not leave 
 God but thou shalt find Him and have Him and see Him 
 in thine even-Christian as well as in prayer—but in another 
 manner thou shalt have Him.” Discretion was of course 
 needful. If a man came to tell some trouble, suffer him to 
 ease his heart. When he is done, comfort him gladly and 
 charitably, but soon break off; should he then fall into idle 
 tales of other men’s deeds, discourage him by answering shortly, 
 and he will soon take his leave. If a man of holy church come, 
 hear him in a lowly, reverent manner, but do not attempt to get 
 to know him. It falls not to thee to reprove any for his faults ; 
 when possible, however, profit him spiritually, if he will take it. 
 “ And of all othir thyngs kepe silence als mykel as thou may.” ^ 
 
 1 Hilton’s Scale of Perfection. The tract “ How an ancre should have her ” 
 is also found in MSS. ascribed to R. Rolle, see Horstman, i. 106-7. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 139 
 
 But in the excitement of receiving a great visitor, the 
 anchoress did not always keep silence. The celebrated prior, 
 called St. John of Bridlington, went to see over the property 
 of the monastery in Richmondshire, and took this opportunity 
 of visiting a certain recluse. The story, which occurs in detail 
 in the saint’s life, is thus quaintly told by Fuller :— 
 
 \ 
 
 “ Going to view their lands in Richmondshire, he gave a visit to 
 a woman lately turnd an Ancorist, and renowned for her holiness; 
 she told him, that now her vision was out, who the night before 
 dreamt that an Eagle flew about her house with a label in his bill, 
 wherein was written Jesus is my love J ‘and you,’ saith she, ‘are 
 the person who so honour him in your heart, that no earthly thing 
 can distract you’. To whom our John returned: ‘I came hither to 
 hear from you some saving and savoury discourse, but seeing you 
 begin with such idle talk, farewell; ’ and so waved any further 
 converse.” ^ 
 
 The anchoress seldom received visitors within her cell. 
 Margaret Kirkby, the devoted disciple of Richard the hermit, 
 lived at Ainderby in Richmondshire, twelve miles from the 
 place where Richard was then dwelling. Receiving word that 
 she was suffering from a terrible disease, and had been now 
 speechless for thirteen days, he came to see her. He does not 
 seem to have entered her house, however, in spite of their 
 close friendship. Much comforted by the sight of her teacher. 
 Dame Margaret fell asleep at the window, and leaned upon 
 him. She was seized with a convulsion and seemed to desire 
 to break open the window; then she suddenly awoke, having 
 recovered her power of speech. With fervent devotion she 
 immediately burst forth in these words: Gloria tibi Dornine, 
 and the Blessed Richard went on, Qui natus est de Virgine, and 
 so forth. Then he said : “ Now speech is restored to thee, use 
 it like a woman who talks sensibly 
 
 The subject of hospitality is dealt with by Aelred, who 
 sets forth “that a Recluse shulde not haue to do of hospitalyte 
 anempst Religious gestes, for it longeth not to hir”.^ Guests 
 
 ^ A popular religious watchword; chalices, seals, etc., were engraved Jhesus 
 est amor mens. 
 
 2 Fuller’s Worthies^ ed. 1662, Yorks, p. 193; also Nov. Leg,, Life of 
 St. John of B. 
 
 •’^Officium, col. 801. 
 
 ■*Bodl. MS. 423, f. 192. 
 


140 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 were occasionally admitted within the anchorite’s house, but 
 they rarely entered the inner chamber of seclusion, or stayed 
 the night. According to the Ancren Riwle^ the maid ought to 
 receive and entertain the visitors with glad cheer; and the 
 recluse should have leave to open her window once or twice, 
 to make signs of gladness at seeing her friends. She was not 
 to eat with them, for “ there are anchoresses v/ho make their 
 meals with their friends outside the convent,” but that is too 
 much friendship, she being quite dead to the world. Sir John 
 de Beauchamp made a petition to the Pope in 1363 that his 
 wife Elizabeth might visit her mother, an enclosed Minoress, 
 accompanied by six fit persons. The request was granted, 
 but Elizabeth was forbidden to eat or spend the night with her 
 mother.^ Without open and manifest cause, secular persons 
 were on no account to stay in the houses of anchorites.^ 
 Nor were men to be received as guests : “ Let no man sleep 
 within your walls. If great necessity should cause your house 
 to be used, have with you a woman of unspotted life day and 
 night.” 
 
 The Franciscan Chronicle of Lanercost tells how some 
 such occasion of necessity once arose at a cell six miles from 
 Shrewsbury. It was in the year 1296, on the eve of St. Fran¬ 
 cis, to whose Order belonged the nun who was enclosed by 
 the parish church of the village. This pious woman, Emma by 
 name, was accustomed to receive visits from holy men, and on 
 the vigil of the saint she admitted two Minorite friars to hos¬ 
 pitality. At midnight she rose from her bed, called her hand¬ 
 maid, and bade her bring a lamp for early worship. The lamp 
 was twice set upon the altar of the oratory, but was as often 
 extinguished by a gust of wind, the place being at the same 
 moment brightened by rays coming through the window of 
 the oratory of St. John Baptist which was next the church. 
 This light “ surpassing the radiance of the sun, beautified with 
 a heavenly lustre the features of her maidens, who lay in a 
 distant part of the house, notwithstanding that the maidens 
 themselves were weeping because of the abundance of the 
 celestial illumination ”. A vision of saints was then manifested. 
 The Blessed Virgin bade the anchoress rouse her slumbering 
 
 ' Paf>. Reg. (Petitions), i. 457. 
 
 Lyndwood, Provinciale. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 141 
 
 guests that they might see the wondrous light wherewith that 
 dwelling had been purified. Desiring to know the source of 
 this light, one of the friars looked through the window of the 
 church, and saw what seemed to be a torch burning before the 
 image of the Blessed Baptist, the herald of Eternal Light. 
 
 III. Constancy of Abode 
 
 The recluse might never leave her cell “ except only by 
 necessity and fear of death, obedience to her bishop or superior ”. 
 There is one recorded instance of an anchoress refusing to 
 abandon her dwelling even to save her life. This horrible 
 event took place when William the Conqueror sacked Mantes 
 in 1087. The woman enclosed at St. Mary’s church remained 
 therein and was burnt to death:— 
 
 An auncre godes spouse 
 That nolde vor no thing fle out of hire house.^ 
 
 The word immured is sometimes applied to the solitary in the 
 sense that he never left his four walls ; but he was seldom walled 
 in or sealed up with no means of egress. Grimlaic’s rule, indeed, 
 directs that the bishop seal the door with his ring after perform¬ 
 ing the solemn act of induction, the chamber being unfastened 
 only in time of sickness. Sometimes even in mediaeval Eng¬ 
 land the entrance was actually blocked up. A petition was 
 made to the bishop by Thomas, a Franciscan brother enclosed 
 in the hermitage of Oath in Alien Since the time of his en¬ 
 closing no one had visited him, or seen how ill he was, and 
 he therefore entreated that a door might be made in his dwell¬ 
 ing so that some one might come and hear his confession. 
 The vicar of Muchelney (four miles away) was therefore charged 
 to make a door and keep the key for his visits to Thomas and 
 his companion. Again, when Bishop Grandisson of Exeter 
 gave permission for Beatrice of Colyford to be enclosed at 
 the chapel of St. Kalixtus in Colyford, he directed the Abbot 
 of Newenham “to shut her up in the cell or house aforesaid, 
 and, when she is enclosed, block up the door of her house and 
 do all other things which are fitting and convenient in this 
 case”. The Exeter Office certainly implies the building up of 
 
 1 Wm. Malm, Gest. Reg. (Rolls, 90), ii. 336; Chr. Robert of Qlos (Rolls, 86) 
 II. 562. 
 


142 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the entrance. According to the Sarum Use the door was to be 
 “firmly closed from the outside”. Doors and locks are men¬ 
 tioned in other documents. When the Abbot of Thornton, 
 on behalf of the Bishop of Lincoln, set apart Beatrice Franke 
 at Winterton, he described it as “ shutting her up in a certain 
 house and enclosure . . . and securing the door of the same 
 with bars, bolts, and keys ”. 
 
 The recluse, according to civil law, “ is so mured or shut 
 up that he is always alone and remains in his enclosure and 
 can never come out of his place It was a matter of con¬ 
 science rather than of keys. In some cases the inmate was 
 able to quit the cell if she chose ; the anchoress who should 
 go to the play in the churchyard does not escape censure in 
 the Afteren Riwle. 
 
 In the life of Wulfric it is recorded that on one memorable 
 occasion he did leave his chamber to enter the adjoining church. 
 This deliberate act of self-mortification evidently created a pro¬ 
 found impression. On the feast of Pentecost, in the face of all 
 his neighbours, this sensitive saint openly denounced himself 
 on account of the evil thoughts by which he had been assailed 
 the night before :— 
 
 “ When morning was come and all the congregation were assem¬ 
 bled, he came forth in public from his cell and opening his mouth 
 spoke this speech against himself. ‘ Thus,’ said he, ‘ it has happened 
 to this miserable Wulfric, that on this most holy night my sins have 
 pressed upon me, so that my enemy has led me, an unhappy one, 
 astray. I confess my sin to God and to you. I pray for pardon 
 from God through your intercession.’ ... So this bold follower of 
 humility did not spare in any degree his own shame, or the respect of 
 those who stood round, nor, lastly, the reputation for holiness which 
 spread far and wide. When he had said these things, he returned to 
 his cell.” 
 
 The enclosed person remained in the same spot for life 
 unless a change of domicile became necessary. The reason 
 for removal is not recorded in the case of Simon, who was 
 translated in 1222 from Lichfield to Dunstable where, six 
 years later, he died. In the case of Margaret de Kirkby, per¬ 
 mission to change her abode was sought in order to obtain 
 
 ^ Coke, Littleton’s Institutes. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 143 
 
 facilities for worship. Archbishop Thoresby therefore issued 
 a commission (January, 1356-7) to the abbots of Jervaulx and 
 Eggleston to transfer Margaret from Layton to “ a place near 
 the parish church of Aynderby, where, according to the desire 
 expressed in her petition, she may see and hear the solemn 
 sacrament of the Lord’s altar, which in her present place of 
 enclosure she is unable to do, and to dispense her from her 
 vow of dwelling perpetually at Laton”. It is related in the 
 life of Richard the hermit that after he died (as is supposed, 
 in 1349^), the anchoress. Dame Margaret Kirkby, transferred 
 herself (se transtulii) from Ainderby to Hampole. Whilst her 
 spiritual father lived, his presence had caused her to recover 
 from illness. She therefore sought to dwell near his place 
 of burial : and never thereafter was she oppressed with that 
 horrible sickness. 
 
 ’"I’^^Another left under compulsion, exchanging her stone walls 
 for a veritable prison. Matilda, enclosed in the churchyard of 
 St. Peter’s, Leicester, was cited as one “ infected with the pest¬ 
 iferous contagion of heretics and Lollards Examining 
 Matilda, Archbishop Courteney found her not to answer plainly 
 and directly, but sophistically and subtilely; whereupon 
 he commanded the abbot that the door of her cell should be 
 opened, and the inmate put in custody. On his return to 
 Leicester, she answered his questions humbly, and retracted 
 any unorthodox opinions which she might have held. Where¬ 
 fore the archbishop placed her again in her reclusorium. Lest 
 the anchoress should suffer from a loss of prestige, the arch¬ 
 bishop issued a mandate pro anachorita reducta adviam veritatis, 
 setting forth that she had confessed her errors and was peni¬ 
 tent, and offering indulgence to those who should come to her 
 aid with gifts by way of charity. Possibly the Matilda of 
 1388 is the nostre bienaime Maude Wardesale Ankores recluse 
 en leglise de saint pierre who in 1400 received six marks a year 
 from the Duchy of Lancaster.^ 
 
 In cases of necessity or expediency, a dispensation for de- 
 
 1 The dates present difficulties, it is true. There was some connexion 
 between the East Layton cell and Hampole, for in 1348 Margaret la Boteler, 
 nun of Hampole, was enclosed there. Possibly she was Margaret la Boteler of 
 Kirkby. 
 
 2 P.R.O. Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 15, f. ii. 
 


144 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 parture could be obtained from the bishop or from the pope. 
 In 1402, a Dominican friar of Arundel sought to quit his cell 
 in the friary, pleading its inconvenience and the extreme 
 poverty of the community. About the same time (1401), a 
 woman at Pontefract obtained permission to change her 
 dwelling-place. This Emma was a privileged person and en¬ 
 joyed a liberty unknown to most. 
 
 “To Emma Scherman, of the diocese of York. Indult to her— 
 who formerly took a vow of a recluse and has had herself for many 
 years enclosed in a cell in the place of Pontefract, with a little garden 
 contiguous thereto for the sake of taking fresh air—on account of the 
 tumults and clamours of the people in the said place, to have there 
 another cell with a like garden, and to leave her cell yearly for the 
 purpose of visiting churches and other pious places, and of gaining 
 the indulgences granted there, without requiring licence of the diocesan 
 or other.’’ 
 
 When the monastery of Syon by Sheen was founded, several 
 solitaries left their dwellings and entered the community. Mar¬ 
 garet, an anchoress dwelling near Bodmin, obtained her bishop’s 
 consent to migrate thither, and to join the Order of St. Bridget. 
 Matilda Newton, a nun of Barking, was appointed to rule this 
 house, but difficulties arose, and she was not elected abbess. 
 In 1417 she returned to Barking as a recluse. The accounts 
 of the earliest father-confessors are somewhat confusing. Ac¬ 
 cording to the foundation charter (1415), it seems that Brother 
 William Alnwyk was appointed by Henry V as first father- 
 confessor of Syon. John of Amundesham records that 
 William Alnwyk, a recluse monk of Westminster, together 
 with others, presided over the care of the women ; ^ “ but in the 
 course of a year, worn out by weariness and old age, he returned 
 to the cell whence he had gone forth ”. Another priest, Thomas 
 Fyschbourn, who had been an anchorite by St. German’s 
 chapel at St. Albans, succeeded him as confessor-general at 
 Syon. He died in 1428, and his obit was kept yearly, for he, 
 as counsellor and confessor of Henry V, had promoted the 
 King’s benevolence towards that house. 
 
 There was one particular sphere of labour for which it was 
 commonly accounted justifiable to abandon the solitary life. 
 
 ^ St. Bridget’s own confessor had been a hermit. 
 


HUMAN INTERCOURSE 
 
 145 
 
 “ They maye by no meaiies bee suffered to come oute of their 
 houses excepte it bee to take a streighter and an harder life 
 uppon them, which is to be a bishop.” ^ Elsewhere we have 
 seen how St. Cuthbert and others were drawn from solitude to 
 undertake arduous posts of responsibility and care. In con¬ 
 tinental history, there is the notable instance of Pietro Morone, 
 the aged peasant, taken from his cave at Sulmona to become 
 pope (1294). An English copy of the Rule ascribed to St. 
 Celestine refers to him as a hermit chosen for his holiness to 
 be pope, who afterwards returned to the wilderness again.^ To 
 Dante this act of resignation may have been il gran refuto^ but 
 the anchorite felt himself under a moral obligation to return 
 ultimately to the life to which he had been dedicated by solemn 
 vows. In truth, the simple solitary was rarely fitted for 
 strenuous social work, though he might on occasion emerge 
 from his solitude as a counsellor, and even a leader, of men. 
 
 ^ Thos. Becon, Reliques of Rome, ed. 1563, f. 54. 
 
 ^ Bristol City Library MS. 6. 
 
 10 
 


XII. PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied 
 ... of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.—Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. 
 
 Forsooth, John Baptist, prince of hermits after Christ . . . chose the 
 solitary life.— Richard Rolle, Fire of Love. 
 
 T he hermits and anchorites of England occupied an 
 independent position somewhat akin to that of the 
 Hebrew seer. Whereas monks living in commun¬ 
 ity looked back to “ the sons of the prophets ” as the first 
 ccenobites, the recluse regarded himself as the follower of 
 Elijah and of John the Baptist. It was therefore his vocation 
 to read the signs of the times, to declare, to preach, and, it 
 may be, to predict. If, then, the solitary had a striking per¬ 
 sonality, if he were a man with force of character, or possessed 
 the mysterious power begotten of deep personal holiness, he 
 was to his generation the servant of God to whom secrets 
 were revealed. To the simple people who sought him, his 
 counsel seemed to come as a voice from heaven. 
 
 The first authentic record of an anchorite in Britain (603) 
 illustrates this oracular office. When the bishops and monks 
 of the British Church heard of Augustine’s arrival, they were 
 face to face with a hard problem. They therefore visited a 
 solitary sage before attending a second conference with the 
 strangers:— 
 
 “They that were to go to the aforesaid council, repaired first to 
 a certain holy and discreet man, who was wont to lead an eremitical 
 life among them, consulting with him, whether they ought, at the 
 preaching of Augustine, to forsake their traditions. He answered : 
 
 ‘ If he is a man of God, follow him ’. ‘ How shall we prove that ? ’ 
 
 said they. He replied, ‘ Our Lord saith, Take my yoke upon you, 
 and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; if, therefore, 
 this Augustine be meek and lowly of heart, it is to be believed that 
 
 146 
 


PLATE XEXn 
 
 THE HERMIT ANM) THE KA’KiHTS 
 





PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 147 
 
 he has taken upon him the yoke of Christ, and offers the same to 
 you to take upon yourselves. But, if he be stern and haughty, it is 
 plain that he is not of God, nor are we to regard his words.’ They 
 again asked: ‘ And how shall we discern even this ? ’ ‘ Do you 
 
 contrive,’ said the anchorite, ‘that he may first arrive with his com¬ 
 pany at the place where the synod is to be held; and if at your 
 approach he shall rise up to you, hear him submissively, being 
 assured that he is the servant of Christ; but if he shall despise you, 
 and not rise up to you, whereas you are more in number, let him 
 also be despised by you.’ ” 
 
 When they arrived at the synod, Augustine remained seated, 
 which circumstance augured ill for the cause of unity. At 
 once they charged him with pride, and endeavoured to con¬ 
 tradict all he said.^ 
 
 In those primitive times, the recluse was the regular 
 religious teacher. Maildubh, the Irishman who settled among 
 the Christian Britons at Malmesbury {c. 637), gathered round 
 him a school whence missionaries went forth to the pagan 
 Saxons ; and it was Maildubh the hermit who taught Aldhelm 
 the bishop. 
 
 In the realm of romance, the solitary is a teacher, expounder 
 of visions, confessor, counsellor, healer, and host. In the Celtic 
 legends, especially in the Quest of the Holy Grail, there is ever a 
 cell in the background. When a joust takes place, a recluse is at 
 hand to intervene (Plate XXXIII a). Sir Perceval, hoping for 
 tidings of a certain knight, knocks at the recluse’s little win¬ 
 dow (Plate XXXIII b). On hearing his name, she commands 
 the gates to be opened, for she is his aunt; she tells him of 
 his mother’s death, and gives him counsel. On Good Friday 
 Sir Lancelot goes barefoot into the Forest Perilous and confesses 
 to a hermit. He even stays three days in a cell, receiving ex¬ 
 hortation (Plate XXXIV a). Again, when sorely wounded, he 
 is nursed by the knight-hermit and good leech, Sir Baudewin. 
 When Gawayne is granted harbour at a hermitage, the good 
 man insists on knowing how it stands betwixt his guest and 
 God. Gawayne and Ector repair to the holy Nacyen, who, 
 in teaching them, shows an intimate knowledge of the Round 
 Table. Galahad, Bors, Lionel, and other knights-errant might 
 often be found at the hermitage. After the burial of Sir Gal- 
 
 ^ Bede, Eccles, Hist., ed. Stevenson, 358. 
 


148 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 ahad, at which a hermit assists (Plate XXXIV b), Sir Perceval 
 takes a religious habit, and so lives until his death. The 
 solitary is always some noble knight of fame who has for¬ 
 saken great possessions.^ 
 
 Returning to Bede and the chroniclers, we find amongst 
 the Saxon saints many renowned counsellors, men like Cuth- 
 bert and Guthlac, endowed with intellectual gifts, rare insight, 
 and a wisdom born of experience and meditation. It was re¬ 
 membered of Cuthbert that, even before he entered upon the 
 solitary life, he spoke so beautifully and had such a bright 
 angelic countenance that no man durst conceal from him the 
 most hidden secrets of his heart, but confessed his guilt, believ¬ 
 ing that it could not be hidden from him. Guthlac also 
 had a winning personality and a powerful influence. He 
 was sought by men of every condition, and, from the King 
 to the least of his subjects, none left the young monk of Crow- 
 land uncomforted or uninspired. Among the illustrations on 
 the fine Harley roll is one entitled: “ Guthlac consoles the 
 exile king Ethelbald (Plate XXXV)”. The King is repre¬ 
 sented as gazing intently at the hermit, who is in the act of 
 exhortation, with one hand uplifted, and clasping in the other 
 the holy book. The saint is declaring that he has made inter¬ 
 cession for Ethelbald, predicting that he will be restored to 
 his kingdom, and encouraging him to wait patiently. 
 
 The same role is attributed to St. Neot. A Saxon 
 homily declares that King Alfred often came to this holy man 
 about his soul’s need, and relates that Neot reproved and ex¬ 
 horted him with foreknowledge. Neot’s later biographers, 
 indeed, represent him as pronouncing judgment upon his 
 royal kinsman for pride, tyranny, and licentiousness ; but there 
 is no occasion to quote what Dr. Plummer with righteous 
 indignation calls “wretched tales which besmirch the fair fame 
 of our hero king in order to exalt a phantom saint ”. Without 
 giving credence to legends which are inconsistent with historical 
 fact, we may believe that Neot was a friend and adviser of 
 the King, and a faithful pastor of the people. He cheered 
 the sad and turned aside the wrath of those who had been 
 burning with anger. The homily relates that he preached 
 
 ^La Queste de S. Graal, ed. Furnivall (Roxburghe Club) ; Malory’s Le 
 Morte Darthur (Caxton, 1485), ed. H. O. Sommer, etc. 
 


mii 
 
 PLATE XXXV 
 
 A H E R .M IT-COU X SK J, 1.0 R 
 





PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 149 
 
 to all men the true faith, and to those who confessed and re¬ 
 nounced their sins, he declared the goodness and mercy of God. 
 
 Among the less-known saints, few are more interesting than 
 Wulsi, who became the oracle of Crowland during a critical 
 time (p. 37). When he removed to the west of England, 
 he was still an influential counsellor. Knowing how to speak 
 a word in season, he was able to induce St. Wulstan to accept 
 the bishopric of Worcester:— 
 
 “Since, then, Wulstan the man of God could not be led to con¬ 
 sent, although he had been asked by many men of the religious life 
 and worshipful persons, at length, having been sharply rebuked for 
 his disobedience by Wulsi the recluse, a man of God who had lived 
 the solitary life for more than forty years, and being terribly warned 
 by a divine oracle, he was compelled to consent with great sorrow of 
 heart 
 
 Again, like some dreamer of old, Wulsi had a vision which led 
 to the re-foundation of Westminster Abbey (p. 38 and Plate 
 XIV). The departing seer (like Edward the Confessor, whose 
 last utterances showed premonitory instinct) predicted evil 
 times, though he hoped that he might “be found a lying 
 prophet ”. 
 
 From the cell there went forth now and again warnings ot 
 impending misfortune. Godric, for example, who showed 
 many tokens of possessing clairvoyant powers, discerned “ the 
 spirit of famine”. The devastating dearth of 1258 was pre¬ 
 saged, it was said, in a vision seen by the anchoress dwelling 
 at St. Peter’s church at St. Albans—“ a most holy recluse, 
 who was accustomed to see not simply dreams but heavenly 
 signs of the future ”. One of her visions was that of a vener¬ 
 able man ascending the tower of the church, turning towards 
 the town and pronouncing repeatedly the dire message: Woe, 
 woe, woe, to all the inhabiters of the earth ! 
 
 “ And soon, in the same year, on account of the failure of the 
 crops, the herds also died, and so great a famine ensued that in the 
 city of London 15,000 souls perished of hunger. In various by-ways, 
 indeed, folk fell down and died miserably. And so great was their 
 number that the grave-diggers for very weariness threw many bodies 
 in a heap into a single pit.” 
 
 ^ M, Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls, 57) ii. 39-40. 
 


ISO HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The neighbourhood of St. Albans had formerly been famed 
 for the spirit of prophecy manifested by Roger the hermit and 
 Christina the recluse. The chronicler declares that Roger, “ the 
 friend of God,” taught Christina almost incredible things of the 
 secrets of heaven, for his body alone seemed to remain on earth, 
 his soul conversing with the invisible. Christina’s super¬ 
 natural faculty consisted in thought-reading, presentiments, and 
 the power of seeing what took place at a distance. She was 
 regarded with awe as a prophetess—for did not an angel 
 in the form of a bird alight in her bosom, foreshowing her 
 things ? The discrimination of her counsels caused her to be 
 frequently sought by the abbot himself, even in political mat¬ 
 ters, as, for example, when he was sent as ambassador from King 
 Stephen to the Pope. 
 
 William of Malmesbury speaks of the “ ambiguous oracle ” 
 pronounced by Roger, who was believed to have anticipated 
 the fate of Robert Bloet, Bishop of Lincoln. This prelate, a 
 man of dissolute life, demanded of Christina’s protector why he 
 harboured a maiden who, having forsaken her suitor for the 
 sake of celibacy, had sought refuge with him. When the her¬ 
 mit gave a fitting reply, the bishop broke out : “ Bold and 
 insolent is your answer ; your cowl alone sustains you ”. To 
 which Roger retorted ominously : “ Despise the cowl as you 
 will, a day will come when you will sorely wish to have one, 
 and words shall be wanting to you in which to ask for it ”. 
 Roger’s words were remembered when, without a moment’s 
 warning, Bishop Robert died of apoplexy.^ 
 
 The dark saying was sufficiently vague, and its half-enig¬ 
 matical language might have admitted of many interpretations. 
 Wulfric of Haselbury, however, predicted events with astound¬ 
 ing clearness. He claimed to speak in the name of the Lord, 
 and was highly esteemed as a prophet. When he heard that 
 Henry I was arranging for his departure to foreign lands, he 
 said : “He will go, indeed, but he will not return ; and even 
 if he should return, he will not be either sound or whole 
 Hearing this, the King was wroth with the seer, and sent to 
 inquire whether he were indeed the author of these words. 
 Wulfric replied : “ If I said them, I am not sorry, because I 
 
 1 Gest. Pontif. (Rolls, 52), p. xvi. 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 151 
 
 have not spoken from myself”. King Henry departed, and 
 when his death took place, the anchorite intimated it to Sir 
 William Fitzwalter : “ Yesterday the King died ; do you take 
 counsel what you will do Then the knight, being amazed, 
 commanded him to be silent. “ It is easy enough for me to 
 be silent,” said the priest, “ but it will happen on the morrow 
 that all men will speak it openly; and so it fell out. On 
 another occasion Wulfric predicted that King Stephen was 
 about to be led away captive, but would be set free. Some 
 time before Stephen’s accession, the recluse had saluted him as 
 the future king ; and he subsequently announced to the young 
 Prince of Anjou that he would reign in succession. 
 
 Godric uttered predictions of a similar nature. The fol¬ 
 lowing story, accurate in detail, is too long to relate fully. 
 About March, 1170, a knight from the court visited Godric 
 and sought his blessing. As his visitor turned to go, the 
 hermit sent a message to Henry II in which he referred to his 
 own approaching death and also mentioned “ the young King ”. 
 Before long, the import of the mysterious allusion became 
 plain. The old sailor-saint did indeed—to use his own words 
 —“pass the borders of the Great Sea,” and a month later the 
 King’s son Henry was crowned, on account of unforeseen 
 political circumstances.^ 
 
 Such oracles were frequently given unasked, but persons 
 used also to inquire of the recluse, as warriors of old resorted 
 to seer or prophetess. When he was in the Holy Land, 
 Richard Coeur de Lion went by night to consult the hermit 
 of St. Samuel, who predicted that Jerusalem would not be 
 taken by him.^ 
 
 Nor was it unusual for the solitary to act as spiritual 
 adviser to those who visited him. No voice carried more 
 weight than did the voice crying repentance in the wilderness. 
 To Coquet Island, near the Northumbrian coast, came many 
 from distant parts to converse with Henry the hermit. Their 
 secrets he made perfectly clear, as though his bodily eyes 
 could look into hidden things. When a monk of Tynemouth 
 came to him, he bade the man beware and keep sober, and told 
 him both the place and hour when he had been disgracefully 
 
 1 Vita, pp. 302-4. 
 
 ^M. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls, 57), ii. 386-7, 
 


152 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 drunk. Bartholomew of Fame exercised a strong and abiding 
 influence alike on rich and poor, on wild border barons and 
 rough sailors. The chronicler Gaufridus describes him thus ;— 
 
 “Jovial also was he in his talk, and yet was he grieved by sin. 
 Whenever they came before him, he used fearlessly to convict the 
 pride of those rich men the report of whose cruelty reached him. So 
 grave was his countenance and so reverend his mien that many of 
 them, moved by his words, set themselves earnestly to leave off 
 oppression of the poor, to keep their hands from unlawful gain, and 
 to atone for their sins by alms. He had compassion on the poor 
 and the sick, persuading them to bear life patiently.” 
 
 Even the proud and passionate Norman Kings were open 
 to influence when brought face to face with an outspoken man 
 of God. Henry I came to Wulfric a suppliant; Stephen left 
 him a penitent. 
 
 “A certain great prince^ of the household of King Henry said 
 when he heard of the fame of Wulfric : ‘ The king would do well if he 
 sent to the cell of this scoffer to take possession of his property, 
 because it is impossible that one to whom so many resort should not 
 have laid up much treasure’. And while the words were yet in his 
 mouth, behold, he fell throttled to the earth, with his mouth twisted 
 back right to his ear, and wallowed foaming. The king having heard 
 of it, went when opportunity offered, to the cell of the servant of 
 God; and commending himself earnestly to his prayers, told all 
 things, and made supplication for his knight. ‘I do not,’ said he, 
 May this sin to his charge, and I am present here to do whatever I 
 ought to do.’ Then one of those who stood by, taking the hand of 
 Wulfric, laid it on the face of the sick man, and immediately his 
 mouth returned to its place, and becoming sound in mind, he spoke 
 aright, glorifying God.” 
 
 Wulfric not only admonished Count Stephen as to his future 
 conduct, but afterwards chode him because he had ruled ill, 
 and the whole peace of England had been disturbed. After 
 much wholesome exhortation, Wulfric added that, unless 
 Stephen were penitent, his throne could never be established. 
 
 “ When the king heard these things he began to weep co¬ 
 piously and to make confession from the bottom of his heart, 
 and he turned his cheek to the prophet to be smitten and spat 
 upon,” 
 
 ^Drogo de Munci, 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 153 
 
 Robert of Knaresborough boldly spoke his mind to King 
 John. When the king and his retinue arrived at the hermitage, 
 Robert was prostrate before the altar, and would not leave his 
 devotions, although aware of their presence. At length Sir 
 Brian de Lisle roused him, saying : “ Brother Robert, rise 
 quickly : lo ! the king is here who would speak with thee ”. 
 The hermit arose, and having picked up from the ground an 
 ear of corn, he held it towards King John, and said : “ If thou 
 be king, do thou create such a thing as this ” : and when the 
 king could make no reply, he added : “ There is no King but 
 one, that is God Certain of the bystanders regarded the 
 hermit’s conduct as madness, but one replied that Robert was 
 indeed wiser than they, since he was the servant of God in 
 whom is all wisdom. Even the unbelieving despot was duly, 
 if momentarily, impressed by the good man’s boldness. Before 
 Robert, says the rhyming chronicler, tyrants trembled, beasts 
 and birds bowed, and fiends fled. 
 
 It was not unknown for recluses to use their influence as 
 protectors or mediators. The Countess Loretta, anchoress of 
 Hackington, was one of the chief promoters of the Franciscan 
 Order when the friars first arrived at Canterbury. Thomas of 
 Eccleston says that she “ cherished them in all things, as a 
 mother her sons ”. Through her influence, some nuns of 
 Canterbury gained privileges, and a certain man obtained 
 pardon for manslaughter. Henry III, yielding to the entreaty 
 of Nicholas, the monk of Westminster, released a man from 
 outlawry, and also issued a writ providing for the mainten¬ 
 ance of another man.^ 
 
 Westminster Abbey had a succession of anchorite-con¬ 
 fessors. One of these was the chosen counsellor of Richard H 
 during Wat Tyler’s insurrection (1381) :— 
 
 “ The same day the king went . . . toward Westminster, attended 
 on by the number of 200 persons, to visit Saint Edward’s shrine, and 
 to see if the Commons had done any mischiefe there. . . . After 
 which he spake with the Anchore, to whom he confessed himselfe.” ^ 
 
 He was consulted on important political matters ; nor was he 
 altogether free from suspicion of disloyalty by encouraging 
 
 1 A. G. Little, in Coll, d'Etudes, vrr. 25-6 ; Patent Rolls (various), 
 
 2 J, Stow, Chron, of En^., ed. 1631, p. 288, 
 


154 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 rebels. He was said to have acted as adviser to Thomas, Earl 
 of Warwick, one of the Lords Appellant (1397). Accused of 
 treason, the aged nobleman pleaded that he had been led away 
 by the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Arundel—“ trustyng 
 also in the holynes and wisdoum of the Abbot of Saint Albones, 
 and of the Recluse of Westmynstre, that saide it was lawfulle 
 that he dede It was perhaps from this same man that 
 Henry V received serious impressions at the time of his acces¬ 
 sion (1413), as related by Thomas of Elmham, afterwards his 
 chaplain:— 
 
 “ After he had spent the day in wailing and groaning, so soon as 
 the shades of night covered the earth, the weeping prince, taking ad¬ 
 vantage of the darkness, secretly visited a certain recluse of holy life 
 at Westminster; and laying bare to him the secret sins of his whole 
 life, was washed in the laver of true repentance 
 
 The Abbey archives may yet prove whether these various 
 monks can be identified as one and the same. Sir John Lon¬ 
 don was enclosed before 1389 and lived until 1429. About 
 the year 1415, however, another priest was enclosed there, 
 William Alnwyk by name, who was appointed by Henry V 
 to a burdensome ecclesiastical office, but shortly returned to 
 his cell (p. 144). With one or the other the king had mone¬ 
 tary transactions, perhaps by way of alms, for the Issue Roll 
 of the Exchequer (1420) notes ;^4 as “ paid by the hands of a 
 certain recluse within the monastery of Westminster ”. 
 
 John the anchorite of Westminster was remembered in the 
 will of the noted conspirator. Lord Scrope of Masham (1415), 
 who bequeathed him the rosary which he used, and a consider¬ 
 able sum of money. One of such exalted virtue was believed 
 to have superabundant grace, and a high value was set upon 
 his intercessions. This is confirmed by the curious Revelation 
 respecting Purgatory^ in which the spirit of the nun Margaret 
 is represented as appearing to her friend on earth requesting 
 prayers and masses :— 
 
 “ And also sende to thi fadir the recluse of Westemynster, and byd 
 hym synge twa messis of saynt Petir for me, and saye fyve dayes for 
 
 1 Eng. Chron. (Camden S., 1856), p. ii. " A. J. Church, Henry F, 44-5. 
 
 ^Lincoln, MS. Thornton, in Horstman’s R. Rolle, i. 384-5. 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 155 
 
 me this psalme Miserere mei deus and this ympne Veni creator 
 spiritus and so forthe, in the manere a-bowne sayde. And bydde 
 him warne dane Perse Cowme ^ that he saye two messis of the haly 
 gaste for me.” 
 
 This vision is dated 1422. Seven years later the Chronicle of 
 St. Albans announces the death of Master John, the monk 
 of Westminster, “ prominent as a hermit enclosed there during 
 forty years An undated manuscript, said to be in the West¬ 
 minster archives, seems to refer to this event, which caused a 
 sensation in the community :— 
 
 “ After the singing of Mattins, on the morning of St. Thomas’ or 
 Mumping Day, when the Brethren began the Lauds for the dead, it 
 was whispered abroad that the Abbey Ankret was dead at last. 
 Brother Innocent . . . sang the news in my ear when we turned to 
 the Altar for the Gloria : ‘ Dead is our holy Ankret; he is dead; he 
 died at midnight; the Abbot confessed him; he is dead ’ 
 
 In so great veneration was the old man held, that, even when 
 his mind was failing, his incoherent utterances were treasured 
 in the monastery: “his discourse consisted of pious ejacula¬ 
 tions, some of which have been written down by the cancel- 
 larius 
 
 Claiming to know the Divine will by special revelation, the 
 recluse often exercised an important influence both in public 
 and private affairs. When the young Henry VI became King, 
 an anchoress of York (Dame Emma Rawghton) declared that 
 it had been shown to her by Our Lady that he ought to be 
 crowned in France as well as in England, and also that no 
 person was better fitted to be his guardian than Richard 
 Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.^ The Earl turned to this 
 holy woman for advice in his private affairs, as described in 
 chapter III. 
 
 Whilst the secluded anchorite was the passive counsellor 
 of individuals, the hermit might be an active leader among the 
 people, closely associated with reform—sometimes, indeed, 
 
 1 Brother Peter Combe, a benefactor of the abbey (see Stanley, Memorials, 
 ed. 1868, p. 609). 
 
 2 Jn. Amund, Ann. (Rolls, 28, v.), i. 33. 
 
 3 W. Besant, Westminster, ed. 1897, pp. 102-10. 
 
 ^ Pageants of Ric. Beauchamp (Roxburghe Club), Pageant xlvii. 
 


156 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 with revolution—whether moral, social, or political. The 
 most notable example is that of the preaching of the first 
 Crusade by Peter the Hermit (1096), whose cry Dieu le veut 
 rang throughout Christendom. A tragic fate, however, often 
 awaited the religious fanatic or political firebrand. The ruth¬ 
 less persecution of the Jews in 1190, was in York incited by 
 a hermit. This militant priest, a Premonstratensian canon, 
 would go early in the morning “ to offer the unbloody sacri¬ 
 fice,” and then walk forth to his bloody work. Clad in a white 
 habit, the hermit led his fellow-Christians against “ the enemies 
 of Christ,”—the terrified Jews shut up in the castle, and he 
 assisted the mob in placing engines for the siege. Advancing 
 incautiously too near the wall, he was crushed by a great 
 stone which was cast down upon him; and it was thought 
 that since he was the only one of the besiegers to be slain, it 
 showed the guilt of one in that profession or order taking part 
 in such wanton work.^ 
 
 There was danger, too, when hermits, persuaded that they 
 spoke as true prophets, but sometimes (in Hebrew phrase) as 
 “ lying prophets, who spoke a vision of their own heart,” stood 
 before Kings as messengers of judgment to come. The tale of 
 Peter the Wise (called, of Pontefract, and also, of Wakefield), 
 the troubler of King John, is related in the Chi'onicle of Barn- 
 walf^ written sorne fourteen years after the occurrence. 
 
 “There was a certain man of Wakefield, Peter by name. This 
 simple, rustic man, living upon bread and water, was esteemed by the 
 people as predicting future things. Hedoretold that the rule of King 
 John would not last beyond the next Ascensiontide, inasmuch as it 
 had been revealed to him in a vision that John the king would reign 
 fourteen years. . . . Being asked whether he would die or be driven 
 out or resign, he answered also, as they say, that he did not know : 
 this thing only he did know, that he would not reign beyond that 
 time, neither he nor any one of his own family in his stead, but one 
 whom it should please God to appoint. This thing did not escape 
 the king, and it seemed first of all that they laughed at the man 
 as an idiot and not sound in his head. But it came to pass that, 
 as the man was a wanderer and told the story everywhere, he was 
 taken by the king's favourites and shut up in prison. This saying 
 
 ^Wm. Newb., Hist. Angl. (Rolls, 82), i. 316-8. 
 
 2 In Walter of Coventry’s Mem. (Rolls, 58) 11. 208-12. 
 


PROPHETS AND'^COUNSELLORS 
 
 157 
 
 spread far and wide and his name became very famous, so that he 
 who before was known to few and despised, from the time of his 
 imprisonment was considered a man of note and everywhere spoken 
 about. Daily, as is the custom of people, lies were added to lies ; 
 daily they attributed to him new things, and everybody developing 
 some lie out of his own heart, asserted that Peter had said it.” 
 
 We learn from Matthew Paris ^ that the hermit staked his life 
 on the certain truth of his prediction, saying: “ If I be found 
 guilty of falsehood, thou mayest do with me as thou wilt ” ; to 
 whom King John replied: “Be it according to thy word 
 The King then committed him to William de Harecurt to 
 guard him in close confinement at Corfe, until it were proved 
 how the matter would end. 
 
 In the meantime, the King of France, urged on by the 
 Pope, prepared to invade England, and on 15 May, 1213, John 
 did homage to the legate, agreeing to hold his realm as tribu¬ 
 tary to the Pope. Several causes contributed to his submission, 
 the chief being his forebodings at the approach of the ominous 
 festival—“ afraid that he would lose with his life his kingdom, 
 both of this world and of the world to come ”. When the day 
 came, the King, with his bishops and rulers, were in high 
 spirits, and those who had given credence to Peter thought that 
 after all he was half-witted, and deceived by his own simpleness. 
 It was represented to the King, however, to what an extent the 
 man had troubled the country, sowed discord, and stirred up 
 the King’s enemies ; for his words had incited the French to 
 invade England. The passion of the King was thus kindled, 
 and he commanded Peter to be hanged on a gibbet in the face of 
 the sun ; and not he alone, but also his son, “ who ”—says the 
 Barnwall chronicler—“ being considered equally guilty was 
 alike hung, lest by chance he also should have been a partaker, 
 or even the author, of his father’s prophecy ”. 
 
 For an account of the final interview and of the hermit’s 
 last impassioned harangue, we must turn to the pages of a 
 Scottish chronicler :— ^ 
 
 “King John, perceiving in himself that the day appointed by 
 Peter as aforesaid had passed away, and that no bodily ailment had 
 
 ^ Chron. Maj. (Rolls, 57), ii. 535-47. 
 
 ^ J. Fordun, ScoHchron., ed. 1759, ii. 7, 8. 
 


