THE RECLUSORIUM AS AN INFORMAL CENTRE OF LEARNING

Abstract

Aelred's vivid sketch of an anchorage turning into a classroom and a recluse becoming a teacher, may be set beside similar cases on the Continent. As is known, the Low Countries, and Northern Europe in general, saw rapid social and economic changes in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. New techniques in agriculture were developed, the growth of cloth industry, long distance trade and the rise of towns brought prosperity and all sorts of social and cultural changes. Christianity, the actual Christian belief, entered daily life and started to dominate devotional practice. In recent years a debate has started on the inner motivations of religious women (among them the recluses) in the later Middle Ages. Alijt, the devout prioress of a Modern Devotion convent, was educated by a recluse and felt inspired by Lame Margaret's Life. Keywords: Lame Margaret; Middle Ages; reclusorium; religious women; social changes