The Anchoress of England: Julian of Norwich's Portrait of Christ as Mother When speaking of medieval literature, Chaucer, Gower and

Langland are quit e often the most noted. However, recent studies have provided modern scholars wi th a wide variety of medieval women writers from all over Europe and a few in En gland. The most widely anthologized English female writer is Julian of Norwich. Julian was an anchoress, and as Marcelle Thiebaux notes, "The anchorite movement was widespread in England from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. Both me n and women chose this extreme form of asceticism, which was favored and encoura ged by the crown, the church, and the laity. Anchorholds were small, narrow cell s attached to churches or friaries" (442). 1[1] The process of becoming an ancho ress was difficult and complicated, but suffice it to say that after the process was completed "the anchoress was sealed up, never to re-emerge into the world. Penance, meditation, reading, and in some cases writing were the anchorite's sol e activities" (Thiebaux 442). This was the case for Julian of Norwich. She was "well read in Scripture, dwelling especially on the Psalms, the gospels, and the epistles of Paul and John, ...and was the first English woman to write a book" (Thiebaux 443-44). Her Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich 2[2] possesses literary and religious value, and the work lends itself quite natural ly to a feminist reading. In her clear, lucid, prose style, combined with the im ages of the medieval mystic, Julian establishes herself as an independent, femal e religious authority and she gives a staunch affirmation of the divinity of God with this unique view point: the motherhood of God.

In her first showing, Julian sees Christ and emphatically declares, "I gras ped truly and mightily that it was he himself that showed it to me without any g o-between..." (449). 3[3] This is a significant beginning, for Julian must esta blish her independence. She sees this miraculous vision of Christ without mediat ion. No other saint, guide or individual assists her in accessing Christ. Julian establishes herself as one who is worthy, capable and humble enough to receive an independent visitation from God. At this very crucial beginning, Julian disti nguishes and separates herself in a religious sense, and a literary sense. As an anchoress, she separates herself from the male dominated clergy of the time per iod. She does not need the male "go-between," the male clergy, to escort her to the presence of God. Moreover, as a writer, she distinguishes herself from her m ale contemporaries who traditionally have some sort of guide or mediator-most of ten male but sometimes female-who helps arrange for the vision or guides the ind ividual to God.4[4]

Of this same vision, Julian notes: And at this same time that I saw this bodily sight, our Lord showed me a spirit ual sight of his homelike loving. I saw that he is all things good and comfortab le to us for our help. He is our clothing, for love wraps us and winds around us , hugs us and teaches everything, hangs about us-for tender love-so that he may never leave us. (449)

In this particular portion of her vision, Julian portrays Christ in a nurturing and motherly fashion. His love is described as "homelike," and her word choice reflects the soothing and comforting aspects of motherhood. She uses words like "clothing," "wraps," "winds," "hugs," "teaches" and "hangs" all of which enjoy a close affinity to a mother in a home. These things are familiar, necessary, com forting and very personal. Once again, Julian has taken the universal God and pl

aced him in an individual setting thereby making him accessible to all, especial ly to women.

Though Julian's spiritual vision may seem terribly feminine, and it is, the situation in which it is written is quite the opposite. The Anchorite Order beg an, according to Theibaux, "in the English countryside in the eleventh and twelf th centuries under the protection of the Anglo-Saxon gentry" (442). What this me ans to Julian is that the Anchorite Order to which she belongs has its roots in the Germanic-warrior ethic, which is not, by any means, friendly to women. This becomes quite obvious in the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood which was we ll known during Julian's time. The vision of Christ that the rood sees is convey ed in the language of the warrior, the language of men. Christ is described as " the Wielder of Triumphs," "the Ruler," "the Mighty King," "the Warrior" (20).5[5] It seems obvious at this point that Julian's portrayal of Ch rist does not conform to the traditional view of Christ as warrior. However, it would be unfair to say that Julian is attempting to degrade Christ by describing him as a nurturer. Rather, she is creating a gentler, more congenial view of Ch rist. Julian is distinctly aware of the fact that the warrior Christ is an unatt ainable figure; however, a motherly Christ is accessible to all who seek him. Ce rtainly, she reflects the family structure of her time. The father is an aloof, inaccessible figure, while the mother is the nurturer; she makes the "clothing," "wraps" her children in love, "hugs" them when they need comforting and most im portantly "teaches [them] everything" (449). It should be noted that this mother ly, nurturing view is not degrading to women; rather, it elevates the status of women to a higher level of importance.

