Description: Female religious communities provide a fascinating insight into cultural, intellectual, and social developments during the Middle Ages. Yet they have figured mainly as a pastoral problem in the study of religious orders. Turning the focus on this largely discarded half of the religiously active members of society offers an enormous research potential, perhaps the largest neglected area in current historical studies. This is what the current volume sets out to explore. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the central role of religious women, their visions and actions, for the development of pre-modern society becomes apparent. The complex relationship and interdependence of the cloistered women and lay society shines a new light on significant changes in medieval society.
