Until recently, the figure of the medieval anchorite and the underlying ideological concepts that framed her day-to-day existence have escaped detailed examination, despite the anchorite s importance to the study of medieval culture. This collection brings together leading scholars in the field of gender and anchoritic studies in order to examine anchoritic enclosure from a variety of different perspectives. In so doing, "Anchorites, Wombs, and Tombs" offers illuminating conclusions about how the phenomenon of anchoritism was affected by, and in turn, influenced contemporary notions of...