5 - Women and the religious life

Summary

THE PROBLEMS

It has been common in accounts of medieval monasticism to omit or marginalize the role of women. David Knowles's masterly study, for instance, is primarily one of male monasticism; he makes only a few comments on two aspects of female monasticism, the Old English nunneries between 1066 and 1100, and the origin of the Gilbertine Order. The notable exception was the pioneering work of Eileen Power, Medieval English nunneries c. 1275–1535, published in 1922. Recent years have seen, as part of the surge in women's studies, the advent of works devoted specifically to medieval nuns. Particularly pertinent for this survey are two monographs treating English women religious after the Conquest. There has yet to be a modern study of British monasticism which places the contribution of women within the context of both male and female religious life. The study of religious women and their communities in the Middle Ages poses a number of problems. One – and possibly a major reason for their neglect in the past – is the scarcity of source material, specifically a lack of records produced within the communities themselves. Nunneries may figure as prominently as some male houses in the visitation returns preserved in bishops' registers, but fewer than twenty English female houses have left cartularies, those collections of copies of charters and other legal documents which enable us to build up a picture of the growth of the landed estates of a house, and to analyse the identity of benefactors and the motives for their grants.