A London Anchorite, Simon Appulby: His Fruyte of Redempcyon and Its Milieu

A London Anchorite, Simon Appulby: His Fruyte of Redempcyon and Its Milieu." Simon Appulby was the last anchorite of the London parish of Allhallows London Wall. His popular work The Fruyte of Redempcyon, which appeared in five editions between 1514 and 1532, was a translation of a series of Latin meditations on Christ's life. A condensed version was published in a popular handbook of prayers, the Antidotarius Animae (1489) and this version was Appulby's source. Fruyte received formal episcopal approval from Bishop of London Richard Fitzjames and hence might be considered the product of a conservative attempt to make scripture available in English, in approved forms. It utilized Bridgettine material as well, suggesting contact with Syon Abbey. Appulby appears in the will of another priest, Sir John Gaunt, whose interests and connections illuminate Appulby's. Both men remembered the neighborhood institutions of the comer of London and both were connected with the book trade. (Gaunt may have been the owner of a 'common profit" manuscript and of a manuscript of the stanzaic Morte Arthur.) Appulby's financial support was important to Allhallows; his 1537 will shows his ties to parish and neighborhood. His book, Fruyte of Redempcyon, represents an orthodox attempt to provide scriptural access in popular form just before the Dissolution.