Skip to main content

IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 1037: Between Worldly Objectives and Spiritual Renewal, I: High Medieval Reform - Convents and the Other

Wednesday 8 July 2015, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Annalena Müller, Departement Geschichte, Universität Basel
Moderator/Chair:Annalena Müller, Departement Geschichte, Universität Basel
Paper 1037-aCelibacy, Scandal, and the Nuns' Priest in the Central Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Fiona Griffiths, Department of History, Stanford University
Index terms: Gender Studies, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 1037-bThe Abbot-King and the Abbess-Countess: Religious Life and Royal Succession in 12th-Century Spain and France
(Language: English)
Sara McDougall, Department of History, John Jay College, City University of New York
Index terms: Gender Studies, Monasticism, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life
Paper 1037-cFemale Abbatial Lordship in Action: Examples from 11th-Century Anjou
(Language: English)
Marguerite Ragnow, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota
Index terms: Monasticism, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Abstract

The central Middle Ages saw a wave of foundations of convents for women who desired to live the religious life secluded from the material world. In reality, however, convent life was never entirely secluded. Convents maintained relations with the outside world - be it to priests, who ministered to the nuns' spiritual needs; the nuns' families, whose dynastic interests could cause intervention; or the town that was home to the convent. This panel explores select convents and their relations to the outside world, relations that inform us of both the factual power of high medieval convents and the tensions that arose from the realities of women's religious life.