158 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 come upon him, called Peter, whom he caused to be brought forth 
 from prison, a false prophet. Who boldly resisted the king to his 
 face, affirming that he was telling the truth, and he stated that the 
 king himself was not reigning at that time, since ... he had sub¬ 
 jected the rule of his kingdom to the power of another. When then 
 Peter was convicted by such judgment as this, and was condemned 
 to be hanged, he said in a loud voice to the king. That it was natural 
 he should feel that he must rage against the Church and her mem¬ 
 bers, since from the time when he was born he proceeded, forsooth, 
 from the devil; but that he might not at last return to him, in 
 abounding love he himself had besought the pity of the Most High. 
 ‘ This one nature,’ said he, ‘ I tell thee—thou who art not a king of 
 men, but the dregs and a cross of all—is common both to thee and 
 to thy relative the devil, whose work it is to lay traps, to prepare 
 stumbling-blocks, to dig pitfalls, to make things a ruin, to stir up 
 bodies from the depths of their evil souls, that they should not be 
 saved ; to hate virtues, to love vices, to sow errors, to nourish strifes, 
 to disturb the peace, to scatter true love, to profane humanity, and 
 strain to the uttermost all that is divine.’ When he had finished his 
 short speech, the king was angry and commanded that his life should 
 end by hanging from the nearest tree.” 
 
 Matthew Paris gives a slightly different version of the 
 execution, and tells us what the people thought of it. John 
 commanded that Peter, who was bound with chains in Corfe 
 Castle, should be tied to the tails of horses, and dragged over 
 the plains to Wareham, and there hanged, together with his 
 son. “ It seemed to many an unworthy thing that he should 
 be punished by so cruel a death for speaking the truth. For 
 if those things which are written above are considered acutely, 
 it will be proved that he had spoken no falsehood.” 
 
 Richard H, Henry IV, and Henry V were confronted by 
 hermits ^heralding judgment. William Norham delivered his 
 message first to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had 
 been wrongfully appointed on the banishment of Thomas 
 Arundel:— 
 
 “In Lent [1399], a certain hermit called William Norham came 
 to Archbishop Roger Walden saying that he was sent to him on 
 behalf of One whom it was not safe to disobey; to impress upon 
 him to resign the archbishopric which he held unjustly, and to advise 
 the king that he should amend his life and that he should recall 
 others whom he had exiled unjustly . . . else would there certainly 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 159 
 
 come upon both of them, king and archbishop alike, in a short time, 
 such terrible and new things that both the ears of every one that 
 heard it should tingle.” 
 
 Offended at the man’s message, the archbishop suspended him 
 from the celebration of Mass, and imprisoned him for a season. 
 He afterwards sent him to King Richard, who desired nothing 
 less than to hear words of correction, which things the prophet 
 proceeded to speak. Coming into the royal presence, he 
 declared that he was sent from God to warn the King to lead 
 a better life. Richard, thinking lightly of the matter and 
 despising the poverty and lowliness of his appearance, said: 
 “ If indeed thou art so close a servant of God, go and run on 
 thy feet upon the water, that we may have certainty that thou 
 art a true messenger of God ”. To whom the hermit replied : 
 “ I am not like such great saints as those who do miracles of 
 this sort, nor may I go of my own will upon the water; but 
 this I boldly affirm that unless thou dost obey my warnings, 
 there will shortly come upon thee such terrible new things as 
 thou hast never read of or seen”. Richard, displeased at the 
 man’s freedom of speech, ordered him to be taken to the 
 Tower of London. There he was kept until he saw his pro¬ 
 phecy fulfilled, and the King led captive in his stead.^ 
 
 For some time we hear nothing of William Norham. The 
 new King, however, being regarded by not a few of his subjects 
 as a usurper, was not likely to escape ill-omened oracles, and 
 at his coronation many a shrewd man said openly that the third 
 heir should be uncrowned. The soothsayer bided his time. At 
 length, believing in his mission, and encouraged by the speedy 
 fulfilment of his former predictions, the bold priest followed 
 Henry IV after the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403). “That 
 same hermit who foretold disaster to King Richard came to the 
 King and told him many secret things which were unknown 
 to him. Whom the King commanded to be beheaded, which 
 was also done.” ^ Much consternation was caused by his 
 fate:— 
 
 “ At this time a certain hermit who had predicted many future 
 things to King Richard, when he had set himself to prophesy to the 
 
 ^ Chr. S. Alb., Ann. Ric. II (Rolls, 28, iii.), 231-2. 
 
 ^ Eulog. Hist. (Rolls, 9), III. 397. 
 


i6o HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 new king, and when he inveighed with too little prudence against 
 him, having been convicted of speaking falsehood, he was beheaded 
 at York; whose flesh a prickly hair-shirt had scraped; whose feet 
 no shoes had covered for many years—except, perhaps, when he 
 celebrated mass—although he had gone to Rome and returned; 
 whose lips had tasted absolutely no flesh for a long while: neverthe¬ 
 less, he died the death.” ^ 
 
 Although in the Scotichronicon a veil of secrecy shrouds the 
 “ White Hermit of England,” we may conclude that he was 
 none other than Williarn Norham ;— 
 
 “To this Henry there came a certain holy man who was called 
 the White Hermit of England, saying that he had been taught by the 
 Holy Trinity, and that he saw in spirit a reception room prepared for 
 him, aflame with the fire of hell and attended by devils, in which after 
 death he should be placed unless he should resign the crown of the 
 realm which was not meet for him. To whom the king replied : ‘ If, 
 indeed, I should renounce it, who will succeed me?’ ‘After thee,’ 
 quoth the hermit, ‘a devil, and after a devil, a saint, and after a 
 saint, a sword, and after a sword, a nobody.’ ‘ Since then,’ said 
 Robert de Waterton, a counsellor of the king, ‘ thou art so dear to 
 God that His secrets are thus open to thee, it is fitting that thou 
 shouldst speedily be sent to him.’ By whose counsel, and that of 
 others who agreed with him, the king immediately commanded that 
 his head should be smitten ofl". Who afterwards blazed forth in 
 manifold miracles.”^ 
 
 Henry V was confronted during his last campaign by a 
 French hermit, who appeared whilst the King was before 
 Dreux, and represented to him the great ills he had brought 
 upon Christendom by his unjust ambition in usurping the 
 kingdom of France. The hermit threatened him in God’s 
 name with awful punishment if he did not desist from his 
 enterprise. It seemed to Henry but an idle dream, a mere 
 suggestion of the Dauphin’s followers; but the French chroni¬ 
 cler tells us how the blow followed close upon the threat. 
 Smitten with a strange incurable disease, he grew gradually 
 worse, and was brought to Vincennes, where he died.^ The 
 tale is related in Southey’s ballad Henry V and the Hermit of 
 Dreux :— 
 
 ^Chr. S. Alb., Ann, Hen. IV, 372-3. 
 
 2 W. Bower, in Fordun’s Scotichron. lib., xv., c. ix. 
 
 ^Mezeray, Abrege Chron., ed. 1688, iii. 213. 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 i6i 
 
 He pass’d unquestion’d through the camp, 
 
 Their heads the soldiers bent 
 In silent reverence, or begg’d 
 A blessing as he went; 
 
 And so the Hermit pass’d along 
 And reached the royal tent. 
 
 The prophecies of one John the Hermit about the issue of 
 the war with France had sufficient influence to cause them to 
 be discussed in the Privy Council in 1439.^ 
 
 Certain hermit-preachers now claim attention. Richard 
 of Hampole, social reformer, evangelist, and writer, was one 
 of the most remarkable men of mediaeval England. Of his 
 prophetic utterances, threatening the land with famine, plague, 
 inundation, and war, Thomas Fuller says shrewdly that these 
 predictions “ if hitting, were heeded, if missing, not marked 
 It is, however, rather as a preacher and writer than as a prophet 
 that Richard Rolle made his influence felt. Passing in and 
 out amongst the people, like another St. Francis of Assisi, he 
 appealed to them personally in a persuasive manner, and con¬ 
 verted many to God. At the outset of his eremitical career, 
 he delivered at a village church in Yorkshire a discourse which 
 deeply affected the congregation :— 
 
 “ Moreover, he entered the same church a second time, and putting 
 on a surplice without any mandate, he sang with the others mattins 
 and the office of the mass. But when in the mass the gospel was to 
 be read, having before asked the priest’s blessing, he went into the 
 pulpit of preaching and made to the people a sermon of wonderful 
 edification, so much so that a great number of the congregation 
 were by his preaching so seized with compunction that they could not 
 restrain their tears, and they all said that they had not themselves 
 heard aforetime a sermon of such excellence and efficacy.” ^ 
 
 The young prophet, however, was often without honour. He had 
 enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and even by friends he was 
 misunderstood. Some thought him demented ; others misin¬ 
 terpreted his converse with the rich, and despite his rigorous 
 abstinence, accused him of being a glutton and a wine-bibber. 
 
 ^ Nicolas, Ac^s of P.C., v. 352-3 ; the visions of St. Bridget concerning 
 international policy, were also discussed. In 1396 the mission of Robert I’Her- 
 mite to England had resulted in peace, and in Richard II’s marriage with Isabella 
 of France (Froissart, Chron.^ bk, iv, c, 66). 
 
 2 Officiunit col. 791-2, 
 


i62 hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 Churchmen maintained that he could not preach, and school¬ 
 men ridiculed his writings. As a reformer, Richard the hermit 
 seemed to fail, nevertheless he became the beloved master of a 
 chosen few to whom he expounded the word of God. Speak¬ 
 ing or writing, he was a man with a message. “ He re-dis¬ 
 covered Love, the principle of Christ. He re-installed feeling, 
 the spring of life, which had been obliterated in the reign of 
 scholasticism. He re-opened the inner eye of man, teaching 
 contemplation in solitude, an unworldly life in abnegation, in 
 chastity and charity.” ^ 
 
 After this preacher of righteousness arose another social 
 reformer, the eccentric priest, William of Swinderby. Both 
 these men were swayed by fervent emotions, impatient of 
 authority, eager to reform the world in their own way; but 
 whilst Richard was an apostle of love, and inspired people to 
 live a higher life, William was a fanatic, and estranged his hearers 
 by his violence of speech. Richard was able to draw women 
 as disciples and instil into them his teaching of love and purity ; 
 William inveighed so loudly against their sins that the women 
 of Leicester threatened to drive him out with stones. 
 
 “There was in those days at Leicester, a certain priest, hight 
 William of Swynderby, whom they commonly called William the her¬ 
 mit, because, for a long time, he had lived the hermitical life there ; 
 they received him into a certain chamber within the church, because 
 of the holiness they believed to be in him, and they procured for him 
 victuals and a pension, after the manner of other priests.” ^ 
 
 After returning to ordinary life for a season, he was received 
 into Leicester abbey. He afterwards dwelt at the chapel of 
 St. John Baptist in a wood outside the town.^ Followers re¬ 
 sorted thither, for William was an earnest teacher, preaching 
 “ by the desire of the people that were hungry and thirsty after 
 God’s word ”. He made bitter enemies, however, by his fierce 
 attacks upon the Church and upon ecclesiastics. In 1382, he 
 
 1 C. Horstman, R. Rolle, p. xxxiv. 
 
 2 Twysden’s Script. X (Knighton), ii. 2665 ; Knighton, Chron. (Rolls, 64), 
 II. 189-98. 
 
 3 A bequest was made in 1382 to W. de S., chaplain of St. John’s chapel 
 {Line. Wills^ 31). It was situated “ near a leper-house,” i.e. probably St. John’s 
 hospital. Nichols figures the remains of the “ chapel of St. John set at the town’s 
 end ” {Leic. I, pt. ii., pi. xxiii., facing p. 332)^ 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 163 
 
 was inhibited by the Bishop of Lincoln, who forbade him to 
 preach in any church, chapel, or churchyard in the diocese ; 
 but the hermit evaded the order by preaching on the highway. 
 Cited to Lincoln and convicted of heresy, he was, however, set 
 free through the influence of John of Gaunt, and was restored 
 to the bosom of the Church on condition that he publicly 
 confessed at Lincoln and Leicester the falsity of his preach¬ 
 ing. 
 
 The popularity of the Lollard leader having waned, he was 
 left in solitude at his chapel. He fled to Coventry and preached 
 in those parts for about a year, until he was driven away. He 
 took refuge in the diocese of Hereford, but again met with per¬ 
 secution. The bishop denounced him as a child of wickedness, 
 who had been running about in sundry places, presuming to 
 preach—“ a teacher of pernicious doctrine and a horrible 
 seducer among the people William denied m.any of the 
 accusations brought against him, and appealed to the King 
 and Council, but in vain. The last we hear of the hermit- 
 heretic is that in 1392 the King (at the instance of the Arch¬ 
 bishop and the Bishop of Hereford) issued a commission to 
 find and arrest “ a certain fellow named William Swinderby 
 pretending himself to be a chaplain,” and his companion, who 
 would not revoke the errors of which they had been convicted, 
 and were in hiding in Wales. 
 
 Another zealous mission-preacher was the anchorite friar, 
 Thomas Scrope (or Bradley), who, about the year 1425, left 
 his cell and went forth into the world for a season. Leading 
 a life of almost incredible austerity, he preached diligently to 
 the people by word and by example. Clad in sackcloth, with 
 a girdle of iron fetters. Brother Thomas went into the streets 
 of Norwich : “ And he used to cry out that the new Jerusalem, 
 the bride of the Lamb, would shortly come down from heaven, 
 and that she should immediately be prepared for her Spouse. 
 And he added, that with great joy he saw her in the spirit.” 
 This extravagant conduct was not approved by the strictly 
 orthodox, and the Provincial of the Carmelites wrote a protest 
 to the brethren at Norwich, in which he referred to this matter 
 as a scandal to the Church, causing schism and disturbance, 
 and bringing discredit upon those Orders. At length, fearing 
 for himself “ this generation of vipers,” he returned tQ his^ 
 


i64 hermits and ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 cell.^ In 1441 Pope Eugenius IV granted to Thomas Bradley, 
 anchorite of Norwich, an indult to choose a secular or regular 
 priest as confessor.^ He was afterwards dispensed from his 
 vows and nominated Bishop of Dromore (1450).^ He after¬ 
 wards held certain Norfolk livings, and acted as suffragan 
 bishop. In old age he returned to the mission-work of his 
 younger days. Walking barefoot, the venerable bishop went 
 about every Friday in the country parts of the diocese, into 
 villages and into the fields, teaching the Ten Commandments 
 of the Divine Law. He used also to give away all his goods 
 to the poor. He died in 1491, aged wellnigh 100 years. 
 
 Whilst some of these preachers were pious and patriotic, 
 others were mere pretenders. The troubled reign of Henry VI 
 produced several adventurers disguised in this way. The 
 Coventry Leet Book records the notable visit, in 1424, of one 
 “callyd John Grace, heremyte,” who, saying that he had a 
 licence to preach and had been at Lichfield, Birmingham, and 
 Walsall, preached for five days in the Little Park at Coventry, 
 and created considerable disturbance. Men said he had been 
 a monk, after that a friar, and then, a recluse. Pie declared 
 himself to be a wonder-worker as well as “ a gracyous man 
 in sayng, and a hooly lyuer”. The King’s council afterwards 
 ordered his arrest as “ a certain false prophet calling himself 
 John Grace,” accused of sedition and of attempting to over¬ 
 throw the Catholic faith, especially by his preaching in Coventry 
 and the neighbourhood.^ 
 
 In Kent, an agitator nicknamed “ Bluebeard,” who posed 
 as a hermit, started the insurrection generally known as Jack 
 Cade’s Rebellion (1450). The man was a fuller, Thomas 
 Cheyny by name. Fabyan says that the commons “ made 
 of themself capitaynes, and named them Bleweberde and other 
 counterfayte names ”. The execution of the ringleader created 
 
 1 Bale says he was enclosed fourteen years (Harl. MS., 3838, f. 107), but 
 elsewhere he says twenty years. 
 
 Pap. Lett., IX. 241. 
 
 ^ Irish sees often gave titles to suffragans. Rev. B. Zimmerman, historian 
 of the Carmelite Order, questions whether Scrope took possession of his see, but 
 (i) he has a letter of the Provincial, Nicholas Kenton, commending Scrope, 
 Bishop-elect of Dromore (formerly an anchorite of Norwich) to the bishops and 
 nobles of Ireland. (2) Scrope suggested R.iMysin as his successor; Mysin was 
 nominated 1457. 
 
 4 E.E. Text S. (O.S., 134), I, 96-7; Pat. 3 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 17 d. 
 


PROPHETS AND COUNSELLORS 
 
 165 
 
 such indignation that the men employed about it were in 
 jeopardy. The sheriffs of London afterwards requested re¬ 
 muneration for carrying out the writ whereby they were 
 directed “ to send and delyver the heed of oon Thomas Cheyny 
 feyning him silf an heremite cleped Blewberd atteynt of high 
 treson” to the mayor and bailiffs of Canterbury, and to exhibit 
 remains elsewhere. The corpses of traitors included that of 
 “ Jack Cade ” himself, but the chief charges were involved by 
 the carriage of Cheyny’s body, “ for and by cause that unneth 
 any persones durste nor wolde take upon ham the caridge of 
 the seyd hed and quarters for doute of her lyves The city 
 documents of Canterbury record the event, and add that the 
 head was placed over the Westgate. When confirming the 
 liberties of the citizens in 1453, Henry VI commended their 
 fidelity in the arrest of the traitor “ who called himself Blewberd 
 the hermit 
 
 The hermit’s garb was a favourite disguise. When Perkin 
 Warbeck was taken as a prisoner to the Tower (1497), he was 
 followed by one of his accomplices, “clad in armittes abyt,” 
 bound hand and foot.^ 
 
 Religious malcontents played their part in the political 
 crisis of Henry VIH’s reign. In 1535, Hugh Lathbury, 
 hermit, was imprisoned at Bristol, for saying that he trusted 
 Queen Katherine should thereafter be queen again.^ Three 
 years later, the hermit of Chesterfield was seized on the report 
 of passionate words about the Pope being deprived of authority, 
 because he would not approve the King’s marriage with Anne 
 Boleyne. He raised, moreover, the burning question of that 
 year of sacrilege: “If a man will pluck down or tear the 
 King’s arms, he shall be hanged, drawn, and quartered; what 
 shall he do to them that doth pluck down churches and 
 images, being but a mortal man as we be ? ” This rash orator 
 was brought before the nearest justice to be examined, and 
 was afterwards sent to Thomas Cromwell.^ 
 
 Even the secluded anchorite was not free from dangerous 
 discussion. The Dominican recluse of Canterbury, Christopher 
 
 ^ Acts of Privy Council, vi. 107-9 5 Hist. MSS. Com., R. ix. 140, 167, 168. 
 
 ^C. L. Kingsford, Chr. of London, 221. 
 
 ^ L. and P., Hen. VIII, viii. p. 308; ix. p. 48. 
 
 ^Ibid. XIII. (i), p. 501. 
 


i66 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Warener, had been visited “because he was a prisoner” by 
 Elizabeth Barton, the “holy maid of Kent” (p. 187). Crom¬ 
 well tried to get the friar to incriminate the nun ; but he 
 would only say that he was never of counsel with her, never 
 saw her in a trance, nor heard her say aught against the King, 
 except that should the marriage go forward, it would turn to 
 great trouble. The matter, said the anchorite, was a hin¬ 
 drance to his contemplation—a view of the case that would 
 hardly disquiet the State officials.^ 
 
 A sixteenth-century writer, Thomas Becon, who was 
 adverse to everything monastic, complains that, whereas 
 anchorites professed to be followers of Judith, they did not 
 resemble her:— 
 
 “Judith, when Tyme required, came out of her Closet to do good 
 unto other. Our Recluses never come out of their Lobbeies, sincke 
 or swimme the People. Judith put herself in Jeopardy for to do good 
 to the commune Countrey. Our Recluses are unprofitable Cloddes 
 of the Earth, doing good to no Man.”^ 
 
 It has, however, been shown in the earlier part of this 
 chapter, that it proved possible to retire from the world with¬ 
 out losing touch with men, and that to live in solitude was 
 not to be without a sphere of influence, or a power of service. 
 We now pass on to consider those recluses whose counsels 
 were delivered chiefly in their writings, which were widely 
 circulated and were valued by succeeding generations. 
 
 J L. and P., Hen. VIII, vi, 1333, 1336, 1381. 
 
 ‘■^T. Becon, Reliqnes of Rome, 53-4. 
 


XIII. LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 The solitary, therefore, ought to be learned, not one who needs to be 
 taught; also he ought to be wise and learned in the Divine law, that he may 
 know whence he may bring forth things new and old.— Grimlaic, Regula Soli- 
 tariorum (ninth century). 
 
 T he solitary, from St. Jerome onwards, has usually 
 been depicted in art as a student, holding a 
 book. There is a tradition that a British recluse 
 {Eremita Brj/tannus), living in the time of Ina, King of 
 Wessex, collected the history of his country, and especially 
 the deeds of King Arthur.^ It is not unlikely that the story 
 itself was handed down by one of those hermits who are 
 represented as playing so important a part among the Knights 
 of the Holy Quest. 
 
 The historian Gildas is said to have been a hermit (p. lo). 
 His Liber de Excidio Britannice was written about the year 
 560, and from this book Bede drew in the earlier chapters of 
 his history. Alcuin describes Gildas as “ the wisest of the 
 Britons,” and the epithet “the Wise” passed into common 
 use. He seems to have acquired his learning in Gaul, and he 
 afterwards became a teacher in Wales. Gildas also wrote a 
 book of the Four Gospels^ wrought in gold and silver, which 
 was held in great estimation.^ 
 
 We owe the famous Lindisfarne Gospels in part to Aethel- 
 wald, who succeeded Cuthbert in his island-hermitage (chapter 
 I.), and to Billfrith, another priest who lived the solitary life. 
 The Latin inscription declares that “ Eadfrith, Aethilwald, 
 Billfrith, and Aldred have wrought and adorned this book of 
 the Gospels for God and St. Cuthbert ”. There is a further 
 note in Saxon characters about the work of the goldsmith ; 
 “And Billfrith the anchorite, he wrought the metal work of 
 
 ^Bale, Script., ed. 1557, pt. 2, 31, cent, x., No. XXI. 
 
 Mon. Hist. Brit., i. 6; Nov. Leg., i. 469. 
 
 167 
 


i68 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the ornaments on the outside thereof, and decked it with gold 
 and gems, overlaid also with silver, unalloyed metal”. When, 
 during a voyage, this precious volume accidentally fell over¬ 
 board, its miraculous recovery was attributed to the merits of 
 St. Cuthbert and of the makers of the manuscript, namely. 
 Bishop Eadfrid, the venerable Aethilwald, and also of the 
 hermit Billfrith, “ whose skill in craftsmanship had executed 
 the splendid work, for he was one of the first artists of his 
 day ”. The names of these two men, Oediluald and Billfrith, 
 recur in the list of benefactors of the church of Durham.^ 
 
 Plegmund, “a religious man, well instructed in sacred 
 lore,” and renowned for his wisdom, lived as a hermit before 
 he was summoned to assist King Alfred (p. i6). It has, 
 indeed, been supposed that the transcription of the Anglo- 
 Saxon Chronicle, and possibly a part of the composition itself, 
 was his work, and this work he may have done during his years 
 of seclusion. He was one of the four men of learning who 
 were always about the Court, and were ready night and day 
 to read before the King when he had aught of leisure. In 
 Alfred’s preface to his translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, 
 he acknowledges the assistance of Plegmund, Asser, and others, 
 who had expounded to him the author’s meaning:— 
 
 “ I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this 
 kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin 
 Pastoralis, and in English Shepherd’s Book, sometimes word by 
 word and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned it from 
 Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grimbold my 
 mass-priest, and John my mass-priest. And when I had learnt it 
 as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearly interpret 
 it, I translated it into English, and I will send a copy to every 
 bishopric in my kingdom.” 
 
 The manuscript addressed to Plegmund himself is preserved 
 in the British Museum. This hermit-archbishop is described 
 by a later chronicler as “a right noble man of letters”.^ 
 
 Dunstan, a more famous ecclesiastic, statesman, and scholar, 
 once lived in seclusion within the precincts of Glastonbury 
 Abbey, in a cell attached to the ancient church of St. 
 
 ^Lindisfarne Gospels, (S.S., 48), 174; Liber VitcB (S.S., 13), 9; Vita S. 
 Cuthherti. 
 
 Pastoral Care (E.E.T.S. Orig. Ser., 50), p. 7; Diet. Nat. Biog., etc. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 169 
 
 Mary. The eleventh-century chronicler, Osbern, visited this 
 cell or den, which he describes as being more like a tomb than 
 a human habitation. It seems incredible that it measured only 
 5 feet by 2-J feet. In this narrow dwelling the gifted young 
 solitary studied the Scriptures, transcribed and illuminated 
 manuscripts, and even, so it is said, practised various arts, 
 such as casting bells and making organs. Several books 
 and a musical composition have been attributed to Dunstan, 
 but, as Bishop Stubbs points out, not a single literary monu¬ 
 ment survives: “he has left, beyond a few lines of writing, 
 the endorsement of a charter, and the prayer put into the 
 mouth of a kneeling figure in an illumination, no writings 
 whatever”. In due course the anchorite became Abbot of 
 Glastonbury, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury.^ 
 
 Passing on to the Norman period, we find that the student 
 was still found in the cell. The literary Herbert de Losinga, 
 first Bishop of Norwich (1095-1119) wrote to his well-beloved 
 Guy (Wido), the anchorite, commending his manner of life, and 
 giving him counsel in a deferential manner. In the course of 
 the letter he alludes to Guy’s studious habits:— 
 
 “ Thou reclinest in the company of the Prophets and Apostles, 
 and thy soul is refreshed and gladdened by the meat and drink of 
 heavenly doctrine. Nor are modern authors who serve up the 
 heavenly banquet wanting to thee; thou hast an abundance of them, 
 proportioned to the ardour of thy zeal for study and thy diligence in 
 reading.” 
 
 Perhaps the cultured bishop envied his friend these uninter¬ 
 rupted opportunities for study and contemplation ; for, even 
 as he writes, his colleagues call him away to the workshop of 
 the world, so that he closes with the brief but earnest request : 
 
 “ Lend me, a sinner, the hand of your prayers to lift me up 
 
 The solitary, however, was not of necessity a monk with a 
 monastic education : he was sometimes an illiterate layman. 
 A curious illustration of this general lack of learning is fur¬ 
 nished by the story of the Welsh pilgrim, Wechelen. At the 
 Holy Sepulchre Wechelen vowed to lead the solitary life, and 
 on his return he was enclosed at Llowes in Radnor. He wit- 
 
 ^ Memorials of St. Dunstan (Rolls, 63), p. cix, 83-4. 
 
 Goulburn and Symonds, Herbert de Losinga, i. 279. 
 


170 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 nessed the services in the adjoining church, but, knowing no 
 Latin, he could comprehend little of their meaning. He there¬ 
 fore besought the Lord with tears to vouchsafe him a know¬ 
 ledge of the Latin tongue. One day, exhausted and hungry, 
 he fell asleep, and on awaking, beheld on his altar a loaf, 
 which he blessed and ate. That evening for the first time he 
 understood what was being read at vespers. On the morrow, 
 after mass, he called the priest to come to the window with 
 his missal ; and as the priest read the gospel of the day, the 
 anchorite expounded the meaning correctly in his native tongue, 
 after which they conversed in Latin. “ And from that day to 
 this,” said Wechelen to Giraldus, “ I have continued to speak 
 it.” “ But,” he added naively, “ the Lord, who gave me the 
 Latin tongue, did not give me the Latin syntax, but only so 
 far as to understand others and be understood by them.” For 
 Wechelen spoke without regard to case, mood, or tense. Thus, 
 when he desired to express that he had been on pilgrimage, 
 he would say : “ Ego ire Hierosolinian et visitare sepulchruni 
 Domini mei ; et quando redire^ ego ponere me in hoc carcere pro 
 arnore Dotnini mei qui mori pro me ”. Although not skilled in 
 Latinity, the anchorite of Llowes was the friend and adviser of 
 the learned archdeacon of Brecknock, who, before retiring to a 
 life of study, went to seek his approval and blessing. Giraldus 
 besought Wechelen to pray for him that he might understand 
 the Holy Scriptures. “ Och ! och ! ” cried the unlettered 
 recluse, grasping the scholar’s hand, “ say not understand, but 
 keep: vain, vain is it to understand the word of God, and keep 
 it not.” ^ 
 
 Godric of Finchale was to a great extent self-taught. As 
 a young pedlar, his only lore was the Paternoster and Creed. 
 Bent on acquiring religious knowledge, he frequented the 
 churches of Carlisle, until some kinsman gave him a book, 
 which he set himself to learn fully. This book was the valued 
 “ Psalter of St. Jerome,” which he carried about with him and 
 read continually. For a while he acted as doorkeeper in the 
 church of St Giles at Durham ; afterwards he resorted to the 
 cathedral church of St Mary, where he picked up some psalms 
 and hymns from the school-children. He is said to have 
 
 1 Gir. Camb. Op. (Rolls, 21), I, 89, go, Pref. liv., Iv. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 171 
 
 composed an English hymnd It is possible that the simple 
 hermit was at heart a poet like Caedmon, and that as he 
 knelt in worship, some songs in the mother-tongue rose to 
 his lips. The hymn to the Blessed Virgin and the story of its 
 supernatural origin were recorded by Reginald of Durham and 
 Roger of Wendover. One day—so we are told—when Godric 
 was praying before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, she ap¬ 
 peared to him and placed her hands upon his head. She 
 then sang, and taught him to sing, a metrical prayer which he 
 afterwards imprinted firmly in his memory. 
 
 Seinte Marie, clane virgine, 
 
 Moder Jesu Christ Nazarene, 
 
 Onfo, scild, help thin Godrich, 
 
 On fang, bring heali widh the in Godesrich. 
 
 Seinte Marie, Christes hour, 
 
 Meidenes clenhed, moderes flour, 
 
 Delivere mine sennen, regne in min mod, 
 
 Bringe me to blisse wit thi selfe God. 
 
 These verses he was bidden to use whenever he was fearful 
 of being overcome by pain, sorrow, or temptation. He seems 
 also to have written a song to St. Nicholas, the patron-saint 
 of his seafaring years, the words and music of which are pre¬ 
 served.'^ 
 
 The literary recluses of mediaeval England include Simon 
 Stock, the hymn-writer, and Thomas Scrope, the historian ; 
 Geoffrey, the grammarian, and George Ripley, the alchemist; 
 Margery Kempe and Julian, the mystics; Richard Rolle, com¬ 
 poser of poetry and prose, and Symon, compiler of a manual of 
 meditations. 
 
 The early life of St. Simon Stock is a tangled web of 
 legend. He is said to have died at a great age in 1265, but the 
 earliest notice containing his name and a few particulars dates 
 from about the year 1425 ; nor is it until the end of the fif¬ 
 teenth century that stories are related of his wonderful infancy, 
 of his ascetic boyhood spent in the “ stock ” of a tree, or of the 
 visions which sent the young solitary first to study at Oxford 
 and then to join the Carmelites upon their arrival in England. 
 
 ^ The Vita, pp. 203-4, says that he was thoroughly instructed only in his 
 mother-tongue. His comprehension of French on one occasion was regarded as 
 a miraculous gift of tongues. 
 
 2 Wendover, Flor. Hist. (Rolls, 84), ii. 72-3 ; Vita S. Godrici, 288, Diet. Nat. 
 Biog. ; Ritson, Bibl. Poet., 4. 
 


172 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 All that is certain is that he did become General of the Order 
 in 1247. The prose writings of Simon Stock have been lost. 
 They included Letters^ and Canones^ the latter probably the 
 acts of the General Chapter of 1259. Simon is believed to 
 have been the author of the rhymed antiphons Flos Carmeli 
 and Ave Stella Matutina^ which are found in the Carmelite 
 breviary. The fine poem Alma Redemptoris Mater^ sometimes 
 attributed to him, is much older.^ 
 
 The learned Carmelite Order produced during the fifteenth 
 century two notable scholarly recluses. Thomas Scrope, a 
 White Friar of Norwich—the preacher referred to in the last 
 chapter—was a student from his youth. His Sermones de 
 decern prceceptis contain the substance of his teachings. He 
 wrote an account of his mission as legate to Rhodes, and also 
 books entitled Compendium historiarum et iurium, De sectarum 
 introitu ad Angliam. His principal works were upon the Car¬ 
 melite Order.^ 
 
 George or Gregory Ripley seems to have been an anchorite 
 of the Carmelites. Some consider that there were two men of 
 this name,—a canon of Bridlington who wrote upon natural 
 philosophy and occult science, and a friar of Boston, who wrote 
 religious poetry and biography. Since George Ripley com¬ 
 piled lives of St. Botulph and St. John of Bridlington, it is not 
 unlikely that he had been associated with Boston and Brid¬ 
 lington. In the absence of proof to the contrary, it is per¬ 
 missible to follow Bale in identifying the alchemist with the 
 anchorite. Bale says that George Ripley was at first a canon 
 of Bridlington. From his youth he had been interested in 
 exploring “ wonderful effects and mysterious workings ”. In 
 order to acquire knowledge, he travelled in foreign parts, and 
 dwelt several years in Italy. He studied the ancient philo¬ 
 sophers and mathematicians, Plato, Aristotle, Hermas, Bacon, 
 and others. On his return, he obtained a dispensation from 
 choir service for purposes of study, and eventually became a 
 recluse. He wrote a work called The Castle with Twelve 
 Gates, treating of calcination, solution, congelation, and 
 
 ^ Per Rev. B. Zimmerman. 
 
 2 Bale, Script., 629-30; cent, viii., No. LIV ; Bihl. Carm., ed. 1752, ii. 829 ; 
 Diet. Nat. Biog.; Lambeth MS., 192, contains English translation of the so-called 
 “ Johannes XLIV,” probably Scrope’s work [per Rev. B. Zimmerman]. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 173 
 
 similar phenomena. His Medulla Alchimice was widely 
 studied. After his death he was regarded as a necromancer 
 and magician. 
 
 The first English-Latin dictionary was compiled in 1440 
 by a Dominican of Lynn, Geoffrey, “ the Grammarian It is 
 true that a note in one copy of an early edition declares that: 
 “ the name of the compiler of this book is Brother Richard 
 Fraunces,^ enclosed within four walls for Christ’s sake,” but 
 this statement is at variance with other authorities. Another 
 copy is inscribed : “ The author of this work was Geoffrey, 
 called Grammaticus, friar of the Order of St. Dominic The 
 writer introduces himself as a recluse of the Friars Preachers 
 of Bishop’s Lynn, ignorant and unskilled, more fit to learn than 
 to teach, but desirous of helping young students. He calls 
 his work “ a store-house of poor clerks,” Promptorium Par- 
 vulorum, or more correctly, Promptuarium Parvulorum Cleri- 
 corum, and confesses that it is but a brief compendium of 
 earlier grammarians. The author describes with simple ear¬ 
 nestness in his Preambulum the troubles of aspiring scholars, 
 who, amidst the prevalent barbarism of his times, thirsted for 
 knowledge like harts for the water-brooks, and in vain sought 
 for guides.” He desires his book to be a mirror wherein 
 should be clearly reflected the meaning of English and Latin 
 words :— 
 
 “I humbly with prayers entreat all pedagogues, teachers, and 
 masters, that when they have examined this little work, they will 
 approve what may by God’s assistance have been rightly written, and 
 will piously correct and emend what is written ill or erringly ; since 
 humble grammarians and boys may look on this short volume as on 
 a mirror, and find freely and immediately the common words which 
 belong to the Latin tongue 
 
 Looking into this mirror, we see the following words indicative 
 of the solitary life :— 
 
 Ankyr (recluse), Anachorita. 
 
 Ermytage, Her{e)mitorium. 
 
 Ermyte (eremyte), Heremita. 
 
 Recluse (or ankyr), supra, Anachorita. 
 
 ^ A bequest was made to . . . ardo Fraunseys Anachorite confessori meo by 
 John L’Estrange of Hunstanton (1436); Reg. Surflet, f. 206. 
 
 2 A note in an early edition (Lincoln Cath. Muniments) has caused some to 
 suppose that his name was Geoffrey Starkey (Diet, Nat. Biog,). 
 


174 hermits and ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 The dictionary was printed by Pynson in 1499, and afterwards 
 by Wynkyn de Worde.^ The compilation of a Latin-English 
 dictionary, entitled Medulla Grainmatice, has been ascribed to 
 Geoffrey. He is also supposed to have written a book of 
 hymns, and treatises on the writings of John de Garlandia and 
 other authors. 
 
 To the works of Richard Rolle of Hampole frequent allu¬ 
 sion has already been made. He went to the University of 
 Oxford “ where, when he had made great progress in study, 
 he desired more fully and more deeply to be instructed in the 
 theological doctrines of Holy Scripture, rather than in physics 
 or in the teaching of secular science The young hermit was 
 no profound scholar, but he was well read. His facility of 
 expression was remarkable. It was reported, indeed, that he 
 could exhort and write on different themes at the same time. 
 He was once writing in his cell when guests arrived who begged 
 him to offer them a word of edification. He did so : “ yet in 
 no way did this make him cease from writing for two hours 
 continuously, but, with the same speed as before, he continued 
 to write ”. He wrote hastily, when possessed with his subject, 
 and his style is unpolished, disconnected, ejaculatory, some¬ 
 times even incoherent; but his originality and vivacity caused 
 his work to live. “ His strength lies in his lyric fervour, in the 
 truth of his feeling, in the depth of his inner life, in graphic 
 descriptiveness, in happy illustration from nature, life, his own 
 experience; ... he excels in terse sentences, epigrammati- 
 cally pointed and full of antithesis, which often convey truths 
 far in advance of his time and of almost modern impress.” ^ 
 
 No attempt can be made here to discuss the writings of 
 Richard of Hampole. Prof Horstman has made many of 
 them accessible, and it is understood that Miss H. E. Allen is 
 about to publish the result of her exhaustive researches into 
 his works and those of his followers. The Melum (or Melos 
 Conternplativormn) deals with the glory of the saints, and 
 especially of solitaries. Vehement and sweeping denunciation 
 
 Promptoriiim Parv.^ ed. Way (Camden S., 1843, 1851, 1865); also ed. 
 A. L. Mayhew (E.E.T.S., 1908, E. Ser., 102). 
 
 2 “ Officium de S. Ricardo,” in York Breviary, ii., App, V (Surtees S., 75), 
 trans. D. Harford. 
 
 3 C. Horstman, R. Rolle, ii. p. xix. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 175 
 
 of abuses stamp it as the work of a youthful reformer, who 
 feels bitterly towards all authority. The Incendium Amoris^ 
 also treats of the contemplative life, but it is devotional rather 
 than controversial, and is mellowed and mature in tone. The 
 writer shows a self-restraint; and his impassioned love is no 
 less strong, though more serene. So greatly was this work 
 appreciated that it was afterwards (1435) turned into English 
 at the request of Dame Margaret Heslyngton, a recluse—“ to 
 the askynge of thi desyre, Systre Margarete,” says the 
 translator, Richard Misyn, who is variously described as hermit 
 and as prior of the Carmelites of Lincoln.^ 
 
 The Incendium Amoris (\ikQ the Melunt) contains some per¬ 
 sonal notes. It was written in early manhood, when the experi¬ 
 ences set forth in it were fresh in his memory. The writer 
 describes the stages of his inner life—the sinful follies of his 
 youth, the penitence and “ lyfe-chaunging,” the temptations 
 and self-discipline that followed thereupon, the gradual develop¬ 
 ment of the soul, and its phases of rapture. Nearly three 
 years after his conversion, Richard was sitting in a chapel, 
 delighting in meditation, when he suddenly experienced a 
 strange sensation of the burning heat of spiritual love. Some 
 months later, as he sat in the same chapel singing his evening 
 psalms, he heard the sound of chanting above him and himself 
 burst into ecstatic song (see Frontispiece). Earnestly desiring 
 to kindle in all manner of folk the same unquenchable love, 
 he makes it the subject of a book, offered not to philosophers 
 and divines “lappyd in questions infenyte, bot unto boystus 
 and untaght, more besy to con lufe god then many thinges 
 to knawe 
 
 Richard Rolle was a voluminous writer, and his works, 
 transcribed into other than his native northern dialect, were 
 scattered far and wide. The possessions of Lord Scrope, 
 named in his will (1415) included the Incendium Amoris and 
 also “an exposition on Judica me Deus which Richard the 
 hermit composed and wrote.” The monastery of Syon, which 
 possessed many of his books, treasured a Melum^ written with 
 his own hand.^ He is reputed to have written Meditations on 
 
 ^ A critical edition of the Latin texts is being prepared by Miss M. Deanesly. 
 
 '^Five of Love (E.E.T.S., Orig. Ser., 106), p. 104 ; facsimile, facing p. 103. 
 
 ^M. Bateson, Syon Library, 102; see also H. E. Allen, Athenceum, 23 
 Aug., 1913. 
 


176 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 the Passion, and Treatises on the Ten Commandments, on the 
 Paternoster, and on Prayer, besides paraphrases and expositions 
 of Scripture in English. The Pricke of Conscience, which has 
 long been attributed to him,^ contains counsels to the soul upon 
 life, death, and judgment In a church at York (All Saints’, 
 North Street) is a window depicting the end of the world 
 (Plate XXXVI). Below each panel is a couplet from this 
 poem. The representations of fire and flood, earthquake and 
 falling stars, of the rending of tombs and coming together of 
 bones, are quaint but vivid, and they follow the author’s 
 description of the last fifteen days.^ 
 
 The compiler of the Officium de S. Ricai'do describes the 
 influence of Richard Rolle as a devotional writer:— 
 
 “Admirable, indeed, and very useful, were the occupations of 
 this holy man—in holy exhortations by which he converted a very 
 great number to God; in his mellifluous writings and treatises and 
 little books composed for the edification of his fellow-Christians, 
 which should all re-echo the sweetest harmony in the hearts of the 
 devout.” 
 
