Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535

"La science," said a wise Frenchman, "atteint l'exactitude; il appartient à l'art seul de saisir la vérité." And another, "L'histoire vit de documents, mais les documents sont p...

_Ib._ 7/70 (Petition from Richard Haldenby and Agnes his wife concerning the daughters of Agnes by a former marriage, one of whom has been made to take the veil by an uncle, for...

In the history of the medieval nunneries of England there is nothing more striking than the constant financial straits to which they were reduced. Professor Savine's analysis of...

Clôture des Religieuses_, published in Paris in 1681 by Jean-Baptiste Thiers, "Prestre, Bachelier en Theologie de la Faculté de Paris et Curé de Chambrond." The treatise is divi...

The Benedictine ideal set study together with prayer and labour as the three bases of monastic life and in the short golden age of English monasticism women as well as men loved...

De sorte qu'une Religieuse hors de sa clôture est comme une pierre hors de son centre; comme un arbre hors de terre; comme Adam et Eve hors du Paradis terrestre; comme le corbea...

Ès maisons de nonnains aucun sont bien venut, Et as gens festyer n'a nul règne tenut; On y va volentiers et souvent et menut Mais mieuls sont festyet jovène que li kenut. GILLES...

Then, fair virgin, hear my spell, For I must your duty tell. First a-mornings take your book, The glass wherein yourself must look; Your young thoughts so proud and jolly Must b...

It is difficult to form any exact impression of the moral state of the English nunneries during the later middle ages. Certainly there is widespread evidence of frailty on the p...

"My lady Prioresse, by your leve So that I wiste I sholde you not greve, I wolde demen that ye tellen sholde A tale next, if so were that ye wolde. Now wol ye vouche-sauf, my la...

Tomorrows shall be as yesterdays; And so for ever! saints enough Has Holy Church for priests to praise; But the chief of saints for workday stuff Afield or at board is good Sain...

Where is the pain that does not become deadened after a thousand years? or what is the nature of that pleasure or happiness which never wearies by monotony? Earthly pleasures an...

Every monastic house may be considered from two points of view, as a religious and as a social unit. From the religious point of view it is a house of prayer, its centre is the...

The Rule of seint Maure or of seint Beneit, Because that it was old and somdel streit This ilke monk leet olde thinges pace And held after the newe world the space. CHAUCER, Pro...

And whan they had resceyuede [t]her charge They spared nether mud ne myer, But roden over Inglonde brode and large, To seke owte nunryes in every schyre. _Why I can't be a Nun_...

gout, "This night have I had good harbourage, for the woman that was thine host yesternight was so weary and so irked, that I was sickerly harboured with her and ate of her bloo...

[1653] "White worts," was a kind of _potage_ ("potage is not so moche used in all Chrystendome as it is used in Englande. Potage is made of the licour in the whiche flesshe is s...

of twenty-three nunneries and two houses of lay sisters, of which the great majority belonged to his own order of Austin Regular Canons[2120]. The work was not carried out witho...

Caesarius of Heisterbach. _Dial. Mirac._, ed. Strange, II, pp. 42-3, which is the original version of all the widespread legends on this theme. From Caesarius it found its way i...

18. BUCKLAND St John A.Pr. Som. B. and Henry II, c. (Minchin) Bapt. (nuns W. 1186 (instead of St of House of John of Austin canons Jerusalem) founded 1166 by William de Erlegh)

There is only too much truth in the frequent complaint that history, as compared with the physical sciences, is neglected by the modern public. But historians have the remedy in...

I. ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE TEXT: A. The daily fare of Barking Abbey 563 B. School children in nunneries 568 C. Nunnery disputes 581 D. Gay clothes 585 E. Convent pets in literat...

Reasons for poverty: (1) natural disasters 176 (2) ecclesiastical exactions and royal taxes 183 (3) feudal and other services 185 (4) right of patrons to take temporalities duri...

The education of the nuns: Learning of Anglo-Saxon nuns, and of German nuns at a later date 237 Little learning in English nunneries during the later middle ages 238 Nunnery lib...

Regulations to govern the entrance of seculars into nunneries: (1) certain persons not to be admitted 401 (2) certain parts of the house and certain hours forbidden 402 (3) unsu...

The usual pretexts for breaking enclosure: (1) illness 361 (2) to enter a stricter rule 363 (3) convent business 367 (4) ceremonies, processions, funerals 368 (5) pilgrimages 37...

Motives for taking the veil: (1) a career and a vocation for girls 25 (2) a 'dumping ground' for political prisoners 29 (3) for illegitimate, deformed or half-witted girls 30 (4...

The breakdown of personal poverty 322 (1) the annual _peculium_ 323 (2) money pittances 323 (3) gifts in money and kind 324 (4) legacies 325 (5) proceeds of a nun's own labour 330

The reaction from routine 290 (1) carelessness in singing the services 291 (2) _accidia_ 293 (3) quarrels 297 (4) gay clothes 303 (5) pet animals 305 (6) dancing, minstrels and...