Julian is constantly trying to bring Christ into a more personal realm. A g ood example of this is illustrated when Christ shows her a hazelnut:

And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, and to my understanding it was round as any ball. I looked upon it and thought: What may this be? And I was answered generally t his way: It is all that is made. I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might fall into nothing because of its littleness. And I was answered in my un derstanding: It lasts and always shall, for God loves it; and so all things have being through the love of God. (449)

First and foremost, the hazelnut represents the love of God, and it rests in the palm of her hand. One might be inclined to view the love of God as universal, f illing the immensity of creation. The fact that it is a hazelnut that is placed in the palm of Julian's hand suggests that God's love is personal; it is somethi ng small and familiar that everyone can possess.

Julian fears that the hazelnut might get lost because of its small size. In this case, the hazelnut might also be seen as a metaphor for women. Women in the Middle Ages were small, insignificant, and in constant peril of being consumed and lost in the predominantly patriarchal society. Julian uses the word "nothing " to show the marginalized and reduced status of women. The consolation that Jul ian receives from Christ is that the hazelnut, and by extension women, will last

forever because God loves it. This should not be too surprising considering Chr ist's final act as he hung on the cross. Being familiar with scripture, Julian w ould have known that his last commandment to his followers was that they take ca re of his mother, Mary. Christ loved her and intended her to endure and thrive i n the harsh, patriarchal Jewish society of the times.6[6]

The final image associated with the hazelnut might very well be the womb.7[ 7] In another passage, Julian makes specific reference to the womb and to Chris t: "Our natural, kindly mother, our gracious mother-for He wished to be wholly o ur mother in all things-laid his groundwork most low within the maiden's womb, a nd gently" (455). In shape, the hazelnut certainly resembles the womb. Moreover, it is a seed and represents the creation of life and the ability of life to rep roduce and endure. Julian learns that all things have life through the love of G od, and all of humanity has life through the love of a mother.

The hazelnut is a powerful image, but Julian also uses skills associated wit h women, like knitting, to express her views. Knitting, for medieval women, was a necessary and familiar skill. Julian uses knitting to express an act of creati on and the notion of oneness:

He wishes us to know that the noblest thing he ever made is humankin d, and the fullest substance and the highest virtue is the blessed soul of Chris t. And furthermore he wishes us to know this dear, worthy soul was preciously k nitted to him when it was created, with a knot so subtle and so strong that it i s 'oned' with God. In this 'oneing' it is made endlessly holy. Furthermore he wants us to know that all the souls that are to be saved in heaven, without end, are knitted in this knot and 'oned' in this 'oneing' and made holy in this holi ness. (454)

Julian is deliberate in her word choice. She uses the word "humankind" instead o f "mankind" in order to give focus to the whole of humanity rather than merely t he male sector. However, she becomes extremely focused and gender specific in he r selection of examples: knitting being one of them. Knitting is a difficult ski ll; it requires two hands using two needles, and they work harmoniously to creat e a unified and symmetrical whole. The two hands might be compared to the sexes. The two sexes are necessary to creation; moreover, they are considered one. The Bible makes this clear: "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, nei ther the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, eve n so is the man also by the woman; but all things in God" (1Corinthians 11:11-12 ).

