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Notes
1. "Intravit autem rex ut videret discumbentes et vidit ibi hominem non vestitum veste
nuptiali et ait illi amice quomodo huc intrasti non habens vestem nuptialem at ille obmutuit tunc
dixit rex ministris ligatis pedibus eius et manibus mittite eum in tenebras exteriores ibi erit fletus et
stridor dentium multi autem sunt vocati pauci vero electi" (Matt. 22: 11-14).
2. "Gaudeamus et exultemus et demus gloriam ei quia venerunt nuptiae agni et uxor eius
praeparavit se et datum est illi ut cooperiat se byssinum splendens candidum byssinum enim
iustificationes sunt sanctorum" (Apoc. 19: 7-8).
3. "Ite ecce ego mitto vos sicut agnos inter lupos" (Luke 10: 3). "Adtendite a falsis
prophetis qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces" (Matt. 7:
15). Calling the Lollard poor priests "wolves in sheep clothing," Archbishop Courtenay issues a
similar warning to all Christians (Workman II 204). Truth employs the same metaphor in Piers
Plowman in an attack on bishops who fail to protect their flocks from falsehood: "For many
wakere wolues ar wroken into they foldes ..." (IX 259). Truth knows that false prophets, like false
recluses, pervert the Christian's endless quest for salvation.
4. "Et erat Iohannes yestitus pilis cameli et zona pellicia lumbos eius et lucustas et mel
silvestre edebat" (Mark 1: 6).
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5. Piers the Plowman seems to echo St Jerome's explicit comment on bodily
mortification: "De cibis uero et potu taceo, cum etiam languentes aqua frigida untantur et coctum
aliquid accepisse luxuriae sit" (Ad Eustochium Ep. XII 7.2).
6. Although many hermits dress as Friars, Richard Rolle cautions recluses not to assume
the habit of a religious order: "The hermit shall have as clothing, according to the ruling of the
bishop in whose diocese he resides....He must take care not to adopt the habit of any religious
order ..." (Anson Call 164).
7. The following eremitic deeds of charity can be found throughout both of Anson's
works.
8. Truth refers to the Desert Fathers in this passage; cf. XVII 6-34.
9. At the conclusion of the third day in The Decameron, Dioneo graphically
depicts the lust of the hermit Rustico for the naive but carnal-minded Alibech in the wilderness of
the Thebaid Desert. Although Rustico plunges into lechery because of his proud desire to
confront temptation, Dioneo affirms the eremitic ideal in his tale: "Those best serve God who fly
furthest from the things of this world, like the hermits who had departed to the solitudes of the
Thebaid desert" (Boccaccio 237).
10. Jer. 9: 1-21 Ps. 55: 3-9; 1 Kings 19: 1-9; Mark 1: 2-6; Mark 1: 35; Mark 6: 31-32;
and Luke 4: 1-2. Ad Eustochium Ep. XII 7.2-3. Kock 4 and 55. Legenda Aurea
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XXI, LVI, XCVI, CXXX, and CLXXVIII.
Nicholas Von Flue, a Swiss hermit also known as "Bruder Klau," reportedly fasts for twenty
years, from 1467 until his death in 1487 (Anson Call 168).
11. Like Langland's Free Will, Chaucer associates the hermit St. Paul of Thebes with St.
Paul the Apostle. Chaucer writes in The Pardoner's Prologue: For I wol preche and begge
in sondry landes; / I wol nat do no labour with myne handes, / Ne make baskettes, and lyue
therby, / By cause I wol nat beggen ydelly (443-46). St. Paul the hermit is a basket-weaver; St.
Paul the Apostle is a tent-maker. See Hemingway.