 Richard of Hampole excelled in books of instruction and 
 devotion composed for religious persons, and particularly for 
 solitaries. A careful scribe who collected his works cites the 
 source from which his text of the Judica me Deus is derived. 
 It was copied from a book in the possession of a hermit whom 
 he had visited at Christmastide in 1409: Ricardus heremita 
 dixit in libro quein habuit heremita de Tanfeld? The Com¬ 
 mentary on the Psalter was written at the request of Margaret 
 Kirkby, the recluse of Ainderby. To the same lady, his “dear 
 disciple,” was dedicated the letter of sympathetic advice, called 
 the Form of Perfect Living (p. 98), which became a popular 
 tract. He bids her, however, not to covet books overmuch: 
 “ hold love in heart and in work, and thou hast all that we may 
 say or write”. 
 
 Mention must be made of a work occurring in whole or in 
 part in many manuscripts, which sometimes purports to be a 
 
 ^ Since going to press, my attention has been called to the valuable mono¬ 
 graph by Miss Allen on The Authorship of the Prick of Conscience''. She 
 does not consider R. Rolle to be the author, or even the translator, of this poem. 
 
 2 See An Old York Church: All Hallows in North Street. 
 
 ^ Bodl. MS. 861, f. 102. Also Trin. Coll., Dublin, MS. A. 6, 9 [per Miss 
 M. Deanesly]. 
 


t'LATE XXXri 
 
 
 
 sW'!’ ■''Nte.'fftriMsiau 
 
 It! Kftittaa 
 
 V” 
 
 flij! I tttC'a 
 
 1- 
 
 f^fsl 
 
 I'kICK OK CO.NSCI KXCK ■• WINDOW. YORK 
 





LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 177 
 
 “ boke maad of Rycharde hampole heremyte to an Ankeresse 
 It contains ninety-one chapters, and that numbered eighty-three 
 is entitled: “ How an anker schal haue [behave] hyr to hem 
 that comen to hir”. The work is none other than Hilton’s 
 treatise upon the contemplative life, called The Scale of 
 Perfection (p. 99). 
 
 Walter Hilton was an Austin canon of Thurgarton, and 
 died in 1396. The following account of one “Walter the 
 recluse,” which occurs in a catalogue of “ English Learned 
 Men that were Augustin Friers,” may possibly refer to Walter 
 Hilton, although the otherwise unknown friar is said to have 
 flourished in 1280, a century before the Augustinian canon:— 
 
 “Walter the Recluse, educated among, and afterwards became 
 one of the Eremites of St. Augustine, and being already sufficiently 
 instructed in Secular Learning, he apply’d himself to Divinity, and 
 became a great Proficient in both Heads, being put to teach others, 
 he succeeded so well, that many of his Scholars became notable 
 Doctors. But whilst he liv’d Recluse from Human Conversation, 
 being much addicted to Solitary Life, he wrote Pious Meditations: 
 Of a Solitary Life: Of the Contempt of the WorldP ^ 
 
 The works of Richard Rolle and Walter Hilton were much 
 appreciated by anchoresses, who were often well-educated 
 women. The ladies for whom the Ancren Riwle had been 
 written were bidden to read books of devotion in English or 
 French. Reading was encouraged as a relief and help to the 
 oppressed spirit:— 
 
 “Often, dear sisters, ye ought to pray less, that ye may read 
 more. Reading is good prayer. Reading teacheth how, and for 
 what, we ought to pray; and prayer afterwards obtaineth it. In 
 reading, when the heart feels delight, devotion ariseth, and that is 
 worth many prayers. St. Jerome saith, Let holy reading be always 
 in thy hand. Sleep may fall upon thee as thou lookest thereon^ and the 
 sacred page meet thy drooping face ; and thus long and intently must 
 thou read. Everything, however, may be overdone. Moderation 
 is always best,” 
 
 ^ Bodl. MS., Laud, 602. In another MS. (in private hands) R. is credited 
 with the authorship. 
 
 2 J. Stevens, Continuation of 'Dugd. Monast. ii. 216. Tanner cites B.M. 
 Cott. Faust. B. VI. as Pious Contemplations of Walter Hylton, anchorite. This 
 manuscript, falsely ascribed to W. H., deals with solitary saints, and contains the 
 paintings reproduced in Frontispiece and Plate VI. 
 
 12 
 


178 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 We owe to an anchoress of Lynn a fragmentary mystical 
 work, and to an anchoress of Norwich, one of the finest con¬ 
 tributions to sacred literature. About Margery Kempe no¬ 
 thing is known but what we can glean from the treatise upon 
 contemplation “taken out of the boke of Margerie Kempe of 
 Lynn Of this fragment no manuscript is known. One copy 
 alone has been traced, a tiny quarto of eight pages, printed by 
 Wynkyn de Worde about 1501, preserved in the University 
 Library, Cambridge. This was reprinted with slight variations 
 by H. Pepwell in 1521,^ and he appended this note: “Here 
 endeth a short treatise of a devout ancress called Margery 
 Kempe of Lynn ”. In the dialogues between her soul and God, 
 she reveals herself as a zealous self-disciplined woman, eager 
 to suffer more for His sake, but restrained from undue asceti¬ 
 cism and outward observances by her realization of His desire 
 for her love alone. We learn how she overcame her loathing 
 of lepers (p. 121); with what sympathy she regarded suffering 
 even in animals; how earnestly she desired that there should 
 be more priests in Lynn to conduct God’s worship; how she 
 agonized in prayer for men and women of evil life, and also 
 “ for all Jews and Saracens, and all heathen people, that they 
 should come to Christian faith”. During the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, there were several anchorages in Lynn (see 
 Appendix), but which was the abode of Margery the mystic is 
 so far unknown. 
 
 Even of Dame Julian of Norwich we know comparatively 
 little, but happily her record of religious experience is com¬ 
 plete. The Revelations of Divine Love describe with consider¬ 
 able skill and power certain “ shewings ” vouchsafed to her 
 during the severe illness of which mention has already been 
 made. Two distinct versions of this work are found.^ Mr. 
 Harford has recently edited the shorter and simpler one which 
 he considers to be the original. The more elaborate version 
 (which has eighty-six chapters instead of twenty-five) omits 
 some trifling details of the illness, but is in every other respect 
 considerably fuller. Julian herself tells us that almost twenty 
 
 1 Reissued in Cell of Self-Knowledge, ed. E. G. Gardner, xix. pp. 51-9. 
 
 '^Comfortable Words for Christ's Lovers, ed. Dundas Harford [Amherst MS., 
 B.M. Addit. 37790]; Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Grace Warrack [B.M. 
 Sloane 2449]. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 179 
 
 years after the time of the showing, she was still deriving in¬ 
 struction from it, and was gradually learning its meaning. 
 
 The Amherst MS. is inscribed with these words :— 
 
 “ Here is a vision, showed by the goodness of God to a devout 
 woman, and her name is Julian, that is recluse at Norwich, and yet 
 is on life, anno domini mccccxiij. In the which vision are full many 
 comfortable words, and greatly stirring to all that desire to be Christ’s 
 lovers.” 
 
 Julian was an anchoress at St. Julian’s, Norwich, a church 
 which was under Carrow nunnery. She was a humble woman, 
 with no opinion of the intellectual and spiritual gifts, which 
 caused a later writer to describe her as theodidacta^ profunda, 
 ecstatica. She calls herself “ a simple creature, unlettered ”. 
 
 “ God forbid that ye should say, or take it so, that I am a teacher, 
 for I mean not so—no, I meant never so. For I am a woman un¬ 
 learned, feeble, and frail; but I know well this that I say I have it 
 of the showing of Him that is Sovereign Teacher. But truly charity 
 stirs me to tell you it. For I would God were known, and my even- 
 Christians sped, as I would be myself, to the more hating of sin and 
 loving of God. But, because I am a woman, should I therefore leave 
 [it alone], that I should not tell you the goodness of God, since I saw 
 in the same time that it is His will that it be known ? Then shall ye 
 soon forget me that am a wretch, and do so that I let you not, and 
 behold Jesus that is Teacher of all.” ^ 
 
 The central scene of the Vision is Christ’s Passion—in the 
 light of which Julian ever after interprets all the mystery of 
 life. The problems of the existence of evil and pain had long 
 weighed upon her pure, compassionate spirit : “ Thus, in my 
 folly, afore this time often I wondered why by the great fore¬ 
 seeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted : for 
 then, methought, all should have been well ”. She was shown 
 that sin was permitted because it was “ behovable ” : and that 
 “ all manner of thing shall be well ”. Still was her heart 
 troubled : “ Ah, how might all be well, for the great hurt that 
 is come, by sin, to the creature ? ” Then did Christ make clear 
 to her that all sin and suffering should surely be turned to profit 
 by virtue of His Passion. 
 
 ^ Comfortable Words, p. 41-2, 
 


i8o HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Dame Julian reveals the secret “ beholdings ” and “ be- 
 seechings ” of her own soul. Now she unfolds high aspirations : 
 “ God, of Thy Goodness, give me Thyself . . . and if I ask 
 any thing that is less, ever me wanteth Now she utters the 
 agonized longing of her heart, and asks relief in her intense 
 yearning for the welfare of a friend’s soul : “ I desired to learn 
 assuredly as to a certain creature that I loved, if it should con¬ 
 tinue in good living, which I hoped by the grace of God was 
 begun This human thirst for fuller knowledge was not to 
 be satisfied, nevertheless she was taught not to be greatly dis¬ 
 tressed for any manner of thing : “for all shall be well Her¬ 
 self secure in love and strong in faith, she explains faith thus — 
 “ It is nought else but a right understanding, with true belief, 
 and sure trust, of our being : that we are in God, and God in 
 us, whom we see not 
 
 As to the full meaning of the revelation, Julian expressly 
 tells us that it only dawned upon her gradually as she medi¬ 
 tated upon this, the supreme experience of her life :— 
 
 “ And from that time that it was shewed, I desired oftentimes to 
 learn what was our Lord’s meaning. And fifteen years after, and 
 more, I was answered in ghostly understanding, saying thus : Wouldst 
 thou learn thy Lord's meaning in this thing ? Learn it well: Love 
 was LLis meaning. Who shewed it thee ? Love. What shewed He 
 thee ? Love. Wherefore shewed it He ? For Love. Hold thee therem 
 a7id thou shah learn and know more m the same. But thou shalt 7iever 
 knozv 7ior lear7i therem other thmg without e7id. Thus was I learned 
 that Love was our Lord’s meaning.” ^ 
 
 Symon “ the Anker of London Wall ” was enclosed at the 
 city church of Allhallows. “ Sir Symon ” or “ Master Anker ” 
 is frequently mentioned in the churchwardens’ accounts. He 
 was the compiler of The Fruyte of Redempeyon^"^ an English 
 manual containing meditations on the life of Christ, with ap¬ 
 propriate prayers and thanksgivings. The woodcut reproduced 
 in the text (Fig. 7) is from this work : within a church, a priest 
 (doubtless intended for the author) kneels at the feet of Christ. 
 The book is introduced by Symon to his readers thus :— 
 
 ^ Revelations, chap, lxxxvi. 
 
 Printed by W. de Worde, 1514, 1530, 1532. Reprinted in facsimile by Mr. 
 Welch in Churchwardens' Accounts of Allhallows. 
 


LITERARY RECLUSES 
 
 i8i 
 
 “ Here foloweth prayers and full deuoute contemplacyons with 
 thankynges of all the benefytes gyuen to mankynde, and specyally 
 in the werke of our redempcyon, of the incarnacyon and passyon of 
 cryste, called the fruyte of redempcyon. And fyrst it putteth a prayer 
 to moue the mynde of man to laude god.” 
 
 Fig. 7.—Symon “ the Anker of London Wall ”. 
 
 What the pious priest saw “ with the inward eye of his mind,” 
 that he set down for the help of the others, knowing that there 
 were few books of devotion in the vulgar tongue. One ex¬ 
 ample will suffice to indicate the manner of his teaching. A 
 short meditation “ Of the oblacyon of the thre holy kynges,” 
 closes with this prayer: “ Benygne Jesu I praye y^ to sende 
 me grace spyrytually to offre these gyftes to the. The pure 
 golde of perlite loue. The swete encens of deuoute prayer. 
 And the dene myrre of mortyfycacyon of my frayle flesshe.” 
 In the postscript the anchorite adds a personal touch, and 
 pleads for the prayers of such as had derived benefit from his 
 work :— 
 


182 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 “ O all ye seruauntes of god vnto whose handes this deuoute lytell 
 treatyse shall come, yf ye fynde swetnesse or deuocyon in Jhesu 
 cryste therby, laude ye god therfore, and of your charyte praye for 
 the Anker of London wall wretched Symon, that to the honour of 
 Jhesu cryst and of the virgyn his moder Mary hath compyled this 
 mater in englysshe for your ghostly conforte that vnderstande no 
 latyn. 
 
 Deo gracias.” 
 
 The book was put forth with the approval of the Bishop of 
 London, Richard Fitzjames (1506-22), who stated that he had 
 himself studiously read it, and recommended it to all true 
 servants of Christ—“ to theyr great consolacyon and ghostly 
 conforte, and to the merytes of the deuoute fader compounder 
 of the same 
 
 Here then, at the eve of the Reformation, we leave Symon, 
 the last of our literary recluses, a simple student of the Scrip¬ 
 tures. 
 


XIV. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Ther was an Ancres with horn I had not a lytyll besynes to have her grauntt 
 to cum owte, but owte she is.—Commissioners’ Report, Worcester. 
 
 There ys a chappell . . . which in tyme past hath ben an hermitage, wherein 
 a pore impotent man, sometyme heremyte thereof, doth dwel not able to pay the 
 rent.—Chantry Survey, Tadcaster. 
 
 A lthough in the sixteenth century recluses were 
 not so numerous as formerly, they were still to be 
 found in many churches and religious houses ; e.g. 
 at Wakefield, York, Lincoln, Norwich, London (Bishopsgate), 
 Westminster, and other places. Elizabeth, queen of Henry VH, 
 made gifts to women enclosed at St. Albans and at Gloucester; 
 Katherine of Aragon gave alms to the anchoress of Stamford and 
 to the anchorite of Marlborough ; and the pensioners of Henry 
 VHI included “ ancres Many other instances are found in 
 wills. A Somerset testator (1523) leaves : “ To the Ancresse of 
 Crookehorne, /\.od. and a pair of shetes. To the Ermytt there, 
 3^-. 4^. and a pair of shetes.” At Faversham “ my Lady 
 ankeris ” was succeeded by a male recluse; Cromwell’s Re¬ 
 membrances (1529-31) included petitions from the anker of 
 Faversham and from his sister, Ann Sawsten, and as late as 
 1541, a legacy was made to Sir Thomas Crakynthorpe, anker. 
 A will of 1538-9 shows that there were ankers both at the 
 White Friars and Black Friars of Lynn.^ 
 
 To such benefactions there was usually added a request for 
 intercessory prayer; e.g. at Faversham (1519); “To the 
 Ancres in the churchyard to the intent she shall pray for my 
 soul and all Christian souls, 4^. ” ; and at Sandwich (1535) : 
 “ To the Ancras being at Our Lady Church in Sandwich to 
 pray for my soul, 6 j. Zd'\ Sums of money were bequeathed 
 
 1 Nicolas, Privy Purse Exp.^ i, 67, 102; L, and P. Hen. VIII, iv., pt. iii., 
 p. 2732 ; III., pt. ii., p. 1545. 
 
 2 Consist. Court, Norwich, Reg. “ Godsalve,” f. 269. 
 
 183 
 


i84 hermits and ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 to the priest enclosed in the Austin Friary at Northampton, 
 known as “ the ancre of our lady of Grace,” or “ the Armett 
 of Saynt Austens”. The parson of Creaton gave 2 od. “to 
 the good father Anker for to say v massys of y® v woundes 
 of our Lord Jesu cryste ’ At the time of the surrender of 
 the house, Robert Barrett was anchorite. 
 
 The cell, as a recognized part of the chantry system, was 
 doomed at the Dissolution of Monasteries. The inmates were 
 quickly disposed of In vain the nuns of Polesworth, with 
 their abbess and an “ ancress ”—'reported by the commissioners 
 as women of a very religious sort—intimated their desire to 
 continue there or to be transferred to other houses (15 36). They 
 were allowed, indeed, to buy a brief respite, but in 1539 they 
 were forced to surrender. One of the nuns, possibly the recluse 
 herself, was close upon 100 years old, and the commissioners 
 themselves begged the Court of Augmentations to ratify pensions 
 to all : “ for most of them are aged, impotent, or friendless 
 The solitary Dominican sister at Worcester was dismissed under 
 compulsion with a feint of acquiescence. The official visitor of 
 the Blackfriars wrote to Thomas Cromwell that he had not 
 a little business to get her out, “ but owte she is 
 
 The Dominican anchoress of Norwich came under the 
 influence of Thomas Bilney, the Protestant reformer, who 
 presented her with a copy of the New Testament translated 
 by Tyndale, and also with a book called the Obedience of a 
 Christian Man^ which was amongst those prohibited by Bishop 
 Tunstall. When Bilney was convicted of heresy, there was a 
 danger lest she should be incriminated. When therefore he 
 was about to suffer for his faith at Norwich (1531), he made a 
 solemn declaration at the stake, which was recorded by one 
 who was present:— 
 
 “ And where as that the lady Ankeres of the blak freres is put in 
 grete trouble and surmysed that she shuld be an heretike and that I 
 shuld teche and instructe her with heresyes as well by bookes as 
 otherwise. Good cristen people here I take my deth upon it that I 
 doo knowe her but for a good and vertuous woman. I beseeche 
 god to preserue her in her goodnes. And I know non heresy in her 
 nor I neuer taught her heresy. I wold god there were many more 
 so good lyvyng in vertue as she is both men and women.” 2 
 
 ^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, x. No. 1191 (2). 
 
 2 Foxe, Acts and Mon., ed. Townsend, iv. 642, App. iii. 
 


THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 185 
 
 In all probability she was the “ Kateryn Man late recluse in 
 the house of the late Blak Freres ” to whom in 1548 a pension 
 of 20s. was granted by the Corporation for life, on condition 
 that she relinquished such right as she had in the “ ancresse- 
 house Two years later the civic assembly passed another 
 resolution : “ It is agreed and graunted that Katheryn Manne 
 syngle-woman shall have fre libertye to occupie within this 
 cittie so long as she shall kepe her shoppe and be soole and 
 unmarryed Some recluses, old and feeble, were dependent 
 upon the alms of those who had known them in the old days ; 
 thus in 1546-7 the parson of All Saints’, Norwich, bequeathed 
 6 s. Sd. to Mistress Kydman,^ sometime anchoress of Carrow. 
 
 Buildings were disposed of in various ways. The “ An- 
 keresse House” at Exeter was granted with St. John’s 
 hospital into private hands, whilst the “ late ancres of Excet- 
 tour,” Alice Buttes, received an annuity from the Crown. The 
 cell at Allhallows, London Wall, was suppressed in 1538, and 
 was given to the City sword-bearer. In 1516, there had been 
 an anchoress living at St. John’s chapel, Wakefield, but a 
 century later Dodsworth speaks of it as “ now translated into 
 a lay the (i.e. barn), on the south side wherof ther is a hollow 
 place yett extant in the wall wher [an] anchoret lived Such 
 tenements were occasionally put to parochial uses, and became 
 a vestry, or, as at Gateshead, a school. The four rooms at 
 Chester-le-Street were occupied by widows, who paid a few 
 shillings a year to the churchwardens. In 1619 these build¬ 
 ings were granted to the curate, but in 1626 the parish paid 
 his house rent elsewhere “ in lieu that formerly he solie have 
 had the anchorage, which is imployed to support the poor 
 
 There were hermits, too, scattered up and down the country 
 during these years preceding the Dissolution of Religious 
 Houses. Road and bridge hermits were still doing useful 
 work, and were popular objects of charity. The private 
 accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1521 show “rewards” 
 paid to the “ armytts ” called Egerton and Mytton, and to the 
 “ armytts ” ofBindon and Polesworth ; and as late as 1542 he 
 
 1 At the bishop’s visitation in 1514, the sub-prioress had complained “ that 
 Dame Margaret Kidman is unkind ”, 
 
 ‘^Church Notes (Rec. Ser., 34), 51. 
 
 ^ W. O. Blunt, Church in Chester-le-Street, 13-5. 
 


186 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 gave twopence to a poor hermit at the gates.^ Persons travel¬ 
 ling would give alms to hermits on the highway. Henry VI 11 
 on a journey “ paied in almes to an heremyte upon the waye ” 
 4^. Zd. He also allowed 6 j. to the hermit of Deptford 
 towards the repair of his chapel.^ 
 
 The enterprising hermit of Lydd seems to have made 
 himself indispensable to the town, and to have remained on 
 at the hermitage from 1520 to 1558 in the capacity of agent in 
 connexion with church restoration.^ John Bate supplied loads 
 of gravel, and even lead for the roofing of the chancel, e.g. :— 
 
 “1532. Itm receuyd of father armyte for Half a C and 
 20 lb. of Lede, 4^*. Zd, 
 
 “ I 538-9. It pd. to the hermyte for certen Stonys of hym 
 Bought for to Amend the churche Wall, 2 s. Zd!' 
 
 But whilst some were honest, hard-working men, others 
 were idle and greedy of gain (pp. 61-2). William Thorpe, the 
 Lollard, had spoken in his Testament (1460) of “ heremites and 
 pardoners, ankers and straunge beggers ” who had leave to 
 defraud the poor.^ There was some truth in his complaint, 
 for the system of indulgences was frequently applied to their 
 support, and some undoubtedly held positions which were 
 connected with superstitious uses. In 1443, for example, the 
 pope offered an indulgence to penitents who should visit and 
 give alms to a chapel ^ in the parish of Stalham, dedicated to 
 St. Andrew “ at which John Kylburn, a hermit, has long 
 dwelt, and whither resorts a great multitude out of reverence 
 for the said saint, by whose merits divers of those who visit it 
 have been delivered from diseases Pilgrims to Bawburgh 
 were wont to resort to the oratory of the hermit near the 
 bridge, and after mass he “ attended them to the town, sprink¬ 
 ling them with hyssop and holy water ”. Another instance of 
 such service occurs at Hinxton, in the neighbouring county of 
 Cambridge. An Elizabethan inquisition on concealed lands 
 reported as follows :— 
 
 ^Hist. MSS. {Middleton), igii; 331, 335-6, 346, 389. 
 
 Privy Purse Exp. 42, 273 ; L. and P. Hen. VIII, v., p. 749. 
 
 2 A. Finn, Records of Lydd, 346, 359, 376, 381-2, etc. 
 
 ^Foxe, Actes and Mon., ed. 1583,1 p. 543. 
 
 ^ Probably at the place now called Chapel field. 
 


THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 187 
 
 “ We find lykwise that an Ermite . . . dwellinge there did cast 
 holly water on them that came to himfortye yeares sithenceand tooke 
 the proffitts thereof. . . . But whether the sayd howse and close 
 were given or used to anye other superstitious use before or since 
 that tyme we knowe not.” 
 
 A similar commission held in the county of Northampton 
 elicited the information that at Boston ^ in Brampton Ash there 
 was a hermitage called the chapel of St. Augustine, where 
 pilgrimage used to be made to an image of that saint, and where 
 mass was many times celebrated in a superstitious manner. 
 Pilgrimage was also made to the hermitage at Little Harrow- 
 den, whereof the hermit-chaplain. Sir Thomas, was the re¬ 
 cipient of numerous bequests in the reign of Henry VIII. 
 
 The hermitage at Southampton, situated near the old ferry 
 over the Itchen, was frequented by pilgrims ; the present 
 Chapel Road was once the “ causey of our Lady of Grace 
 Henry VIPs charter presents a curious admixture of secular 
 and spiritual interests. “ Considering that by a confluence of 
 our subjects and others the town may be greatly improved and 
 advanced in wealth and prosperity,” a yearly fair of several 
 days’ duration is granted to the mayor and burgesses, as also 
 to William Gefferey, hermit of the chapel of the Holy Trinity 
 and the Blessed Mary, “in which chapel the said glorious 
 Virgin is very frequently honoured by the faithful In 1510, 
 Henry VIII visited this place and gave 6 s. Sd in alms. 
 
 The hermit of Colnbrook, near Windsor, was guardian of 
 another shrine in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Elizabeth 
 of York made an offering of Sd. at “ Our Lady of Cabroke,”" 
 and gave the same day to the hermit in alms izd. 
 
 The chapel of Court at Street in Aldington sprang into 
 fame about the year 1525 through its \ connexion with the 
 “Holy Maid of Kent”. Before becoming a nun at Canter¬ 
 bury, Elizabeth Barton had lived at Aldington. There she 
 was visited with sickness which manifested itself in seizures 
 and trances accompanied by wild speeches, and resulted (so 
 says the statute-book) in “ wekeness of her brayne ”. The 
 parson of Aldington, Richard Master, encouraged the woman 
 
 ^ Or Bedstow. Sir John Holt of Brampton by Dingley by will dated 25 
 March, 1419-20, leaves “ to the emendation of the hermitage of Bedstowe, xl 5.’ . 
 Line. Reg. Repyndon, Mem. f. 190 d. 
 


188 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 to believe herself inspired, and spread exaggerated reports, 
 with intent to increase the number of pilgrims to the chapel 
 “ for hys own lucre and advauntage Instigated to play the 
 prophetess, she predicted that if the King’s marriage with 
 Anne Boleyn took place, she should be burnt and he would 
 die a villain’s death. An immense crowd gathered at the 
 chapel, in whose presence the nun became rapt:— 
 
 “ At her next voyage to our Lady of Court of Strete, she entred 
 the Chappell with Ave Regina Ccelomm in pricksong. . . . There 
 fell she eftsoones into a marveilous passion before the Image of our 
 Lady, much like a bodie diseased of the falling Evill, in the which 
 she uttered sundry metricall and ryming speeches, tending to the 
 w'orship of our Lady of Court of Strete, whose Chappell there shee 
 wished to be better mainteined, and to be furnished with a daily 
 singing Priest.” 
 
 A hermit-chaplain. Sir William, was duly appointed, and “ the 
 Heremite was enriched by daily offering ”. When the fame of 
 the place was at its height (1528) a typical bequest was made 
 by Isabel, Lady Poynings :— 
 
 “To the herymete of Curte of Strete vji-. wmd. To our Lady 
 Chapel ... a yard and two nails and a half of cloth of gold, for a 
 vestment.” ^ 
 
 The chaplain himself was the subject of one of the nun’s 
 “ revelations Whilst she was at Canterbury, and he at 
 Aldington, she announced “ what meate the Heremite had to 
 his supper, and many other things concerning him,” whereat 
 people marvelled greatly. Lambarde’s account, in his Peram¬ 
 bulation of Kent^ was written within thirty-six years of these 
 events. 
 
 Elizabeth Barton herself may have been the victim of 
 hallucinations, but her aiders and abetters who compiled the 
 rolls of prophecies, were certainly guilty of fraud. Bidden by 
 an angel, she visited Henry VIII himself: possibly she told 
 him the story repeated by Chapuys in a letter to Charles V, 
 namely, that she had seen the seat prepared for him in hell 
 (cf p. 160). She confessed many mad follies to the arch¬ 
 bishop, but desired permission to go again to Court at Street, 
 
 ^ Test, Vetusta, 634. 
 


THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 189 
 
 and “ there have a trance, and then know perfectly At 
 length she admitted her treason against God and the King, and 
 publicly confessed her falsehoods at Paul’s Cross. Cranmer 
 declared, in 1533, that the feigned revelations of the false nun 
 were had in abomination; and Sir Thomas More—who had 
 once thought her pious, albeit strange and childish—now re¬ 
 garded her as “ the wicked woman of Canterbury Elizabeth 
 Barton, the parson of Aldington, and their accomplices, were 
 imprisoned, convicted of high treason, and executed (April, 
 
 Fig. 8 .—Chapel of our Lady, Court-at-Street. , 
 
 1534) : “ This day the nun of Kent, with two Friars Observant, 
 two monks, and one secular priest, were drawn from the 
 Tower to Tyburn, and there hanged and beheaded The 
 hermit escaped, ibut disappears from public notice. His 
 ruined chapel, the scene of all this excitement, is still standing 
 (Fig. 8). 
 
 One of the last of the 'Kentish hermits, an intelligent and 
 hard-working man who dwelt by Richborough Castle, was 
 visited by Leland and commended by him : “I had Antiquites 
 of the Heremite the which is an industrius Man”. 
 
 The last tenant of the hermitage near Southwick was Prior 
 
 ^L. and P. Hen. VIII (1528-34); Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 12. 
 


190 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 William Noxton, who took refuge there from the sweating 
 sickness (1534). Writing to Lady Lisle he says that the 
 visitation of God is very sore, and that his letter is “ scribbled 
 with a comfortless heart in the eremitical habitation of St. 
 Leonard In 1544, St Leonard’s Armytage, consisting of 
 house, chapel, garden and closes, was disposed of by the Crown. 
 
 The last solitary of Sherborne died a few months before 
 the expulsion of the monks from the abbey. One of the 
 earliest entries in the parish register is the burial of William 
 Howell, hermit of St. John the Baptist (1538). When visiting 
 this town, Leland noted that ‘ ‘ there was an heremitage of 
 S. John by the mylle, now down Human bones have been 
 found in the plot of ground near the saw-mill, still called “ St. 
 Jone’s ”, 
 
 There were a few survivors of the old days, in places not 
 easily accessible to state officials. About the time of the sup¬ 
 pression of Holme Cultram Abbey, in Cumberland, the follow¬ 
 ing notice occurs : “ There is a chapel called St. Cuthbert’s 
 Chapel with two garths containing one acre in the occupation 
 of Richard Stanley hermit there, with a little moss thereunto 
 belonging ”. The Survey of Yorkshire chantries includes the 
 pathetic memorandum concerning Tadcaster :— 
 
 “ There ys a chappell in the sayd parishe, covered with stone, 
 which in tyme past hath ben an hermitage, wherein a pore impotent 
 man, sometyme heremyte thereof, doth dwel not able to pay the rent; 
 which chappell with th’ appertenances ys worth to be letten by yere 
 as appereth by the rentall, vj s. viij 
 
 In the case of the last chaplain of Warkworth hermitage, the 
 grant made by the Earl of Northumberland to Sir George Lan- 
 castre (p. 48) was ratified by the Court of Augmentations in 
 1537) save that in lieu of twenty marks, he was to receive ten 
 marks yearly, with the profits of the Rood chapel, and of St. 
 Leonard’s hospital at Wigton. Before 1567, the place had 
 ceased to be occupied. Clarkson’s Survey observes that:— 
 
 “ Ther is in the parke also one howse hewyn within one cragge, 
 which is called the harmitage chapel: in the same ther haith bene 
 one preast keaped, which such godlye services as that tyme was used 
 and celebrated. The mancion howse ys nowe in decay : the closes 
 


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THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 191 
 
 that apperteined to the said chantrie is occupied to his lordship’s 
 use.” ^ 
 
 If, indeed, any solitary remained in his cell after the Dis¬ 
 solution of Monasteries (1536-9), he was almost inevitably 
 homeless after the Suppression of the Chantries in 1546. It 
 was reported in 1548 that the chapel of Horteley in Batheaston 
 “wherein an Armyte sometyme dwelled” had for the last 
 twelve years been inhabited by another tenant. 
 
 St. Brandan’s chapel at Bristol—reported by Leland to be 
 “ now defacyd ”—was secured by the town clerk, who built a 
 windmill in its place. The site (which became a fort in the Civil 
 Wars) is now occupied by the Cabot Tower. The chapel near 
 Plymouth is referred to in 1591 as a barn and messuage called 
 “ the hermytage of our ladie at Quarrywell St. John’s chapel, 
 which had belonged to Tavistock Abbey—“ a little cottage 
 much ruyned, with two little garden plotts ”—was used in the 
 seventeenth century first as a pest-house and then as a poor- 
 house. The premises of Malmesbury Abbey, sold in 1544, 
 included “St. White’s Armitage” upon Burton Hill. Leland 
 mentions another “ in the Dike of the Toune at the West Ende 
 of the old Paroche Chirche,” that is, in the Avon valley, south 
 of Malmesbury. In the following century Aubrey noticed 
 several ancient buildings, which looked like hermitages, about 
 Malmesbury and Westport. In the parish of Stanton St. 
 Quintin “ stood a very fine hermitage, moted about in an oaken 
 wood ”. Alluding to a ruined chapel at Yatton Keynes, 
 Aubrey says : “ I think there was a Hermitage by it, but a 
 pleasanter romancy place I know not easily where to find ”. 
 
 The solitary now belonged to a bygone age—the true 
 solitary, that is, for the “ ornamental hermits ” of the pseudo¬ 
 gothic revival belong to a wholly different category. Recluses 
 were swept away by the flood which carried off all that was in 
 any way connected with monasticism. They had, however, 
 fulfilled their purpose and justified their existence. They were 
 not a class composed wholly of eccentric and fanatical, or sel¬ 
 fish and morbid persons whp shirked the duties of life. They 
 were often men and women of strong and saintly character 
 
 ^ Percy’s Reliqices, ed. 1858, iii. 333. 
 


192 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 whose life commanded respect and won gratitude from their 
 fellow-men, who recognized them as workers. At its best, the 
 contemplative life was a career and a noble one. There were 
 of course some whose conduct brought discredit on their pro¬ 
 fession, but there were others who lived up to the high ideal 
 set forth by one of themselves :— 
 
 “ Righteous hermits also have a single aim : in charity of God 
 and of their neighbour they live; worldly praise they despise; as 
 much as they may, man’s sight they flee; each man more worthy 
 than themselves they hold; to devotion continually their minds they 
 give; idleness they hate; fleshly lusts they manfully withstand; 
 heavenly things they taste and eagerly seek; and earthly they covet 
 not but forsake; in sweetness of prayer they are delighted.” ^ 
 
 The passionate earnestness of purpose in such a life commands 
 the admiration said to have been expressed in an outburst 
 of enthusiasm by a Protestant moralist. Dr. Johnson: “ I 
 never read of a hermit but in imagination I kiss his feet 
 Even the most cautious critic of the twentieth century, fearful 
 of idealizing the “ Dark Ages,” may well echo the words of 
 the hermit of Hampole:— 
 
 “ Hermetis lyfle therfore is grett, if it gretely be done 
 ^ From Richard Rolle,'Fiy<? of Love, 29, 30. 
 


APPENDIX A 
 
 THE OFFICE FOR THE ENCLOSING OF ANCHORITES 
 (according to the Use of Sarum) 
 
 [Manuale ad Usum Sarum (Surtees S. 63), 37*-43*. The office is “ Servi- 
 tium Includendorum,” from the York Manual.] 
 
 THE SERVICE OF THOSE WHO ARE TO BE ENCLOSED 
 
 / N what manner those who approach the order of anchorites ought to 
 approach and to order themselves^ that which follows according to the 
 Use of Sarum will make clear. No one ought to be enclosed without the 
 advice of the Bishop ; but let him be taught and warned by the Bishop or 
 some other presbyter that he must devoutly examine his own conscience., and 
 in particular whether he desires holiness with a good or bad purpose, if 
 he desires it to please God or to attain wealth or the praise of men ; lastly 
 whether he have strength and endurance of mind enough to avail against 
 the crafts of the evil enemy, and against manifold mischiefs of that sort. 
 When he shall have promised to bear such things for the kingdom of God, 
 and to set his hope on God alone, let the Bishop, or a presbyter by command 
 of the Bishop, enclose him. But let the one who is enclosed learn not to 
 think highly of himself, as though he deserved to be set apart from the 
 mass of mankind; but let him rather believe that it is provided and ap¬ 
 pointed for his own weakness that he should be set far from the companion¬ 
 ship of his neighbours, lest by more frequent sin he should both himself 
 perish and do harm to those who dwell with him, and should thus fall into 
 greater damnation. Let him therefore think that he is convicted of his sins 
 and committed to solitary confinement as to a prison, and that on account of 
 his own weakness he is unworthy of the fellowship of mankind. This rule 
 must be obseTwed with both sexes. 
 
 HERE BEGINNETH THE ORDER OF ENCLOSING SERVANTS OR 
 
 HANDMAIDENS OF GOD 
 
 Let him who is to be enclosed take care that he be confessed of all his 
 sins which he can remember, and that on the day before the day of his en¬ 
 closure he be refreshed only with bread and water. On the night follow¬ 
 ing that day, he is bound to watch devoutly in prayer with his light burning 
 in a inonastery near his cell. On the morrow, after an exhortation to the 
 people and to the one who is to be enclosed, the Bishop or priest must begin 
 this Responsorium : Let us amend our ways. The choir goes on —For the 
 
 13 193 
 


194 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 amendment of our sins of ignorance, lest, taken suddenly by the day of 
 death, we seek time for repentance, and find it not. Hear us, O Lord, and 
 have mercy, for we have sinned against thee. 
 
 Verse. Help us, O Lord our Saviour, and for the glory of thy name 
 deliver us, O Lord. Hear us, O Lord. 
 
 After this the Bishop or Priest prostrating himself on the carpet before 
 the altar shall with the clerks.^ begin these Psalms: 7//, Ixxxviiii with 
 Gloria Patri, xx with Gloria Patri, xxxii, xxxv^ xxxviii., xli.^ xliii., Ivi^ cii^ 
 ciii, 1-5 (only), cxxx, cxxxi^ cxliii. Lord have mercy upon us. Christ 
 have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. 
 
 Our Father, etc. And lead us not, etc. But deliver, etc. 
 
 O Lord, my God, save thy servant (or thy handmaid); 
 
 Which putteth his trust in thee. 
 
 Let not the enemy prevail against him : 
 
 Nor the son of wickedness draw nigh to hurt him. 
 
 Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower : 
 
 From the face of the enemy. 
 
 Send him help, O Lord, from thy holy place : 
 
 And strengthen him out of Sion. 
 
 O Lord, hear my prayer; 
 
 And let my cry come unto thee. 
 
 The Lord be with you. Let us pray. 
 
 Spare, O Lord, spare thy servant At. whom thou hast redeemed, O 
 Christ, with thy blood, and be not angry with him for ever. Who livest, 
 etc. 
 
 Another prayer with Let us pray. 
 
 O God of boundless mercy and great goodness, forgive his sins and 
 heal all his weakness of soul, that having received forgiveness of all his 
 sins he may rejoice in thy goodness. Through Christ, etc. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy on thy servant N. and 
 of thy great goodness guide him in the way of eternal life, that by thy 
 grace he may love those things which are pleasing to thee, and may 
 go on from strength to strength. 
 
 Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy gracious favour, and 
 further us with thy continual help, that all our work may be begun, 
 and ended in thee. Through our Lord, etc. 
 
 After this let the Bishof or Priest vest himself in a Chasuble and 
 let any Mass he wills be at once begun; so that this prayer following 
 be said for the one to be enclosed.^ with a single Per Dominum, and a single 
 Oremus. 
 
 O God, who dost cleanse the wicked and wiliest not the death of a 
 sinner ; we humbly beseech thy majesty that in thy goodness thou wilt 
 guard thy servant M. who trusteth in thy heavenly aid, that he may 
 ever serve thee, and no trials may part him from thee. Through our 
 Lord, etc. 
 
 After the Gosfel the one who is to be enclosed must offer his taper 
 


APPENDIX A 
 
 195 
 
 which must always burn above the altar during the Mass. And the 
 one who is to be enclosed must stand before the altar step and read his 
 profession in a loud voice : if he is a layman some servant must read it 
 for him. The profession must be of this sort :— 
 
 I, brother or sister N. offer and present myself to the goodness of God 
 to serve in the order of an anchorite ; and according to the rule of that 
 order I promise to remain henceforward in the service of God through the 
 grace of God and the guidance of the church and to render canonical 
 obedience to my spiritual fathers. 
 
 Then must the one who is to be enclosed make the sign of the cross on 
 the deed of his profession with a pen.^ and placing it on his knees upon the 
 altar., let him pray after the Bishop or Priest in this 7Jian7ier :— 
 
 Antiphon. Confirm, O Lord, that which thou hast wrought in us, 
 from thy holy temple which is in Jerusalem. Alleluia, Alleluia. Let 
 [God] arise. 
 
 Afterwards let the Bishop or Priest say :— 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 O God, who dost quicken thy servant who has turned from the vanity 
 of the life of this world to the love of thy heavenly calling; cleanse the 
 thoughts of his heart, and pour upon him thy heavenly grace, that trusting 
 in thee, and guarded by thy mighty power, he may fulfil that which by thy 
 grace he has promised, and the work of this life well done, he may attain 
 at last to that which thou hast vouchsafed to promise to those who trust in 
 thee. Through Christ, etc. 
 
 The7t shall the Bishop or Priest bless the habit suitable to his professio7i 
 with this prayer :— 
 
 We mark the sign of our Lord Jesus Christ on this garment that his 
 profession may be kept, and that the Holy Spirit may rule in the heart and 
 soul and in all the doings of him who receives it. Through the same 
 Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Then shall he sprinkle both the habit and hhn who receives it with 
 holy water: and whe7i he gives the habit let hhn say when it is being put 
 on :— 
 
 May God put off from thee the old man with all his works, and may 
 God clothe thee with the new man which after God is created in righteous¬ 
 ness and true holiness. 
 
 And let all answer: Amen. 
 
 When he who is to be enclosed is clad m his habif let hhn i7n7nediately 
 prostrate hhnself before the altar step and let him remain thus prostrate in 
 prayer until he be suinmoned by the Bishop or Priest to co7n7nunion. 
 After that let the Bishop or Priest chant over hhn still lying prostrate 
 this hymn :— 
 
 Veni, Creator Spiritus, etc. 
 
 Verse. Send out thy Spirit and they shall be made : and thou shalt 
 renew the face of the earth. 
 
 The Lord be with you. And with thy spirit. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 O God, who wiliest not the death of a sinner^ but rather that he should 
 


196 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 repent and be cleansed ; we humbly beseech thy mercy for this thy servant 
 who has forsaken the life of the world, that thou wouldest pour upon him 
 the help of thy great goodness that, enrolled among thy chaste ones, he 
 may so run the course of this present life that he may receive at thy hand 
 the reward of an eternal inheritance. Through Christ, etc. 
 
 Then shall the Bishop or Priest going to the altar finish the Mass for 
 the one who is to be enclosed. 
 
 Secreta. We beseech thee, O Lord, that by the power of these holy 
 mysteries thou wilt cleanse us from all our faults, and wilt grant to thy 
 servant N. forgiveness of all his sins. Through our Lord, etc. 
 
