Praying the Psalms in the Ancrene Wisse

Abstract

In Part One of the Ancrene Wisse, the author recommends to his female readers the daily recital of Matins from the Office of Our Lady, as well as requiring the recital of the Hours, each “as she has them written down”. This demonstrates not only the competence of the original readers in liturgical Latin, but also of the anchoresses’ deep familiarity with the text of the Psalms. This is exploited by the author, who quotes the Psalms on at least seventy-seven occasions, twice as much as any other scriptural book. When quoting the Psalms across the work the author does not normally translate the Latin, but when he does it is usually with the purpose of developing allegorical and moral glosses on the Psalter text. In this way, the author’s use of the Psalms in the other books of his treatise both draws on the anchoresses' liturgical reading and simultaneously enhances it by offering deeper meanings to texts which they repeatedly read. This article will explore how this strategy serves to tie many of the arguments of the Ancrene Wisse to the women’s daily reading of the Psalms.

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