Julian's use of knitting places tremendous emphasis on the notion of the on eness of the sexes in Christ, and it is Christ who is the mother and the knitter . He creates the knot that binds humanity and makes everyone equal. Julian empha sizes the knot itself, and it is not done haphazardly. The knot possesses a great deal of symbolism in medieval l iterature. The knot may refer to the star of Solomon that is described as a curi ous knot. The star is the five-pointed star, the pentangle, which is, in Julian' s words, "without end." In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the star is describ

ed in the following manner: "For it is a figure formed of five points,/ And each line is linked and locked with the next/ For ever and ever, and hence it is cal led/ In all England, as I hear, the endless knot" (2.627-30).8[8] Moreover, th e knot, or the star, is "subtle and strong." It has such strength that it cannot be broken. Finally, the star represents wisdom, and because it is a five pointe d star, it stands for the following: the five fingers of dexterity, the five joy s of humanity, the five wounds of Christ, the five senses and the five virtues.9 [9] It is not by chance that Julian associates this very masculine symbol, the s tar of Solomon, with the feminine skill of knitting. This is in keeping with her notion of the motherhood of Christ, and by placing the star in a feminine setti ng and making Christ the creator of the knot, Julian elevates the status of wome n thereby creating what she calls "oneing" (454).

In the final moments of her fourth vision, Julian sees Christ in the most f eminine of all settings: the child bearer. "We know that all our mothers bear us to pain and to dying. Ah, what is that? But our true mother Jesus, he alone bea rs us to joy and endless living-blessed may he be! Thus he sustains us within hi m in love and labor, up to the full term pains that ever were or shall be, and h e died at the last" (455). What Julian is referring to is the crucifixion of Christ, and she equates it to the birth of a child. She us es the birthing sequence: labor, full-term pains and death. This may seem a rath er harsh ending, but it is quite appropriate for the time. The infant and matern al mortality rates were high. Mothers often sacrificed their lives to save their children in the same way Christ sacrificed his life to save humanity.

Hence, in her Book of Showings, Julian establishes herself as a religious a uthority in a male dominated world. Her courage, strength and faith elevate the status of women to such a level that it allows all of humankind to unite in Chri st. She does not necessarily demean or depreciate the role of Christ or the role s of men; rather, she raises the status of women to create a common denominator in the religious equation. All people are born in Christ, live in Christ, learn in Christ and die in Christ. For Julian, motherhood is equal to godhood, and in this way Christ, in a powerful and personal way, becomes the mother of all.

"And so I saw that God enjoys being our father, and God enjoys being our mother ..." Julian of Norwich

Works Cited

Geneva Bible (1599). Rpt. Missouri: L.L. Brown Publishing, 1998.

Harrison, R.K. Biblical Hebrew England: Hodder & Stoughton, 1986.

Julian of Norwich. . A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich. Thie baux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women. New York & London: Garland Pub lishing, 1994.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Borroff. Norton Anthology of Briti sh Literature Vol. 1, New York: WW Norton, 1993.

The Dream of the Rood. Robert Diamond, eds. The Old English Grammar and Reader. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1970.

1[1] Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women. New York & London: Garl and Publishing, 1994. This is a fine collection of thirty-six medieval women wri ters 2[2] The authoritative text is: Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, eds. A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, 2 vols., Studies and Texts No. 35, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1978. 3[3] All textual citations come from Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieva l Women. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1994. 4[4] Most notably and available to Julian would be Dante's Inferno, Chaucer's ve rsion of Boethius, and Langland's Piers Plowman, all of which have male guides. 5[5] All textual citations from The Dream of the Rood come from the Robert Diamo nd edition of The Old English Grammar and Reader. Detroit: Wayne State Universit y Press, 1970. 6[6] The specific passage where Christ makes this utterance is in John 19:26-27. All biblical references come from the Geneva Bible (which is based on the Jerom e Bible) but were checked and crossed referenced with the Jerome Bible with help of Professor Behunin as the Jerome Bible is in Latin. 7[7] It is interesting to note that there might be a biblical correlation to the hazelnut. The name Hazel appears in the Bible, and in Jewish the name Hazel is a feminine name and means "one who sees God." ( Harrison, R.K. Biblical Hebrew E ngland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1986.) 8[8] Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Borroff. Norton Anthology of British Literature Vol. 1, New York: WW Norton, 1993. 9[9] The "five fives" as they are known in medieval literature and religion can be found in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Borroff. Norton Anthol ogy of British Literature Vol. 1, New York: WW Norton, 1993, lines 640-654.