 Postcom7nunio. May the sacraments which we have received, O 
 Lord, make us pure, and grant that thy servant N. may be free from every 
 fault, so that he whose conscience by sin is accused may rejoice in the 
 fulness of pardon from on high. Through our Lord. 
 
 When the Bishop or Priest shall have communicated., let him also 
 cofnmunicate the one to be enclosed. When Mass is finished., let the afore¬ 
 said taper be handed to the one who is to be enclosed; and when a pro¬ 
 cession has been formed., let the Bishop or Priest., vested in a chasuble, go 
 before, theti let him take by the hand the one to be enclosed carrying the 
 taper, aftd let him lead him in goodly sort to his dwelling. Let the clerks 
 meamvhile go before, singing a Litany. Whe7t they have reached the 
 dwelling and the Litany is finished, the Bishop or Priest shall leave the 
 07te to be enclosed outside the dwelling and shall enter the dwelling alone, 
 be ginfling, with holy water, the Antiphon Purge me, or I saw water, as 
 tune permits. 
 
 Then let him hallow and bless the dwelling with the following prayers. 
 
 This prayer shall be said over the altar with Let us pray. 
 
 O Lord, holy and merciful Father, who hast neither beginning of 
 days nor end of years, whose greatness is bounded only by thy will; 
 O God whose majesty the heaven of heavens cannot contain ; we bless 
 thee and humbly beseech thee that this altar may be such an one as 
 that which Abel the forerunner in suffering, being slain by his brother, 
 moistened and hallowed with fresh blood. May this altar be to thee, O 
 Lord, like that which Abraham our father, who was permitted to see 
 thee, made ; on which the High Priest Melchisedech set forth the pattern 
 of a prevailing sacrifice. May this altar be to thee like that which Moses 
 hallowed with seven days’ purification and sanctified it with a threefold 
 blessing'; as thou didst say unto him ; Whosoever toucheth this altar 
 shall be holy. On this altar then may all wantonness be destroyed, and 
 every lust be smitten down ; and there be offered, instead of turtle¬ 
 doves, the sacrifice of purity, and for young doves the sacrifice of innocence. 
 Through our Lord. 
 
 The Blessing on the house :— 
 
 Hearken, O Lord, to our prayers, and let the clear light of thy presence 
 shine upon this house. Let a full measure of thy blessing fall upon those 
 who dwell therein by thy grace, that, dwelling in all sobriety in these 
 temples made with hands, they may ever be temples of thy Spirit. Through 
 Christi our-Lord. Amen. 
 


APPENDIX A 
 
 197 
 
 Another prayer with Let us pray. 
 
 Hear us, O Lord, Holy Father, eternal God, that if there be any thing 
 against us or opposed to us in this house of thy servant JS. it may be cast 
 out by the power of thy divine majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth, In the unity. 
 
 Another with Let us pray. 
 
 Bless O Lord, this house and this place, that in it may dwell health, 
 holiness, chastity, power, victory, devotion, humility, gentleness, meekness, 
 fulfilment of the law and obedience to God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 And let a full measure of thy blessing rest upon this place and upon all 
 who dwell therein in thee, that, dwelling in all sobriety in these temples 
 made with hands, they may ever be temples of thy Spirit. Through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of 
 the Holy Spirit One God. 
 
 After this^ let the Bishop or Pfiest go forth and lead in the one who is 
 to be enclosed bearing his lights beginning this Responsormm /— 
 
 The kingdom of the world. The choir goes on —and all the glory of 
 it have I despised for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom I have 
 seen, whom I have loved, on whom I have believed, whom I have chosen 
 for myself. 
 
 Verse. My heart has indited a good matter : I speak of my work for 
 the King. Whom I have seen. 
 
 When this has been sung with its verse^ let the Bishop or Priest 
 say :— 
 
 The Lord be with you and Let us pray. 
 
 We beseech thee, O Lord, Holy Father, almighty and everlasting 
 God, that thou wilt vouchsafe to pour the spirit of blessing upon this thy 
 servant that, endued with power from on high, he may be enabled both 
 to gain thy glorious gifts and to set an example of good living to others. 
 
 Response. Amen. 
 
 Also aiiother blessing over hhn. 
 
 May the Lord Jesus Christ be by thy side, to defend thee. Amen. 
 May he be within thee, to refresh thee. Amen. May he be about thee, 
 to keep thee safe. Amen. May he be before thee, to lead thee forth. 
 Amen. May he be above thee, to bless thee. Amen. Who with God 
 the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth. In the unity. 
 
 Another blessing. 
 
 May God the Father bless thee. Amen. May God the Son preserve 
 thee. Amen. May he guard thy body. Amen. May he save thy soul. 
 Amen. May he enlighten thy body. Amen. May he direct thy mind. 
 Amen. And lead thee forth to everlasting life. Amen. Who in threefold 
 perfection liveth and reigneth one God for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 After this., let the Bishop or Priest go forth from the house, the recluse 
 alone remaining within and keeping strict silence, while he is being firmly 
 e7tclosedfrom without, and in the meanwhile let the Bishop or Priest begin 
 an Antiphon after this fashion in a loud voice :— 
 
 We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple. 
 
 Psalms xlviii, cxvi, cxlvii, cl, with Gloria Patri. 
 


198 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Lei the Antipho7i be repeated. We have received, O God. 
 
 When the A7itipho7i is finished., let the Bishop or Priest cause ihon all 
 to p7'ay for him., that Almighty God., for zvhose love he has left the world., 
 a7td caused himself to be shut up m a 77iost strait prison., may so guard 
 hint a7id stre7tgthen hhrt m that service, that after death he may be found 
 fit to live with him to all eternity. 
 
 Our Father, etc. And lead us not, etc. But deliver, etc. 
 
 Show forth, O Lord, thy mercy towards us. 
 
 That our peace may be in thee. 
 
 The Lord be with you. Let us pray. 
 
 We beseech thee, O Lord, to defend this thy servant, and through the 
 intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the company of heaven, 
 increase in him thy manifold gifts of grace, that being set free from the 
 temptations of this world, he may have help in this life, and in the 
 world to come everlasting joy. Through Christ. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and 
 from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the 
 inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily 
 magnify thy holy name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Almighty and everlasting God, guide us, we beseech thee, in all our 
 doings with thy most gracious favour, that in the name of thy beloved Son 
 we may worthily serve thee in all good works. Who with thee liveth and 
 reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God for ever and ever. 
 
 Then let them all depart to enter into the Church, the Choir singing 
 some Responsorium with its versicle conce'ming the Saint in whose name 
 and honour the Church is founded, ending at the choir step by the Priest 
 saying a verse and prayer on the same subject. And if it be a Church of 
 Saint Mary this Responsordum must be said :— 
 
 Happy art thou, O holy Maiden Mary, and most worthy of all praise. 
 Because from thee arose the sun of righteousness, Christ our God. In 
 Eastertide: Alleluia. 
 
 Verse. Pray for the people; mediate for the clergy ; intercede for 
 womenkind who honour thee ; that all who join in thy service may feel thy 
 comfort. Because from thee arose, etc. 
 
 Verse. Holy Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin. 
 
 Strengthen our weakness, we beseech thee, O merciful God, and 
 grant that we who plead in the name of Mary the maiden Mother of God 
 may by the aid of her prayers be freed from all our sins. Through the 
 same Christ our Lord. 
 


APPENDIX B 
 
 THE OFFICE FOR THE BENEDICTION OF HERMITS 
 (According to the Rule of St. Paul the first Hermit) 
 
 [Transcribed by Mr. F. C, Eeles from a sixteenth century Pontifical in his pos¬ 
 session. It was written for Thomas, titular Bishop of Lydence, who was 
 suffragan to Richard Fitz James, Bishop of London, in 1521, and afterwards 
 to Cuthbert Tunstall.] 
 
 [Folio 68 . 
 
 orma et ordo qualiter heremita a seculi vanitate cordialiter con- 
 uersus faciet professionem que ab episcopo vel eius conmiissario fieri 
 potest quocunque celebri festo ad hoc ordinato. PHmo episcopus ex more 
 sacris vestibus indutus peragat 7nissa?n vsque ad euangelhmi et interim 
 du7n Alleluia Tractus vel sequenc\i(i\ dicitur conuersus denote ve72iens 
 I in vestibus consuetis portansque scapulare et alia vesthnenta [fo. 6827 
 professioni here77iitice conueniencia super brachiimi sinistru77i incedendo 
 7tudis pedibus vsque ad gradu7n altaris et ibidem nudato capite gemc- 
 flectendo eaponat ad pedes episcopi vel eius C07n77iissa7dj. Episcopo stati77i 
 
 cu7n circwnstantibus hunc. psal77iu7n. alter7tati7n pre77iittentibus Miserere 
 mei. / deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam cum gloria patri et [fo. 69 
 sicut erat. Dicto psalmo episcopus sedendo alloquatur eimi de proposito 
 castitatis et exa7ninando de obseruacione regulari eiusde77i concensimi 
 Publice requirendo Declaretque 077inia alia que sibi videntur ad salute7}t 
 anhne illius esse oportuna Quibus secundum dei ti77iore7n C077tpletis legal 
 conuersus professione7n / suam vel episcopo ipsu7n docente dicat [fo. 692 / 
 hoc 7nodo episcopo in cathedra sedente vultu adpopuhwi co7iuerso 
 
 Ego N non coniugatus promitto et voueo deo beate marie et omnibus sanctis 
 in presencia reuerendi in christo patris et domini. N.N. episcopi propositum 
 castitatis perpetue iuxta regulam beati pauli. In nomine patris et c[etera] 
 
 Deinde facial signmn crticis m fine professionis et tradat episcopo 
 Tunc I dicat episcopus hanc oracione77i super eu7n prostratimi [fo. 70 . 
 
 Oremus 
 
 P RAESTA quesumus omnipotens deus huic famulo tuo . N. renuntianti seculi 
 pompis gracie tue ianuas aperi qui despecto diabolo confugit sub titulo 
 christi iube uenientem ad te sereno vultu suscipi ne de eo valeat inimicus 
 triumphare tribue huic infatigabile brauium auxilij tui mentem eius lorica fidei 
 circumda vt/felici muro vallatus mundum se gaudeat euasisse. Per [fo. 702;. 
 dominum. 
 
 199 
 


200 HERMITS'AND, ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Oremus 
 
 D EUS qui filios israel in heremi solitudine manna ad pascendum celeste 
 quadraginta annis manare fecisti quique vitam heremiticam tam per 
 filium tuum quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus prophetas et 
 sanctos in heremo degentes tibi in heremo placere monstrasti concede propicius 
 vt/famulus tuus . N. similem pro modulo suo eligens vitam sic in [fo. 71 
 proposito heremitice discipline mores suos mutet aptet et componat quatinus 
 perseueranter proficiens ad huius vite perfeccionem attingere et ad gaudia per- 
 fectorum valeat peruenire. Per eundem 
 
 Sequitur benediccio vestium cum 
 
 [^] Dominus vobiscum 
 
 Et cum [spiritu tuo]. 
 
 Oremus 
 
 D EUS eternorum bonorum fidelissime promissor certissime /per- [fo. 
 
 solutor qui vestimentum salutare et indumentum iocunditatis tuis fide- 
 libus promisisti clemenciam tuam suppliciter exoramus vt hec indumenta 
 humilitatem cordis et contemptum mundi significandus quibus famulus tuus 
 sancto visibiliter est informandus proposito propicius bene*J-dicere digneris vt 
 et castitatis habitum quern te inspirante suscepturus est te protegente custodiat 
 et quern vestimen/tis venerande professionis induis perpetualiter beata [fo. 72 
 facias inmortalitate vestiri Per dominum et c[etera] 
 
 D EUS bonarum virtutum dator et omnium benediccionum largus infusor 
 exaudi preces nostras vt banc vestem quam famulus tuus pro con- 
 seruande castitatis signo se ad cooperiendum expossit bene^Jidicere et 
 consecrare digneris ad laudem et gloriam nominis tui. per christum dominum 
 nostrum Amen. / [fo. 72 v 
 
 Deinde aspergatur aqua benedicta et postea det ei habitum episcopus et 
 dum induit dicat. 
 
 Exuat te dominus veterem hominem cum actibus suis et induat te nouum 
 hominem qui quit secundum deum creatus est in iusticia et sanctitate veritatis 
 Deo gracias 
 
 Deinde dicat ei episcopus si fuerit literatus vel in materna lingua 
 
 F RATER ecce dedimus tibi habitum heremiticum cum quo/monemus [fo. 73 
 te viuere caste sobrie et sancte in vigilijs in ieiunijs in laboribus in 
 precibus in misericordie operibus et habeas vitam eternam et viuas in 
 secula seculorum Amen 
 
 Cui conuersus . r{espondit'\. genujiectendo denote sic. 
 
 Ef ego reuerende pater in nomine domini nostri Ihesu christi ilium recipio 
 promittens me secundum posse michi a deo collatum uestrum preceptum fideliter 
 seruaturum adiuuante dei gracia et sanctorum eius oracione benigna 
 
 Tunc\sequantur benedicciones super eum prostratu7n cum [fo. qyu 
 
 .Oremus. 
 
 F AMULUM tuum domine tue custodia muniat pietatis vt castitatis sancte 
 propositum quod te inspirante suscepit te protegente semper illesum 
 custodiat. Per dominum 
 


APPENDIX B 
 
 201 
 
 Oremus 
 
 A DESTO domine supplicacionibus nostris ut hunc famulum tuum bene- 
 dicere digneris cui in nomine sancto tuo habitum religionis/impo- [fo. 74 
 nimus vt te largiente et deuotus in ecclesia persistere et vitam per- 
 cipere meretur eternam. Per dominum 
 
 Deinde episcopus conuersus ad orientem dicat hunc ympnum. 
 
 LJeni creator spiritus. ut supra in benediccione vidue et dicatuf vsque 
 adfinejn. deinde dicatur 
 
 Kyrieleyson 
 
 Cbristeleyson 
 
 Kyrieleyson 
 Pater noster 
 
 [^.] Et ne nos [inducas in temptacionem]. 
 
 [I^.] Sed libera [nos a malo. Amen.] 
 
 [y.] Saluum fac/seruum tuum. [fo. 
 
 [I^. Deus meus sperantem in te.] 
 
 [)?".] Mitte domine ei auxilium de sancto. 
 
 [I^. Et de syon tuere eum.] 
 
 [^.] Esto ei domine turris fortitudinis. 
 
 [I^. A facie inimici eius.] 
 
 [^.] Domine exandi [oracionem meam]. 
 
 [^. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.] 
 
 [^.] Dominus vobiscum. 
 
 [I^. Et cum spiritu tuo.] 
 
 Oremus 
 
 A DESTO quesumus omnipotens deus famulo tuo de tua misericordia con¬ 
 fident! eumque tua proteccione custodi vt a cunctis aduersitatibus 
 liberatus benediccioneeterna dignus inueniatur. Per christum dominum. 
 
 D eus qui iustificas impium et non vis mortem pec/catoris [fo. 75 
 maiestatem tuam supplices deprecamur vt famulum tuum . N. de tua 
 misericordia confidentem celesti protegas benignus auxilio et assidua 
 proteccione conserues ut tibi iugiter famuletur et nullis temptacionibus a te 
 separatur. Per christum dominum 
 
 O mnipotens sempiteme deus miserere famulo tuo et dirige eum secun¬ 
 dum clemenciam tuam in viam salutis eterne vt te do/nante tibi [fo. 75 ?; 
 placita cupiat et tota virtute perficiat et omnipotens dominus tebenedicat 
 et graciam bene viuendi tibi tribuat et ad vitam eternam perducat Per christum 
 
 Deinde benedicat eum episcopus genujiectentem sic dicendo 
 
 _5enedicat te omnipotens deus pate et filius et spiritus sanctus. 
 
 ^ed antequam recedat quia sub aliqua regula certa viuet'e 7ninime 
 defbet coartari ideo ne ignorans ignoretur exponatur ei modus [fo. 76 
 viuendi cu7n eius obse7uancia speciali. Primo iniungitur ei episcopus vt 
 palam etpublice dicat. oracionem. dominicam salutacioneinque euangelicam 
 et fidei simbolum quibus ab omnibus perfecte auditis det sibi episcopus in 
 


202 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 mandatis qtiod pro qualibet hora diei statut\d\ ab ecclesia cerium dicat / 
 numenim oracioniim pro salute anime sue et omnium benefactorufn [fo. 762/ 
 suorum deuote impetra 7 ida videlict primo pro vesperis xx‘^ Pater noster cu 7 n 
 totideni Aue maria pro c 077 tpletorio xiij pater noster CU 7 n totidem Aue maria 
 7 natutinis. xxx pater noster cum totide 7 n Aue maria laudibus. xv pater noster 
 cuni totidem Aue maria pro hora pri 77 ia xxiiij pater noster cu 7 n totidem Aue 
 ma/ria Pro qualibet hora videlicet iij^ vj<^ et ix<^ xv pater noster cum [fo. 77 
 totidem Aue maria In fe 7 ialibus vero diebus dicet pro placebo, i. pater noster 
 CU 7 n tottde 7 n Aue maria, pno diTdge xxxiij pater noster cum totidem Aue maria 
 pro commendacione xxiiij pater noster cum totidem. Aue maria, zymbolum 
 vere suum singulis diebus cunt noctibus dicat xiij vicibus et cotidie audiat 
 missam Si vero fuerdt literatus ita quod sciat / dicere horas beate [fo. qqv 
 marie vhginis cuiii vij psalmis et letania acplacebo et dirige pro defunctis. 
 Extunc cum qualibet horanim illarum dicat ter Pater noster cum Aue 
 maria et cum dimidio Nocturni. psalterij semel in die omnibus alijs 
 Pretennissis. Et quia ociositas inimica est anwie et ne diabolus eu 7 n 
 inueniat ociosum suis laboTd manibus temporibus intei' medijs circa 
 vic	ualia acquirenda aut vias et pontes JiTyniter construendas [fo. 78 
 In aduentu domini et in xl^^ ac decern diebus ante pentecosten abstineat a 
 camibus vt in fine eor^im communicetur confessione semperprecedente hi 
 om 7 iibus ferijs quartis piscibus vtatur vel lacticineis Et in ferda sexta 
 ieiunet pa 7 ie et aqua nisi pro graui infirmitate aut nimio labore 
 secum I dispe 7 isetur hi sabbato ieiunabit solis contentu piscibus [fo. 782/. 
 lineis vti 7 ion licebit exceptis femoralibus pedulis eciam cum sotularibus 
 solum vti debet caligis semper omissis Et post habituni ex ordinacione 
 episcopi sibi competentur datum m nofuine domini recedat in pace. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 TABULATED LIST OF CELLS 
 
 EXPLANATION OF HEADINGS, REFERENCES 
 
 Description. 
 
 H. 
 
 A. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Italics. 
 
 Name. 
 
 i.e. dedication or situation of cell. 
 
 = hermit, hermitage. 
 
 = anchorite (male or female), anchorage. 
 
 i.e. the earliest accredited reference; c. = circa; c. = century ; 
 
 hef. = before; tp. = temp. 
 
 = patron, benefactor, source of endowment. 
 
 The use of italics implies uncertainty. When a name is italicized 
 it signifies that the person is described not as hermit but 
 keeper, chaplain, etc. 
 
 With name of inmate, D. = Dame ; Br. = Brother; pr. = priest ; 
 d. = died; n.d. = no date recorded. 
 
 N.B.—The numbering of cells is for purposes of reference. In some cases 
 two or more numbers may refer to one cell, e.g. in Norfolk, Nos. 19 , 27 , 29 , 30 . 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN REFERENCES 
 
 B. 
 
 Blomefield, History of Norfolk. 
 
 B.M. 
 
 British Museum. 
 
 Bodl. 
 
 Bodleian Library. 
 
 Cart. 
 
 Cartulary. 
 
 Ch. 
 
 Charter. 
 
 Close. 
 
 Calendar of Close Rolls. 
 
 Dugd. 
 
 Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum. 
 
 Ex. Reg. 
 
 Exeter Episcopal Registers, ed. Hingeston-Randolph. 
 
 Feed. 
 
 Rymer, Fcedera. 
 
 Itin. 
 
 Leland, Itinerary, ed. Hearne, 1770 . 
 
 Line. Wills. 
 
 A. W. Gibbons, Early Lincoln Wills. 
 
 Nov. Leg. 
 
 Nova Legenda Angliae, ed. C. Horstman. 
 
 Pat. 
 
 Calendar of Patent Rolls. 
 
 P.R.O. 
 
 Public Record Office. 
 
 R. 
 
 Roll. 
 
 Rec. 
 
 Records. 
 
 Reg. 
 
 Register. 
 
 Rolls. 
 
 Rolls Series ol Chronicles and Memorials. 
 
 S. 
 
 Society. 
 
 S.S. 
 
 Surtees Society. 
 
 Ser. 
 
 Series. 
 
 V.C.H. 
 
 Victoria County History. 
 
 203 
 


204 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 I. BEDFORD 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bedford 
 
 A. 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Mark’s 
 
 3 
 
 Bletsoe Wood 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 4 
 
 Bushmead [in Eaton Socon] 
 
 H. 
 
 on site of priory 
 
 5 
 
 Dunstable 
 
 A. 
 
 at priory 
 
 6 
 
 » 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Farley, nr. Luton 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Houghton Regis 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Wilfrid 
 
 9 
 
 Kempston 
 
 A. 
 
 at church 
 
 10 
 
 Markyate Wood [in Caddington] 
 
 — 
 
 afterwards priory 
 
 11 
 
 Moddry Wood [in Clophill] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary [site of Beaulieu] 
 
 12 
 
 Newnham Priory, in or nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Oakley (“ Ode ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 T urvey (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 15 
 
 Wilden 
 
 A. 
 
 
 I. B.M. Harl. 3656, f. 22 b. 2. C. H, Hartshorne, Antiq. of N'humb. ii. 226. 
 3. P. R.O. Anc. Deeds, C. 1454, C. 1738, C. 2188. 4. Leland, Collect, i. 68. 5. Ann. 
 
 Mon. Dnnst. ill. 77, 109. 6. Line. Wills, \q2. 7. J. Amund, Ann. l. 59; cf. Pat. 
 1253, 1255. 1330- 9 - Reg. Hugh de Wells, ann. 8. 10. Gest. Abb. i. 97-105, 
 
 II. BERK 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Cookham 
 
 A. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Faringdon 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Hinksey 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Losfield [in Clewer] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Leonard 
 
 5 
 
 Maidenhead (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 _ 
 
 6 
 
 Pewsey (“ Peuesia ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Poughley (Clenfordmere) 
 
 H. 
 
 site of priory 
 
 8 
 
 Reading 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Edmund M. 
 
 9 
 
 Sandleford, nr. Newbury 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Seacourt (“ Seukewrthe ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Stratfield Saye, v. sub. Hants 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Wargrave 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Corpus Christ! 
 
 I. Pipe R.S. xviii-xxxiii. 2, 3. Bodl. Oseney ch. xiv. 4. Close, 1225; Pat. 
 1275,1320; Hundred R. 5. Hoare, Wilts, ii. 162. 6. Pipe R.S. iv-xii. 7. V.C.H. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 205 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 
 Isabella 
 
 1184-5 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 xiii c. ' 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Parage and brethren 
 
 1222 
 
 — 
 
 Simon, d. 1228 
 
 1442 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1431 
 
 — 
 
 cf. brethren of St. William in the 
 Desert, 1253. 
 
 Peter de Whitteleye 
 
 1330 
 
 — 
 
 1242-3 
 
 Elstow Abbey 
 
 Br. Walter, pr. 
 
 bef. 1123 
 
 St. Alban’s Abbey 
 
 Roger, monk ; “ five hermits ” ; 
 Christina of the Wood 
 
 bef. 1146 
 
 Private, St. Alban’s 
 
 Ralph de Nuers, monk of Lich¬ 
 field 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Simon 
 
 1339 
 
 — 
 
 John, pr. 
 
 1405 
 
 — 
 
 John Combes 
 
 1194-5 
 
 Crown 
 
 
 127. II. Ibid. I. 78 ; Dugd. 111.276; Misc. Biog. (S.S. 8), 84-5. 12. V.C.H. i. 350; 
 
 B.M. Harl. 3656, f. ii. 13. P.R.O., K.B. Anc. Indictments, i. Beds. Edw. III. m. 3. 
 14. Gibbons, £iy Rec. 403. 15. See (2). 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1171 
 
 Crown 
 
 
 bef. 1254 
 
 — 
 
 Childluve 
 
 1271 
 
 ■—• 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1225 
 
 Private 
 
 William, 1225 ; John, 1320 ; 
 William, 1355 
 
 1423 
 
 — 
 
 Richard Ludlow 
 
 1155 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1160 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1204 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Laurence Burgeys 
 
 1179 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 _ 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1339 
 
 — 
 
 Alan de Elsefeld 
 
 II. 85. 8. Coates, Reading, 199, App. ix. ; Berks, Arch. J, xii. 28-9. 9. Pipe R.S. 
 
 XXIX. etc. 10. See (2). ii. Pat. 1339. 
 


2o6 hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 III. BUCKING 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Brill 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Werburg 
 
 2 
 
 Chetwode 
 
 H. 
 
 „ „ SS. Stephen and 
 
 Laurence 
 
 J 
 
 Colnbrook, nr. Windsor 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Our Lady 
 
 4 
 
 Finemere, nr. Quainton 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Stony Stratford (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 
 I. Chart., Close, and Pat. R. 2. Reg. Grosseteste, ann. xii. 3. Privy Expenses, 
 Eliz. of Yk. 31-2. 4. B.M. Harl. Roll O. 26 (3) ; Close, 1213, 1218, 1228, 1237 ; Reg. 
 Bek., Mem. f. 64. 5. Pat. 1400. 
 
 IV. CAMBRIDGE 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Arrington and Royston (be¬ 
 tween) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 Barnwell 
 
 — 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 J 
 
 Cambridge (without) 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Peter’s church 
 
 4 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at Carmelite friary 
 
 5 
 
 „ (Trumpington St.) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anne 
 
 6 
 
 „ (Newnham bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 7 
 
 „ (Barnwell road) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Ely 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Mary’s 
 
 9 
 
 „ Russells Pits (“ Roucehill ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 ,, diocese of 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 )) )) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Gamlingay 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Haddenham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 Hinxton (Whytford bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anne 
 
 15 
 
 Huneia, nr. Ely 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Leverington 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. John B. 
 
 17 
 
 Royston in Bassingbourne 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Shelford (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 Stuntney 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 Swavesey 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 Thorney (Ancarig) 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 Throkennolt 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary and St. Andrew 
 
 23 
 
 Waterbeach and Denny (be¬ 
 tween) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 Whittlesford Bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary B.V. 
 
 I. Gibbons, Ely Rec. 401. 2. J. W. Clark, Eccles. de Bernewelle, Af'z. 3. Camb. 
 
 Antiq. S. XLiv {1908), p. 73. 4. Bale, Script. 565. 5. Ely Rec. 400; H. P. Stokes, 
 
 Trumptington Gates, 66-7. 6. Pat. 1399 ; T. D. Atkinson, Camb. 62. 7. Trumpting- 
 ton Gates, 66. 8, 10. Pipe R.S. xv. 96. 9, 13. Ely Rec. 399, 404. ii. Ely Dioc. 
 Remembrancer, 1909, p. 46. 12. Pat. 1271. 14. P.R.O. Sp. Exch. Com. 2926 ; Dioc. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 207 
 
 HAMSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1205 
 
 Crown, Chetwode Priory 
 
 Robert, 1205 ; Richard, 1251 
 
 1246-7 
 
 Private 
 
 Robert de Walthone, pr. 
 
 1502 
 
 — 
 
 _ 
 
 c. 1179 
 
 Crown, Nutley Abbey 
 
 William, monk, 1213-28 
 
 1400 
 
 
 John Blawemuster 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 1401 
 
 — 
 
 C. 11 12 
 
 — 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 — 
 
 1421 
 
 Friary 
 
 bef. 1361 
 
 — 
 
 1399 
 
 
 1169 
 
 Bishop 
 
 1394 
 
 — 
 
 1169 
 
 Bishop 
 
 1494 
 
 — 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 1406 
 
 — 
 
 1524 
 
 — 
 
 c. 679 
 
 — 
 
 1488 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1506 
 
 —■ 
 
 1398 
 
 — 
 
 1458 
 
 Bishop 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 vii c. 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Bishop, Thorney Abbey 
 
 1400 
 
 — 
 
 1401 
 
 — 
 
 Name. 
 
 William Brown 
 Godesone 
 
 Matilda, dau. of Hervey 
 Agnes, widow of Jn. Granseter 
 John Bernewell, pr., 1399 
 Jn. Jaye, 1399 ; Thos. Kendall, 
 1406 
 
 Adam Holme of Wisbech 
 6 incluscB 
 
 Rob. Michyll; Jn. Smith 
 Br. William 
 John Spenser 
 William Popeley 
 Huna, pr. 
 
 hermit, d. 1506. 
 
 John Lucas, cf. (23). 
 
 William Grene 
 John Beel 
 
 Thorncred ; Thortred ; Bosa ; 
 
 Saxulph ; Toret. 
 
 Trokonolus 
 William Rogere 
 
 John Lucas, cf (17). 
 
 Rem. 1911. 15. Nov. Leg. ii. 538. 16, 18. Ely Rec. 413, 400. 17. J. Beldam, Roys- 
 
 ton Cave, 48. 19. Dice. Rem. 1904, p. 234. 20. Ely Rec. 398. 21. Ingulph, Chr. 
 
 43, 48 ; Leland, Collect, i. 10, 28. 22. Dugd. ii. 594, 600, 601 ; Pap. Lett. i. 187. 
 
 23. Ely Rec. 401. 24. Dioc. Rem. 1900, p. 160. 
 


208 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 V. CHE 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 ... ■ ' 
 
 r - 
 
 Description, 
 
 I 
 
 Chester 
 
 
 A. 
 
 St. James, by St. John’s 
 
 
 
 
 
 church 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Chad’s chapel 
 
 3 
 
 )) 
 
 (on cliff) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 )> 
 
 (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 5 
 
 )) 
 
 (Hand bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. James 
 
 6 
 
 Frodsham 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Hilbre Is. 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Plemstall 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Stockport 
 
 (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 _ 
 
 11 
 
 Tarporley 
 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of the Rood or [St. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mary B.V. &] St. Leo- 
 
 
 
 
 
 nard 
 
 12 
 
 Tarvin 
 
 (Stanford bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Agatha V. 
 
 13 
 
 Wilderspool, 
 
 nr. Warrington 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 I. Ormerod, ed. Helsby, Hi'it. i. 353-4; Staffs Coll., O.S. i. 283; N.S. viii. 21, 
 32, 42, 47; X. ii. 162. 2. B.M. Harl. 2162, f. 61 b. 3. Ormerod, i. 353-4. 4. Staffs 
 Coll., N.S. VIII, 24, 38. 5. R. H. Morris, Chester, 189—possibly identical with (4). 
 6. Close, 1275. 
 
 VI. CORN 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bodmin 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 „ (near) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Hamstoke (now St. Neot) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Liskeard (park) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary B.V. 
 
 5 
 
 Marham church 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard 
 
 6 
 
 Penlyne [in Lanlivery] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Restormel [in Lostwithiel] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Roche 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of S. Michael 
 
 9 
 
 St. Teath (“ Stathe ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 ■ 
 
 I. Leland, Collect, i. 75 ; Dugd. ii. 459. 2. Ex. Reg. Stafford, 25, 394. 
 
 3. Gorham, St. Neots, p. xcvii seq. 4. Pat. 1339. 5. Ex. Reg. Stafford, 251, 394. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 209 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef 1341 
 
 Various 
 
 Br. Hugh le Vernoun, 1341 ; Br. 
 Wm. de Heytildesham, 1357 ; 
 Br. Jn. de Chorleton, 1363. 
 
 c. 1300 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 >358 
 
 — 
 
 John Spicer 
 
 1365 
 
 Crown 
 
 John, 1367 
 
 1450 
 
 Jn. Benet, 1450 ; leuan, 1455 
 
 1275 
 
 Earldom 
 
 Wimark 
 
 1328 
 
 Crown 
 
 
 c. 890 
 
 — 
 
 Plegmund 
 
 1355 
 
 “ ” ' 
 
 Thos., pr., c. 1355 ; Ric. Webster, 
 pr., 1366 ; Thos., pr., 1372. 
 
 Br. Jn. Boner, pr. 
 
 1361 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1287 
 
 Private 
 
 John, 1287 ; Adam, 1301 
 
 1395-6 
 
 - 
 
 Richard de Clayton 
 
 1367 
 
 
 Simon de Goddesmer 
 
 7. Dugd. VI. 1616. 8. Gervase (Rolls 73), ii. 350, 9. Staffs Coll., N.S. viii. 57, 68, 
 
 96. 10. Lancs, and Cheshire Wills (Rec. S. 30), 7. ii, 12. Ormerod, ii. 236-7, 313. 
 
 13. Staffs Coll., N.S. VIII. 37, 116. 
 
 WALL 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 St. Guron ; St. Petroc 
 
 1416 
 
 — 
 
 Margaret 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Gwerir, St. Neot 
 
 1339 
 
 — 
 
 Roger Godman 
 
 1403 
 
 — 
 
 Cecilia Moys, Lucy Moys 
 
 c. 1301 
 
 Earldom 
 
 Br. Robert 
 
 )> 
 
 )) 
 
 Br. Philip 
 
 1408 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6, 7. Cal. Inq. p.m. Edw. I. ill, 458, 8. Gilbert, Par. Hist. (1838), ill. 391-3. 
 
 9. Ex. Reg. Stafford, 391. 
 
 14 
 


210 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 VII. CUMBER 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 t 
 
 Dalston 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Wynennus B. 
 
 2 
 
 Denton 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Derwentwater 
 
 H. 
 
 on St. Herbert’s Island 
 
 4 
 
 Holme Cultram 
 
 H. 
 
 at St. Cuthbert’s chapel 
 
 5 
 
 Ilekirk [in Englewood Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Hilda 
 
 6 
 
 Kirkland “ on east of Eden ” 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Andrew 
 
 7 
 
 Linstock [in Stanwix] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Peter 
 
 8 
 
 Sebergham 
 
 H. 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 Wragmire [in Hesket in the 
 Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 ' 
 
 I. Reg. Kirkley, f. 451. 2. Lanercost Cart., Pt. i, No. 4; Dugd. vi. 237 ; Pap. 
 Lett. V. 513. 3. Cumb. and W. Arch. S., O.S. vi. 342-3. 4. Ibid., N.S. ii. 339-41. 
 5. Dugd. V. 595, 604 ; Chart. R. 1227. 6. C. and W. Arch. S. Tract 6 (Wetheral), 
 
 VIII. DERBY 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Anchor Church, nr. Repton 
 
 H. 
 
 cave 
 
 2 
 
 Breadsall 
 
 H. 
 
 “ heremitorium,” afterwards 
 priory 
 
 3 
 
 Chesterfield 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. Thomas 
 
 4 
 
 „ (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 CratclifF [in Birchover] 
 
 H. 
 
 cave 
 
 6 
 
 Dale [Abbey], “ Depedale ” 
 
 H. 
 
 „ ; chapel of Mary V. 
 
 7 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Derby (bridge) 
 
 A. 
 
 by chapel of St. Mary 
 
 9 
 
 >) j) 
 
 H. 
 
 “ Cure Lady of the Bryge ” 
 
 10 
 
 High Tor, Matlock 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 \oa 
 
 Kirkwood 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Godam 
 
 11 
 
 Lees Moor (“ Leyes ”), nr. 
 Bakewell 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Morewood [in Ashover] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 I. F. C. Hipkins, Repton, 123-4. 2. Pat. 1266. 3. L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiil. 
 
 (i). No. 1345. 5. Arch. Journ. iv. 156. 6, 7. Derbs. Arch. S. v. 17-20, 23. 8. Staffs 
 
 Coll., N.S. VIII. 53. 9. Nottingham Rec. il. 270; J. Cox, Derbs. Churches, IV. 70. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 21 I 
 
 LAND 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1342 
 
 _ 
 
 Hugh de Lilford 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Private, Lanercost Priory 
 
 Br. Leysing 
 
 vii c. 
 
 —■ 
 
 St. Herebert, d. 687 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 Richard Stanley 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Crown, Holme Cultram 
 Abbey 
 
 Roger Goky 
 
 bef. 1156 
 
 Private, Wetheral Priory 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1362 
 
 — 
 
 William, d. 1362 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Crown, Carlisle Priory 
 
 William Wastehose 
 
 1354 
 
 
 'John of Corbridge 
 
 25-6; Denton, Account of Cumb. 106. 7. R. S. Ferguson, Test. Karl. 130. 8. Close, 
 
 1228, 1234. 9. Reg. Welton, f. 112. 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 St. Hardulfh.^ cf. Breedon, XX 
 “ brethren of the hermitage ” 
 
 1266 
 
 Crown 
 
 1538 
 
 — 
 
 William Ludelam 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 a baker of Derby 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Peter Cocus of Batheley 
 
 1370 
 
 — 
 
 Agnes Waley 
 
 1468 
 
 — 
 
 John Shenton, 1488 
 
 1238-9 
 
 — 
 
 heremita S. Godarn in haia 
 
 1333 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1235 
 
 Dale Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 10. Ibid. II. 527. \oa. Pipe R. 83, Yeatman, Feudal Derbs. i. 209. ii. Hist. MSS. 
 (Middleton), 1911, p. 275. 12. B.M. Wolley, vii. i, 2. 
 


212 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 IX. DEVON 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Colyford [in Colyton] 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of St. Kalixtus 
 
 2 
 
 Crediton 
 
 A. 
 
 St. Mary, by chapel of St. 
 Laurence 
 
 3 
 
 Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of Our Lady of 
 Langewyll 
 
 4 
 
 Exeter 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Exeter (Larkbere) 
 
 A. 
 
 in St. Leonard’s churchyard 
 
 6 
 
 „ {Sidwell?') 
 
 A. 
 
 “ atte Wille ” 
 
 7 
 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. John’s hospital 
 
 8 
 
 Holbeton (Anchorist Rock) 
 
 A. 
 
 capella S. Anecorite 
 
 9 
 
 Ottery (bridge) 
 
 — 
 
 nr. St. Saviour’s chapel 
 
 10 
 
 Pilton (churchyard) 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of St. Agnes 
 
 11 
 
 Plymouth (on Hoe) 
 
 H. 
 
 ,, „ St. Katherine 
 
 12 
 
 „ (Quarrywell) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary, Our Lady of Grace 
 
 13 
 
 Tavistock by 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. John B. 
 
 14 
 
 » by 
 
 H. 
 
 „ „ „ St. Margaret 
 
 15 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Torrington, Great 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 Devon, county of 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 I. Ex. Reg. Grandisson, Pt. ii. 650. 2. Oliver, Monast. 88. 3. Ex. Reg. Stafford, 
 134. 4. Gath. MS. 3675, Liber Obit. f. 5, 9 [per Miss E. Lega-Weekes]. 5. Ex. Reg. 
 
 Stafford, 20, 99, 393, 394 ; Wills (Somerset Rec. S. 19), 330 ; Reg. Lacy, ill. f. 499. 
 6. Reg. Lacy, ill. f. 500 [per E. L.-W.]. 7. L. and P. Hen. VIII, XV. 299 ; xviii. (i), 
 
 p. 258. 8. Ex. Reg. Stafford, 132. 9. Oliver, 262. 10. Ex. Reg. Grandisson, Pt. i. 
 
 X. DOR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Blackmoor Forest, now Hermi¬ 
 tage 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Laurence, or Priory 
 Hermitage 
 
 2 
 
 Branksea Is., Poole Haven 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 3 
 
 Cerne, nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 by St. Augustine’s Well 
 
 3 « 
 
 Hawkchurch (Brimley) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 4 
 
 Holt [in Wimborne] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. James 
 
 5 
 
 Luccombe, alias Chelborough 
 
 H. 
 
 —• 
 
 6 
 
 Mannington 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Shaftesbury (Nenlitton, by) 
 
 H. 
 
 —■ 
 
 8 
 
 Sherborne 
 
 A. 
 
 in abbey church 
 
 9 
 
 „ (by mill) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John Baptist 
 
 10 
 
 Tarrant Kaines 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Wareham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 West Stour or Westover 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel called “ the Hermit ” 
 
 13 
 
 Winterborne 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard 
 
 14 
 
 Woodbury Hill [in Bere Regis] 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel and Anchorite’s well 
 
 I. Close, 1273; Pat. 1314. 2. Itin. 111.84. 3 - Nov. Leg. i. 362. 3^. Wilts^fci 
 
 Arch. S. XXXVIII. 29. 4. Eng. Wills (E.E.T.S.), 10. 5. Cal. Chanc. R. (Van), 42.n 
 
 6. Chart. R. 1237, 1242. 7. Pat. 1352. 8. See (4). 9. Wills (Somerset Rec. S. 19), ^.j ] 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 213 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1332 
 
 _ 
 
 Beatrice of Colyford, widow 
 
 1242 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Br. Nicholas 
 
 1412 
 
 — 
 
 Margaret Holt, widow 
 
 - 
 
 connected with cathedral 
 
 Wluric ; Editha 
 
 1397 
 
 — 
 
 Alice Bernard 
 
 1425 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 Alice Buttes 
 
 1400 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 John Selman 
 
 bef. 1329 
 
 — 
 
 Alice 
 
 c. 1370 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1518 
 
 — 
 
 David Waryn 
 
 1383 
 
 Abbey 
 
 David Bukketorre 
 
 1383 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Crese 
 
 bef. 1470 
 
 ■— 
 
 John 
 
 1395- 
 
 — 
 
 William Tredewy 
 
 1419 
 
 
 
 c. 1175 
 
 Earldom of Cornwall 
 
 '' 
 
 538 ; II. 653. 
 
 II. Pap. Lett. VI. 306 ; R. N. Worth, Hist. 233 ; Itin. iii. 43. 12. 
 
 Oliver, 131 ; 
 
 Worth, Hist. 234. 13, 14. Ex. Reg. Brantyngham, Pt. i. 499: Gent. 
 
