Devout Laywomen in the Early Modern World (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World)

Devout laywomen raise a number of provocative questions about gender and religion in the early modern world. How did some groups or individuals evade the Tridentine legislation that required third order women to take solemn vows and observe active and passive enclosure? How did their attempts to exercise a female apostolate (albeit with varying degrees of success and assertiveness) destabilize hierarchies of class and gender? To the extent that their beliefs and practices diverged from approved doctrine and rituals, what insights can they provide into the tensions between official religion and lay religiosity? Addressing these and many other questions, Devout Laywomen in the Early Modern World reflects new directions in gender history, offering a more nuanced approach to the paradigm of woman as the prototypical "disciplined" subject of church-state power. Part I. Service -- 1. Community, Conflict, And Local Authority: The Basque Seroras / Amanda L. Scott -- 2. The Company Of St. Ursula In Counter-reformation Italy / Querciolo Mazzonis -- 3. Nursing As A Vocation Or A Profession? Women's Status And The Meaning Of Healing In Early Modern France And England / Susan Dinan -- Part Ii. Perceptions Of Holiness -- 4. Historicizing The Beatas : The Figures Behind Reformation And Counter-reformation Conflicts / Maria Laura Giodano -- 5. Ecco La Santa! Printed Italian Biographies Of Devout Laywomen, Seventeenth-eighteenth Centuries / Anne Jacobson Schutte -- 6. Flying In Formation: Subjectivity And Collectivity In Luisa Melgarejo De Soto's Mystical Practices / Stacey Schlau -- 7. Illuminated Islands : Luisa De Los Reyes And The Inquisition In Manila / Jessica Fowler -- Part Iii. Confessional Crossings -- 8. Elastic Institutions : Beguine Communities In Early Modern Germany / Jennifer Kolpacof Deane -- 9. Neither Nun Nor Laywoman: Entering Lutheran Convents During The Reformation Of Female Religious Communities In The Duchy Of Braunschweig, 1542-1655 / Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer -- 10. Marina De Saavedra : A Devout Laywoman On A Confessional Frontier (zamora, 1558-1559) / Doris Moreno Martinez -- 11. Devout Recusant Women, Advice Manuals, And The Creation Of Holy Households Under Siege / Ellen A. Macek -- Part Iv. Alliances -- 12. Convent Alternatives For Rich And Poor Girls In Seventeenth-century Florence : The Lay Conservatories Of Eleonora Ramirez Di Montalvo (1602-1659) / Jenniferharaguchi -- 13. The Lives Of Anne Line : Vowed Laywoman, Recusant Martyr, And Elizabethan Saint / Robert E. Scully, S.j. -- 14. Letters, Books, And Relics : Material And Spiritual Networks In The Life Of Luisa De Carvajal Y Mendoza (1564-1614) / Maria J. Pando-canbteli -- 15. Women Apostles In Early Modern Japan, 1549-1650 / Haruko Nawata Ward -- 16. Jesuit Apologias For Laywomen's Spirituality / Alison Weber. Edited By Alison Weber. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 List of Figures 11 List of Contributors 12 Acknowledgments 15 A Note on Texts and Translations 16 Introduction Devout Laywomen in the Early Modern World: The Historiographic Challenge 18 PART I Service 46 1 Community, Conflict, and Local Authority: The Basque Seroras 48 2 The Company of St. Ursula in Counter-Reformation Italy 65 3 Nursing as a Vocation or a Profession? Women’s Status and the Meaning of Healing in Early Modern France and England 86 PART II Perceptions of Holiness 106 4 Historicizing the Beatas: The Figures behind Reformation and Counter-Reformation Conflicts 108 5 Ecco la santa! Printed Italian Biographies of Devout Laywomen, Seventeenth-Eighteenth Centuries 129 6 Flying in Formation: Subjectivity and Collectivity in Luisa Melgarejo de Soto’s Mystical Practices 150 7 Illuminated Islands: Luisa de los Reyes and the Inquisition in Manila 169 PART III Confessional Crossings 190 8 Elastic Institutions: Beguine Communities in Early Modern Germany 192 9 Neither Nun nor Laywoman: Entering Lutheran Convents during the Reformation of Female Religious Communities in the Duchy of Braunschweig, 1542–1655 213 10 Marina de Saavedra: A Devout Laywoman on a Confessional Frontier (Zamora, 1558–1559) 236 11 Devout Recusant Women, Advice Manuals, and the Creation of Holy Households “Under Siege” 252 PART IV Alliances 270 12 Convent Alternatives for Rich and Poor Girls in Seventeenth-Century Florence: The Lay Conservatories of Eleonora Ramirez di Montalvo (1602–1659) 272 13 The Lives of Anne Line: Vowed Laywoman, Recusant Martyr, and Elizabethan Saint 293 14 Letters, Books, and Relics: Material and Spiritual Networks in the Life of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza (1564–1614) 311 15 Women Apostles in Early Modern Japan, 1549–1650 329 16 Jesuit Apologias for Laywomen’s Spirituality 348 Glossary 370 Index 378 Focusing specifically on semi-religious women, this volume addresses a number of provocative questions about gender and religion in the early modern world. It offers a nuanced approach to the paradigm of woman as the prototypical "disciplined" subject of church-state power, and reflects new directions in gender history.