Convent chronicles : women writing about women and reform in the late Middle Ages

The late Middle Ages was a time of intense religious ferment in Europe marked by countless calls for reform of the Church. Within monastic orders, the Observant movement was one such effort to reform religious houses, sparked by the widespread fear that these houses had strayed too far from their original calling. In Convent Chronicles, Anne Winston-Allen offers a rare inside look at the Observant reform movement from the women’s point of view. Although we know a great deal about the men who inhabited Observant religious houses, we know very little about their female counterparts—even though women outnumbered men in many places. Often what we do know about women comes to us through the filter of men’s accounts. Recovering long-overlooked writings by women in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Winston-Allen surveys the extraordinary literary and scribal activities in German- and Dutch-speaking religious communities in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries. While previous studies have relied on records left by male activists, these women’s narratives offer an alternative perspective that challenges traditional views of women’s role and agency. Women were, in fact, active participants in the religious conversations that dominated the day. With its rich depiction of women as transmitters of culture, Convent Chronicles will be invaluable to scholars as well as to graduate and undergraduate students interested in the history of women’s monasticism and religious writing. "In Convent Chronicles, Anne Winston-Allen offers a rare inside look at the Observant reform movement from the women's point of view." "Recovering long-overlooked writings by women in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Winston-Allen surveys the extraordinary literary and scribal activities in German- and Dutch-speaking religious communities in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries. While previous studies have relied on records left by male activists, these women's narratives offer an alternative perspective that challenges traditional views of women's role and agency." "Convent Chronicles will be invaluable to scholars as well as to graduate and undergraduate students interested in the history of women's monasticism and religious writing."--Jacket Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 12 Introduction: Women Writing in the Late Middle Ages......Page 20 1 Late Medieval Nunneries: Accounts by Women......Page 38 2 The ‘‘Women’s Religious Movement’’ and the Observant Movement: Female Piety and the Establishment......Page 84 3 Women of the Reform......Page 116 4 Opponents of the Reform and Enclosure......Page 148 5 Did Nuns Have a Renaissance? Libraries and Literary Activities......Page 188 6 ‘‘Femininity-in-Writing’’: New Heroines, Strategies, and Roles in Late Medieval Piety......Page 224 Notes......Page 258 Selected Bibliography......Page 312 Index......Page 358 Pennsylvania State University Press Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Preface and Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: Women Writing in the Late Middle Ages 20 1 Late Medieval Nunneries: Accounts by Women 38 2 The ‘‘Women’s Religious Movement’’ and the Observant Movement: Female Piety and the Establishment 84 3 Women of the Reform 116 4 Opponents of the Reform and Enclosure 148 5 Did Nuns Have a Renaissance? Libraries and Literary Activities 188 6 ‘‘Femininity-in-Writing’’: New Heroines, Strategies, and Roles in Late Medieval Piety 224 Notes 258 Selected Bibliography 312 Index 358 ISBN-13:,9780271024608