 Mag., 1830, I 
 
 232-3. 15. Worth, Tavistock Rec. 13, 14, 18; cf. {14), (15). 16. Ex. 
 
 Reg. Stafford, 352. 17. Pipe R.S. xxv. 153 
 
 XXVI. 9. 
 
 SET 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef 1273 
 
 Earldom of Cornwall, 
 Cerne Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 Cerne Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 ix c. 
 
 — 
 
 St. Eduold 
 
 1340 
 
 — 
 
 William Dughecut 
 
 1395 
 
 Private 
 
 Friar Thomas, recluse 
 
 1297 
 
 — 
 
 Rob. de Lodres, keeper 
 
 bef. 1237 
 
 Private, Tarrant Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1352 
 
 — 
 
 William Godwot 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Edmund Arthur, recluse, 1395 
 
 ^405 
 
 — 
 
 Wm. Whityng, 1405 ; W. Howel, 
 d. 1538 
 
 C. 12 C) 7 - 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1315 
 
 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Matilda, c. 1125-54 ; Gertrude ; 
 Christiana 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 John 
 
 
 
 
 304, 315 ; Hutchins, Hist., ed. 1873, IV. 233. 10. Ancren J?iw/c {Ca.mden S.), p, vii n. 
 
 II. B.M. Cott. Faust. B. iv. VitaS. Wulfrici, ii. f. 96. 12. Hutchins, ill. 636. 13. See 
 
 (ii), f. 97 b. 14. Hutchins, i. 135. 
 


214 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XI. DUR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description 
 
 I 
 
 Chester-le-Street 
 
 A. 
 
 in church 
 
 2 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Durham 
 
 A. 
 
 in cathedral 
 
 4 
 
 j? 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 5 ) 
 
 — 
 
 by St. Oswald's Church 
 
 6 
 
 „ diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 „ in or near 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Eighton or Skottewell 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Holy Trinity 
 
 10 
 
 Finchale 
 
 H. 
 
 chapels, St. Mary V., St. 
 John B. 
 
 11 
 
 
 A. 
 
 near „ „ „ 
 
 12 
 
 Gainford (Barmore) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary M. 
 
 13 
 
 Gateshead 
 
 A. 
 
 by church of St. Mary 
 
 14 
 
 Keighley [in Winston] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 Norton 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Pounteys Bridge [in Middleton 
 St. George] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. John 
 
 17 
 
 Satley 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Staindrop 
 
 A. 
 
 adjoining church 
 
 19 
 
 Tyneside (nr. Bishop’s Park) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Cuthbert 
 
 20 
 
 Wolsingham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 Yareshale on Derwent 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 I, 2. Boyle, Guide, 420; Chantries (S.S, 22), App. vi. p. Ixiv. 3. Rites of Dur¬ 
 ham (S.S. 15, 107), I. 15 ; II. 17. 4. Close, 1238. 5. Surtees, Hist. iv. 84. 6. V.C.H. 
 
 II. 131. 7. Yk. Pontif. (S.S, 61), App. v. 288, 8. Tres Script. (S.S. 9), App. p. ccclxxix. 
 
 9. V.C.H. II. 131; Ely Dioc. Rem., 1900, p. 54. 10, ii. Reginald, VitaS. Godrici (S.S. 
 
 XII. ES 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Barking 
 
 A. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Brad well (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Colchester 
 
 A. 
 
 at church of St. James 
 
 4 
 
 „ (Hythe, nr.) 
 
 A. 
 
 at [St. Leonard’s] church 
 
 5 
 
 „ (Hallywell) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Anne 
 
 6 
 
 Hainault Forest (“ Henold ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Maldon 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Radwinter 
 
 'A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Stanstead-Mountfitchet 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary B.V. 
 
 10 
 
 Stratford le Bow (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 „ „ St. Katharine 
 
 11 
 
 West Tilbury 
 
 H. 
 
 at a free chapel 
 
 12 
 
 Woodham 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John B. (afterwards 
 
 
 
 
 Bicknacre priory) 
 
 13 
 
 Writtle 
 
 
 “ called Bedemannesberg ” 
 
 I. Pat. 1417, 1423. 2. Pat. 1336 ; Morant, Essex, 1768, I. 154. 3. Pipe R.S. 
 I.-XXXIII. ; Morant, i. 152 ; V.C.H. ii. 158. 4. B.M, Harl. ch. 44, E. 17. 5. Pat. 
 1388, 1402. 6. Pat. 1461. 7. Pipe R.S. vii. 37; viii. 16. 8. “ Juxta mansione dni. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 215 
 
 HAM 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1383 
 
 
 John de Wessington 
 
 1400 
 
 — 
 
 John Blenkinsopp 
 
 — 
 
 Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1238 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Thomas 
 
 1373 
 
 
 William Shepherd 
 
 c. 1365 
 
 — 
 
 G.— M.— 
 
 1493 
 
 — 
 
 John Man, of Yorkshire 
 
 1387 
 
 —. 
 
 Robert Lambe 
 
 c. mo 
 
 Bishop, Durham Priory 
 
 St. Godric 
 
 — 
 
 ■ 
 
 Burchwene 
 
 1435 
 
 
 Rob. Perules ; Thos. Apulby., 
 i486 
 
 1340 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1315 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1426 
 
 Durham Priory 
 
 Jn. Teysedalf 1402 ; Wm. Byn- 
 delawes, 1426 
 
 bef. 1195 
 
 
 John 
 
 133^ 
 
 — 
 
 John de Camera 
 
 1312 
 
 — 
 
 John “ called Godesman ” 
 
 bef. tr. 1110 
 
 — 
 
 Aelric and Godric 
 
 bef. 1188 
 
 Bishop, Durham Priory 
 
 John 
 
 20). 12, 13. V.C.H. II. 131; Pat. i486, 1510; Reg. Pal. Dunelm (Rolls, 62), iii. 
 
 300-1. 14. Surtees, ffzsi. iv. 38. 15. Gent Mag., 1864, i. 710-2. 16. Surtees, Hist. 
 
 III. 228. 17. Feod. Prior. (S.S. 58), 240. 18. Boyle, 700-1. ig. Reg. Pal. Dunelm. 
 
 I. 197. 20. Vita S. Godrici, 45-52. 21. Ibid. 192-3 ; Feod. Prior. 240, 279, 280. 
 
 SEX 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1417 
 
 
 Matilda Newton 
 
 1336 
 
 ■—. 
 
 William 
 
 1155 
 
 Crown 
 
 Cecily, 1272 
 
 1290 
 
 — 
 
 Agnes 
 
 1388 
 
 Private, Priory 
 
 John Newton 
 
 1461 
 
 — 
 
 John Rychard 
 
 1163 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1374 
 
 — , 
 
 Anne de Lexeden 
 
 1492 
 
 — 
 
 John Parrot 
 
 1344 
 
 — 
 
 Br. John de Ware 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1157 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Jordan, canon 
 
 tp. Hen. I 
 
 Crown, Colchester Abbey 
 
 Robert, monk; inclusus, 1189 
 
 Johis de Lenne,” Rye MSS., L’Estrange Wills, i, f. 52 9. Gibbons, Ely Rec. 415. 
 
 10. Pat. 1334. ii. Valor Ecc. i. 448. 12. Dugd. vi. 446. 13. Cart. (Roxburghe 
 
 Club), i. 38-9, 52-3 ; II. 529 ; Pipe R., ed. Hunter, 20. 
 


2i6 hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 XIII. GLOU 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Ardland [Forest of Dean] 
 
 H.A. 
 
 at a chapel 
 
 2 
 
 Ashchurch (“ Estchurche ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Bristol 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Michael’s church 
 
 4 
 
 „ (in castle) 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of St. Edward 
 
 5 
 
 n 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican friary 
 
 6 
 
 jj 
 
 H.A. 
 
 hermitage of St. Brandan 
 
 7 
 
 „ (Redclifife in Somerset) 
 
 H. 
 
 cave, by St. John’s hospital 
 
 8 
 
 Bristol 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Milburga 
 
 9 
 
 Campden, Chipping 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard 
 
 10 
 
 Clifton (Ghyston Cliff) 
 
 H. 
 
 cave, chapel of St. Mary 
 and St. Vincent 
 
 II 
 
 Cromhall 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Dursley 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 
 A. 
 
 nr. St. Kyneburga’s chapel 
 
 15 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 „ (Sembridge, Sand- 
 
 bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 
 17 
 
 Gloucester, in or near 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Kingsholm (“ Kingesham ”) [in 
 Kg.’s Barton] 
 
 A. 
 
 at the king’s chapel 
 
 19 
 
 Meysey-Hampton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 Newnham (“ Niweham ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 Quinton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 St. Briavels 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 St. Tiriac’s Rock (nr. Beachley) 
 
 — 
 
 “ capella S. Tiriaci ana- 
 choritae ” 
 
 24 
 
 Stapleton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Taynton Wood 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 Wickwar 
 
 A. 
 
 ' 
 
 I. A. W. Crawley-Boevey, Flaxley Cart. 46, 78 ; Close, 1225, 1241. 2. Ann. 
 
 Theok (Rolls, 36, i), i. 68. 3 Ibid. 105-6. 4. P.R.O. Liberate R., 34 Hen. III. 5. 
 
 Wills (Somerset Rec. S. 19), 161. 6. Barrett, Bristol, 60 ; Latimer, Annals, 59; W. 
 
 Worcester, Itin. (ed. Nasmith), 241. 7. W. Wore. 274; Smyth, Berkeleys, i. 337. 
 
 8. Birch, Margam Abbey, 203. 9. Reg. Giffard, f. 18 b. 10. W. Wore. 185-6, 275 ; 
 
 B. and Glos. Arch. S. XXX. 204-5. Rudder, Glos. 397. 12. Smyth, Berkeleys, 
 
 III. 175-6. 13. Pipe R. S, XVI.-XXXIII. 14. Pat. 1390. 15. Line. VVills, 196. 16, 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 217 
 
 CESTERSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1189 
 
 Flaxley Abbey 
 
 William ; Panyede Lench, 1225 ; 
 Juetta de Wiz, 1241 
 
 1226 
 
 Tewkesbury Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1237 
 
 )} jj 
 
 — 
 
 1249 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 1512 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1313 
 
 Tewkesbury Abbey 
 
 Lucy de Newchurch, 1351 ; Regi¬ 
 nald Taillour, hermit, 1403 
 
 1347 
 
 Private 
 
 John Sparkes 
 
 — 
 
 Mar gam Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1269 
 
 — 
 
 Matilda de Campden 
 
 bef. 1480 
 
 
 Thos. Dene, warden, 1492 
 
 bef. 1516 
 
 
 
 1170 
 
 Crown 
 
 Adam, 1170-84 
 
 1390 
 
 Lanthony Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1481 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 St. Peter’s Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1387 
 
 
 William Pereshore 
 
 1228 
 
 Crown 
 
 Celestria 
 
 c. 1300 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1158 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 c. i4ig 
 
 — 
 
 Joan., Lady Clopton., widow 
 
 bef. 1131 
 
 Crown, Grace Dieu 
 
 — 
 
 1290 
 
 Private, Crown 
 
 John Ster re., monk 
 
 1382 
 
 _ 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1163 
 
 St. Peter’s Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1278 
 
 ■ 
 
 Wm. de Pershore, pr. 
 
 Rudder, 196; L. and P. Hen. VIII, xxi., Pt. i, p. 578. 17. Corp. Rec. 1018. 18. 
 Close 1228. 19. Godstow Reg. (E.E. Text S.), 151-2. 20. Pipe R.S. i.-xxxiii ; 
 Chart R. 21. B. and G. Arch. S. Xiii. 167-9. 22. Ibid. vi. 82 ; xxix. 13 ; Dugd. 
 V. 685 : Close, Chart R. 23. Pat. 1385, 1391, 1402; Pap. Reg. iv. 354, 511 ; vi. 24, 
 141 ; Val. Ecc. ii. 501. 24. Bristol Corp. MSS., Orphan Bk. i., f. 6. 25. Cart. 
 Mon. Glouc. (Rolls 33), i. 116 ; ii. 137. 26. Reg. Gift'ard, f. 79 b. 
 


2i8 hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 XIV. HAMP 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Farlington 
 
 A. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Itchel [in Crondall] 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Mottisfont 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Southampton 
 
 H. 
 
 Holy Trinity or St. Mary 
 de Grace 
 
 5 
 
 Southwick 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Leonard 
 
 6 
 
 Stratfield Saye (on Loddon) 
 
 H. 
 
 5 > 
 
 7 
 
 Winchester 
 
 A. 
 
 St. Aedred 
 
 8 
 
 „ in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 Isle of 
 
 9 
 
 St. Catherine’s Down, nr. Chale 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Katherine V. 
 
 I. Close, 1235. 2. Winchester Pipe R., ed. H. Hall, 38. 3. Dugd. vi. 481. 
 
 4. Davies, Southampton, 230-2. 5. L. and P. Hen. VIII. vii. 1153; xix. (i), p. 618. 
 
 XV. HERE 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Clodock [in Ewyas] 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 2 
 
 Hereford 
 
 A. 
 
 St. Sepulchre 
 
 3 
 
 
 A. 
 
 church of St. Giles’s hos¬ 
 pital 
 
 4 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Ledbury 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Leintwardine 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Winforton Is. 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Kenedr 
 
 9 
 
 Wormeley, at or nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 ■' 
 
 I. Liber Landav, 446. 2. Pipe R.S. xviii.-xxxiil ; Pipe R., ed. Hunter, 141. 
 
 3. Reg. Orleton (Cant, and Yk, S.), 205 ; Capes, Cath. Rec. 187 ; Pap. Lett. iii. 504. 
 
 4. Wills (Somerset Rec. S. 19), 300; possibly identical with (3). 5. Close, 1323 ; 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 219 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1235 
 
 Crown 
 
 Joan 
 
 1209 
 
 Bishop 
 
 — 
 
 tp. John 
 
 — 
 
 Peter de Rievaulx 
 
 1496 
 
 Town 
 
 William Gefferey 
 
 1534 
 
 Priory 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1170 
 
 Private, Alien Abbey 
 
 Godard “ inclusus et heremita ” 
 and brethren 
 
 1189 
 
 Crown 
 
 Geldewin 
 
 1404 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Northrygge professed 
 
 Wight 
 
 1312 
 
 — 
 
 John, alias Walter de Lange- 
 berewe 
 
 6. Hist. MSS. 9th Rep. 355-6; Pat. 1332 
 
 , 1341. 7. Pipe R., ed. Hunter, 204. 
 
 8. Lambeth, Reg. Arundel, Pt. i. f. 435 b. 5 
 
 ). Reg. Woodlock, f. 172. 
 
 FORDSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 Lybiaw and Gwrwan 
 
 117I 
 
 Crown 
 
 Richard, 1171-84 
 
 1320 
 
 — 
 
 Alice, dau. of Roger de Atferton 
 
 1400 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1322 
 
 — 
 
 Katherine, Lady Audley 
 
 1290 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1410 
 bef. 1234 
 
 Private, Wormeley Priory 
 
 Thos. Shelve, cf. Ludlow, XXIX 
 Walter, pr. ; Stephen 
 
 Edwyn “ primus heremita ” 
 
 
 Priory 
 
 Camden, Brittannia, ed. 1789, ii. 456. 6, Swinfield R., Household Exp. (Camden S. 
 59), p. cxcix, 7. Dugd. VI. 402 ; B.M. Harl. 6726, f. 88 b. 8. Harl. 3586, f. 145 b. 
 


220 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XVI. HERT 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Barkway 
 
 H. 
 
 _ - 
 
 2 
 
 Barkway and Ware, between 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Flamstead 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Markyate, v. sub Beds. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Northaw (wood) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Radwell 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Royston, v. sub Cambs. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 St. Albans, nr. (Eywood) 
 
 A. 
 
 St. Mary (site of Sopwell 
 nunnery) 
 
 7 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Michael’s church 
 
 8 
 
 >) 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Peter’s church 
 
 9 
 
 5 } 
 
 — 
 
 at St. German’s chapel 
 
 10 
 
 >5 
 
 A. 
 
 nr. „ „ 
 
 11 
 
 Standon, or Seltburn 
 
 H. 
 
 chape! of St. Michael 
 
 12 
 
 Wogobiliche [in Cheshunt] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 I. J. Beldam, Royston Cave, 48. 2. Archcelogia, xxv. 432. 3. Nov. Leg. ii. 535. 
 
 4. T. Walsingham, GesC Abb. i. 105 ; J. Amund., Ann. ii. 302-3. 5. Pipe R.S. viii. 
 
 17. 6. Gest. Abb. i. 80-1 ; Dugd. iii. 362, 365. 7. Gest. Abb. i. 305 ; J. Amund. i. 
 66; Chr. S. Alb. VI, ii. 257-8; Herts Genealogist, i., ii. 8. Gest. Abb. i. 388-9; 
 
 XVII. HUNTING 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Alconbury 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Bodsey 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Coppingford (“ Copmanford ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Earith 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Higney, nr. Ramsey 
 
 H. 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 Suameshei [in Graff ham] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Sudbury [archdeaconry of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Hunts] 
 
 
 
 I. Smyth, Berkeleys, ii. 214. 2. Ramsey Cart. (Rolls, 79), i. 87 ; ii. 221 ; Dugd. 
 
 552. 588. 3. Bushmead Cart, penes W. H. Wade Gery, f. 65, 65 b. 4. Gibbons, 
 
 Ely Rec. 400, 401; Ely Dioc, Rem., 1908, p. 180. 5. Ramsey Cart, i, 159, 162, 852 ; 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 221 
 
 FORDSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 xvi C. 
 
 _ 
 
 
 1520 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Alfwina 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1146 
 
 — 
 
 Sigar, monk 
 
 1163 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1140 
 
 Abbey 
 
 2 women 
 
 c. 1235 
 
 j) 
 
 Kath. Dytton, 1421, d. 1437; 
 Agnes Vertesance, 1452, d. 
 1478 ; Marg. Smythe, 1483 
 
 c. 1258 
 
 5 ) 
 
 Alice, 1412, 1426 ; Eliz. Kath. 
 Hoisted, 1480 
 
 ix c. 
 
 
 Wulfa ; Abbot Eadfrith ; Thos. 
 Fyschebourn, d. 1428 
 
 bef. 1421 
 
 ' 
 
 house for anchoress founded T. 
 Fyschebourn 
 
 bef. 1163 
 
 Private; Stoke-by-Clare 
 Priory 
 
 built by William, inclusus ; Rob¬ 
 ert., 1384 ; Suron, 1393 ; Jn. 
 Benwell, 1398. 
 
 c. 1160 
 
 ' 
 
 ■' 
 
 B.M. Cott. Nero D. 7, f. 139; Nichols, Royal Wills, 250. 9, 10. Gest. Abb. i. 21-2; 
 J. Amund. ii. 27-8, 301-2 ; Bib. Carmel. 472. ii. Dugd. vi. 1658 ; Pat. 1384, 1393, 
 1398 ; B.M. Seal, xliii. 13. 12. B.M. Add. ch. 28335. 
 
 DONSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1524 
 
 Private 
 
 , 
 
 1220 
 
 Private; Ramsey Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1314 
 
 „ Bushmead Priory 
 
 Joseph, pr. 
 
 1397 
 
 
 Ric. Grymston; Hy. Bourne, 
 1401 ; Jn. Thompson, 1491 
 
 bef 1153 
 
 Ramsey (?) 
 
 Edwin 
 
 bef. 1216 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1254 
 
 Private 
 
 Reymund, pr. ; Adam de Meper- 
 sale 
 
 Dugd. V. 522. 6 . B.M. Add. ch. 33281. 7. Grosseteste, Roll, ann. 7 ; Reg. Dalderby. 
 
 f. 234 b. 
 


222 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 xvm. 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bredhurst 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Canterbury 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 )j 
 
 A. 
 
 al Si. Mary's church 
 
 4 
 
 
 H. 
 
 nr. the Dane John 
 
 5 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican friary 
 
 6 
 
 ,, in province of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 » )) >5 >5 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 )J )) )) >> 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Court-at-Street 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of Our Lady 
 
 10 
 
 Dartford (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of [St. Mary and] 
 St. Katherine 
 
 11 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Davington, at or nr. 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Deptford [in Greenwich] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Katherine 
 
 14 
 
 Dover 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Mary-in-the-Castle 
 
 15 
 
 „ (Arcliflfe) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Our Lady [of 
 Peace] 
 
 16 
 
 „ Occlive, nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 Faversham 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard 
 
 18 
 
 )> 
 
 A. 
 
 )) >} 
 
 19 
 
 Hackington 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 Hartlip 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 Kearsney [in Ewell], at or nr. 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 Longsole [in Petham] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Laurence 
 
 23 
 
 Loose 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 Lydd (the Nesse) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary B. V. 
 
 25 
 
 Mailing, West 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 Milton, nr. Sittingboume 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 - 
 
 Occlive V. Dover 
 
 ■ 
 
 - 
 
 27 
 
 Plumstead 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 Puxton [in Stodmarsh] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 Reculver 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of SS. Peter, James, 
 and Anthony 
 
 I. B.M. Add. 4607. 2. Ely Dioc. Rem., 1895, p. 55. 3, Hasted, Kent, IV. 478. 
 
 4. J. Brent, Canterbury, 129. 5. L. and P. Hen. VIII, vi. Nos. 1333,1336, 1381. 6-8. 
 
 Lambeth, Reg. Langham, f. 63 ; Islip, f. iio^; Arundell, Pt. i. f. 395. 9. L. and 
 P. Hen. VIII, VI. No. 1468. 10. J. Dunkin, Dartford, 190-2. ii. Feed. ix. 275. 
 12. Arch. Cant. XI. 25-6. 13. Pat. 1403 ; Hasted, ed. Drake, 64 n. 14. Close, 1232, 
 
 1234 ; Pat. 1259. 15. P.R.O. Due. Lane. Aeeounts (various), Bdle. 4, No. i, f. 28. 
 
 16. Pat. 1308, ef. (15). 17, 18. Test. Cant. Pt. ii. 128-9 • L. and P. Hen. VIII, vi. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 223 
 
 KENT 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1549 
 
 . 
 
 
 1374 
 
 — 
 
 William Cower 
 
 1446 
 
 
 _ 
 
 1533 
 
 — 
 
 Christopher Warener 
 
 1367 
 
 
 Br. John de Dutton, “ created ” 
 by Abbot of Westminster 
 
 1353 
 
 — 
 
 Thos. Stapelow “ of parish of 
 St. Leonard, Eastcheap ” 
 
 1401 
 
 
 Jn. Langfeld of Northflete, pro¬ 
 fessed 
 
 1525 
 
 — 
 
 Sir William, pr. 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 —— 
 
 Jn. Sodeman, 1438; Jn. Cole- 
 brant, 1509 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xiv c. 
 
 connected with priory 
 
 Celestria, nun ; Adilda, nun 
 
 1403 
 
 Crown 
 
 Rob. Darley, n.d.; Walter 
 Combe, 1518 
 
 1232 
 
 )» 
 
 Emma de Skepeye 
 
 1360 
 
 restored, Sieur de Vaux 
 
 David Welkes, 1399; fean^ 
 chaplain, 1535 
 
 1308 
 
 — 
 
 John de Warwyk 
 
 1465 
 
 — 
 
 anchoress, 1465-1523 
 
 1472 
 
 
 Wm. Thornbury, pr., 1472 ; br. 
 of Ann Sawston, c. 1531 ; Sir 
 Thos. Crakynthorpe, 1541 
 
 1233 
 
 
 Loretta, Countess of Leicester, 
 
 1235 
 
 — 
 
 Rochester Priory 
 
 Robert 
 
 1285 
 
 Kearsney Manor 
 
 Mariun 
 
 1350 
 
 Private 
 
 Stephen Fynamour., chaplain 
 
 bef. 1228 
 
 Archbishop 
 
 Sarah 
 
 bef. 1510 
 
 — 
 
 John Bate 
 
 1496 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1400 
 
 
 Wm. Fayreford, 1400; Wm. 
 Hart, 1498 
 
 bef. 1207 
 
 Southwark Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1516 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1415 
 
 Archbishop 
 
 Henry Gate, 1415 ; Thos. Ham- 
 ond, i486 
 
 13s. VII. 347-8. 19- Close, 1233 ; Pat. 1235, 1256, 1259. 20. J. Thorpe, Reg. Roff. 
 124. 21. Cal. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, Vol. 2, No. 605. 22. Reg. Roff. p. 155 ; Hasted, 
 II. 177; P.R.O. Anc. Deeds, C. 537. 23. Close, 1231-2. 24. Hist. MSS. 5th Rep. 
 
 496; Hasted, iii. 517 ; Test. Cant. 202. 25. Test. Cant. Pt. I. 52. 26. Ibid. ii. 
 
 215-7; Gibbons, Ely Rec. 401. 27. B.M. Harl. 55, E. 18. 28. Test. Cant. Pt. ii. 
 
 365. 29. Lambeth, Reg. Chicheley, f. 64 ; C. R. Smith, Reculver, 193, 202. 
 


224 hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 XVIII 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 30 
 
 Richborough 
 
 H. 
 
 nr. Castle 
 
 31 
 
 Rochester, diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Katharine 
 
 32 
 
 St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe 
 
 H. 
 
 “ hermitagium S. Margar- 
 ete atte Staire ” 
 
 33 
 
 Sandwich 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. James 
 (Jacob) 
 
 34 
 
 „ (Gascoign Lane) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel or hermitage 
 at St. Mary’s church 
 
 35 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 36 
 
 Shamwell [in Sittingbourne] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Thomas M. 
 
 37 
 
 Sutton [Valence] 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 38 
 
 Whitstable 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Anne in the Wood 
 
 39 
 
 Wickham [Breaux] 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Andrew’s church 
 
 40 
 
 Wye 
 
 H. 
 
 
 30. Itin, VII. 138. 31. Ely Dioc. Rem., 1894, p. 181. 32. Lambeth, Reg. Langham, 
 
 ^ 3 * 33 - Boys, Sandwich, 188, 328, 360; Test. Cant. 292. 34. Boys, 188. 35. Test. 
 
 Cant. 286. 36, Pat. 1255, 1266; cf. Close, 1288, 1308. 37. Close, 1225. 38. Test. 
 
 XIX. LANCA 
 
 j 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 Chatbum 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Martin 
 
 2 
 
 Cockersand 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 1 3 
 
 Heaton 
 
 H. 
 
 nr. St. Cuthbert’s chapel 
 
 4 
 
 Kersall 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Leonard 
 
 i 5 
 
 Lancaster (Lune bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 1 6 
 
 J) 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican friary 
 
 7 
 
 Pilling [in Garstang] 
 
 A. 
 
 nr. chapel of St. John B. 
 
 8 
 
 Ribble Bridge [in Walton le 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 
 Dale] 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Ribchester, at or nr. 
 
 A. 
 
 •— 
 
 
 Singleton, v. Lancaster ; Ribble 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Warrington (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 II 
 
 Whalley 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel in churchyard 
 
 12 
 
 „ at or under 
 
 H. 
 
 , ■ . 
 
 13 
 
 Wigan 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Wilderspool, v. sub Cheshire 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 Wirpelesmosse, nr. Burscough 
 
 H. 
 
 
 I. V.C.H. II. 103. 2. W. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R., etc., 395; Cart. (Chetham S., 
 
 N.S. 38), p. ix. 3. Roper, Church of Lane. (Chetham S., N.S. 31), ii. 279. 4. Dugd. 
 
 V. no, 112 ; V.C.H. ii. 113. 5. Reg. J. of Gaunt (Camden S., 3rd Ser. xxi.), ii. 179 ; 
 
 Rot. Pari. V. 546. 6. V.C.H. ii. 103. 7. Chetham S. LVii. (2), 29, 30. 8. Staffs 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 225 
 
 KENT— continued. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron 
 
 Name. 
 
 xvi C. 
 
 
 
 1346 
 
 — 
 
 John le Maure 
 
 1367 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Nicholas de Legh 
 
 1447 
 
 Wardens ; Town 
 
 Sir- William, d. 1447 ; Sir Jn. 
 Steward, 1533 
 
 — 
 
 — • 
 
 — 
 
 1535 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1255 
 
 Crown 
 
 Silvester; Br. Walter 
 
 1225 
 
 j) 
 
 — 
 
 1514 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Wodrofif, 1519 
 
 C. 1220 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1449 
 
 — 
 
 John Bernard 
 
 Cant. 362-3, XV. 39, B.M. Harl. 48, C. 25. 40. Hist. MSS. 4th Rep. 433 ; cf. Test. 
 
 Cant. Pt. I. 61, 62. 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1372 
 
 Duchy 
 
 Br. Ric. de Goldbourne 
 
 bef. 1184 
 
 — 
 
 Hugh Garth 
 
 c. 1280 
 
 — 
 
 Br. William 
 
 bef. 1184 
 
 Lenton Priory 
 
 Hugh de Burun, monk 
 
 John, “h. of Singleton ” 
 
 1373 
 
 Duchy 
 
 1390 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Ric. Pekard, pr. 
 
 1493 
 
 Cockersand Abbey 
 
 Agnes Booth or Shepard, nun 
 
 1366 
 
 — 
 
 John, 1366, 1371, cf. Lancaster 
 
 1292 
 
 — 
 
 Cecilia 
 
 1369 
 
 — 
 
 Br. John, 1369; Thurstan de 
 Okenshaw, 1406 
 
 1354 
 
 Duchy and Abbey 
 
 Ellen, c. 1396; Isold Heton, 
 widow, 1437 
 
 1353 
 
 Abbey 
 
 William de Wygan 
 
 c. 1322 
 
 Private 
 
 Alina 
 
 1361 
 
 — 
 
 Thos. de Huddeswell, pr. 
 
 Coll., N.S. VIII. 28, 57. 9. Whittaker, Wkalley, ii. 461. 10. Staffs Coll., N.S. Viii. 
 
 48. II. V.C.H. VI. 360; Whalley, i. 97, 102. 12. Lichfield Reg. Norbury (Act Bk. 
 
 5), f. 210,211. 13. P.R.O. Anc. Petitions, 7470. 14. Staffs Coll., N.S. viii. 99; 
 
 cf. Lane. Pipe R. 349. 
 
 15 
 


226 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XX. LEI 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Breedon 
 
 H 
 
 in cliff by R. Trent 
 
 2 
 
 Charley [in Charnwood] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 3 
 
 Haliwell Haw „ 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Leicester 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Peter’s church 
 
 5 
 
 
 H. 
 
 in church; in wood; at 
 chapel of St. John B. 
 chapel by St. James’s Well 
 
 6 
 
 jj 
 
 H. 
 
 7 
 
 Mirabel Wood [in Stockerston] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 8 
 
 Ulverscroft 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 I. Lord Kenyon’s Library, see chapter iii. 2. Reg. Hugh de Wells (Cant, and 
 Yk. S.), I, 255; Dugd. VI. 565. 3. Nichols, Leic, III, Pt. i. 122 ; ii. 822. 4. Ibid. /, 
 Pt. II. 265 ; Lambeth, Reg. Courteney, f. 139 b, 142 b, 143. 5. Walsingham, Hist. 
 
 XXL LINCOLN 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Acke [in Sibsey] (?) Hakerley 
 
 H. 
 
 “ heremitorium Ache or 
 Hacchae ” 
 
 2 
 
 Ancaster (nr. castle) 
 
 H. 
 
 by St. Mary’s chapel 
 
 3 
 
 Asfordby 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Belchford (“ Beltesford ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Boston 
 
 A. 
 
 in Carmelite friary 
 
 
 Brygdyke (? Briggend in Horb- 
 ling) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Broughton, nr. Brigg 
 
 A. 
 
 in St. Mary’s church 
 
 7 
 
 Burreth (“ Silverys ” in) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 8 
 
 Caistor 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Carlton le Moorland 
 
 A. 
 
 by church 
 
 10 
 
 Crowland, Isle of 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Freiston 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 12 
 
 Gainsborough 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Grantham 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Peter’s chapel 
 
 14 
 
 Grimsby 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Andrew by St. Leon¬ 
 ard’s Priory 
 
 15 
 
 Halton Marsh, nr. Miningsby 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Holland Marsh (“ Hoyland ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Thomas M. 
 
 17 
 
 Lincoln (Greesen foot) 
 
 A. 
 
 in Holy Trinity - at - the- 
 Stairs 
 
 17(2 
 
 Ludborough 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 I. Dugd. V. 455 ; Chart R. 1328. 2. Itin. i. 29. 3. Reg. Bokyngham, Mem. 
 
 f. 30 b. 4. Pipe R.S. xxxiii. 23. 5. Bale, Script. 622-3. 5a. Will of Robert Pell 
 of Newton. 6. Arch. Cant. xi. 37. 7. Reg. Bokyngham, Mem. f. 423 ii. 79. 
 8. Fxd. IX. 275. 9. Reg. Beck, Mem. 91. 10. Birch, Mem. of St. Guthlac; Gir. 
 Camb. Op. iii. 419 ; Nov. Leg. ii. 698. ii. Reg. Bokyngham, Mem. f. 372. 12. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 227 
 
 CESTERSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 - 
 
 _ 
 
 Hardulph 
 
 bef. 1174 
 
 Luffield Priory, Private 
 
 3 brethren 
 
 — 
 
 Private, Garendon Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1388 
 
 Duchy of Lane. 
 
 Matilda, 1388; Maude Warde- 
 sale, 1400; Isolda N., 1405 
 
 Wm. de Swinderby, pr. 
 
 1382 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1231 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Private 
 
 Elias., monk, warden; Ric. de 
 
 
 Keten, pr., etc. 
 
 bef. 1220 
 
 J) 
 
 3 priests 
 
 II. 53-6 ; Fasc. Zizan. 334-40; Foxe, Acts and Mon. iii. 195-6. 6. Nichols, I, Pt. ii. 
 
 328. 7. Reg. Hugh de Wells, ii. 321 ; Nichols, //, Pt. ii. 815. 8. Reg. Hugh de 
 
 Wells, I. 255. 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 c. 1142 
 
 Revesby Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 -- 
 
 — 
 
 1366 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1183 
 
 —■ 
 
 Matilda 
 
 c. 1488 
 
 — 
 
 George or Gregory Riplay 
 
 1524 
 
 — 
 
 “Armett,” pr. 
 
 1409 
 
 — 
 
 John Kyngston, monk 
 
 1395 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas de Gretham 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1347 
 
 — 
 
 Jn., son of Geoffrey of Knares- 
 boro’, pr. 
 
 c. 700 
 
 
 Guthlac, d. 714; Cissa; Beccel ; 
 Egbert ; Tatwin ; Lady Al- 
 trida, 794 ; Wulsi, c. 1035 
 
 1390 
 
 — 
 
 John Frere 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1338 
 
 — 
 
 Emma of Stapleford 
 
 1342 
 
 Crown 
 
 Simon de Scopwick ; cf. Peter, 
 h. of Grimsby, 1348 
 
 — 
 
 Revesby Abbey 
 
 founded by Ralph, monk 
 
 1189 
 
 Sempringham Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1382 
 
 — 
 
 Isabella, 1383 ; D. Matilda, 1453 
 
 1530 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Fen 
 
 See (8). 13. Reg. Burghersh, Mem. 379 b. 14. Pat. 1342, 1348. 15. J. C. Walter, 
 
 Horncastle, 139. 16. Pap. Lett. IV. 431. 17. J. E. Stocks, Market Harborough 
 
 Rec. 58; Line. Wills, 67; Insrtuctions for Priests (E. E. Text S.), 90. 17a:. Line. 
 
 Consist. Courts 1520-31, f. 323. 
 


228 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXI. LINCOLN 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 18 
 
 Lincoln (Danesgate) 
 
 A. 
 
 at church of St. Andrew 
 super collem 
 
 19 
 
 „ (Wigford) 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Andrew’s-in-Wigford 
 
 20 
 
 5 ) 
 
 A. 
 
 by chapel of St. Mary M. in 
 Holy Innocents’hospital 
 
 21 
 
 Lincoln, in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 Nettleton by Caistor (“ Twang- 
 castre ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 24 
 
 Newsham [in Brocklesby] 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Owston 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 Revesby, nr. (Northdyke bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 Saltfleet Haven [in Skidbrooke] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Katherine 
 
 28 
 
 Skegness 
 
 H. 
 
 _ ^ 
 
 29 
 
 Stamford 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Paul’s church 
 
 30 
 
 
 A. 
 
 in parish church 
 
 ?pa 
 
 Strubby 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 31 
 
 Tealby (“ Tevelby Moor ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Thomas A. 
 and St. Thomas M. 
 
 32 
 
 Thornton [Curtis] 
 
 A. 
 
 within abbey 
 
 33 
 
 Willingham, S. by 
 
 H. 
 
 on “ Lymberghill ” 
 
 34 
 
 Winterton 
 
 A. 
 
 by church 
 
 i 8 , 19. Line. Wills, 74. 20. Pat. 1339. 21. Pap. Lett. V. 59. 22. Reg. Cantilupe 
 
 (Cant, and Yk. S.), ii. 310. 23. Pat. 1348. 24. Somerset Ho., P.C.C. Luffenham, 
 20. 25. Line. Wills, 153. 26. V.C.H. ii. 141. 27. Pat. 1337; Reg. Bokyngham, 
 f. 37. 28. W. O. Massingberd, Ingoldmells R. 117. 29. Market Harborough Rec. 
 
 XXII. MIDDLE 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Charing Cross 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Katharine 
 
 2 
 
 Hadley, Monken 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 J 
 
 Harrow on the Hill 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Edmund and St. Cathe¬ 
 rine 
 
 4 
 
 Highgate [in Hornsey] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Michael 
 
 5 
 
 Highgate Rise, West Hill 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Holborn 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Giles-in-the-Fields 
 
 7 
 
 Islington 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Kensington 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Kilbum 
 
 H. 
 
 afterwards nunnery 
 
 10 
 
 London (Wall) 
 
 A. 
 
 at Allhallows’ church 
 
 11 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ „ Colman 
 
 I. Pat. 1263, 1267 ; R. R. Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, 11. 107 ; Issue R., p. xxxi; Mac- 
 michael, Charing Cross, 15. 2. Dugd. iv. 133, 149. 3. Notes and Queries, loth Ser. 
 
 III. 467. 4. Newcourt, Repert. i. 654; Gent. Mag., 1834, i. 380-5. 5. W. Howitt, 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 229 
 
 SHI RE— continued. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1394 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1391 
 
 - 
 
 Isabella 
 
 1339 
 
 — 
 
 Elizabeth de Elm 
 
 1397 
 
 
 Thos. Bristow, pr. 
 
 Br. Ric. de Chadelington 
 
 1280 
 
 — 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 Richard Dryng 
 
 1434 
 
 — 
 
 Sir Walter Bekeby 
 
 1419 
 
 — 
 
 —■ 
 
 bef 1527 
 
 Revesby Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1337 
 
 — 
 
 Rob. de Billesby ; John, 1366 
 
 1345 
 
 Private 
 
 William de Clederhowe 
 
 1382 
 
 — 
 
 Emmota Tonge of Bourn, 1435 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1331 
 
 — 
 
 Roger de Stamford and Ric. de 
 Burle 
 
 1367 
 
 — 
 
 Petronilla de Wutton 
 
 1461 
 
 — 
 
 cf. Sir William in monte., 1434 
 
 1435 
 
 — 
 
 Beatrice Frank, nun 
 
 58 ; Reg. Gray, Mem. f. 187 b; Northampton Prob. Office, Bk, B. 12. 30. See (8). 
 
 2pa. P.R.O. Rentals and Surveys (Duchy of Lane.) Bdle. 6, No. 22. 31. Pat. 1331, 
 
 1336 ; Reg. Burghersh, Mem. 232 b. 32. Reg. Bokyngham, f. 53 b. 33. Line. 
 Wills, 180; Episc. Rec., Terriers, iv. f 138; cf. P.C.C. Luffenham, 20. 34. Reg. 
 
 Gray, Mem. f. 186, 186 b. 
 
 SEX 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1263 
 
 Crown 
 
 Simon de Brageham, pr. 1267 
 
 bef. 1136 
 
 Walden Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 XV c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1386 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Wm. Lichfield, 1386; Wm. 
 Forte, 1531 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1371 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1290 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1135 
 
 Westminster Abbey 
 
 Godwyn 
 
 1459 
 
 City 
 
 anchoress, xv c. ; Wm, Lucas, 
 d. i486 ; Symon, c. 1513 
 
 1228 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 N. Heights of London^ 413. 6. Sharpe, ii. 148,158. 7. Pat. 1546. 8. Swinfield R. 
 
 (Camden S. 59), p. cxxix. 9. Dugd. iii. 422, 426. 10. C. Welch, Church�ardens’ 
 
 Accounts. II. Arch./o 7 irn. XXIV. 243 - 
 


230 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXI. MIDDLE 
 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 12 
 
 London 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St, Benet Fink 
 
 12a 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 under St. Dunstan 
 
 13 
 
 ?) 
 
 without Bishopsgate 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Botulph’s 
 
 14 
 
 
 „ Temple Bar 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Clement Danes 
 
 15 
 
 )) 
 
 „ Cripplegate 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Giles 
 
 16 
 
 5 J 
 
 Jewry 
 
 A. 
 
 chyd. of St. Laurence 
 
 17 
 
 5 ) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Margaret Pattens 
 
 18 
 
 5 ) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Mary de Manny 
 
 19 
 
 J 5 
 
 Cornhill 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Peter’s 
 
 20 
 
 )) 
 
 Cripplegate 
 
 H. 
 
 St. James 
 
 21 
 
 D 
 
 within Bishopsgate 
 
 H. 
 
 
 22 
 
 J) 
 
 )) 5 ) 
 
 A. 
 
 in wall beside Bishops¬ 
 gate 
 
 23 
 
 
 in Tower 
 
 A. 
 
 St. Eustace (by St. Peter’s 
 chapel) 
 
 24 
 
 5 ) 
 
 in wall nr, Aldgate by 
 Tower 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary and St. Nicholas 
 
 25 
 
 J) 
 
 “ Swannesnest ” by T. 
 
 — 
 
 nr. St. Katharine’s hosp. 
 
 26 
 
 >5 
 
 nr. Tower 
 
 A. 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Bartholomew’s hosp. 
 
 28 
 
 )> 
 
 
 A. 
 
 (professed in Holy Trinity 
 Priory) 
 
 29 
 
 Stratford 
 
 V. sub Essex 
 
 A. 
 
 professed in Dominican 
 friary 
 
 30 
 
 Tottenham 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anne 
 
 31 
 
 Westminster 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Margaret’s in Abbey 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 12, 13. Sharpe, i. 483; 11. 107, 146; Rye MSS. L’Estrange Wills, 1. f. 609; Magd. 
 Coll. Oxford, MSS. 77, 156. 12a. Pat. 1267. 14. Nicolas, Royal Wills, 250; 
 
 Hist. Collections (Camden S.N.S. 17) p. xliii. 15. Sharpe, 11. 107. 16. Ibid. 11. 
 
 147, 197: Arch. Cant. xi. 36. 17. Close, 1236; V.C.H. London, i. 587. 18. 
 Sharpe, ii. 107. 19. Ibid. i. 483, 638 ; Reg. Baldock (Cant, and Yk. S.), 54; Pari. 
 R. I. 418. 20. Pat. 1255-6, 1259, 1265, 1275, 1281, 1286, 1290, 1291, 1292, 1296, 1335, 
 
 1341; Reg, Baldock, 140-2. 21. Pat. 1342, 1346. 22, Line. Wills, 117; Royal 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 231 
 
 S EX —con tinned. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1345 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 1267 
 
 — 
 
 Maud Malet 
 
 1370 
 
 — 
 
 “wht. Bpsgate,” D. Joan, 1449 
 
 1426 
 
 — 
 
 D. Joan 
 
 1361 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1361 
 
 
 Ric. le Coupe, pr., and Geoffrey 
 Richard, 1370 
 
 1236 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1361 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1307 
 
 Parish 
 
 Beatrice de Means, 1307 ; Emma 
 Cheyne, widow, 1449 ’ 
 
 bef. 1199 
 
 Crown; Garendon Abbey 
 
 Warin, pr., d. 1205 ; Rob. Bat; 
 Jordan de Eston; Jn. le 
 Megre; Ric. de Ginges; 
 Laurence ; Rob. de S. 
 Laurencio ; Wm de. Wyntre- 
 burn ; Jn. de Bello ; Thos. 
 de By re ford; Alan Chauns, 
 Wm. de Lyons, 1332 ; Jn. 
 de Flitwick, etc. 
 
 Jn. de Warrewyk; Robert, 
 1346 
 
 1342 
 
 Crown 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1237 
 
 Crown 
 
 William, 1237 ; Idonea de Boc- 
 laund, 1252 
 
 1257 
 
 — 
 
 John ; Berengar ; Jn. le Megre 
 
 1360 
 
 — 
 
 John Ingram, 1371 
 
 1371 
 
 — 
 
 Sir Robert 
 
 1227 
 
 Crown 
 
 Katherine, wife of W. Hardel 
 
 1513 
 
 — 
 
 Simon Appulby, pr. 
 
 1521 
 
 — 
 
 Margerie Clyute 
 
 1408 
 
 Holy Trinity Priory 
 
 Thomas Hert 
 
 1241 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Br. Nicholas ; Br. Jn. Myry- 
 mouth ; Jn. London, d. 1429 ; 
 Wm. Alnewyk, c. 1415. 
 
 1443 
 
 Crown 
 
 Cecily Norton, widow ; Alicia 
 Rippas, i486 
 
 Wills, 250; Test. Vetust. i. 356; Sharpe, ii. 107. 23. Close, 1237; J, Bayley, 
 
 Tower, 129. 24. Hund. R. i. 413, 420; P.R.O. Anc. Deeds, A. 1653; Pat. 1259; 
 
 Cal. Lett. Bk. E. 49, 193. 25, 26. Sharpe, ii. 147, 218, 228. 27. Close, 1227. 28. 
 
 V.C.H., London, i. 587. 29. Bodl. Tanner, CLXXVi. 132 A 30. Gibbons, Ely Rec. 
 
 406 ; W. Bedwell, Tottenham, ed. 1818, 17-19. 31. Close, 1241 ; Pat. 1244, 1247 ; 
 
 Sharpe, ii. 260, 398 ; Royal Wills, 250 ; Stanley, Mem. 431, 447, 467, 641. 32. Acts 
 
 of P. Council, V. 282 ; Pat. 1443, 1453, 1456, i486; B.M. Harl. 433, f. 41. 
 


232 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXIII. NOR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 - Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Acle (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 site, “ Hermitage Staithe ” 
 
 2 
 
 Attlebridge 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Banham (Stonebridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Bawburgh (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 5 
 
 Brandiston 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Cley-next-the-Sea 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 7 
 
 Coxford 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Cressingham, Great 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. George 
 
 9 
 
 Cromer 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Downham Hythe (Market) 
 
 bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Erpingham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Heacham., nr. Hunstanton^ 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Holm [in Horning] \ 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Benet’s 
 
 14 
 
 Houghton-in-the-Hole 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Catherine 
 
 15 
 
 Hunstanton 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Ickburgh (Newbridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary and St. Laurence 
 (once hospital) 
 
 17 
 
 Langley 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Litcham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 Lynn, Bishop’s 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 „ (Gaywood) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Catherine 
 
 21 
 
 
 H. 
 
 at “ Lenne Crouch ” 
 
 22 
 
 » 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Margaret’s 
 
 23 
 
 )) 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Nicholas > - 
 
 24 
 
 „ (Eastgate) 
 
 H. 
 
 ' is 
 
 25 
 
 „ (Southgate) 
 
 H. 
 
 
 26 
 
 „ South 
 
 A. 
 
 „ church of All Saints 
 
 27 
 
 )) j) 
 
 A. 
 
 „ Carmelite friary 
 
 28 
 
 jj 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican friary 
 
 29 
 
 }) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 }> 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 31 
 
 Martham.) in or nr. 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 32 
 
 Massingham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 33 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 34 
 
 Narford in Westacre 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 
 Newbridge, v. Ickburgh 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 35 
 
 Norwich 
 
 
 church of All Saints 
 
 I. R. C. Taylor, Index Mon. 27, 2. Pat. 1405 ; B. x. 401. 3. B. i. 359. 4. 
 B. II. 389. 5. B, VIII. 197 ; Taylor, 65. 6. Pat. 1343. 7. Archaologia^ xxv. 524. 
 8. B, VI. 106. 9. Pap. Lett. vii. 421. 10. Ramsey Cart. ii. 190, 215 ; B. vii. 344; 
 
 Pat. 1398. II. Hundred R. i. 514. 12. Taylor, 65. 13. Mem. St. Edmunds (Rolls 
 96), I. 38. 14. Pat. 1443 ; B. IX. 247. 15. Archceologia, XXV. 494 ; cf. B. X. 324. 
 16. B. II. 239 ; Pat. 1448. 17. Rye MSS. L’Estrange Wills, f. 795 b. 18. B. X. 14 ; 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 233 
 
 FOLK 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1405 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas Heremyte 
 
 I 526 
 
 
 Margery de Boton, n.d. 
 
 1343 
 
 — 
 
 Rob. de Barton Bendish, pr. 
 
 1537 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Parochial 
 
 — 
 
 1425 
 
 ' — 
 
 John Hastyng 
 
 C. 1200 
 
 Private 
 
 Br. Aillet ; Jn. Skillynge, warden, 
 
 1398 
 
 I 274--5 
 
 — 
 
 Geoffrey 
 
 — 
 
 Lewes Priory 
 
 — 
 
 xi c. 
 
 — 
 
 Aelfwen, nun 
 
 1443 
 
 Horsham Priory 
 
 Walter White 
 
 bef 1530 
 
 Private 
 
 Thomas Cooke 
 
 1441 
 
 
 Ric. Ferneys, d. 1464 ; Jn. Bath ; 
 Wm. Dane, 1481 1 Jn. Canon; 
 Sir Jn. Lyster, 1528 
 
 1455 
 
 — 
 
 William Sabyn 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas Cannon 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Margery Kempe, n.d. 
 
 1381 
 
 Town, etc. 
 
 John Consolif 
 
 1349 
 
 — 
 
 John Puttock 
 
 1405-7 
 
 — 
 
 John ; Thomas 
 
 1373-4 
 
 — 
 
 John 
 
 1384-6 
 
 — 
 
 Ann Whyote, hermit 
 
 j> 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas 
 
 j) 
 
 1421 
 
 — 
 
 Joanna Catfelde, 1421 ; Wm. 
 Clays, 1510 
 
 1440 
 
 — 
 
 Geoffrey, 1440 ; Jn. Lot, 1497 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1449 
 
 — 
 
 Isabella 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Olive de Raveningham 
 
 1256 
 
 — 
 
 Ela and companions 
 
 1339 
 
 -- 
 
 Br. John 
 
 1288 
 
 — 
 
 anchorite, 1288 ; Jn. Levot or 
 Levolfe, hermit, d. i 509 
 
 Taylor, 65. 19. E. Underhill, Mysticism, 270, 554. 20-26. H. Harrod, Deeds and 
 
 Rec 30; B. viii. 513-4; H. J. Hillen, Lynn, 250-1. 27. Bale, Script. 565. 28. 
 Arch. Journ. XLi. 83-4. 29. Wylie, Henry IV, iv. 145 n. 30. L’Estrange Wills, 
 f. 609. 31. Hist. MSS. (Holkam), 1907, Various, iv. 319. 32. B. iii. 489. 33. Pat. 
 
 1339- 34 - B. VI. 236 ; Taylor, 65. 35. Hudson and Tingey, Rec. i. 358 ; L’Estrange 
 
 Wills, f. 1612 ; B. IV. 134. 
 


234 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXIII. NOR 
 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 36 
 
 Norwich 
 
 
 A. 
 
 church of St. Christopher 
 
 37 
 
 
 Conisford 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Edward 
 
 38 
 
 )j 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Etheldred 
 
 39 
 
 5 > 
 
 Tombland 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. George 
 
 40 
 
 )) 
 
 on the Hill 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Giles 
 
 41 
 
 )) 
 
 Timberhill 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. John B. 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 H. 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 Conisford 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. John E. 
 
 44 
 
 )) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Julian 
 
 45 
 
 
 Carrow 
 
 A. 
 
 in priory 
 
 46 
 
 )) 
 
 Newbridge 
 
 — 
 
 church of St. Margaret 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 ,, St. Mary Combust 
 
 48 
 
 
 in Coselany 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Mary 
 
 49 
 
 JJ 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Michael at 
 
 Plea 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Olave 
 
 51 
 
 5 J 
 
 Hungate 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Peter 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Saviour 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 under Holy Cross chapel 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Martin’s bridge 
 
 55 
 
 )J 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at Dominican Friary 
 
 56 
 
 
 
 H. 
 
 nr. chapel in fields 
 
 57 
 
 )) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Giles or Newport 
 Gate 
 
 58 
 
 )) 
 
 
 H. 
 
 by Bishop’s bridge 
 
 59 
 
 
 
 H. 
 
 at Magdalen gate 
 
 60 
 
 )) 
 
 
 H. 
 
 by Berstreet „ 
 
 61 
 
 5 ) 
 
 
 H. 
 
 at St. Stephen’s gate 
 
 62 
 
 »j 
 
 Conisford 
 
 H. 
 
 „ South „ 
 
 63 
 
 )5 
 
 
 H. 
 
 „ Heigham „ 
 
 64 
 
 )) 
 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Austin’s „ 
 
 65 
 
 5 J 
 
 Westwick 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Benet’s „ 
 
 66 
 
 >) 
 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Martin’s „ 
 
 36. Rec. II. 359. 37. B. IV. 70 ; Norf. and Norw. Arch. S. i. 124. 38. B. iv. 75. 
 
 39. See (36). 40-3. B. IV. 239, 128, 336, 102. 44-5. W. Rye, Carrow Abbey; Paston 
 Lett. II. 267. 46-7. Rye, Norwich Deeds, 100, 103 ; B. IV. 474. 48. Taylor, 65. 49. 
 See {36). 50. B. IV. 475. 51. See (36). 52. B. iv. 444. 53. Bale, Script. 565 ; 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 235 
 
 FOLK —continued 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1247 
 
 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Margaret ; D. Joan, 1428 ; D. 
 Agnes Kyte, 1458 
 
 bef. 1305 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1247 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1428 
 
 — 
 
 Sir Richard, 1428 
 
 xiv c. 
 
 Dominican Friary 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1300 
 
 Franciscan „ 
 
 — 
 
 xiv c. 
 
 Carrow Priory 
 
 D. Julian, c. 1373-1413; D. Julian 
 Lampit, t:. 1428-1478; D. Ag¬ 
 nes, 1472 ; D. Eliz. Scott, 1481 ; 
 D. Agnes Edrygge, 1524 
 
 1429 
 
 — 
 
 D. Margaret Kydman, bef 1546 
 
 1305 
 
 Norwich Priory 
 
 Katherine, anchoress, 1305 ; Jn. 
 Martin, hermit, 1429 
 
 1304 
 
 — 
 
 Cecily 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 “ St. Anne’s anchoress ” 
 
 1247 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1289 
 
 — 
 
 Margaret and Alice 
 
 1247 
 
 — 
 
 —■ 
 
 bef. 1288 
 
 —• 
 
 Sabine 
 
 1421 
 
 Carmelite Friary 
 
 Lady Emma Stapilton, 1421-42 
 
 1441 
 
 5 ) 55 
 
 Thos. Bradley, 1441 ; Jn. Castle- 
 acre, 1465 ; Thos. Barton, 1479 
 
 1471 
 
 — 
 
 Kath. Foster, 1471 ; Kath. Man, 
 “late recluse,” 1548 
 
 1410 
 
 — 
 
 Sir Thomas, 1410 ; Richard, 
 
 1455 
 
 1244 
 
 — 
 
 ■ 
 
 — 
 
 Norwich Priory 
 
 — 
 
 xiii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas, 1455 
 
 1435 
 
 — 
 
 Thos. Basset, d. 1435 ; Rob. 
 Godard, 1483 
 
 1455 
 
 — 
 
 John \Feltoti\ 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 Zimmerman, Hist. Carm. i. 408. 54. Bale, 629 ; L’Estrange Wills, f. 64 ; N. and N. 
 
 Arch. S. IV. 332, 337. 55. Ibid. ill. 166 ; iv, 335 ; Kirkpatrick, Relig. Orders, 51-2. 
 
 56. Taylor, 65 ; L’Estrange, f. 794. 56-66. Kirkpatrick, 211 ; B. iv. 140, 165, 167, 
 
 250, 438. 60-2. L'Estrange Wills, f. 444 b, 795 b^ 849 b. 
 


236 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXIII. NOR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 67 
 
 Norwich 
 
 H. 
 
 
 68 
 
 Norwich, diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 69 
 
 Outwell 1 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Christopher 
 
 70 
 
 Pickenham, N. S' 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Paul 
 
 71 
 
 Pulham, St. Mary V, ' 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. James 
 
 72 
 
 Shipdam 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury 
 
 73 
 
 Stalham 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 74 
 
 Stow Bardolph (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Botulph 
 
 75 
 
 Stratton, Long 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel 
 
 76 
 
 Suffield 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 77 
 
 Thetford (Castle Hill) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 78 
 
 
 H. 
 
 in church of St. Giles 
 
 79 
 
 5) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John’s chapel 
 
 80 
 
 Thornham > 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 81 
 
 Walpole 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of All Saints 
 
 82 
 
 Walshatn 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 83 
 
 Walsingham, Little 
 
 A. 
 
 in Franciscan friary 
 
 84 
 
 Walsoken (“ Sculedale ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 85 
 
 
 H. 
 
 Holy Trinity 
 
 86 
 
 Weasenham 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 87 
 
 Welney 
 
 H. 
 
 -- 
 
 88 
 
 Wiggenhall St. Mary M. 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 89 
 
 Winch, West 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 90 
 
 Worstead 
 
 H. 
 
 
 67. Ibid. f. 1754 b. 68. East Anglia?!., ix. 107. 69. Pat. 1348. 70. B. vi. 69. 
 
 71-2. Gibbons, Ely Rec. 401, 413. 73. Pap. Lett. ix. 302, 333-4. 74. B. Vii. 448 ; 
 
 Ely Dioc. Rem., 1901, p. 39. 75. B. v. 193. 76. B. ill. 489. 77-9. T. Martin, 
 
 Thetford, 10, 81 ; B. ii. 75, 87-8 ; Pat. 1413. 80. B. iii. 489. 81. Ely Rec. 403 ; 
 
 XXIV. NORTH 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Brampton Ash, Beston in 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Augustine 
 
 2 
 
 Fotheringhay (in wood) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Grafton Regis 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary and St. Michael 
 
 4 
 
 Grimsbury (Banbury Bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Harrowden, Little 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 6 
 
 Islip or Thrapston (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 7 
 
 Marholm 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Guthlac 
 
 la 
 
 Newark by Northampton 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. Mary M. 
 
 I. P.R.O. Sp. Exch. Com. No. 1672 ; Bridges, Northants, ii. 284. 2. Ibid. 
 451 ; B.M. Cott. Aug. ii. 125. 3. Baker, Northants, ii. 170-1. Ibid. i. 750 ; A. 
 Beesley, Banbury, 161. 5. Northampton Probate Office, Bk. A. f. 415, B. f. 139; D. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 237 
 
 FOLK 
 
 ontinued 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1516 
 
 _ - - 
 
 “ Maister Clyff ” 
 
 1504 
 
 — 
 
 John Ferys 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1401 
 
 — 
 
 Walter Colman 
 
 1487 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1443 
 
 — 
 
 John Kylburn 
 
 1406 
 
 Gild 
 
 Thomas Coteler 
 
 1256 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1256 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 XV. c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1413 
 
 Austin Friary 
 
 — 
 
 1256 
 
 Bishop 
 
 — 
 
 1404 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Downham 
 
 1274-5 
 
 — 
 
 William 
 
 1507 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 tp. John 
 
 — 
 
 —■ 
 
 c. 1390 
 
 —- 
 
 Wm. Danyell; W. Crouch^ etc. 
 
 bef. 1465 
 
 ” 
 
 Jn. Keating, “late hermit”; 
 Thos. Leek 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Private, Pentney Priory 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 John 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Mabilia de Leverington, n.d. 
 
 1274-5 
 
 
 Roger 
 
 Dioc. Rem., 1901, p. 58. 82. Hundred R. i. 505. 83. L’Estrange Wills, iii. f, 
 
 1600; B. IX. 281. 84. Ramsey Cart. iii. 295. 85. Pat. 1390, 1408, 1414. 86. See 
 (30). 87-8. Dugd. VI. 69 ; V. 69, 70. 89. B. ix. 157. 90. Hundred R. i. 508. 
 
 AMPTONSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1420 
 
 _ 
 
 — Chambers, xvi c. 
 
 bef. 1176 
 
 Saltrey Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1205 
 
 Private; St. James’s 
 Abbey, Northampton 
 
 Elias 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1517 
 
 — 
 
 Sir Thomas, pr., 1519-33 
 
 William Mareschal, pr. 
 
 1400 
 
 Crown 
 
 1395 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1446 
 
 Peterborough Abbey 
 
 John Grenefeld 
 
 f. 86 ; Sp. Exch. Com. 1672. 6. Pat. 1400; Itin. i. 8 ; Bridges, ii. 239, 7. Pat. 1395. 
 
 7a. B. M. Lansd. 1028, f. 188. 
 


238 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXIV. NORTH 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 8 
 
 Northampton 
 
 A. 
 
 at church of St. Giles 
 
 9 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 —■ 
 
 10 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 at Carmelite Friary 
 
 11 
 
 5 > 
 
 A. 
 
 at Our Lady of Grace in 
 Austin Friary 
 
 12 
 
 „ nr. S. bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. Thomas 
 
 13 
 
 5 ) 
 
 H. 
 
 at St. James’ End 
 
 14 
 
 „ W. bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 —■ 
 
 15 
 
 „ in or nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 at a chapel 
 
 16 
 
 „ (Kingsthorpe) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. David (afterwards hosp.) 
 
 17 
 
 Oundle 
 
 A. 
 
 —• 
 
 18 
 
 Peakirk 
 
 — 
 
 cell of St. Pega, or hermit¬ 
 age of St. Bartholomew 
 
 19 
 
 Peterborough 
 
 'A. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 Pipwell 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary de Divisis 
 
 21 
 
 Radstone 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 Rockingham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 Rushden 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. James 
 
 24 
 
 Singlesole, nr. Peterborough 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Stowe Wood, nr. Bugbrooke 
 Thrapston v. I slip 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 —• 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 Towcester 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 Weldon 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 8. B.M. Add. ch. 7028. 9. Eng. Wills (E.E. Text S.), 48. 10. B.M. Harl. 
 3838, f. 37. II. Nhp. Prob. Off., Bk. B. f. 33, 119 ; D. 288 ; E. 21 ; P.R.O. Sur¬ 
 render Deeds, No. 169. 12, Ibid. D. f. 209. 13. Will of W. Henne. 14. J. C. Cox, 
 
 Borough Rec. ii. 523, 432. 15. Somerset Ho., P.C.C. 4 Blamyr. 16. P.R.O. Anc. 
 
 Deeds, C. 2026. 17. Pipe R.S. xxvi. 105. 18. V.C.H.ii. 519; Bridges, II. 577. 
 
 XXV. NORTH 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Alnwick, nr. (?) 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Bedlington 
 
 H. 
 
 at lepers’ hospital 
 
 3 
 
 Berwick-on-Tweed (Segden) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 4 
 
 Byker 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary V. and 
 St. Anne 
 
 5 
 
 Caistron (Maydenly, nr.) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John 
 
 6 
 
 Coquet Is. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 I. Northumb. Assize R. (S.S. 88), 70; P.R.O. Assize R. 642 m. 10. 2. Pat. 
 
 1388. 3. Cal. Doc. Scotland, ill. 45 ; J. Scott, Berwick, 348. 4. Pat. 1344. 5. New- 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 239 
 
 AM PTONSHIRE— continued. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 tp. Edw. I. 
 
 _ 
 
 Eva 
 
 1420 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1421 
 
 — 
 
 Alice Wakleyne, nun, d. 1426 ; 
 Margaret Hawten 
 
 1510 
 
 
 Father Anker, 1522 ; Rob. 
 Barrett, 1538 
 
 1528 
 
 — 
 
 Stonton 
 
 1519 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1501 
 
 — 
 
 John Mason, pr. 
 
 xii c. 
 
 St. Andrew’s Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1176 
 
 Peterborough Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 viii c. 
 
 Crowland Abbey 
 
 St. Pega 
 
 1176 
 
 Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1215 
 
 Private 
 
 Elyseus 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1190 
 
 Peterborough Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Alnoth 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1534 
 
 — 
 
 John Littley 
 
 1516 
 
 
 Sir Gregory, pr. 1528 
 
 19. See (17). 20. Dugd. v. 431, 434 ; Bridges, ii. 331. 21. Clos<", 1215-6, 1225 ; Pat. 
 1227; cf. Pat. 1260, “House of Radestan ”. 22. Sp. Exch. Com. 1672. 23. Arch. 
 Journ., 1901, p. 130. 24. Chart. R. 1332. 25. Nov. Leg. ii. 423. 26. Nhp. Prob. 
 
 Off., Bk. E. f. 154. 27. Ibid. A f. 415, D. f. 288, 328 ; E. f, 21. 
 
 UMBERLAND 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1255-6 
 
 
 Seman de Botelesham 
 
 1388 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Ric. Holewey of Shypwassh 
 
 I3II 
 
 Hosp. of St. Mary M. 
 
 Br. Roger of Wateby 
 
 1344 
 
 — 
 
 John Segerstane 
 
 1247 
 
 Newminster Abbey 
 
 Br. Hugh of Hepes 
 
 bef. 1127 
 
 'Tynemouth Priory 
 
 St. Henry, d. 1127 ; Martin, c. 
 1300. 
 
 minster Cart. (S.S. 66), p. xvi, 138-40. 6. J. C. Hodgson, Northumb. v. 316-21. 
 


240 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXV. NORTH 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 7 
 
 Corbridge 
 
 H. 
 
 _ 
 
 8 
 
 Fame Is. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 9 
 
 Lilburn 
 
 H. 
 
 
 10 
 
 Merkelldene [in Earsdon] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Ninian, alias St. Ryn- 
 
 
 
 
 yane 
 
 11 
 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 
 A. 
 
 at church of St. John B. 
 
 12 
 
 5 ) 
 
 A. 
 
 ,, „ „ St. Nicholas 
 
 13 
 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican Friary 
 
 14 
 
 Norham on Tweed 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 St. John Lee (“ Hernshow ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 ■■ 
 
 16 
 
 Warenford by Bamboro’ 
 
 H. 
 
 at leper’s hospital 
 
 17 
 
 Wark worth 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Holy Trinity 
 
 7. Pat. 1354. 8. Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti; Symeon Dunelm, i. 295-325; Nov. 
 
 Leg. I. 101-6. 9. Reg. Pal. Dunelm, ill. 137, 190, 199. 10. Hodgson, ix. 120, 121. 
 
 II. Pat. 1260; J. R. Boyle, Vestiges of Newcastle, 160. 12. Ibid. 93. 13. Feed. ix. 
 
 XXVI. NOTTING 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Blyth 
 
 A. 
 
 _ 
 
 2 
 
 5 » 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. James 
 
 3 
 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Michael 
 
 4 
 
 Clipston [Birkland in Sherwood] 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Edwin 
 
 5 
 
 Felley 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Helen 
 
 6 
 
 Halloughton (“ Halton by South- 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 
 well ”) 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 Kneesall 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Mansfield, East Thwaite 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Mansfield-Woodhouse 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 A. 
 
 in church of St. Nicholas 
 
 11 
 
 5 ) 
 
 H. 
 
 “ called Owswell ” 
 
 12 
 
 „ (Sneinton) 
 
 H. 
 
 rock hermitage 
 
 13 
 
 ,, in archdeaconry of 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 Welbeck 
 
 A. 
 
 ' “ “ 
 
 I. Close, 1241 ; Reg. Giffard (S.S. 109), 116 ; Reg. Wichwane (S.S. 114), 74. 
 2, 3. Pat. 1335. 4. Close, 1205, 1217; Pat. 1318 ; V.C.H. ii. 62. 5. V.C.H. ii. 109. 
 6. Line. Wills, 97. 7. Ibid. 118 ; Feed. ix. 275. 8. Walkerdine, Mansfield Deanery, 6. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 241 
 
 UMBERLAND— continued. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1354 
 
 
 Thomas de Anderstowe 
 
 676 
 
 Lindisfarne Abbey; Dur- 
 
 Cuthbert, d. 687 ; Aethelwald, 
 
 
 ham Priory 
 
 687-99; Aelwin, bef. 1150; 
 Bartholomew, 1150-93 ; Thos., 
 c. 1163 ; Aelric 
 
 1337 
 
 Private 
 
 Robert 
 
 bef. 1497 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Coward, 1500 
 
 1260 
 
 _ 
 
 Christiana Umfred 
 
 1408 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1329 
 
 Durham Priory 
 
 Roger de Ellesden, pr. ; Rob. de 
 Dunehno, 1337 
 
 c. 687 
 
 — 
 
 St. John of Beverley 
 
 1399 
 
 Duchy of Lancaster 
 
 Richard Hayzaund 
 
 1487 
 
 Earldom 
 
 Edward Slegg, 1515 ; George 
 Lancastre, 1531 
 
 275. 14. Raine, N. Durham^ 262. 15. Hodgson, iv. 143-4. 16. Ibid, i, 251. 17. 
 
 Ibid. V. 134 ; C. H, Hartshorne, Antiq. of Northumb. ii. 212-28. 
 
 HAMSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1241 
 
 Archbishop 
 
 2 recluses, 1271 ; D. Joan, 1281 
 
 1335 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Peter de Bound 
 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Jn. le Mareschal 
 
 bef. 1205 
 
 Crown 
 
 Benedict, 1217 ; Roger de Trus- 
 seley, 1318 
 
 11 56 
 
 Private ; Priory 
 
 Br. Robert 
 
 1401 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1411 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1280 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1403 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1394 
 
 Crown 
 
 Joan de Aylston 
 
 1357-8 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1267 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1411 
 
 
 John, recluse 
 
 9. Line. Wills, 103, 118. 10. Pat. 1394. 1400; Test. Ebor. ii. (S.S. 30), 131. ii, 
 
 12. Stevenson and Stapleton, Religious Inst, of Notts, 163, 208-9. ^3- Giffard, 
 
 p, 185. 14. Line. Wills, 118, 
 
 16 
 


242 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXVII. OXFORD 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bicester 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. John B. 
 
 2 
 
 Cassington 
 
 A. 
 
 '— 
 
 3 
 
 Crowmarsh 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Dornford [in Wootton] 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Ewelme 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel 
 
 _ 
 
 Finmere, v. sub Bucks 
 
 Henley (bridge) 
 
 ■ 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Horsepath 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Iffley 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Lockesley [in Wychwood] 
 Loughboro’, Low Barrow, nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 
 Leafield 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 Muswell [in Piddington] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Holy Cross 
 
 — 
 
 Newbridge v. Standlake 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Oxford near 
 
 A. 
 
 at Holywell church 
 
 13 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Budock’s church 
 
 14 
 
 J) 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Ebbe’s „ 
 
 15 
 
 )> 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Giles’s „ 
 
 16 
 
 }> 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. John’s „ 
 
 17 
 
 )5 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Peter’s-in-the-E. 
 
 18 
 
 
 A. 
 
 in a certain church 
 
 19 
 
 „ Grandpont, S. bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Nicholas 
 
 20 
 
 „ Pettypont, E. „ 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 Pheleley 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. John B. 
 
 22 
 
 Standlake (New Bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 Tetsworth [in Thame] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John Baptist 
 
 I. J. Dunkin, Bicester, 117. 2. Close, 1237. 3. Bodl. Oseney, ch. xiv. 4. 
 Pat. 1236. 5. Pat. 1403 ; Line. Wills, 193 ; Valor Ecc. ii. 201, 265. 6. J. S. Burn, 
 Henley, 196. 7. See (3). 8. Pat. 1234 ; Close, 1235, 1238, 1241. 9. Pat. 1337. 10. 
 
 Close, 1232; Dugd. VI. 684; Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. S.), 11. 537; V. J. Walney, 
 Cornbury, 19. ii. Dugd. VI. 549 ; B.M. Harl. 3688, f. 128-9, 12. Surius, 
 
 Vitce S.S. VI, 688 ; Close, 1236. 13. Pat. 1242 ; Oseney, Ch. xiv. 14. Magd. Mun. 
 
 XXVIII. RUT 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Langham 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 Norewood [in Clipsham] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Ryhall 
 
 
 
 I. Pat. 1314, 1326. 2. Reg. Hugh de Wells (Cant, and Yk. S.), 11. 137. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 243 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1355 
 
 
 Nicholas Jurdan 
 
 1237 
 
 — 
 
 Matilda de la More 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1236 
 
 Crown 
 
 Br. Robert 
 
 1403 
 
 Bruern Abbey 
 
 Simon Kirton, 1403 ; Thos. 
 Wylkys, d. 1458 
 
 
 
 1505 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1234 
 
 Crown 
 
 Annora, 1238; Alienora, 1241 
 
 1337 
 
 Deerhurst Priory ; Crown 
 
 Roger^ pr. 
 
 1232 
 
 Crown; Lechlade Priory 
 
 Robert ; Emald and Lucian, 
 1232 
 
 bef. 1154 
 
 Private ; Missenden Abbey 
 
 Ralph 
 
 c. 1180 
 
 
 Matthew 
 
 1242 
 
 — 
 
 Alice 
 
 bef. 1225 
 
 — 
 
 Basilia 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1271 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1227 
 
 •— 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1194 
 
 —• 
 
 — 
 
 1359 
 
 Town 
 
 Jn. Braye of Shiplake, 1365 ; 
 Wm. Cardon, 1399 
 
 bef. 1358 
 
 )) 
 
 Hugo Rose, oust os, 1321 ; Nic. 
 Wadekyns, 1358 
 
 bef 1135 - 
 
 Private; Eynsham Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1434,- 
 
 \ 
 
 " ■ • 
 
 Wm. de Cornubia, c. 1434; 
 Thos. Brigges, c. 1462 
 
 1447 ' 
 
 Gild 
 
 ■ 
 
 St. Ebbe’s, No. 7. 15. Wood, Oxford (Hist. S.), ii. 503. 16. Ibid. ; Oseney R. Liii. 
 
 17. Magd. Mun. St. Peter’s, 21 B, 29 C ; New Coll. Mun. St. Peter’s, No. 62, 68. 
 
 18. H. Salter, Eynsham Cart. ii. 273, 334 ; cf. Vita S. Hugonis (Rolls S. 37), 239. 
 
 19. 20. Wood, II. 498 ; Bodl. Twyne, XXiil. 340, 390. 21. Dugd. iii. 20 ; Eynsham 
 
 Cart. I. p. XIV. 22. Twyne, iv. 243. 23. Pat, 1447. 
 
 LAND 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1314 
 
 
 Jn. de Norton, 1314; Jn. de 
 
 
 
 Warrewyk, 1326 
 
 c. 1226 
 
 — 
 
 Ric. de Beddestowe, fr. 
 
 vii c. 
 
 — 
 
 St. Tibbe 
 
 3. Wright, Rutland, ill. ; Women S.S. (E.E.T.S.), 73. 
 


244 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXIX. SHROP 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Albrighton 
 
 
 H. 
 
 ----- 
 
 2 
 
 Astley Abbots ( 
 
 “ Estlege ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Athelardston v. 
 
 Bridgnorth 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Bridgnorth (“ Athelardston,” by) 
 
 H. 
 
 Cave and oratory 
 
 4 
 
 Haughmond 
 
 
 H. 
 
 afteiAvards Abbey 
 
 5 
 
 Langley [in Acton-Burnell] 
 
 H. 
 
 -r 
 
 6 
 
 Le Botvvood 
 
 
 H. 
 
 ■ - 
 
 7 
 
 Ludlow 
 
 (Temebridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Katharine 
 
 8 
 
 Mount Gilbert, 
 
 the Wrekin 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Newport 
 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Katherine 
 
 10 
 
 Priors Lee 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Shrewsbury 
 
 (Mount) 
 
 H. 
 
 by Cadogan’s Cross 
 
 12 
 
 )) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Chad’s church 
 
 13 
 
 )) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Mary’s „ 
 
 14 
 
 )> 
 
 Frankwell 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. George’s chapel 
 
 15 
 
 J) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Romald’s „ 
 
 16 
 
 )j 
 
 without 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. Mary M.’s „ 
 
 17 
 
 )» 
 
 
 A. 
 
 „ Dominican friary 
 
 18 
 
 >» 
 
 six miles from 
 
 A. 
 
 in church 
 
 I. Cal. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, Vol. 2, No. 569. 2. Chart R. 1265. 3. Pat. 1328, 1333, 
 
 1335, 1346 ; Staffs Coll., N.S. viii. 40. 4. Itin. viii. 106. 5, 6. Eyton, Salop, vi. 
 
 145, 245-6. 7. Pat. 1410. 8. Pat. 1265 ; Eyton, i. 310, IX. 149 ; Staffs Coll., N.S. 
 
 VIII. 154. 9. Staffs Coll., N.S. VIII. 60, 154. 10. E. L. Cutts, Scenes and Characters, 
 
 XXX. SOMER 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Andersey [in Curry Rivel] 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Badgworthy [Exmoor] 
 
 H. 
 
 .— 
 
 3 
 
 Bath and Wells, in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Batheaston (“ Horteley ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 — 
 
 Bristol, V. sub. Glos. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Buckland [in Durston] 
 
 A. 
 
 nr. Hospitaller’s church 
 
 6 
 
 Congresbury, nr. 
 
 — 
 
 chapel of Holy Trinity 
 
 7 
 
 Crewkerne 
 
 A. 
 
 by church 
 
 8 
 
 >) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Glastonbury 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 I. Athelney Cart. (Somerset Rec. S. 14), 166. 2. Buckland Cart. (S.R.S. 25), 
 
 121, 196. 3. Reg. Radulf (S.R.S. 9), 245. 4. Chantries (S.R.S. 2), 151-2. Cf. Hart¬ 
 ley Farm. 5. Pap. Lett. vii. 180. 6. Nov. Leg. i. 249-50. 7. Trokelowe, Ann, 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 245 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1284 
 
 _ 
 
 
 1265 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1328 
 
 Crown 
 
 Jn. de Oxendon, 1328 ; Andrew 
 de Corbrigge, 1333 ; Edmund 
 de la Mare^ I 335 1 Roger de 
 Burghton, 1346; Ric. de 
 Callyley, 1367 
 
 bef. iioi 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1180 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1170 
 
 — 
 
 Bletherus, monk 
 
 1410 
 
 — 
 
 Thos. Shelve ; cf. Leintwardine 
 
 1265 
 
 Crown 
 
 Nicholas de Denton 
 
 1355 
 
 — 
 
 Br. William, pr., 1371 
 
 Br. Richard Goldeston 
 
 1409 
 
 — 
 
 1355 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1355 
 
 — 
 
 Alice Breton 
 
 1272 
 
 — 
 
 Petronilla 
 
 1310 
 
 — 
 
 Emma Sprenghose 
 
 1314 
 
 — 
 
 Isolda de Himgerford 
 
 1356 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Roger 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1296 
 
 
 Emma, nun 
 
 100. II, 12. Staffs Coll., N.S. VIII. 29, 154 ; Salop Arch. S., 3rd Ser. v. 394, 400. 13. 
 
 Eyton, VI. 89. 14, 15. Owen and Blakeway, Shrewsbury, i. 315 n ; ii. 475. 16. Pat. 
 
 1356. 17. Feed. IX. 276. 18. Chr. Lanercost (Bannatyne Club), 183-5. 
 
 SET 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1166 
 
 Private 
 
 Herduin 
 
 bef. 1184 
 
 — 
 
 “ hermits ” 
 
 1335 
 
 — 
 
 Jn. Worm of Glastonbury 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1420 
 
 
 Jn. Toker, friar 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Cungar 
 
 1402 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Cherde, monk 
 
 1523 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 St. Gildas ; St. Dunstan 
 
 F.dw. //, ed. Hearne, 263 ; Reg. Bowett (S.R.S. 13), 36-7. 8. Gerard, Description 
 
 (S.R.S. 15), 67 ; Wills (S.R.S. 19), 224. 9. See (ii). 
 


246 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXX. SOMER 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 10 
 
 Haselbury [Plucknett] 
 
 A. 
 
 by church 
 
 11 
 
 Holme, Flat, Is. (Ronech) 
 
 „ Steep, Is. (Echni) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Neroche (or Rechych) Forest 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 Oath (“ Oth ”) in Aller 
 
 H. 
 
 —■ 
 
 15 
 
 Polden Hill 
 
 — 
 
 at chapel of St. Thomas 
 
 16 
 
 Publow 
 
 H. 
 
 “ called Clarelewe ” 
 
 17 
 
 Rownham [in Long Ashton] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 St. Decuinans, nr, Watchet 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 Spraulesmede or Burtle [in 
 Moorlinch] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Stephen 
 
 20 
 
 Twerton 
 
 A. 
 
 'at church 
 
 21 
 
 Winscombe 
 
 H. 
 
 “ in loco qui S. Romani 
 nuncupatur ” 
 
 10. B.M. Cott. Faust. B. iv. f. 67 b to 1233/ Nov. Leg. ii. 511-20 ; Gervase, i. 
 130-1; Roger Wend. i. 4-9 ; M. Paris, Chr. Maj. ii. 205-9. ii, 12. Vitce, ed. Giles 
 (Caxton S. 1854), 312. 13. Reg. Drokensford (S.R.S. i), 167. 14. Ibid. 284 ; W. 
 
 Hunt, Dioc. Hist. 92, B.M. Harl. ch. 57 D. 4, 5. 15. Close, 1241 ; Wills (S.R.S. 
 
 XXXI. STAFFORD 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bethney (now Stafford) 
 
 H. 
 
 _ 
 
 2 
 
 Burton (“ Scaleclif,” “ An- 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 
 dreseia ”) 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Calwich [in Ellastone] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Dunstall 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 F airwell 
 
 H. 
 
 (afterwards nunnery) 
 
 6 
 
 Handsacre (Armitage) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 N e wcastle-under- Lyne 
 
 A. 
 
 in the church 
 
 8 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Radmore [in Cannock Chase] 
 
 H. 
 
 (afterwards monastery) 
 
 10 
 
 Stafford 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Sutton Wood [in Forton] 
 
 H. 
 
 “ locus S. Johannis B.” 
 
 12 
 
 Tamworth (“ Muryhull,” by) 
 
 A. 
 
 at chapel 
 
 13 
 
 Walton, nr. Stone 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 West Bromwich (by Sandwell) 
 
 H. 
 
 (afterwards priory) 
 
 I. Nov. Leg. I. 165. 2. Ibid. ii. 210; Shaw, Staffs^ i. p. i. 3. Dugd. vi. 224; 
 
 Staffs Coll. (W. Salt S.), N.S. xii. 102, 278. 4. Ibid. p. 76 n. 5. Dugd. iv. in. 6. 
 B.M. Add. Ch. 24239 : Shaw, 207. 7. Close, 1237. 8. Staffs. Coll., N.S. viii. 154; 
 


APPENDIX C. 
 
 247 
 
 SET —continued 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 c. 1125 
 
 
 St. Wulfric, d. 1154 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Cadoc 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Gildas 
 
 1317 
 
 — 
 
 Richard Bozon, pr. 
 
 bef. 1328 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Thomas, friar, 1328 
 
 1241 
 
 — 
 
 Elneva built reclusoriutn., 1241 ; 
 John, hermit, 1505 
 
 c. 1228 
 
 Private 
 
 — 
 
 1406 
 
 — 
 
 William Popylton 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Decuman 
 
 bef. 1199 
 
 Private ; Glastonbury 
 Abbey 
 
 Br. Walter 
 
 1337 
 
 — 
 
 Sibilla of Bathford 
 
 1331 
 
 
 Phillip Schipham 
 
 19), 88. 16. Collinson, Somerset, ii. 428. 17. Ibid. 296 ; Bristol Corp. MSS. Orphan 
 
 Bk. f. 103 b; W. Wore., ed. Nasmith, 275. 18. Nov. Leg. i. 264. 19. Dugd. i. 
 
