Women's Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215
Bruce L. (A Venarde
In this engaging work, Bruce L. Venarde uncovers a largely unknown story of women's religious lives and puts female monasticism back in the mainstream of medieval ecclesiastical history. To chart the expansion of nunneries in France and England during the central Middle Ages, he presents statistics and narratives to describe growth in broad historical contexts, with special attention to social and economic change.
Venarde explains that in the years 1000–1300 the number of nunneries within Europe grew tenfold. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, religious institutions for women developed in a variety of ways, mostly outside the self-conscious reform ... Read more
This era of expansion came to an end in the thirteenth century when forces of regulation and new economic realities reduced radically the number of new nunneries. Venarde argues that the factors encouraging and inhibiting monastic foundations for men and women were much more similar than scholars have previously assumed.
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About Bruce L. (A Venarde
Reviews for Women's Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215
Ann Kessler
American Benedictine Review
Venarde provides a detailed study of the origins and foundation of women's monasteries in fifteen dioceses during the tenth through thirteenth centuries.... Venarde has made ... Read more