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IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 1612: Permeable Boundaries?: Questioning Enclosure, II

Thursday 16 July 2009, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Agfem - Arbeitskreis geistliche Frauen im europäischen Mittelalter
Organiser:Gisela Muschiol, Institut für Kirchengeschichte, Universitat Bonn
Moderator/Chair:Letha Böhringer, Stadtarchiv Köln
Paper 1612-aDouble Monastery or Spiritual Partnership?
(Language: English)
Alison Beach, Abteilung Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Universität Trier
Index terms: Gender Studies, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1612-bEnclosure in Male Imagination: Idung of Prüfening
(Language: English)
Gisela Muschiol, Institut für Kirchengeschichte, Universitat Bonn
Index terms: Gender Studies, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1612-cFrom Enclosure to Excommunication and Back: The Revolt of the Nuns of Poitiers
(Language: English)
Avril Keely, Catholic Institute of Sydney
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life
Abstract

When studying female monasticism at the Middle Ages, it is inevitable to explore the concept of enclosure and the extent to which is was actually fulfilled. Claustration, requested, established, and affirmed by male authorities, was negotiated, adjusted, and even circumvented by the nuns themselves, for reasons of economic necessity as well as for personal desires. These two sessions bring together American and German scholars who have studied different aspects of female monasticism across the Middle Ages. At one stage during their research, they questioned the concept of enclosure as presented by male church authorities and, in some cases, in male scholarship, and intend to present a critical view of enclosure, detecting several contradictions between claims and assertions and actual practice in daily life.