 34-5 ; Reg. Drokensford, 54. 20. Reg.'Radulf (S.R.S. 9), 303. 21. Ibid. 70. 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 St. Beccellin 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Mod wen 
 
 bef. 1148 
 
 Various 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1162 
 
 Trentham Priory 
 
 Walter 
 
 c. 1140 
 
 — 
 
 Roger, Geoffrey, and Robert 
 
 bef 1307 
 
 — 
 
 fohn, pr. 
 
 1237 
 
 — 
 
 Avice 
 
 1355 
 
 — 
 
 David Hawardedyn, 1465 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Clement and Hervey 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1227 
 
 Private ; Shrewsbury 
 
 — 
 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Br. Roger de Henerebarwe 
 
 1360 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 St. Wulfade 
 
 xii c. 
 
 
 
 Pat. 1465. 9. Dugd. V. 446. 10. Feed. ix. 275. ii. Dugd. ill. 523. 12. Stafs 
 
 Coll., N.S, VIII. 93. 13. Ibid. XII. Ill ; O.S. i. 178, 14. Dugd. iv, 189, 190, 
 


248 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXII. SUF 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Blythborough 
 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Brandon Ferry 
 
 (on bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of SS. Mary and 
 
 
 
 
 
 Etheldreda 
 
 3 
 
 Bury St. Edmunds 
 
 
 A. 
 
 in cemetery 
 
 4 
 
 >) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 >5 
 
 W. gate 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 6 
 
 Catiwade 
 
 (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary B.V. 
 
 7 
 
 Cowlinge 
 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 Exning 
 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mildred 
 
 9 
 
 Gorleston, Southtown 
 
 H. 
 
 near ferry 
 
 10 
 
 Ipswich 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at Carmelite friary 
 
 11 
 
 Sudbury 
 
 
 H. 
 
 in St. Gregory’s chyd. 
 
 12 
 
 Thrandeston (“ Randeston ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 
 I. T. Gairdner, Dunwich, etc., 125. 2. Ely Dioc. Rem. 1903, p. 179 ; 1904, p. 
 
 150, 189 ; cf. 1905, p. 21. 3. Madox, Form. Angl. 423. 4. Pat. 1449. 5. R. Yates, 
 
 St. Edmundsbury, 49. 6. Pat. 1360. 7. Close, 1234. 8. Dioc. Rem. 1897, p. 97. 
 
 XXXIII. SUR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bletchingley 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Brookwood [in Windsor Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Dorking 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 Ewell 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Ottershaw (“ Hoteressaham ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Sheen 
 
 A. 
 
 in house of Bethlehem 
 
 7 
 
 Southwark (Horsleydown) 
 
 H. 
 
 _ 
 
 8 
 
 Thames Ditton, in or nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 
 1. Close, 1233. 2. Gervase, Chr. ii. 295 ; Pat. 1367. 3. Close, 1240. 4. MS. 
 
 Memoriale [per Canon Deedes]. 5. Surrey Arch. Coll. Feet of Fines, 10. 6. Pat. 
 
 XXXIV. SUS 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Arundel 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. James 
 
 2 
 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican Friary 
 
 3 
 
 Camber, the (Is. by Winchelsea) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anthony 
 
 4 
 
 Chichester 
 
 
 chapel of St. Ciriac 
 
 I. Tierney, Arundel, 679. 2. Pap. Lett. iv. 352 ; v. 470. 3. W. Worcester, no ; 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 249 
 
 FOLK 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1516 
 
 
 Robert Leake, d. 1517 
 
 hef. 1406 
 
 Bishop of Ely 
 
 Wm. Bussheby, 1406 ; Jn. New¬ 
 ton ; Ric. Passhlew; Thos. 
 Passhelawe, d. 1459, etc. 
 
 tp. John 
 
 — 
 
 Lucy 
 
 bef. 1449 
 
 — 
 
 — Cheyne 
 
 1360 
 
 — 
 
 Br. John atte Welle 
 
 1234 
 
 — 
 
 Nicholaa 
 
 1389 
 
 — 
 
 Philip de Cliston 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Agnes, n.d. 
 
 1433 
 
 Parish 
 
 J. Levynton (& Ric. Appelby ?) 
 
 1157 
 
 ■ 
 
 inclusiis 1157-81 
 
 9. C. J. Palmer, Yarmouth, iii. 257 ; Suckling, Suff. i. 378. 10. B.M. Harl. 3838, f. 
 
 37. II. B. II. 241 : Suff. Inst. Arch. viii. p. 
 
 xxvii. 12. Pipe R.S. i-xxxi. 
 
 REY 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 • 
 
 Name. 
 
 1233 
 
 Crown 
 
 Roger. 
 
 1289 
 
 — 
 
 Prior Thomas, 1289 ; Jtt. Tyl- 
 man, 1367 
 
 1240 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1408 
 
 Merton Priory 
 
 — 
 
 1218 
 
 — 
 
 Geoffrey 
 
 1417 
 
 Crown, Priory 
 
 Jn. Kyngeslowe, pr. 1417 ; Jn. 
 Dygoun, pr. reclusus quintus, 
 
 n. d. 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1294 
 
 
 Richard le Eremite 
 
 1417; Magd. Coll. Oxford, MSS. 77, 154, 156. 7. Surrey Arch. Coll. i. 176. 8. 
 
 Feet of Fines, p. 64. 
 
 SEX 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1459 
 
 
 
 1402 
 
 — 
 
 John Bourne, friar 
 
 bef. 1536 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1247 
 
 Alien Abbey 
 
 anchoress, 1247 ; Ric. Petevyne, 
 hermit, 1405 1 
 
 L. and P. Hen. VIII, Xii. (i), 1095. 4. D. and Ch. Mun. Y. f. 135 b ; Reg. Rede, f. 14. 
 


2 50 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXIV. sus 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 5 
 
 Chichester 
 
 A. 
 
 in cathedral 
 
 6 
 
 ,, in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Hardham (“ Heringham ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 in church 
 
 8 
 
 Harting 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Houghton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Lewes 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. John-sub-Castro 
 
 11 
 
 „ (Westout) 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Mary’s church 
 
 12 
 
 Pagham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Seaford (on cliff) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 Stedham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 Stopham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 Westbourne 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anthony 
 
 17 
 
 Winchelsea 
 
 A. 
 
 at church of St. Thomas 
 
 s 
 
 6. Reg. Rede, f. 105, 116 ; V.C.H. ii. 
 
 16. 7 
 
 . Sussex Arch. Coll. r. 174 ; xliv. 
 
 78-80. 
 
 8. Pipe R.S. XXX. 145, etc. 9-12. S.A.C. 1.174-6 ; Xii. 132, 134. 13. Pat. 1272. 
 
 
 
 
 XXXV. WAR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Berwood, nr. Birmingham 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Our Lady 
 
 2 
 
 Binton (“ Bindon ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Bridgtown v. Stratford bridge 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 Coventry (Bablake) 
 
 A. 
 
 by chapel of St. John B. 
 
 4 
 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Anne 
 
 5 
 
 Fletchamstead Wood [in Stone- 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 
 leigh] 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Guy’s Cliffe (“ Gibbecliff ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 cave ; chapel of St. Mary 
 
 
 
 
 Magd. 
 
 7 
 
 Packington, Little, or Maxstoke 
 
 H. 
 
 “ Hemeric’s church ” 
 
 8 
 
 Polesworth 
 
 A. 
 
 by abbey church 
 
 9 
 
 ,, (Tamworth road) 
 
 H. 
 
 by St. Edith’s well 
 
 10 
 
 Stratford-on-Avon (bridge) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary Magd. 
 
 II 
 
 Warwick 
 
 H. 
 
 
 — 
 
 „ V. Guy’s Cliffe 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Wolvey Heath 
 
 H. 
 
 
 I. Dugd., Mon. VI. 466. 2. Hist. MSS. (Middleton, 1911), 336. 3. Dugd., 
 
 Warw.^ ed. 1730, p. 193. 4. Dugd., Mon. vi. 16. 5. Ibid. IV. 345, 348 ; vi. 835. 
 
 6. Pat. 1334; Staffs Coll. N.S. viii. 280, 285, 289. 7. Dugd., Warw. ii. 978 ; Ann, 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 251 
 
 SEX —con tin u ed 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1402 
 
 
 William Bolle, pr. 
 
 55 
 
 — 
 
 Robert Rydley, professed 
 
 1253 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1180 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1253 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Magnus, n.d. 
 
 1253 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 }> 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Hunfred 
 
 1272 
 
 — 
 
 Peter 
 
 1180 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 1253 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1527 
 
 Earl of Arundel 
 
 Simon Cotes, d . 1527 
 
 1242 
 
 “ 
 
 ' 
 
 14. Pips R.S. XXX. 146, etc. 15, 16. S.A.C. i. 175; xii. 79, So; xxii. 98. 17. 
 
 Chart R. 1242. 
 
 WICKSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 xii C. 
 
 Leicester Abbey 
 
 - 
 
 I 521 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1357 
 
 — 
 
 Robert de Worthing pr. 
 
 bef. 1381 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Crown ; Templars ; Luf- 
 field Priory 
 
 Gerald, monk 
 
 c. 927 
 
 
 Guy of Warwick ; Br. Wiger, c. 
 
 1205-21 ; Thos. de Lewes, 
 
 - 1334; Rob. Maudith, 1373 5 
 Jn. Burry 
 
 bef 1135 
 
 Private ; Worcester Pr. 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1457 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Margaret Salle, 1457 
 
 1521 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1367 
 
 Private 
 
 Br. Jn. Richeman, 1367 ; Jn. 
 Rawlyn, 1443 ; Jn. Whythede, 
 1472 ; Thos. Smyth, 1495 ; 
 Jn. Butteler, 1497, 1503 
 
 1283 
 
 — 
 
 Gilbert, sub-deacon 
 
 1395 
 
 Private ; Combe Abbey 
 
 Wm. de Scregham, 1395 ; Jn. 
 Iddezeard^ 1501 
 
 Mon. Wigorn. iv. 487. 8, 9. Dugd., Warw. ii. 1117: Hist. MSS. (1911), 331, 349, 
 
 381, 384. 10. J. Halliwell, Rec. ; Bloom, Rec. ; Lambeth, Reg. Langham, f. 63. ii. 
 
 Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. S.), II. 204.' 12. Dugd., Warw. i. 67. 
 


252 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXVI. WEST 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Kendal (Kirkland) 
 
 A. 
 
 by “ Anchorite’s well ” 
 
 2 
 
 Shap (“ Heppa ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary 
 
 3 
 
 Windermere, Ladyholm in 
 
 H. 
 
 
 I. C. Nicholson, Annals, 78. 2. B.M. Harl. 48 C. 25. 3 Inq. p.m. 1272, 1354 ; 
 
 XXXVII. WILT 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Bentley Wood, by Clarendon 
 
 H. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Bradford-on-Avon 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Andrew 
 
 3 
 
 )) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary (now Tory chapel) 
 
 4 
 
 Britford 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 Castle Combe 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 Chippenham (Monkton) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 Codford, East 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of Holy Cross 
 
 8 
 
 Edington 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel 
 
 9 
 
 Fisherton Anger 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Anne 
 
 10 
 
 
 A. 
 
 at Dominican Friary 
 
 11 
 
 Hazelbury [in Box] 
 
 H. 
 
 (now Chapel Playster) 
 
 12 
 
 Lydiard Tregoz 
 
 — 
 
 “ by Antedoch's well 
 
 13 
 
 Malmesbury (Burnvale) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Michael 
 
 14 
 
 „ (South) 
 
 H. 
 
 “ in the dike of the toune ” 
 
 15 
 
 „ (Burton Hill) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. White 
 
 16 
 
 Marlborough 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 „ (Sun Lune) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 )) 
 
 H. 
 
 St. White, St. Clement, and 
 St. Novalis 
 
 19 
 
 Preshute 
 
 A. 
 
 _ 
 
 20 
 
 Salisbury 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 „ in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 n J) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 )> 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 55 55 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Stanton St. Quint in 
 
 H. 
 
 in wood 
 
 26 
 
 Sunning 
 
 A. 
 
 at the church 
 
 27 
 
 Yatton Keynes 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 I. Pat. 1330-6. 2. Reg. Metford, f. 123 b; Wilts Arch. S. xiv. 103. 3. Ibid. i. 
 
 148 ; V. 35 ; XX. 319-20. 4. Close, 1226, 1241 ; Reg. Osmundi (Rolls 78), i. 259 n. 
 
 5. Scrope, Castle Combe, 161. 6. J. J. Daniell, Chippenham, 95-7. 7. Hoare, Wilts, 
 
 231, 319. 8. It in. III. 98. 9. Hoare, ii, 161-2. 10. Somerset Ho., P.C.C. Logge, 
 
 f. loi ; P.R.O. Minister’s Accounts, 30-1 Hen. VIH, n. 136. ii. I tin. ii. 55. 
 12. Aubrey and Jackson, Wilts Coll. 183. 13. Dr. G. F. Browne, St. Aldhelm, 43-4.' 
 


APPExNDIX C 
 
 253 
 
 MORLAND 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 
 
 C. 1220 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1272 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 Pat. R. 1334, 
 
 1381, etc. ; Close, 1344. 
 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Pation. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1330 
 
 _ 
 
 Br. John de Warrewyk 
 
 1397 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1226 
 
 Crown 
 
 D. Joan Malewyn 
 
 1358 
 
 Private 
 
 John 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1317 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Henry de Mareys, pr. 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas, 1396 ; John, anchorite. 
 
 1483 
 
 — 
 
 1418 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 637 
 
 — 
 
 Maildubh 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5) 
 
 Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1517 
 
 — 
 
 John Benton 
 
 bef. 1548 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1523 
 
 Town 
 
 Nicholas Heage 
 
 1215 
 
 Crown 
 
 Eve 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 — 
 
 D. Alice Curson 
 
 1326 
 
 —• 
 
 7 hermits professed 
 
 c. 1410 
 
 — 
 
 J. Spenser ,, 
 
 1487 
 
 — 
 
 Geoffrey Middleton professed. 
 
 1495 
 
 — 
 
 Richard Pury „ 
 
 bef. 1220 
 
 — 
 
 Alice 
 
 
 
 
 14. liin. II. 54. 15. L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (2), p. 414. 16. Ibid. iii. (i), p. 500 ; 
 
 (3), p. 2732. 17. Wilts Arch. S. 561, 567. 18. Corp. MSS. 19. Pat. 1215. 
 20. Birch, Hyde Abbey, Liber Vitae, 185. 21. Reg. Mortival, ii. f. 187. 22. Reg. 
 Halam, f. 47. 23. Reg. Langton, f. 24. 24. Reg. Blythe, f. 40. 25. Wilts Coll. 288. 
 
 26. Reg. Osmundi, i. 275. 27. Wilts Coll. 123. 
 


254 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXVIII. WOR 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Blackstone., nr. Bewdley 
 
 H. 
 
 cave 
 
 2 
 
 Droitwich 
 
 A. 
 
 in church of Austin Friary 
 
 3 
 
 Evesham 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 „ in or nr. 
 
 A. 
 
 chapel of St. Kenelm 
 
 5 
 
 Malvern, Great 
 
 H. 
 
 „ St. John B. 
 
 6 
 
 )j 55 
 
 H. 
 
 on site of priory 
 
 7 
 
 Redstone, nr. Astley 
 
 H. 
 
 cave, chapel 
 
 8 
 
 Severn Stoke 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 Soiithstone [in Stanford on 
 
 H. 
 
 chap el of St.John B. 
 
 
 Teme] 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Worcester 
 
 A. 
 
 by church of St. Nicholas 
 
 11 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 by cathedral 
 
 12 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 in Dominican Friary 
 
 13 
 
 Worcester, in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 ■■■ 
 
 I. Nash, Wore. ii. 47. 2. Ibid. i. 332. 
 
 3 ) 4 
 
 Evesham Chr. (Rolls 29), 219 
 
 266, 267 n, 322. 5. Leland, Colleet. ed. Hearne, i. 
 
 65. 6. W. Malm., Gest. Pontif. 
 
 285-6. 
 
 7. Habingdon, Survey (Hist. S.), II. 17. 8. 
 
 Pipe R.S. xvi.-xxx.; Pat. 1264. 
 
 
 
 
 XXXIX. YORK 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 I 
 
 Ainderby [Richmondshire] 
 
 A. 
 
 adjoining church 
 
 2 
 
 Beeston, nr. Leeds 
 
 A. 
 
 
 3 
 
 Beverley 
 
 H. 
 
 
 4 
 
 Beverley 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 A. 
 
 by church of St. Giles 
 
 6 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 in house of St. Juliana 
 
 7 
 
 )> 
 
 A. 
 
 at St. Nicholas le Frary 
 
 8 
 
 Bolton 
 
 A. 
 
 - - 
 
 9 
 
 Bridlington or Flamborough 
 
 H 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 Burneston 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 Byland 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Cadeby [in Sprotburgh] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Margaret 
 
 13 
 
 Campsall 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 —- 
 
 Conisboro, v. Sprotburgh ; 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 Cadeby 
 
 
 
 13^ 
 
 Cave, North 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 14 ' 
 
 Coverham [in Coverdale] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Simon and St. 
 
 
 
 
 Jude 
 
 I. Reg. Thoresby, f. 287; Perry, J?. Rolle, p, xxvi. 2. Reg. Romeyn, f. 45 b ; 
 Reg. Melton, f. 156 b ; Test. Ebor. (S.S. 30), II. 26, 178. 3. (?) Feed. viii. 296. 4. 
 
 B.M. Stowe, Ch. 432 ; Test. Ebor. iii. (S.S. 45), 32. 5. Test. Ebor. ii. 98. _ 6. 
 
 Line. Reg. Buckingham, f. 107. 7. V.C.H. iii. 15 ; Test. Ebor. ii. 98. 8. Will of 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 255 
 
 CESTERSHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 bef. 1388 
 
 Private 
 
 Br. Henry de Stokebrugge 
 
 xi c. 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Aelfwin ; Basing 
 
 c. 1042 
 
 >) 
 
 St. Wulsi, d. c. 1097 
 
 xi c. 
 
 — 
 
 St. Werstan 
 
 c. 1085 
 
 — 
 
 Aldwyn {d. 1140) and Guy 
 
 — 
 
 Private 
 
 — 
 
 1170 
 
 Crown 
 
 — 
 
 1353 
 
 Evesham Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1256 
 
 Private; Bishop 
 
 Juliana, 1256-69 
 
 — 
 
 Priory 
 
 2 recluses 
 
 bef 1538 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1431 
 
 
 Ric. Spetchley professed 
 
 9. Habingdon, i. 382. 10. Pat. 1256, 1266 ; Reg. Giffard, 1 . 2^ b. ii. Reg. Wore. 
 
 Pr. (Camden S.), 120 b, 124 b, p. cii; J. Noake, Wore. Cath. 119. 12. Ellis, Orig. 
 
 Lett, cccxxviii, 3rd Ser. iii. 190. 13. Reg. Pulton, f. 137. 
 
 SHIRE 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1367 
 
 _ 
 
 D. Margaret Kirkby, cf. Layton 
 
 1294 
 
 
 Denise of Barneby, 1294 ; Joan 
 Sperry, nun of St. Clement’s, 
 York, 1322. 
 
 1403 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1397 
 
 Duchy of Lancaster 
 
 Robert Riell, 1397-1415 
 
 1444 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 
 c. 1321 
 
 __ 
 
 Agnes Migregose and Marg. de 
 Punchardon, nun 
 
 1385 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 — 
 
 Simon, n.d.; hermit, 1403 
 
 1400 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1226 
 
 Private 
 
 — 
 
 1240 
 
 }> 
 
 Muriel 
 
 1286 
 
 
 Agnes Muscregros 
 
 
 Coverham Abbey 
 
 
 Jn. de Gisburne. 9. W. T. Lancaster, Bridlington Cart. 179 {} Bced. viii. 296). 
 10. Test. Ebor. i. (S.S. 4), 274. ii. See (6). 12. P.R.O. Anc. Deeds, A. 5074 ; 
 cf. (79, 80). 13. Close, 1240; Pat. 1244. 13a. Reg. Romeyn (S.S. 123), 196. 
 14. Yks. Arch. Journ. xx. 484. 
 


256 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXIX. YORK 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 15 
 
 Crayke 
 
 A. 
 
 
 16 
 
 Cudworth, nr. Barnsley 
 
 Dalby [in Pickering Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Dart on 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 Doncaster 
 
 H. 
 
 
 
 „ V. Sprotburgh 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 Easington, or Newton, in or nr. 
 Ecclesfield (Kimberworth) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 H. 
 
 St. John 
 
 22 
 
 Egton [in Lythe] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Leonard 
 
 23 
 
 Elland 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 Eskdaleside 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Famdale-head 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 Goathland 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 27 
 
 Guisborough (“ Gysburne ”) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 Hampole 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 jj 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 Harum [in Helmsley] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 31 
 
 Haverah (“ Haywra ”) [Knares- 
 boro’ Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 
 32 
 
 Healaugh Park 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 33 
 
 Hedon 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard of St. Nicholas 
 
 34 
 
 Helmsley 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 35 
 
 Hessey [in Moor Monkton] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 36 
 
 Holme on Spalding Moor 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 37 
 
 Hood [in Kilburn] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 —■ 
 
 Howden, v. Ringestainhirst 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 38 
 
 Huntington, nr. York 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Augustine 
 
 39 
 
 Kexby Ferry 
 
 A. 
 
 in chantry chapel 
 
 40 
 
 Kirkburton 
 
 A. 
 
 in churchyard 
 
 41 
 
 Kirkby Wiske 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 42 
 
 Kirkstall 
 
 H. 
 
 afterwards abbey ' 
 
 43 
 
 Knaresborough, nr. 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Giles ; chapel 
 of Holy Cross 
 
 44 
 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Robert 
 
 45 
 
 „ Grimbald bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 
 „ V. Haverah ; Rud- 
 
 farlington 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 46 
 
 Layton, East 
 
 A. 
 
 in a house in the chapel 
 
 15. Ibid. IV. 435. 16. Yks. Deeds (Rec. Ser. 39), 156. 17. J. C. Cox, Royal 
 Forests^ 108. 18. Reg. Gray (S.S. 56), 65. 19. Pat. 1328. 20. Wills (S.S. 116), 17. 
 21. Dugd. V. 416, 419. 22. Ibid. v. 392 ; Chr. Melsa (Rolls 43), i. 84. 23. Reg. 
 
 Giffard, p. 123. 24. Whitby Cart. (S.S. 69), 3. 25. Rievaulx Cart. (S.S. 83), 36. 
 
 26. Whitby Cart. 161. 27. Proc. Arch. Inst. Lincoln, 313. 28. Horstman, R. Rolle; 
 
 Perry, R. Rolle (E.E. Text S.). 29. Mkt. Harbord Rec. 58 ; Line. Wills, 97 ; Feed. 
 IX. 275. 30. Line. Wills, 71. 31. V.C.H. iii. 91. 32. Dugd. V. 437-8. 33. J. R. 
 


Appendix c 
 
 
 SHIRE— continued. 
 
 Date. 
 
 j Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 C. 767 
 
 _ 
 
 Etha or Eata, d. 767 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Richard 
 
 1323 
 
 — 
 
 William 
 
 1234 
 
 — 
 
 Cecily 
 
 1328 
 
 — 
 
 Geoffrey de Bolton 
 
 1417 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Private ; Kirksted Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1150 
 
 „ ; Meaux Abbey 
 
 Sedeman ; Ivo 
 
 1270 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1138 
 
 Whitby Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Private 
 
 Edmund 
 
 bef. 1114 
 
 Crown ; Whitby Abbey 
 
 Osmund, etc. 
 
 1386 
 
 — 
 
 John 
 
 bef 1349 
 
 Priory 
 
 Richard Rolle, d. 1349 
 
 1382 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 John 
 
 1267 
 
 — 
 
 Lambert le Fleming, etc., 1315 
 
 bef. 1184 
 
 Private 
 
 Gilbert, monk 
 
 1267 
 
 — 
 
 Alice de Falketon 
 
 1392 
 
 — 
 
 Agnes 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 Stephen Hamondes 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Selby Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 bef 1138 
 
 — 
 
 Robert de Alneto, monk 
 
 1333 
 
 ■ 
 
 Rob. de Skitheby, cf. Skeeby 
 
 1398 
 
 — 
 
 Thomas Coke, pr. 
 
 1293 
 
 — 
 
 Agnes, dau. of Wm. de Burton 
 
 1382 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 t:. 1147 
 
 — 
 
 Seleth, etc. 
 
 bef 1199 
 
 Crown ; Priory 
 
 Knight; St. Robert, d. 1218 ; 
 Ive 
 
 1339 
 
 
 Br. Robert de Eboraco 
 
 1336 
 
 — 
 
 Roger, 1336; William, 1398 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 Marg. la Boteler, nun of Ham- 
 pole, 1348 ; Marg. de Kirkby, 
 bef. 1357, cf. Ainderby 
 
 Boyle, Hedon, 151; and App. 34. See (30). 35. Pat. 1348. 36. Selby Cart. (Rec. 
 Ser. 13), 27 ; Reg. Zouche, f. 210. 37. Dugd. v. 343, 349 ; vi. 322. 38. Pat. 
 1333- 39 - Test. Ebor. i. 244 ; Feed. ix. 275. 40. Reg. Romeyn, i. 126. 41. Mkt. 
 
 Harboro' Rec. 58 ; Test. Ebor. i, 274, iii. 32 ; Feed. IX. 275. 42. Kirkstall Cart. 
 
 (Thoresby S.). 43. Close, 1216, 1219 ; Chart. R. 1227 ; Mem. of Fountains (S.S. 42), 
 I. 167-71 n. 44. Pat. 1339, 1340. 45. Pat. 1336; Wheater, Knaresboro\ 158. 46. 
 
 Reg. Zouche, f. 72 ; Reg. Thoresby, f. 287. 
 
 17 
 


258 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 XXXIX. YORK 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 47 
 
 Leak by Upsall 
 
 A. 
 
 - 
 
 48 
 
 Lindholme \in Hatfield Chase\ 
 
 H 
 
 — 
 
 49 
 
 Mulgrave [in Dunsley] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. James 
 
 50 
 
 Newton [in Cleveland^ 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 51 
 
 Newton-upon-Ouse 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 52 
 
 Nostell [in Wragby] 
 
 H. 
 
 St. James 
 
 53 
 
 Nun Appleton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 54 
 
 Pontefract (by castle) 
 
 A. 
 
 in St. Helen’s chapel 
 
 55 
 
 
 A. 
 
 . 
 
 56 
 
 j) 
 
 H. 
 
 on hill of “ St. Thomas ” 
 
 57 
 
 „ (nr. Blackfriars) 
 
 H. 
 
 rock hermitage and chapel 
 
 58 
 
 >) 
 
 H. 
 
 
 — 
 
 5 J 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 59 
 
 Rameshagh [in Sproxton] 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 Ravenser (“ Ravenserespourne ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary and St. 
 Anne 
 
 61 
 
 Ribblehead and Gearstones (be¬ 
 tween) 
 
 H. 
 
 “ domus heremitae 
 
 62 
 
 Richmond 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 63 
 
 >> 
 
 A. 
 
 by chapel of St. Edmund K. 
 
 64 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 65 
 
 Richmondshire, in 
 Ringestainhirst, by Howden 
 
 A. 
 
 - 
 
 66 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary M. 
 
 67 
 
 Ripon Bishopton bridge 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Mary 
 
 68 
 
 Rudfarlington [Knaresborough 
 Forest] 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel of St. Hilda 
 
 69 
 
 Saltburn-by-sea 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 70 
 
 Selby in wood 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. German 
 
 71 
 
 „ nr. (“ Scablu ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 72 
 
 Sherburn in Elmet 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Mary M. “ hospital or 
 hermitage ” 
 
 73 
 
 Shipton [in Overton] 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Helen 
 
 47. Test. Ebor. i. 376 ; Feed. ix. 275. 48. Gent. Mag., 1747, xvii. 23. 49. 
 
 Whitby Cart. (S.S. 72), ii. 525-7. 50. Ord, Cleveland, 423. 51. Chart. R. 1294. 52. 
 Dugd. VI. 89. 53. Test. Ebor. i. 376. 54. Close, 1240; Reg. Zouche, f. 58 b ; Pat. 
 i 3 S 9 > i486 : Pari. R. v. 546. 55. Pap. Reg. v. 471. 56. Reg. J. of Gaunt, ii. 40; 
 
 Feed. IX. 275; Test. Ebor. ii. 26. S 7 'S^' B.M. Stowe, Ch. 468-470; G. Fox, Ponte¬ 
 fract, 291-2. 59. Chart. R. 1336. 60. Pat. 1399, 1427 ; Feed. Viii. 89-90. 6r. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 259 
 
 SHIRE —continued 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1414 
 
 
 _ 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 William of Lindholme 
 
 bej. 1244 
 
 Private; Whitby Abbey 
 
 —- 
 
 1294 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 C. I 1 2 1 
 
 — 
 
 Gilbert and brethren 
 
 1414 
 
 — 
 
 
 1240 
 
 Private ; Duchy of Lan¬ 
 caster 
 
 Sybille, 1240; Joan Haliday, 
 1351 ; Alice Ripas, 1464 ; 
 Margaret Multon, i486 
 
 bef. 1401 
 
 — 
 
 Emma Scherman 
 
 1372 
 
 — 
 
 Wm. de Byngham ; John, 
 1415 
 
 1368 
 
 Private 
 
 Br. Adam, 1368 ; Laurence 
 Grene, pr., 1404 
 
 John de Crayk (?), alias Queyks 
 
 1404 
 
 Private; Nostell Priory 
 
 1405-6 
 
 — 
 
 William Portyngton 
 
 xii c. 
 
 Private ; Kirkham Priory 
 
 Godwyn ; Edwin 
 
 1399 
 
 — 
 
 Matthew Danthorpe, 1399 ; Ric. 
 Reedbarowe, 1427 
 
 c. 1190 
 
 Furness Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1393 
 
 — 
 
 D. Joan Sampson 
 
 1274 
 
 Private ; Crown 
 
 Margaret Askham, 1439 5 Alice 
 Howorth, 1446 
 
 Margaret Richmond; Alison 
 Comeston, 1490 
 
 1490 
 
 Town 
 
 t:. 1361-79 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1284 
 
 Bishop of Durham 
 
 Thos. de Osgoteby, 1284 ; Ric. 
 de Cavill, 1366; Rob. de 
 Sakerston, 1391 
 
 bef, 1521 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 c. 1200 
 
 — 
 
 St. Robert, cf. Knaresborough 
 
 bef. 1211 
 
 Private ; Whitby Abbey 
 
 Br. Archillus 
 
 c. 1069 
 
 — 
 
 Benedict, first abbot 
 
 c. 1123 
 
 — 
 
 Abbot Hugh de Lacy 
 
 1352 
 
 — 
 
 John de Kildesby 
 
 1327 
 
 — 
 
 Adam de Whenby 
 
 Furness Cart. B.M. Add. 33244, f. 123. 62-4. Test. Ebor. i. 189, 274; ii. 115; iii. 
 
 202, 297; Itin. V. ii6; Whittaker, Richmond, i. loo-i ; Pat. 1439, 1446. 65. Nov. 
 
 Leg. II. 71-2. 66. Pat. 1284 ; Reg. Pal. Dunelm. i. 429 ; V.C.H., Durham, ii. 131 n.; 
 Test. Ebor. i. 156. 67. Memorials 74), i. 114, 183, 274. 68. B.M. Harl. 3775, 
 
 f. 76. 69. Whitby Cart. i. 177. 70-1. Coucher Bk. (Rec. Ser. 13), Cap. xiii, xiv, 
 
 XXX. 72. Pat. 1352. 73. Pat. 1327, 1330, 1332. 
 


26o hermits and anchorites of ENGLAND 
 
 XXXIX. YORK 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Description. 
 
 74 
 
 Skeeby, nr. Richmond 
 
 H. 
 
 chapel of St. Augustine 
 
 75 
 
 Skip Bridge ; cf. Hessey 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 76 
 
 Snaith 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 77 
 
 Sowerby, nr. Thirsk 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 78 
 
 Spaldingholm 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 79 
 
 Sprotburgh, Doncaster bridge 
 
 A. 
 
 by St. Edmund’s chapel 
 
 80 
 
 „ or Conisborough 
 
 H. 
 
 St. Margaret 
 
 81 
 
 Staddle Bridge (“ Stalebrig ”) 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 82 
 
 Stainforth Bridge, nr. Barnby 
 on Don 
 
 H. 
 
 at chapel 
 
 83 
 
 Tadcaster 
 
 H. 
 
 
 84 
 
 Thorganby by Cottingwith 
 
 A. 
 
 at the church 
 
 85 
 
 Wakefield (Northgate Head) 
 
 A. 
 
 by chapel of St. John B. 
 
 86 
 
 Wath 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 87 
 
 Weigh ton 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 88 
 
 Westcroft in Hutton Bushell 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 89 
 
 York North Street 
 
 A. 
 
 at All Saints’ church 
 
 90 
 
 5 ) 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Cuthbert’s church 
 
 91 
 
 )) 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Giles’s „ 
 
 92 
 
 ,, Fishergate 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Helen’s „ 
 
 93 
 
 „ Walmgate 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Margaret’s „ 
 
 94 
 
 „ Clementhorpe 
 
 A. 
 
 „ St. Clement’s „ 
 
 95 
 
 ,, Bishophill 
 
 A. 
 
 —• 
 
 96 
 
 „ H ungate 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 97 
 
 „ Layerthorpe bridge 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 98 
 
 „ Peaseholm 
 
 A. 
 
 — 
 
 99 
 
 „ in diocese of 
 
 H. 
 
 —■ 
 
 100 
 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 74. Pat. 1328. 75. Pat. 1335-6. 76. Reg. Gaunt, ii. 243. 77. Test. Ebor. i. 
 
 206 ; cf. Wakefield R. (Rec. Ser. 36), 156, 185. 78. B.M, Cott. Claud. D. xi. f. 34. 
 
 79. Hunter, 5 . Yorks, i. 348; Reg. Gitlard (S.S. 109), 116. 80. L. and P. Hen. VIII, 
 
 V, p. 700; Chantries (S.S. 92), ll. 426. 81. Yks. Arch. Journ. xvill. 266. 82. Pat. 
 
 1348. 83. Chantries, ii. 375. 84. Test. Ebor. i. 186 ; ii. 26 ; Feed. ix. 275. 85. 
 
 Reg. Zouche, f. 59: Test. Ebor. i. 286, v. 74; Halifax Wills, 217; Itin. vii. 43-4. 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 261 
 
 SHIRE —contimied 
 
 Date. 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 1328 
 
 
 Rob. de Skytheby, cf. Hunting- 
 ton 
 
 1335 
 
 — 
 
 Br. Thomas | 
 
 1374 
 
 _ 
 
 
 1395 
 
 _ 
 
 [cf. Hugh, 1308] 
 
 bef. 1179 
 
 N. Ormsby Priory 
 
 
 i2yi 
 
 Private ; Archbishop 
 
 Amabil and Ellen, 1279 ; Sibil 
 Lisle, 1294 ; Beatrice, nun, 
 bef. 1304 ; Joan of Easing- 
 wold, 1328 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 
 
 1484 
 
 —• 
 
 _ 1 
 
 1348 
 
 — 
 
 William de Epworth 
 
 xvi c. 
 
 
 
 1393 
 
 — 
 
 D. Agnes, 1433 
 
 1352 
 
 
 Elizabeth de Coppelay 
 
 1393 
 
 
 ' * 
 
 1415 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bef. 1187 
 
 Private ; Whitby Abbey 
 
 — 
 
 1430 
 
 — 
 
 D. Emma Rawghtone, c. 1422 
 
 1393 
 
 — 
 
 —• 
 
 1386 
 
 —• 
 
 John 
 
 1433 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1435 
 
 — 
 
 
 1465 
 
 Priory 
 
 D. Alice Darby, 1475 
 
 1385 
 
 
 — i 
 
 )> 
 
 1381 
 
 — 
 
 _ 
 
 1415 
 
 ■—■ 
 
 ' ' j 
 
 1343 
 
 — 
 
 Walter de Thorp ordained sub¬ 
 deacon, deacon, priest 
 
 1404 
 
 
 Nicholas Humanby professed 
 
 86-7. /did. I. 186, 274 ; F(£d. ix. 275. 88. Whitby Cart. i. 49. 89. Test. Ebor. ii. 
 26, 56 ; Oid York Church: All Hallows, p. 94. 90. Ibid. i. 186. 91. See (27). 
 92-3. Test. Ebor. ii. 26, 56, 271. 94. Ibid. ii. 271, 145 n. ; Madox, Form. Anglic. 
 
 437 * 95 * See (8); Test. Ebor. v. 214. 96-7. Ibid. i. 186, 118. 98. Feed. ix. 275. 
 
 99. York, Ordination List, Zouche. 100. Lambeth, Reg. Arundel, Pt. i. f. 435 b. 
 


262 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 UNIDENTI 
 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 Date. 
 
 I 
 
 Basing, Basinch, or Acres chapel: 
 St. John B. 
 
 H. 
 
 1138 
 
 2 
 
 Cen 
 
 A. 
 
 X c. 
 
 3 
 
 Childris : St. Bridget 
 
 H. 
 
 1207 
 
 4 
 
 Colemanshegg : chapel 
 
 H. 
 
 1256-7 
 
 5 
 
 Cruke 
 
 A. 
 
 1176 
 
 6 
 
 Dodford 
 
 H. 
 
 bef, 1199 
 
 7 
 
 Fordham 
 
 A. 
 
 1260 
 
 8 
 
 Hauescumba 
 
 H. 
 
 bef. 1166 
 
 9 
 
 H ungate 
 
 H. 
 
 1433 
 
 10 
 
 Leye or Reye : chapel 
 
 A. 
 
 1315 
 
 11 
 
 Magdalen, La 
 
 H. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 Mosehuda 
 
 H. 
 
 bef. 1260 
 
 I2<a! 
 
 Tanfield (in wood) 
 
 H. 
 
 1409 
 
 13 
 
 Vestheton 
 
 A. 
 
 1393 
 
 14 
 
 Warham 
 
 A. 
 
 1183-4 
 
 I. Gloucester Abbey Cart. (Rolls 33), i. 224, 228, 352 ; ii. 169. 2. St. Dunstan 
 
 (Rolls 63), 381-2. 3. Pat. 7 John m. 3. 4. F. Devon, P.xcheq. R., p. xxx, 34. 5. 
 
 Pipe R.S. XXVI. lo, etc. 6. Dugd. vi. 836, 839. 7. Pat. 1260. 8. B.M. Campbell, 
 


APPENDIX C 
 
 263 
 
 FIED 
 
 Patron. 
 
 Name. 
 
 
 St. Peter’s, Glou- 
 
 
 Oxon or Bucks 
 
 cester 
 
 
 
 —• 
 
 pilgrim 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 brethren of hermitage 
 
 — 
 
 Crown 
 
 Richard, hermit 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 ? Creech, co. Dorset 
 
 „ ; Templars 
 
 Isabel and Olive, re¬ 
 cluses 
 
 ? CO. N’hants or Wore. 
 
 ? CO. Cambs 
 
 Private ; Farley 
 
 — 
 
 ? Hawcomb, co. Glos. 
 
 Priory 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 Isabella 
 
 dioc. Hereford 
 
 — 
 
 Prior Humfrid 
 
 ? CO. Derbs. 
 
 Templars 
 
 Geoffrey 
 
 Berks or Oxon 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 probably W. Tanfield, 
 Yorks 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 ? West Heaton 
 
 Crown 
 
 
 probably co. Norfolk 
 
 Ch. XIII. 12. 9. Line. Wills, 158. 10. Reg. Swinfield, Camden S. 213, and Cant, 
 
 and Yk. S. 501. ii. Derbs. Arch. S. v. 23. 12. Bodl. Wood Empt. No. 10, f. 83. 
 
 i2^z. See p. 176; cf. Pat. 1314. 13. Test. Ebor. i. 186. 14. Pipe R.S. xxxiii. no. 
 





INDEX 
 
 (a. = anchorite, anchorage ; h. = hermit, hermitage). 
 
 Abbots, enclose anchorites, 91-41, 41-3. 
 Adam, a. of Gloucester, 103. 
 
 — h. of Pontefract, 69-70. 
 
 — V. Cressevill. 
 
 Adrian IV, Pope, 23. 
 
 Aelred of Rievaulx, St. 37W., 97, 134; 
 Rule of, 80, 85, 96-7, 103, 109, 122, 
 132, 136, 139. 
 
 Aelric, h. of Wolsingham, 24, 128-9. 
 
 — h. of Fame, 133. 
 
 Aelwin, h. of Fame, 5, 129. 
 
 Aethelwald, Oediluald, h. 3, 4, 167-8. 
 Agnes, V. Shepherd, Vertesance. 
 Ainderby, a., 139, 143, 176, v. Margaret 
 
 of Kirkby. 
 
 Aldrington (Sussex), rector of, a. at 
 Chichester, 80. 
 
 Aldwin, h. of Malvern, 20. 
 
 Alfred, King, 16, r48, 168. 
 
 Alfwina, a. of Flamstead, 21. 
 
 Alice, a. of Hereford, 77, 137. 
 
 — V. Bernard, Buttes, Wakelyn. 
 
 Aline, a. of Wigan, in. 
 
 Alms, bequests, 27, 37, 39, 58, 62-4, 68, 
 73 . 76-7. 81, 103 sq., 183-8, V. 
 Grants. 
 
 Alnoth, St., 17. 
 
 Alnwyk, William, a., 144, 154. 
 
 Altar in cell, 26, 34, 37, 39, 42,44-5, 54, 
 70, 78-80, 95, 171, 196. 
 
 Anchorage (anker-ancress-house), 79- 
 84, 95-6, 132, 183-5, passim. 
 oratory, altar, 78-80, 95, 140. 
 door, 81, 95-6, 132, 141-3, 147. 
 window, 73, 79, 82-3, 118, 122, 127-8, 
 135-40, 147. 
 tomb, 74, 96, 113-5. 
 
