Women's Monasteries Research Articles

ПОСУД З ЛІТЕРНИМИ ГРАФІТІ XVII–XVIII СТОЛІТТЯ З ВОЗНЕСЕНСЬКОГО ЖІНОЧОГО МОНАСТИРЯ ПОБЛИЗУ ДУБНА

Archaeological excavation of ancient Dubno monasteries, founded by dukes Ostrozki, much disclose the history of these places. In their time, they defined original culture-religion character of the town. Investigation on the territory of Voznesenskyi monastery with large square in 2018–2022 gave possibilities to analyze large items from end of XVI – first third of XIX cc. There were the original fragments of pottery found among ceramic complexes. They have scratched letters in graffiti technique. Total found six specimens of pottery with such kinds of marks. The territorial and chronological frameworks of everyday using of such wares are considered. The review of European monastery complexes with similar founds witnesses about wide culture context of this phenomena. After the discovery these finds, dated of XIII c., in Cistercian monastery in Herkenrode monastery (Belgium), the interest for its study had significantly grown. Subsequent investigation allowed to find many potteries scratched with letters marks in women monasteries in Belgium, Netherlands, France and Lithuania. As far as we know, the fragments identified on the excavation near Dubno are the first facts of such finds in Ukraine. The possibilities of use the pottery with scratched letters are under consider in the article. They are associated with the social structure inside the monasteries. Written sources show that some part of nuns stood out in the economic status and ate better dishes. In addition, this could do novitiates. These pottery might use also in the medical purposes.

Переписные книги 1701–1703 гг. как источник для изучения женских монастырей Российского государства

The history of Russian female monasticism is one of the little-studied topics. One of the main sources that allows us to characterize the monasteries of the late XVII – early XVIII centuries are the census books that were compiled as part of the initial stage of the church reform of Peter I. The census books of 1701-1703 are a multifaceted source. A large place in them is occupied by information about monastic temples and their interior decoration, about the treasury, where monastic documents were kept, libraries, economic activities, land holdings, etc. The study showed that the census books for the study of nunneries are a very informative source. On their basis, it is possible to establish the number of women's monasteries. They contain information about the management of monasteries, about the social status of nuns, their daily life, as well as about the income and financing of monasteries by the state. The materials of the description to one degree or another reflect the church transformations of Peter I carried out in the country in 1701-1703, which had a significant impact on the life and way of life of the nuns. This makes the census books a very promising source for studying the history of women's monasteries in Russia at the turn of the XVII–XVIII centuries.

From total institution to extitution? Discussions on the future of monastic life in the Benedictine women's monasteries of Catalonia (Spain)

On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Federation of Benedictine Women’s Monasteries of Catalonia (Spain), the five monasteries represented are discussing the following question: what will monastic life be like in the future? This question is added to the debate about “new forms of monasticism”, “urban monastic life” and, in a more general sense, to the modernisations and “the opening up” of the precepts and practices of monastic life at this time. Faced with the ambitious monastic questioning, the author “responds” with five deliberately provocative debates developed out of a consideration of various chapters of the Rule of St. Benedict that raise profound questions when it comes to responding to the question presented here. Having described these five debates, by way of a summary, the article presents three ideal types of monastery in relation to the current processes of deinstitutionalisation that represent, in an overall way, three provisional responses and serve as a focus for the question discussed here.

Virgins and Widows: Imperial Legislation and Practices of Admission to the Novitiate and Profession in Ukrainian Women's Monasteries (1722–86)

Virgins and Widows: Imperial Legislation and Practices of Admission to the Novitiate and Profession in Ukrainian Women's Monasteries (1722–86)

Sensual Encounters. Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany (review)

