Book on Enclosed Women in Medieval Germany Published!

On 1 June 2023, Unerhörte Frauen. Die Netzwerke der Nonnen im Mittelalter, a new book on the networks of the nuns in the Middle Ages by Henrike Lähnemann and Eva Schlotheuber came out. It presents the world of the religious women in their own voices and art works, unlocking rich resources, particularly from late medieval Northern …

This Church Stabbed Itself!

Published on 13 Feb 2023, written by Diana Myers. A few days after the Enclosure met to discuss our January book club pick, The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1948), I came across the following image online: “This Church Stabbed Itself”https://yesterdaysprint.tumblr.com/post/708085996965789696/the-washington-post-may-19-1912 Warner’s novel is a long meandering look at the rise and …

Anchoress, a film by Chris Newby

Anchoress is a 1993 British drama film directed by Chris Newby. The screenplay is partly based on accounts of an historical female anchorite, Christine Carpenter, who was walled into her anchorhold in a village church in Shere, Surrey, in southern England, in 1329. The story revolves around the girl’s mystical visions of the Virgin Mary, the local …

My manes mynde to maddying malte: Encountering the Pearl Maiden in Divine Enclosure

This post examines the way in which different types of enclosure converge in the Middle English poem Pearl (late 14th century). It takes a closer look at the earthly grief expressed by the male narrator in relation to his encounter of the Pear Maiden, who is living in Heavenly Jerusalem, which can be seen as a form of divine enclosure.

Cinema of Enclosure: La Religieuse

To examine Jacques Rivette’s oeuvre in terms of enclosure, writing about La Religieuse (1966) is most and least appropriate. A filmmaker of exhilarating invisible architectures, Rivette compulsively refracts structures of inside and outside, control and freedom, enclosure and escape. An axiom of enclosure in Rivette’s cinema might begin with the ghostly mansion in Céline and …

Artists of Enclosure

Isabelle Albuquerque, Orgy for 10 People in One Body: 3 From solo show Sextet, opening September 12 at Nicodim Gallery, LA Clementine Keith-Roach, Mantle Merideth Hillbrand, Some fields the track goes through Randi Shandroski, Saint Jerome Smelling a Flower, I Do Everything for Love, and Everywhere Horror Seizes the Soul and the Very Silence is …

The Joys of Enclosure – A Medieval Perspective

Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to zoom myself into FRIAS for an afternoon! My title is inspired by the letters of the Lüne nuns which I’m currently editing and where they eloquently speak in praise of their enclosure as the perfect rose-garden. When I saw the poster – thanks to Verena Spohn for choosing it! – it occurred to me that the religious enclosure is only one of the confined medieval spaces with positive connotations. So I will talk about three forms of enclosed space: starting with the castle, going on to the cell, ending with the study.

Cinema of Enclosure II: Ladies They Talk About

Notes on Ladies They Talk About and Beguines by Carolyn Funk “When can I see my cell?” “Mine looks like a chorus girl’s delight.”  So quip Barbara Stanwyck and Lillian Roth while on tour of Stanwyck’s new residence, San Quentin State prison, in Ladies They Talk About (1933.) The film is hallmark pre-Code: pre-Code referring to talking pictures made in Hollywood …