In the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for a city to have its reclusoir (or reclusery). A tiny cell with windows, but no door, in which people voluntarily locked themselves until the end of their lives. But do not see any punishmen in this seclusion. These people asked themselves to be walled up. And when a recluse died, there were many candidates for his succession. A phenomenon that has lasted for centuries.
If traces, again, are rare, it is assumed that the life expectancy of the recluses was quite short. Very few were indeed strong enough to withstand winters, wind, hunger and isolation. An exceptional case, however, is known in Paris. That of Alix de Burgotte, who remained 46 years in the reclusoir of the cemetery of the Innocents. A longevity that we know thanks to Louis XI, who made him erect a superb tomb in this same cemetery to honor his memory.
If traces, again, are rare, it is assumed that the life expectancy of the recluses was quite short. Very few were indeed strong enough to withstand winters, wind, hunger and isolation. An exceptional case, however, is known in Paris. That of Alix de Burgotte, who remained 46 years in the reclusoir of the cemetery of the Innocents. A longevity that we know thanks to Louis XI, who made him erect a superb tomb in this same cemetery to honor his memory.