Reviewed by: Sensual Encounters. Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany Ulrike Wiethaus, PhD (bio) Sensual Encounters. Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany. By Erika Lauren Lindgren. New York: Columbia University Press and Gutenberg-e, 2009. 190 pages, $ 60.00 (on-line version is public domain). The slim volume surveys the spatial, visual, and auditory environments at six female Dominican monasteries founded in the 13th century and located in Colmar (France), Freiburg (Germany), and Diessenhofen (Switzerland). The monasteries [End Page 326] produced a remarkable set of texts, the so-called Schwesternbücher or Sister-Books (a total of nine texts of this genre have survived), composed by nuns in the first half of the fourteenth century in either Latin or Middle High German. The Sister-Books, a literary genre not found elsewhere, are also called Gnadenleben ("biographies of Divine grace"). Combining stylistic elements of hagiography, chronicle, and foundation legend, the Sister-Books offer a unique window into the nuns' religious life. The author's analysis follows the pioneering studies by Getrude Jaron Lewis (1996), Leonard P. Hindsley (1998), and Jeffrey F. Hamburger (1998) in the United States, which examined the genre as mystical literature (Lewis), the texts of a particular monastery (Hindsley on Engelthal), and the arts in spiritual context (Hamburger). The author, a historian, has published her study under the aegis of Columbia University Press's project Gutenberg-e, funded by an Andrew W. Mellon grant (http://www.gutenberg-e.org/lindgren/index.html#pgtop). Both versions are based on the author's dissertation, for which she received the Gutenberg-e Dissertation Prize (2003) from the American Historical Association and Columbia University Press. Unlike the printed version, the electronic version is fully searchable (there is no index in the paper version), and offers a great number of full color photos, many of which are taken by the author. Perhaps too late to be fully integrated into her analysis, but important for a comparison with Lindgren's work, the structure and focus of Sensual Encounters is paralleled by a superb multi-media exhibition project on women's monasteries in Bonn, Germany (2005), entitled Krone und Schleier. Kunst aus Mittelalterlichen Frauenklöstern (Crown and Veil. Art from Medieval Women's Monasteries). The Dominican female monasteries figure prominently both in the exhibition and the catalogue. As is true for Lindgren's study, the exhibition design explored the placement of art in interior monastic spaces. The catalogue contains several essays by prominent medievalists exploring aspects of Lindgren's chosen theme (translated into English as Crown and Veil: Female Monasticism from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Centuries by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Susan Marti, Dietlinde Hamburger, and Caroline Walker Bynum, 2008). Sensual Encounters is thus part of the growing academic interest in what Doreen B. Massey (2005) has termed the "radical contemporaneity" of space, an inquiry of the representation of space in literature, politics, and culture, and the increasing pull of on-line publishing. Recent films about monastic spirituality have also explored the meaning of space for spirituality with great sensitivity: Philip Gr.ning's Into Great Silence (2007), a documentary about life in the Grande Chartreuse, and Pavel Lungin's The Island (2007), a poignant story about a Russian Orthodox monastery, come to mind here. Lindgren's work thus contributes to a more holistic and embodied understanding of the past as we newly perceive its marks on space and place, and open both disciplinary boundaries (in this case, history, art history, and religious studies) and boundaries between popular culture and the academy (on her faculty web page, the author lists as her three favorite links the scholarly Internet Medieval Sourcebook, a BBC video game called Viking Quest, and Slayage. The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies). How does this proliferation of new communication media, the reconfiguration of academic boundaries, and the humanities' re-discovery of a spatial grammar and syntax for human behavior affect our understanding of medieval spirituality? Sensual Encounters demonstrates some of the pleasures and pitfalls of this new era. [End Page 327] First, a brief summary of the chapters: the introduction offers an overview of Dominican history in the thirteenth century, of the Sister-Book manuscripts, and of secondary...

Women as Benefactors at Catalan Benedictine Nunneries

AbstractThis study explores secular women's gift-giving to women's monasteries as well as other institutions, through the records of two late medieval Catalan Benedictine nunneries. It examines the ways in which female donors to the nunneries created permanent legacies and affected the nuns' daily existence. From the evidence of women's wills, the study also examines women's gifts to a wider range of religious and charitable institutions. The wills tend to fall into one of a few patterns, with some female testators prioritizing legacies for their families, and others giving the bulk of their goods to charity.

