Interest in the anchoritic life in Europe, and medieval England in particular, has never been greater. And yet almost all the recent discussion tends to concentrate on the same texts - De Institutione inclusarum and Ancrene Wisse. Considerations of gender and anchoritism have been limited by the assumption that the reclusive life was 'a feminine phenomenon' pursued almost exclusively by women. This critical edition of a late-medieval English 'rule' for male anchorites will be a timely intervention in - and stimulus to - an already exciting field. The Speculum Inclusorum is an early...