An Archaeological History of Hermitages and Eremitic Communities in Medieval Britain and Beyond

REVIEW BY DUNCAN W WRIGHT In An Archaeological History of Hermitages, Simon Roffey directly addresses a hitherto neglected area of scholarship by providing a wide-ranging survey of the material evidence for hermitages and eremitic practice. His work is not restricted to Britain and Ireland, nor indeed Christian practice, but looks at hermits in other traditions, such as Taoism and Buddhism, and surveys locations such as China and India. This wide-ranging view is refreshing, allowing the reader to draw parallels and distinctions between the motivations behind eremitism. For Roffey, who has been involved with both Western and Eastern contemplative traditions, research into them is a person