Description: A multi-disciplinary re-evaluation of the role of women religious in the Middle Ages, both inside and outside the cloister.
Medieval women found diverse ways of expressing their religious aspirations: within the cloister as members of monastic and religious orders, within the world as vowesses, or between the two as anchorites. Via a range of disciplinary approaches, from history, archaeology, literature, and the visual arts, the essays in this volume challenge received scholarly narratives and re-examine the roles of women religious: their authority and agency within their own communities and the wider world; their learning and literacy; place in the landscape; and visual culture. Overall, they highlight the impact of women on the world around them, the significance of their presence in communities, and the experiences and legacies they left behind.Brief description: KIMM CURRAN is an independent researcher. Her expertise is in communities of women religious in Scotland, medieval women's monastic landscapes and heritage, and prosopography.
Review Quotes: Medieval Women Religious makes a statement from its very title. The unexpected inversion of 'religious women' into a more empowering phrase is meant to be an uncomfortable prelude to a book that challenges readers to defy categories... Providing a state-of-the-art of the field, the editors justify their daring decision to avoid using 'nun' or 'nunnery' throughout the volume and to replace these terms instead with more collegial, agency-charged ones such as community or house.-- "JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL MONASTIC STUDIES"