Centre for Medieval Studies

The medieval ideal of life as a recluse (also known as an anchorite or solitary) was to remove oneself from the world by living confined to an individual dwelling (often called a reclusorium or anchorhold), separate from the distractions of the world and completely devoted to the spirit. When considering the logistics of such a life, however, it quickly becomes apparent that a recluse would require the cooperation of at least one other, outwardly mobile person, simply to keep themselves alive. Once one begins looking for them, servants, maids, disciples, and all manner of attendants appear everywhere in documents and literature surrounding medieval recluses. The attendants of recluses appear in sources as diverse as courtly literature, 2 saints' vitae, 3 sermon exempla, 4 reformers' chronicles, 5 wills and testaments, 6 and founda-1 I would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Greti Dinkova-Bruun and the Library of the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, the Centre for Medieval Studies, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto, for their help with accessing sources for this paper during the COVID-19 pandemic library closures. I also thank the many frontline workers who have continued to move between their homes and the outside world during the pandemic, allowing many of us to have a safe and comfortable temporary reclusion. 2 E.g. Perceval's recluse aunt is attended by several servants in Bogdanow and Berrie, eds., La quête du Saint-Graal, 226-228. 3 E.g. in Ekkehart's vita of Saint Wiborada, Wiborada has a vision of her former maid in heaven; see Ekkehart, Vitae Sanctae Wiboradae, 64-67. See also the anchorite Guthlac confiding in his servant, Beccel, in Felix's Latin vita of Saint Guthlac: Felix, Felix's Life of Saint Guthlac, 156-157. 4 E.g. Caesarius of Heisterbach's Dialogus miraculorum, Exemplum XI. 27, "De morte inclusi de sancto Maximino in Colonia" in Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum. 5 E.g. ch. 41, 42, and 43 in Busch's Liber de reformatione monasteriorum all concern recluses and also discuss their servants; see Busch, Des Augustinerpropstes Johannes Busch Chronicon Windeshemensis. 6 E.g. John Plumpton's bequest to Julian of Norwich and her maid, or the multiple bequests made to the servant of Margaret de Kirkeby, recluse of Hampole, both in Warren, authors do expect their recommendations to be obeyed. 12 Moreover, the pre-Anchorites and Their Patrons in Medieval England, 252 and 200-201, 212-213. 7 E.g. the royal foundation of a recluse cell at the monastery of Sheen includes a provision for two servants.

In 1871 CE, Henry Yule (1820-89 CE) published an English translation of Marco Polo's Il Milione, within which appeared an illustration by Quinto Cenni (1845-1917 CE) based on Yule's design, supposedly depicting the Mongol dwellings briefly described in Polo's text. However, the representation of a large cart tent drawn by two rows of eleven oxen is based not on Marco Polo, but on the description of such a cart tent in a Latin travel account by Willelmus de Rubruc (fl.1248-55 CE), a Franciscan friar, associate of Louis IX of France (r.1226-70 CE) and reluctant visitor to Qaraqorum during the reign of Mongke Khan (r.1251-59 CE). This nineteenth-century illustration has served as the prototype for numerous subsequent images, models, and life-sized reconstructions, shaping the image of Mongol cart tents in the minds of scholars and the public around the world.

In his book Felt Tents and Pavilions, Peter Alford Andrews points out three significant problems with Yule and Cenni's Mongol cart tent: that the cart has a total of four wheels, when according to Willelmus's text it should have only one on each side; that the circumference of the tent sits within the span of the wheels, when according to the text the tent should extend beyond them; and that a narrow, chimney-like neck projects upwards from the roof wheel, which would restrict the entrance of light, an important function of roof wheels. This third problem is clearly an attempt to illustrate Willelmus's phrase, "de qua ascendit collum sursum tamquam fumigatorium," which since Richard Hakluyt's (1553-1616 CE) partial translation of the Itinerarium, has been rendered into English along the lines of "from which projects a neck like a chimney."

This paper seeks to correct the mistranslation of fumigatorium and its impact on understandings of thirteenth-century Mongol cart tents. While words like fumarium were used at this time to refer to chimneys or chimney-like forms, fumigatorium means "censer," a container for burning incense, or "thurible," a censer used in religious ceremonies. Of particular relevance are Limoges enamel censers, popular in thirteenth-century France, the profiles of which resemble that of Noghay cart tents. In his same book, Andrews hypothesises that Noghay cart tents may in fact preserve with little or no modifications the structure of thirteenth-century Mongol cart tents. By examining the connections between the original Latin text, Limoges enamel censers, and Andrews's hypothesis, this paper attempts to rectify the misunderstanding of Mongol cart tents traceable to Hakluyt, Yule and Cenni.

Christianity, as a religion centered on the Incarnation of a spiritual being, is always necessarily a religion of embodiment, but its attitude toward that embodiment has always been one of distrust. The juxtaposition of seemingly opposing forces-flesh and spirit, affect and intellect-results in problematic but inevitable troubling of binary oppositions. Late medieval devotion is replete with mediators that serve to focus meditation and prayer in order to bring the individual closer to God, but they can also represent the physical presence of God and bring God closer to the individual. A study of these various modes of mediation will reveal how the connections between spiritual and physical were conceived. Mediation-whether of language, the senses and emotions, texts and objects, or saints-reveals and reestablishes our connection to the divine.

The volume “Opera Poetica Alexandri Essebiensis” contains the critical edition of the previously unedited poetic works of Alexander of Ashby (1148/1154 - 1208/1214), the Breuissima comprehensio historiarum and the Liber Festiualis. The Breuissima comprehensio historiarum, which exists in three medieval redactions, represents a brief versification of the historical books of the Bible, whereas the Liber Festiualis is written as a mnemonic device epitomizing the lives of seventy-four saints in the order of the ecclesiastical calendar. The critical edition of the these two compositions brings to light the complete poetical production of Alexander of Ashby. The work of this previously neglected poet is very important for our understanding of the cultural climate in the late twelfth - early thirteenth century England. The author was not only a literary figure, but also an important local dignitary, whose activities as a papal judge delegate are recorded in a number of charters from the period between 1181 and 1205.

This article discusses the biblical story of the Old Testament hero Samson in order to exemplify the various modes of biblical discourse in medieval Latinate culture. Whether in prose or verse, the medieval writers dedicated their efforts to finding the meaning of creation and to establishing how the human relates to the divine. A few representative works illustrate the multifaceted role that the Bible played in the medieval literary imagination. The various modes of expression discussed show unequivocally that understanding and explaining the message of the sacred page was the defining feature of the literary discourse. The variety of approaches to the Scripture exhibited by the writers demonstrates that their relationship to the truth and mystery of the Bible was not dogmatic and uniform; rather, it was an impetus for intellectual curiosity and an inspiration for literary creativity. The text of the Bible opened many doors of understanding and showed a multitude of paths to enlightenment. Sacred Scripture, albeit inerrant, did not imply one meaning for the thinkers. They did not approach the text of the Bible mechanically. Sacred Scripture was their point of departure but also their font of inspiration.