 Anchor Church (Derbs), 32-3. 
 
 Anchorite (anker, anchoress), 73 sq., 
 112, 115, 173, 180, 182, 184, 186, 
 passim. 
 
 enclosing, 69, 76, 90 sq., 103, 141-3, 
 App. A. 
 
 vow, profession, 76, 92, 96,143-4, 169, 
 App. A. 
 
 sick, aged, in, 118-9,121,124-7, 132, 
 139, 141-4, 164. 
 
 Ancren Riwle, 73, 79, 85, 96-8, 105-6, 
 109, no, 114, 120-4, 130-1, 136-8, 
 140, 142, 177. 
 
 Andersey, h., 16. 
 
 Ardland (Glos), h., 28. 
 
 Armyt, Armitage, 48, 64, 88, 112, 165, 
 184-6, 190-1. 
 
 Arthur, Edmund, a., 81. 
 
 Arundel, a., 144. 
 
 — V. Westbourne. 
 
 Asceticism, 2, 4-7, 22-3, 39, 40, ch. ix. 
 ch. X. 160,178; habergeon, 118-21; 
 hairshirt, 10, 106, 108, 118, 120-1, 
 129, 160, 163, V. Food. 
 Ashprington, 89. 
 
 Athelardston (Bridgnorth), h., 36. 
 Attendants, v. Companionship. 
 
 Audley, Katherine, a. of Ledbury, 74-5, 
 
 131- 
 
 Augustine, St., 146-7. 
 
 Banbury, 64. 
 
 Bardsey Is., i, 7. 
 
 Barking, a., 144. 
 
 Barroc, St., 10. 
 
 Barry Is., 10. 
 
 Bartholomew of Fame, St., 4, 5, 85, 
 113, 120, 126, 129-30, 133, 152. 
 Barton, Elizabeth, 166, 187-9. 
 Batheaston (Somerset), h., 191. 
 Bawburgh (Norfolk), h., 186. 
 
 Beacons, seamarks, erected by h., ch. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Beatrice of Colyford, a., 141. 
 
 — de Hodesak, a., 93-4. 
 
 — V. Franke. 
 
 Beauchamp, Thomas, 77, 154. 
 
 — Richard, 34-6, 155. 
 
 Becon, Thomas, quoted, 135, 166. 
 
 Bede, quoted, i, 3,4, 167. 
 
 Bedstow, Beston, h., 187. 
 
 Benedict, h. of Birkland, 29. 
 
 Bengeo, supposed cell, 83-4. 
 
 Bernard, St., quoted, 108. 
 
 Bernard, Alice, a., 76. 
 
 Bertellin, St., 15. 
 
 Bethney, 15. 
 
 Bicester (Oxon), h., 71. 
 
 Billfrith, a., 3, 167-8. 
 
 women, 14-5, 
 XI. passim. 
 
 17, 21-3, 28-9, ch. VII.- 
 
 265 
 


266 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Bilney, Thomas, 184. 
 
 Bishop— 
 
 guardian of recluses, 93, 103, in, 141. 
 deputies enclose, a., 69, 76, 91-4, 96, 
 141-3, 193 - 
 
 licences h., 50, 60, 69, 72, 85-6. 
 inhibits h., 66, 89, 159, 163. 
 
 “ Bluebeard the hermit,” 164-5. 
 
 Bolle, William, a. of Chichester, 80. 
 Books, manuscripts, 76, 96-9, 113, ch. 
 XIII. 
 
 Boston, a., 172. 
 
 Bradley, Thomas, v. Scrope. 
 
 Branksea Is., h., 53. 
 
 Bredon (? Breedon, Leics.), 32-3. 
 
 Brian de Lisle, 41, 153. 
 
 Bridges, h., keepers of, ch. v. 71, 202. 
 Bridget of Sweden, St., 144, 161. 
 Bridgnorth (Athelardston), h., 36. 
 Bridlington, h., 109, v. John, St. 
 
 Brill, forest of, h., 27-8. 
 
 Bristol— 
 
 St. Michael’s, a., 91. 1 
 
 Castle, a., 78. 
 
 Brandon Hill, h., a., 70-1, 91-2, 191. 
 Redcliffe, h., 71. 
 
 Britain, recluses in, 146, 167. 
 
 Brougham, caves near, 48. 
 
 Buckland (Somerset), a., 93. 
 
 Burchwene, a. at Finchale, 134. 
 
 Burgeys, Lawrence, h., 68. 
 
 Burial, 3, 23, 38, 72, 74, 77, 106, 113-5 ; 
 in cell, 5, 8, 34, 42-3, 96, 113-4, 
 190. 
 
 Burry Holmes, 8-9. 
 
 Bury St. Edmunds, a., 92, 107. 
 
 Buttes, Alice, a., 185. 
 
 Cadoc, St., 10. 
 
 Camber Is., h., 53. 
 
 Cambridge, county of, h., 60-1. 
 Canterbury, anchorite of, 165-6. 
 Archbishops of, 16, 21, 23, 88, 90, 
 103, 143, 158, 163, 168-9. 
 
 Caradoc, h., 9. 
 
 Carlisle, 12, 24, 108, 170. 
 
 Castles, a. in, 78. 
 
 Celestine, St., 87-8, 145. 
 
 Celestria, a. of Kingeshaixi, 91. 
 
 Cell, V. Anchorage, Hermitage. 
 
 Cerne, 20. 
 
 Chale Down, h., lighthouse, 52. 
 
 Chapel (oratory), 1-6, 8, 10-16, 20, 26, 
 28-9, 34-7, 39, 40, 42-5, 51.4, 59, 
 66-71, 88-9, 113, 140, 185-8, 190-1, 
 V. Altar, Dedications. 
 
 Chapel Is., St. Tiriac’s Rock, i, ii, 12. 
 Charing Cross, h., 68. 
 
 Charley (Leics.), h., 27. 
 
 Charnwood, forest, h., 27. 
 
 Cherde, Robert, a., 93. 
 
 Chester, a., 75-6, 82, 131; h., 62. 
 Chesterfield, h., 165. 
 
 Chester-le-Street, a., 83, 185. 
 
 Chetwode, chapel, 28. 
 
 Cheyny, Thomas, 164-5. 
 
 Chichester, a., 80. 
 
 Childlove, a. of Faringdon, no. 
 Chippenham (Wilts), h., 64. 
 
 Chipping Ongar, supposed cell, 83-4. 
 Christina of Markyate, St., a., 21-3, 
 119-20, 131, 150. 
 
 Christopher, St., representations of, 57- 
 8, 106. 
 
 Churches, cells adjoining, ch. vii., 92-3, 
 no, 140-3, 179, 180, passim^ v. 
 Anchorage. 
 
 Clifton (Ghyston Cliff), h., 44-5. 
 Clothing, of h. and a., 39, 63, 78, 86-7, 
 105-7, 165, 195, 199, 200, 202. 
 Clyute, Margery, a., 96. 
 
 Coke, Thomas, a., 112. 
 
 Colchester, a., in. 
 
 Colnbrook (Bucks), h., 187. 
 
 Colyford (Devon), a., 141. 
 Companionship, attendants, 8, 10, n, 
 13, 20, 27, 33-4, 40, 66, 72, 74, 79, 
 94, 104, 124, ch. XI. 
 
 Compton, supposed cell, 84. 
 
 Confessor to a., 76, 136-7, 141, 155, 164. 
 Cooke, Thomas, h., 50. 
 
 “ Copmanhurst, Clerk of,” 30. 
 
 Coquet Is., 6, 7, 49, 56, 151. 
 
 Corbridge (Northumb.), h., 62. 
 
 Cotes, Simon, h., 63, 109. 
 
 Court at Street (Kent), h., 187-9. 
 Coventry, preachers in, 163-4. 
 Crakynthorpe, Thomas, a., 183. 
 
 Cratcliff (Derbs), h., 32. 
 
 Crediton (Devon), a., 77. 
 
 Cressvill, Adam, h., 88. 
 
 Crewkerne (Somerset), a., 82, 93, 183; 
 h., 69, 183. 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 54, 90, 165-6, 183-4. 
 Crowland (Lines), 14, 32 n., 37,77, 149. 
 Crucifix in cell, 6, 32, 45, 80, 127. 
 Cungar, St., 17. 
 
 Cuthbert of Fame, St., 1-6, 12, 13, 24, 
 80, 117, 133, 145, 148, 167-8. 
 
 Dale (Derbs), h., 39, 40. 
 
 Danes, a. in England, v. Henry, 
 Magnus. 
 
 Danthorpe, Matthew, h., 50. 
 
 Dean, forest, h., 28. 
 
 Dearham (Cumb.), cross, 8, 9. 
 Decuman, St., 17. 
 
 Dedications of cells and chapels— 
 Aedred, St., 78. 
 
 Andrew, St., 15, 186. 
 
 Anne, St., 50, 69, 90. 
 
 Anthony, St., 51, 53, 63. 
 


INDEX 
 
 267 
 
 Dedications of cells and chapels {cont .)— 
 Augustine, St., 60, 187. 
 
 Bartholomew, Ap., St., 14. 
 
 Brandan, Brendan, St., 70, 91-2, 191. 
 Chad, St., 131. 
 
 Cuthbert, St., 5, 190. 
 
 Edmund, St., 50, 68-9, 93. 
 
 Edward, St., 78. 
 
 Edwin, St., 29. 
 
 Eustace, St., 78. 
 
 German, St., 144. 
 
 Giles, St., 41-2. 
 
 Helen, St., 60, 78. 
 
 Herebert, St., 12. 
 
 Hilda, St., 27, 40. 
 
 Holy Cross, 42-3, 77. 
 
 Holy Trinity, 10, 45, 48, 187. 
 
 James, St., 29, 51, 62, 66, 72, 76. 
 
 John Baptist, St., 20, 134, 140-1, 162, 
 190-1. 
 
 John, St., 185. 
 
 Kalixtus, St., 141. 
 
 Katherine, St., 52-3, 59, 62, 68. 
 Kenedr, St., 16. 
 
 Kenelm, St., 37. 
 
 Kenyth, St., 9. 
 
 Laurence, St., 77. 
 
 Leonard, St., 28, 31, 190. 
 
 Mary B.V., Our Lady, ii, 13, 27, 39, 
 44, 50, 53, 67, 80, 81 n., 134, 171, 
 187-8,191; Our Lady of Grace, 184. 
 Mary Magdalene, St., 35. 
 
 Nicholas, St., 67. 
 
 Pega, St., 15. 
 
 Peter, St., 51. 
 
 Robert, St., 44. 
 
 Romanus, St., 29. 
 
 Sepulchre, St., 78. 
 
 Thomas, St., 29, 63. 
 
 Tiriac, St., ii, 12. 
 
 Vincent, St., 44. 
 
 White, St., 191. 
 
 V. Appendix C. 
 
 Deptford, h., 186. 
 
 Derby, a., 79 ; h., 88 ; baker of, 38-9. 
 Derwentwater, h., 12. 
 
 Devizes (Wilts), hospital near, 71. 
 Dissolution of monasteries, 55, 64-5, 
 ch. XIV. 
 
 Doncaster, a. near, 79, 93-4; h., 58. 
 Dorchester (Oxon), 76. 
 
 Dover, a., 78 ; h., 53-5 ; pharos, 55. 
 Dreux (France), h. of, 160-1. 
 
 Droitwich (Wore.), a., 77, 81, 81 n. 
 Dunstan, St., 168-9. 
 
 Durham— 
 anchorage, 80. 
 hermits, 69, 85, 129-30. 
 bishop of, 23, 134. 
 monks of, 4, 129-30, v, Reginald. 
 Dytton, Katherine, a., 113, 131-2. 
 
 Earith (Hunts), h., 61. 
 
 Edmund, St., ii, 18. 
 
 Edward the Confessor, St., 20, 38, 78, 
 149. 
 
 Edwin, h. of Higney, 21. 
 
 Edwold, St., 19, 20. 
 
 Ela, a. of Massingham, 130. 
 
 Elgar, St., 7. 
 
 Elizabeth of York, Queen, no, 183, 187. 
 Elneva, a. of Polden, 29. 
 
 Ely, 15, 60; bishops of, 44, 60, 61, 86. 
 Emma, a. near Shrewsbury, 118, 140. 
 
 — V. Rawghton, Scherman, Spreng- 
 hose, Stapilton. 
 
 Ernald, h., 129. 
 
 Eskdaleside, Whitby, h., 24, 27, 30. 
 Ethelbald, King of Mercia, 148. 
 Etheldreda, St., 15, 60. 
 
 Evesham (Wore.), a., 37, 126. 
 
 Ewelme (Oxon), h., 109. 
 
 Exeter, a., 76, 185 ; bishops of, 49, 76-7, 
 93, 141 ; V. Pontifical. 
 
 Faringdon (Berks), a., no. 
 
 Fame, h., 1-6, 24, 117, 129, 133, v. 
 Cuthbert, Aethelwald, Bartholo¬ 
 mew. 
 
 Faversham, a., 81, 115, 183. 
 
 Felgeld, h. of Fame, 4. 
 
 Fens, h., 14-5, 20-1, 60-1. 
 
 Finchale (Durham), 23-6, v. Godric, St. 
 Flamstead (Herts), a., 21. 
 
 Flat Holme, Ronech, 10. 
 
 Flower, Robert, v. Robert of Knares- 
 boro’, St. 
 
 Food, I, 8, 11, 17, 23 sq., 40, 47, 62, 79, 
 101-5, 120-1, 162. 
 
 Fordham, a., 130. 
 
 Forest, h. in., ch. ii. 40, 59, 60. 
 
 Franke, Beatrice, a., 92, 96, 142. 
 Fraunces, Richard, a., 173. 
 
 Fremund, St., 10, ii. 
 
 French language, 76, 171, 177. 
 
 Friars, enclosed, 77-8, 93, 107, 112, 141, 
 144, V. Orders. 
 
 Fruyte of Redempeyon, 107, 180-2. 
 Fyschbourn, Thomas, a., 144. 
 
 Galahad, Sir, 147-8. 
 
 Garden, court, 47, 63, 64, 70, 79, 81, 
 loi, 144, 190-1. 
 
 Garendon, abbey, 67, 70. 
 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, 61. 
 
 Gateshead, a., 83, 185. 
 
 Gaufridus, chronicle of, 4, 152. 
 
 Geoffrey de Bolton, h., 58. 
 
 — Grammaticus, a., 171, 173. 
 Gertrude, a. of Wareham, 124. 
 Gibbecliff (Guy’s Cliffe), 34-6. 
 
 Gildas, St., 10, 167. 
 
 1 Giraldus Cambrensis, 10, 76, 170. 
 


268 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Glastonbury, lo, 168-9. 
 
 Gloucester, a., 91, 103, 183. 
 
 Goathland (Yorks), h., 27, 57. 
 
 Godric of Finchale, St., 23-6, 85, loi, 
 113, 117-20, 126, 128-9, I34> I49» 
 151, 170-1. 
 
 Goky, Roger, h., 27. 
 
 Gower (Wales), 8, 9. 
 
 Grace, John, 164. 
 
 Grants, endowments, 23, 28-9, 39, 41, 
 53, 59, 78, 85, 94, no, in, 143, 
 162, V. Alms. 
 
 Gregory, St., 168. 
 
 Grene, William, h., 60. 
 
 Grimlaic, Rule of, 79, 128, 141, 167. 
 Guthlac of Crowland, St., 14, 117, 128, 
 148. 
 
 Guy, a., 169. 
 
 — h. of Malvern, 20. 
 
 — of Warwick, 33-6. 
 
 Guy’s Cliffe, 33-5. 
 
 Habit, v. Clothing. 
 
 Hackington, St. Stephen’s (Kent), a., 
 74, 114, 153 - 
 Haliwell Haw, h., 27. 
 
 Hamond, Thomas, h., 51. 
 
 Hampole, a., 112,143. 
 
 — Richard of, v. Richard. 
 
 Hardham, a., 82. 
 
 Hardulche (St. Hardulph ?) h., 16, 32-3. 
 Harold, King, 76. 
 
 Harrowden, Little, h., 187. 
 
 Hartlip, a., 82, 112. 
 
 Haselbury Plucknett (Somerset), 74, v. 
 Wulfric, St. 
 
 Hawten, Margaret, a., 77-8. 
 
 Henley, h., 63. 
 
 Henry of Coquet, St., 6, 113, 130, 151. 
 Henry I, 150-2. 
 
 — n, 23, 151. 
 
 — Ill, 113, 153; appointments, grants 
 
 by, 28-9, 43, 66, 68, 76, 78, 81, 91. 
 
 — IV, 50, 59, 158-60. 
 
 — V, 154, 160-1. 
 
 — VI, 35, 155, 164-5. 
 
 — VII, 187. 
 
 — VIII, 53, 165-6, 183 sq. 
 
 Herduin, h. of Andersey, 16. 
 
 Herebertof Derwentwater, St., 3,12, 13. 
 Hereford, a., 77, 78, 137. 
 
 Heresy, accusations of, 89,143,163, 184. 
 Hermit— 
 
 professed, 86, 88, App. B. 
 becomes anchorite, 2, 28, 69. 
 begging, idle, 61-2, 66, 89-90, 103,186. 
 irregular, 66, 67, 69, 89, 135, 162-3. 
 industrious, 6, ch. iv. v., 71-2, 102, 
 103, 189, 192. 
 
 sick, aged, 4-6, 26, 38,66,102-3,126-7, 
 129. 
 
 Hermit (cont.) — 
 
 persecuted, killed, 5, 10, 17-21, 39, 
 40-1, 156-60, 162-3. 
 
 V. Army t. Clothing, Food, Rule of Life. 
 Hermitage— 
 word, 28, 173. 
 
 described, 2, 3, 8, 21, 23, 24, 29, ch. 
 III. 69-71, 119. 
 
 altar, 26, 34, 37, 39, 45, 70, 171. 
 crucifix, 6, 32, 45. 
 
 tomb in or by, 5, 8, 34, 37, 42-3,113-4, 
 190, V. Burial. 
 
 guesthouse near, 2, 9, 41, 57, 133. 
 Heslyngton, Margaret, a., 175. 
 Highgate, h., 65. 
 
 Higney (Hunts), h., 21. 
 
 Hilton, Walter, 99, 128, 138, 177. 
 Hinxton, h., 90, 186-7. 
 
 Hoccleve, quoted, no. 
 
 Holme Cultram, h., 190. 
 
 Hoisted, Eliz. Katherine, a., 93. 
 
 Holy Land, h., 24, 151; pilgrimage to, 
 20, 21, 24, 119, 151. 
 
 Howell, William, h., 190. 
 
 Hugh Garth, h., 57. 
 
 Humber, navigation in the, 50. 
 
 Huna, St., 15. 
 
 Huneia, Hunney, 15. 
 
 Hunstanton, St. Edmund’s Chapel, 50. 
 Huntington, h., 60. 
 
 Iffley (Oxon), a., 104. 
 
 Ilefaye (Severn), n. 
 
 Ilekirk, h., 27. 
 
 Ilfracombe, chapel, lighthouse, 49. 
 Inclusorium^ 66, 79, v. Anchorage. 
 Inglewood, forest, h., 24, 27. 
 
 Ive, h. of Knaresboro’, 41-3, 108, 129. 
 Ives, St., chapel, lighthouse, 49, 50. 
 
 Jean de Ponte, 54. 
 
 Jerome, St., 167, 170, 177. 
 
 Joan, a. of Blyth, in, 125. 
 
 — a. of Sprotburgh, 94. 
 
 — Lady Clopton, 115. 
 
 John Baptist, St., 24, 140-1, 146, v. 
 Dedications. 
 
 — King, 41, 153, 156-8. 
 
 -of France, 53, 68. 
 
 — of Bridlington, St., 139, 172. 
 
 — de Dalton, 102, 106, 134. 
 
 — of Gaunt, 59, 70, 163. 
 
 — London, a. of Westminster, 112, 154. 
 
 — h. of Aldgate, 67. 
 
 — h. of Fisherton, 69. 
 
 —• h. of Lancaster, 59. 
 
 — h. of Polden, 29. 
 
 — h. of Tavistock, 112. 
 
 — h. of Wragmire, 60. 
 
 — V. Kyngeston, Puttock, Rows. 
 Judith, St., 166. 
 


INDEX 
 
 269 
 
 Julian of Norwich, a., 116, 125, 127, 
 171, 178-80. 
 
 Juliana, a. of Worcester, 81. 
 
 Jurdan, Nicholas, h., 71. 
 
 Katherine, Queen, 165, 183. 
 
 — Audley, a. of Ledbury, 74-5, 131. 
 
 — V. Dytton, Man. 
 
 Kempe, Margery, a., 116, 121, 171, 178. 
 Kendal, a., 79. 
 
 Kent, Nun or Holy Maid of, 166, 187-9. 
 Kenyth, Kined, St., 8, 9. 
 
 Kexby, a., 113. 
 
 Keyne, St., 17. 
 
 King and Hermit, 29, 30. 
 
 Kingsholm (Glos), 91. 
 
 Kinver Edge, 48. 
 
 Knaresborough, 40-1, v. Robert, St. 
 chapel of St. Giles, 41-2. 
 
 — Holy Cross, 42-3. 
 
 St. Robert’s cave, 40-2. 
 
 “ chapel of St. Robert,” 43-4. 
 
 Priory of St. Robert, 43. 
 
 Knights of Round Table, 147, 167. 
 Kydman, Margaret, a., 185. 
 
 Kylburn, John, h., 186. 
 
 Kyngeston, John, a., 103. 
 
 Lancaster, h. of, 59; Duchy of, 59, 
 i 43 > John of Gaunt. 
 
 Lancastre, George, 48, 190. 
 
 Lancelot, Sir, 147. 
 
 Langland, W., quoted, 58, 61, 103-4, 
 109, 127, 135. 
 
 Lathbury, Hugh, h., 165. 
 
 Latin language, 170, 173-4, 182. 
 
 Law, canon, 90, 137 ; civil, 55, 64, 86, 
 III, 131, 142. 
 
 Layton, East (Yorks), a., 143, v. Mar¬ 
 garet of Kirkby. 
 
 Leake, Robert, h., 114. 
 
 Ledbury, 75, v. Audley, Katherine. 
 Leek, Thomas, h., 114. 
 
 Leicester— 
 
 St. Peter’s, a., 143. 
 
 St. John’s hosp., 162 n. 
 h., 69, 162. 
 
 Leland, John, quoted, 10, 12, 20, 34-6, 
 55. 64, 190-1. 
 
 Lepers, 71, 76, 121, 178. 
 
 Letherhead, supposed cell, 84. 
 
 Lewes, St. John’s, memorial to a., 114. 
 Licences, briefs, indulgences (ecclesias¬ 
 tical), 29, 44, 50, 60, 61, 69, 70, 72, 
 85-6, 88-93, 103, 137, 143, 186; 
 (royal), 36, 60, 61, 71, 76, 78, 91. 
 Lighthouse,erected, 6, 7, ch. iv. 
 Lincoln— 
 
 anchorites, 76, 183. 
 
 Holy Trinity, a., 107. 
 
 Holy Innocents’ hosp., a., 77. 
 
 Lincoln {cont.)— 
 
 bishops of, 22-3, 28, 76, 89, 92, 142, 
 150, 163. 
 
 Lindisfarne (Holy Is.), i, 2. 
 
 Gospels, 3, 167-8. 
 bishops of, 1-4, 167-8. 
 monks of, 2-5. 
 
 Linstock (Cumb), h., 108. 
 
 Linus, St., 88. 
 
 Llowes (Radnor), a., 135, 169-70. 
 Lollards, heretics, 89,143,163, 184,186. 
 London— 
 
 a. in churches, 92, 107, 112, 115, 130, 
 183, 185. 
 a. in Tower, 78. 
 a. professed in friary, 96. 
 h. in or near, 66-8, 108. 
 bishops of, 96, 182, 184, 199. 
 
 Loretta, Lauretta, Countess of Leicester, 
 a., 74, 114, 131, 153. 
 
 Losfield (Berks), h., 28. 
 
 Loughborough (Oxon), h., 27, 129. 
 Lucas, William, a., iii n., cf. 115. 
 Lucy, a. of Bury, 107. 
 
 — de Newchurch, 70, 91-2. 
 
 Ludlow, h., 62. 
 
 Ludlow, Richard, h., 62. 
 
 Lydd, h., 69, 186. 
 
 Lydda, Lydensis, Bishop of, 86, 96, 199. 
 Lynn, a., 78, no, 116, 178; a. friars, 
 107, 173, 183 ; h., 50. 
 
 Lyons, William, h., 67. 
 
 Magnus, a., 114-5. 
 
 Maidenhead, h., 62. 
 
 Malmesbury, h. 147, 191. 
 
 Malory, Thomas, 57, 73. 
 
 Malvern, h., 18-20. 
 
 Man, Katherine, a., 185. 
 
 Mantes (France), a., 141. 
 
 Margaret, a. of Bodmin, 144. 
 
 — a. of Richmond, 113. 
 
 — la Boteler, a., i43». 
 
 — of Kirkby, a. of Layton, Ainderby, 
 
 Hampole, 98, 117, 125, 139, 142-3, 
 176. 
 
 — V. Heslyngton, Kydman. 
 
 Margery, v. Clyute, Kempe. 
 Marhamchurch (Cornwall), a., 93. 
 Markyate, h., 21-3, v, Christina, Roger. 
 Marlborough, 71, 183. 
 
 Marriage of h., 88, 109. 
 
 Martin, h. of Coquet, 6-7. 
 
 Mass, 62, 66, 68, 79, 80, 88, 131, 137, 
 143, 159, 170, 184, 186-7, Altar. 
 Matilda, a. of Barking, 144. 
 
 — a. of Campden, 92. 
 
 — a. of Leicester, 143. 
 
 — a. of Wareham, 124. 
 
 Mattersey bridge (Notts), 58. 
 
 Matthew, a. of Holywell, 76. 
 


270 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Matthew v. Danthorpe. 
 
 Mendicancy, 61-2, 8g, 103, 186. 
 Michaelstow, supposed cell, 84. 
 
 Mirabel (Leics), h., 89. 
 
 Miracles, i, 3, 4, 43, 74-7, 118-9, 135, 
 152, 160, 170-1, 186, V. Visions. 
 Misyn, Richard, 164 n., 175. 
 
 Moddry (Beds), h., 27. 
 
 Modwen, St., 15, 32-3. 
 
 Monasteries, friaries, a. in, 37, 77-8, 
 80-1, 126-7, 137, 144, 153-5, 163, 
 172-3, 183-5. 
 
 — cells under, i, 6, 7, 27-31, 67, 70, 71, 
 
 91, 93 . 104 - 5 . 137. 189-91- 
 
 — hermitages develop into, 14, 15, 20, 
 
 23, 26-7, 43. 
 
 — V. Monk, Nun, Orders. 
 
 — dissolution of, 55, 64-5, 67, ch. xiv. 
 Monks, solitary, 1-5, 10, ii, 14, 20, 21, 
 
 23, 27, 37, 40, 48, 68, 70, 80, 85, 
 89. 90, 93. 103, 112, 113, 116, 128; 
 V. Monasteries, Orders. 
 
 Morte d'Arthur, 73, 147-8. 
 
 Mosehude, h., 108. 
 
 Mottisfont (Hants), a., 77. 
 
 Moys, Cecilia, a., 93. 
 
 Neot, St., 148. 
 
 Newbridge (Oxon), h., 61. 
 
 — (Norf.), h., 114. 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a., 82. 
 Newminster, 40, 134. 
 
 Newton, Matilda, a., 144. 
 
 Nicholas, a. of Westminster, 153. 
 
 — h. of Wrekin, 29. 
 
 Norham, h., 117. 
 
 Norham, William, h., 158-60. 
 Northampton, a., 184 ; h. 63. 
 
 Northaw (Herts), h., 23, 113. 
 
 Norwich— 
 
 a. in churches, 76, 81, no, 130, 179, 
 
 183, V. Julian. 
 
 a., in friaries, 77, 112, 137, 163-4, 172, 
 
 184. 
 
 a. of Carrow, no, 185. 
 hermits, 71-2. 
 bishop of, 50, 72, 130, 169. 
 cathedral, 79 «. 
 
 Nostell (Yorks), h., 27. 
 
 Nottingham, caves, 48. 
 
 Nuns, enclosed, 22, 77-8, 92-3, 96, 104, 
 113, 136-7, 140, 142-4, 184-5. 
 
 Oath (Somerset), h., 113-4, 141 - 
 Occult science, 90, 172-3. 
 
 Office for enclosing a., 94-6, 123, 
 193 sq. 
 
 -benediction of h., 86, 199 sq. 
 
 “Order” of anchorites, 96, 105, in, 
 
 193- 
 
 Orders, Monastic, Mendicant— 
 
 St. Augustine, 86 w, 93, 99. 
 
 St. Benedict, ii, 77, 89. 
 
 St. Bridget, 144. 
 
 St. Francis, 93, 113, 140-1, 153. 
 
 St. Paul, 86-7, 199. 
 
 Carmelite, 93, 137, 163-4, 171-2. i 75 - 
 Dominican, 173, 184-5. 
 
 Trinitarian, 43. 
 
 Orders, Holy, 85, 88, v. Priests. 
 
 Osbern, priest of Haselbury, 74. 
 
 Oxford, a. in churches, 76; h., 63. 
 Oxton, supposed cell, 48. 
 
 Patronage of cells, 63, 77, 91, 93, v. 
 
 Grants, Monasteries; App. C. 
 
 Paul of Egypt, St., 86-7, 126, 199. 
 Peakirk, 14. 
 
 Pega, St., 14, 15. 
 
 Perceval, Sir, 147-8. 
 
 Peter, St., 38. 
 
 — the Hermit, 156. 
 
 — “ the Wise,” 156-8. 
 
 Pilgrimage, 20, 21, 24, 28, 43, 74, 119, 
 
 133-4, 169-70, 186-8. 
 
 Plegmund, St., 16, 168. 
 
 Plemstall (Cheshire), 16. 
 
 Plymouth, h., 53, 191. 
 
 Polden Hills (Somerset), h., 29. 
 Polesworth (Warw.), a., 81,184; h., 185. 
 Pontefract, a., 78, 144; h., 69, 70, v. 
 
 Peter the Wise. 
 
 Pontificals, 86, 94, 96, 199. 
 
 Prick of Conscience, 176. 
 
 Priests, solitary (chaplain, clerk), 3, 4, 
 n-i6, 26-9, 34-6, 47-8, 51-2, 54.57. 
 59. 66 sq., 72, 78-80, 85, 92-3, 95. 
 129, 130, 156, 162, 181, 184, 188, 
 190. 
 
 Promptorium Parvulorum, 173-4. 
 Puttock, John, h., 50. 
 
 Quest of Holy Grail, 147-8, 167. 
 Quinton, Lower, brass at, 115. 
 
 Radmore, h., 27. 
 
 Ralph Fitz Geremund, 39. 
 
 — de Nuers, h., 27. 
 
 Ravenserspurn (Yorks), h. 50. 
 Rawghton, Emma, a., 35, 83, 155. 
 Reading, h., 68-9. 
 
 Reclusorium, recltisagium, 76, 78, 79, 91, 
 95, V. Anchorage. 
 
 Reculver (Kent), h., 51. 
 
 Redstone, h., 37, 57. 
 
 Reedbarowe, Richard, h., 50-1. 
 
 Reginald of Durham, 26 «., 134, 171. 
 Revelation respecting Purgatory, 154-5. 
 Revelations of Divine Love, 125, 127, 
 178-80. 
 
 Richard I, 40, 151. 
 


INDEX 
 
 271 
 
 Richard II, 153, 158-9, 161 n. 1 
 
 — le Coupe, a., 130. 
 
 — V. Ludlow, Reedbarowe, Spechysley, I 
 
 Stanley. 
 
 Richard Rolle, h. of Hampole, i, 98,102, 
 106, 117-8, 123, 127, 134-5, 143, 
 146, 161-2, 171, 192. 
 
 —works of, 174-6; Fire of Love, quoted, 
 102, 127, 135, 146, 192; Form of 
 Living, quoted, i, 117, 121, 123. 
 Richborough, h., i8g. 
 
 Richmond, a., 79, 113. 
 
 Richmondshire, a., 82, 139. 
 
 Ripley, George, a., 171-2. 
 
 Roads and bridges, 71, ch. v. 185, 202. 
 Robert of Knaresborough, St., 40-4, loi- 
 2, 108, 113, 117-8, 129, 134, 153. 
 
 — a. of Hartlip, 112. 
 
 — h. of Cripplegate, 66, 108. 
 
 — de Skeeby, h., 60. 
 
 — V. Cherde. 
 
 Roger, St., monk of St. Alban’s, h. of 
 Markyate, 21-3, 113, 117, 119, 120, 
 128, 150. 
 
 — h. of Bridgnorth, 36. 
 
 Rolle, Richard, v. Richard. 
 
 Rownham (Somerset), h., 57. 
 
 Royston, cave, 48. 
 
 Rudfarlington (Yorks), 40. 
 
 Rule of Life for Anchorites— 
 
 Grimlaic’s, 79, 128, 141, 167. 
 
 Aelred’s, 80, 85, 96-7, 103, 109, 122, 
 132 sq. 
 
 Ancren Riwle, 73, 79, 85, 96-7, 105-6, 
 109, no, 114, 120-4, 140* 142. 
 
 177. 
 
 Bishop’s charge, 95, 193. 
 
 Rule of Life for Hermits— 
 of St. Celestine, 87-8, 102, 108, 145. 
 of St. Linus, 88, 106. 
 
 Bodleian MS., 66, 87, 103, 108, 128. 
 Camb. MS., 32, 87. 
 
 Bishop’s charge, 88, 201-2. 
 
 St. Alban’s— 
 
 St. Michael’s, a., 82, 104, no, 112, 
 131-2. 
 
 St. Peter’s, a., 82, 93, no, 149. 
 abbey, 7, 22-3, 113 ; hermits’ tomb in, 
 
 23, 113. 
 
 abbots, 7, 22-3, 93, 113. 
 
 Eywood, 23. 
 
 St. Aldhelm’s Head, lighthouse, 52. 
 
 St. Briavels, h., 28. 
 
 St. Catherine’s Down, lighthouse, 52,56. 
 St. Edmund’s Point, 50, 56. 
 
 St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe (Kent), h., 51-2. 
 St. Mary’s Island, 49. 
 
 Salisbury (Fisherton), h., 69. 
 
 — Bishop of, 69, 86, 98. 
 
 — use of, 94, 142, 193. 
 
 Sandwich, a., 183; h., 72. 
 
 Scale of Perfection, 99, 128, 138, 177. 
 Scherman, Emma, a., 144. 
 
 Scott, Walter, quoted, 30, 31. 
 
 Scrope, Thomas (Bradley), a., 77, 163-4, 
 171-2. 
 
 — Lord, bequests to a., 70, 77, 112, 
 
 154- 
 
 Seaford, h., 52. 
 
 Sedeman, h. of Egton, 31. 
 
 Seman, h. (near Alnwick ?), 130. 
 
 Severn, R., i, 8, 10, n, 17, 57. 
 Shakespeare, quoted, 35, 126. 
 
 Shap, h., 27. 
 
 Shepherd, Agnes, a., 104. 
 
 Sherborne (Dorset), a., 77, 80-1; h., 190. 
 Sherwood, forest, h., 29. 
 
 Shipton (Yorks), h., 60. 
 
 Shrewsbury, h., 69. 
 
 Sibil de Lisle, a., 94. 
 
 Sigar, h. of Nor thaw, 23, 113. 
 
 Simon, a. of Dunstable, 142. 
 
 — Stock, St, 171-2. 
 
 — V. Symon. 
 
 Sneinton (Notts), h., 48. 
 
 Southampton, h., 57, 187. 
 
 Southey, Edmund, quoted, 12-13, 160-1. 
 Southwick (Hants), h., 189-90. 
 
 Sparkes, John, h., 71. 
 
 Spechysley, Richard, h., 86. 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, quoted, 17. 
 Sprenghose, Emma, a., 92. 
 
 Sprotburgh (Doncaster bridge), a., 79, 
 
 93 - 4 - 
 
 Spurn Point, lighthouses near, 50-1, 56. 
 Staindrop, anchorage, 83. 
 
 Stalham (Norfolk), h., 186. 
 
 Stanley, Richard, h., 190. 
 
 Stanton, St. Quintin (Wilts), supposed 
 h., 191. 
 
 Stapilton, Emma, a., 77, 137. 
 
 Steep Holme (Echni), 10. 
 
 Stephen, a., 112. 
 
 — King, 150-2. 
 
 Stony Stratford, h., 63. 
 Stratford-le-Bow, bridge, 59. 
 Stratford-on-Avon, h., 63. 
 
 Sudbury, h., 72. 
 
 , Symon, a. of London Wall, 107, 112, 
 171, 180-2. 
 
 Syon, abbey, 112, 144, 175. 
 
 Tadcaster, h., 183, 190. 
 
 Tanfeld, h., 176, 
 
 Tarporley (Cheshire), h., 113. 
 
 Tarrent (Dorset), a., 98. 
 
 , Tarvin (Cheshire), h., 59. 
 
 Tatwine, h., 14, 128. 
 
 Tavistock, h., 112, 191. 
 
 Tetsworth (Oxon), h., 63. 
 
 Thetford, h., 71-2. 
 


2/2 HERMITS AND ANCHORITES OF ENGLAND 
 
 Thomas, a. of Oath, 113-4, 141. 
 
 — a. in Holt, 29. 
 
 — h. of Fame, 129-30. 
 
 — V. Hamond, Fyschborne, Scrope. 
 Thorney, 15. 
 
 Thrapston (Islip), h., 64. 
 
 Tolls, imposts, levied by h., 51, 58. 
 Trent, R., 15, 33, 48. 
 
 Trinity House, the, 55-6. 
 
 Tynemouth priory, 6, 7, 49, 113. 
 
 Umfred, Christiana, a., 82. 
 
 Vertesance, Agnes, a., 112, 132. 
 Visions, voices, revelations, 4, 6, 11,22, 
 24. 35 , 37 - 9 , 75-6, 117-21, 129, 139- 
 41, 149 sq., 160, 161, 163, 170-1, 
 175, 178-80. 
 
 Vows, 76, 85, 86, 88, 96, 97, 169, 195; 
 dispensations from, 92, 143-4. 
 
 Wakefield, a., 79, 183, 185. 
 
 — V. Peter the Wise. 
 
 Wakelyn, Alice, a., 77-8. 
 
 Wales, solitaries in, 7-12, 17, 135, 169- 
 70. 
 
 Walter, 177, v. Hilton. 
 
 Wardesale, Maud, a., 143. 
 
 Wareham, a., 124, 132. 
 
 Warener, Christopher, a., 165-6. 
 Warkworth, h., 45-8, 190. 
 
 Warwick, h., 34. 
 
 Earls of, 34, 155. 
 
 — V. Guy’s Cliffe. 
 
 Wear, R., 23-5. 
 
 Weasenham (Norfolk), h., 114. 
 Wechelen, a., of Llowes, 135, 169-70. 
 Welkes, David, h., 53. 
 
 Wellingham, brass at, 114. 
 
 Wells, hermits’, 14, 16, 17, 20, 34, 39, 
 40, 47, 70. 
 
 Werstan, St., 20. 
 
 Westbourne, h., 63, 109. 
 
 Westminster abbey, a., 77, 81,112, 114, 
 126-7, 144, 153-5, 183. 
 
 -, foundation of, 38, 149. 
 
 Wetheral, caves, 48. 
 
 Whalley (Lancs), a., 104, 137. 
 
 Whitby, 27, 30-1. 
 
 “ White Hermit,” 160. 
 
 Whytford Bridge (Cambs), h., 90. 
 Wickwar (Glos), a., 92. 
 
 Wiger, h. of Gibbecliff, 34. 
 
 Will, made by h., 108-9 » by a., 113. 
 William, h. of Ardland, 28. 
 
 -Court at Street, 188-9. 
 
 -Linstock, 108. 
 
 -Losfield, 28. 
 
 -Pontefract, 70. 
 
 — a. of Lynn, 107. 
 
 — of Cornwall, h., 61. 
 
 — Fitz Walter, 74, 118, 151. 
 
 — de Pershore, a., 92. 
 
 — de Stuteville, 40-1. 
 
 — of Swinderby, h., 162-3. 
 
 — Worcester, 9,12, 35, 44-5, 53, 71. 
 
 — de Wyntreburn, 66, 108. 
 
 — V. Alnwyk, Bolle, Lucas, Lyons, 
 
 Norham. 
 
 — Winchester, a., 78. 
 
 Windermere, Lady Holm, h., 13. 
 Winforton, h., 16. 
 
 Winscombe, h., 29. 
 
 Winterton (Lines), a., 92, 142. 
 Wolsingham, h., 24, 128. 
 
 Worcester— 
 
 a. in priory, 77, 81, 104. 
 a. at St. Nicholas, 81. 
 a. in friary, 183-4. / 
 
 bishops of, 20, 86, 91, 149. 
 Wordsworth, quoted, 13, 75. 
 
 Worms Head, 8. 
 
 Wragmire (Cumb.), h., 60. 
 
 Wrekin, the, h., 29. 
 
 Wulfric of Haselbury, St., 74, 90, 107, 
 118, 120, 126, 130, 135, 142, 150-2. 
 Wulsi, St., 37-8, 126, 149. 
 
 Wulstan, St., 20, 149. 
 
 Wychwood, forest, 27, 129. 
 
 Wye, R., II, 16. 
 
 Wylkys, Thomas, h., 109. 
 
 Yatton Keynes (Wilts), supposed h., 
 191. 
 
 Ynys Enlli, 7. 
 
 Ynys Weryn, 8. 
 
 York— 
 
 anchorites of, 76-7, 183. 
 
 Allhallows, a., 35, 83, 155 ; window, 
 176. 
 
 Jews in, 156. 
 
 archbishops of, 21-3, 89, 93-4, m, 
 143 - 
 
 mayor of, 40, 42. 
 
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 lyibrarian who will be glad to help you. 
 
 The borrower is responsible for books drawn 
 on his card and for all fines accruing on the 
 
 L 
 
 DOES NOT CIRCrtATE 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 Books may be kept for two weeks and may 
 
 same.