Medieval English Nunneries
c.1275 to 1535

A fascinating study of medieval English convents, showing their ideals, lifestyle, organisation, relationships inside and outside the cloister, and failings.

Eileen Power (Author)

9781108017145, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

762 pages, 8 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 3.9 cm, 0.87 kg

Eileen Power, best known for her posthumously published Medieval Women, was one of the foremost scholars of medieval economic and social history in the first half of the twentieth century. This 1922 work is a substantial study of medieval English nunneries between 1275 and 1535. Power examines in depth who entered the convents, how they were organised, their finances, activities and problems. Although medieval nunneries were significantly poorer and less well documented than the monastic houses, Power uses the available sources to build up a multifaceted picture of medieval life. Her arguments are firmly rooted in documentary evidence, but are presented in an extremely accessible and engaging style. The book reveals that convent life was not particularly ascetic or learned, and that in poorer houses the nuns had to find additional sources of income. Power's account of their methods of coping makes fascinating reading.

Preface
1. The novice
2. The head of the house
3. Worldly goods
4. Monastic housewives
5. Financial difficulties
6. Education
7. Routine and reaction
8. Private life and private property
9. Fish out of water
10. The world in the cloister
11. The olde daunce
12. The machinery of reform
13. The nun in medieval literature
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC]