Representing the Negative: Positing the Lesbian Void in Medieval English Anchoritism

Abstract

The medieval vocation of "anchoress" included women who dedicated their whole lives to contemplative prayer by dwelling in small cells attached to churches. Ostensibly this provided complete solitude, yet in truth, the women lived in a liminal world of mediated solitude. The Rules for recluses all provided for the existence of at least one female servant who was also partially enclosed. The day-to-day contact with the outside world, the purchase of necessities, and the general upkeep of the household fell to them. Moreover, the anchoritic cell provided something that the majority of medieval households did not have - a private space. This space was specifically female, specifically female-controlled, and specifically eroticized. I suggest that in the early Middle Ages, the anchoritic cell provided the necessary space and conditions necessary to create a "lesbian void," in which the anchoress could explore woman-woman erotic possibilities. This void was supported not only by the cell's configuration, but also through the religious Rule for anchoresses as well as by medieval theological concepts about "lesbian" acts. Thus, the two women - anchoress and maid - could create an interior society, presumably one in which class rules were somewhat suspended, and perhaps sexual rules as well.