Guidance for Women in Twelfth-Century Convents

Library of Medieval Women

by Vera Petch Morton (Translator), Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Translator)

These translated letters and texts composed for younger and older women in twelfth-century convents illuminate the powerful medieval ideals of virginity and chastity. Abelard's history of women's roles in the church and his letter on women's education, both written for Heloise in her work as abbess, are seen here alongside previously untranslated letters and texts for abbesses and nuns in England and France. An interpretive essay explores the practical and spiritual engagement of women's convents with medieval commemorative and memorial practices, showing that the professional concern of women religious with death goes far beyond the stereotype of nuns as dead to the world, or enclosed in living death. VERA MORTON gained an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Liverpool in 1994. JOCELYN WOGAN-BROWNE is Professor of English at Fordham University, NY.

213 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2003

Reviews

[Sarah McGowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been meaning to read this book since graduate school. It made me nostalgic for the days I spent reading and studying the lives and material culture of monastic women. This volume deals only with writings, and focuses on the surviving writings of male writers directed to monastic women. It underscores the themes of virginity, mortality, Heaven and prayer that were so central to the culture of female monasticism. The essay at the end ties everything together, and presents a compelling picture for the vibrancy of these communities that were supposedly “dead to the world.”