The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle

This is the last of the Society's diplomatic editions of Ancrene Riwle (the series began in 1944). The Riwle (also known as Ancrene Wisse) is a thirteenth-century guide for anchoresses which reached a much wider public in the Middle Ages. The diplomatic editions allow readers convenient access to its textual history. The new edition follows the editorial methods established by the series: the text of the MS is reproduced as it stands, without emendations. Scribal `errors' and significant variant readings from two of the most important other MSS are given in the Apparatus.