Women in the Premonstratensian Order of Northwestern Germany, 1120-1250

Written sometime before 1226, Jacques de Vitry's description of the Premonstratensian order is frequently cited as evidence of the harsh treatment of within the order.1 Although initially celebratory, de Vitry revealed that during his lifetime negligence had infiltrated the cloister. Highlighting his own disquiet about Premonstratensian men and living close to one another, he wrote that after the original fervor of the order had died down the narrow communicating windows were exchanged for spacious doors.2 He twice mentioned the fact that the order had decided to no longer receive women,3 and he linked the decline of the order to the rise of the Cistercians.4 To what degree do the comments and observations of Jacques de Vitry hold true for northwestern Germany? The following examination provides insight into the nature of Premonstratensian women's monasteries and male-female relationships in the archbishopric of Cologne from approximately 1120 to 1250.5 examining foundation charters, property exchanges, and other primary source materials from twenty-three Premonstratensian monasteries, this article reveals that women's monasticism flourished within the Premonstratensian order of northwestern Germany.6 In making this argument I demonstrate the efficacy of relying on regional monastic and episcopal records to understand the role of in religious orders. Recent scholarship has addressed a multitude of issues relating to twelfth-century monasticism, and these new texts have greatly added to our ability to understand within monasticism.7 As Penelope Johnson showed in her study of religious in medieval France, documents of practice (charters, letters, financial inventories) have proved infinitely more valuable than documents of theory (theological tracts, statutes, sermons, prescriptive narratives) for uncovering the history of the once elusive medieval nun.8 Although the history of women's monasticism still remains to be interwoven into the broader narrative of monasticism, all serious scholars must now acknowledge that played a significant role in twelfth-century spirituality, church life, and politics. Yet scholarship has tended to focus on England, France, and the Cistercian order, neglecting medieval Germany and the Premonstratensian order. Despite its foundations throughout Europe and the Holy Land, the Premonstratensian order has been little studied, and rarely incorporated into the larger schema of monastic history.9 Scholarly examinations on specific aspects of the Premonstratensian order have appeared recently, as well as studies that explore individual monasteries throughout historical development.10 However, remains no satisfactory scholarly monograph for the Premonstratensian order in continental Europe.11 The history of within the Premonstratensian order has not been entirely neglected.12 Yet our understanding of within the order remains incomplete.13 In keeping with broader narratives of monastic history which tend to emphasize the exclusion of within religious movements, the Premonstratensian order has been depicted as possessing a deep ambivalence toward the cura monialium.14 This assumption is based largely on statutes issued by the General Chapter of Premontre, including a pre-1198 decree to discontinue the reception of sisters and an 1198 papal bull endorsing this decision.15 Richard Southern claimed that the of the Premonstratensian order were forced out of the monasteries to begin their wanderings and that were no longer admitted to the order because of anti-feminine criticisms and popular religious conceptions against women. By the middle of the he writes, there were powerful influences at work to get rid of the intruders.16 Other scholars have argued that few houses of women managed to survive, and that during the thirteenth century the female order thus died out, except in Belgium. …

Les Abbesses et la Parole au dix-septième siècle: les discours monastiques à la lumière des interdictions pauliniennes

One tends to take for granted that in women's monasteries the only voices raised were those of its masculine directors and preachers. However, while sermons by priests were generally reserved for Sundays and feast days, the abbesses addressed their communities several times a week or even daily. Although the Pauline prohibitions restricted women from speaking on religious topics in public or to mixed groups, within the walls of the convent that was assimilated to the private domain of a household, abbesses exhorted, instructed and rebuked their nuns at chapter meetings or during recreation sessions. Many such talks might have been considered a form of preaching if they had been delivered by abbots in a monastery of men. However, because abbesses of the era generally lacked rhetorical and theological training, they had to content themselves with the informal registers of sacred oratory.

The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages by Clarissa W. Atkinson

The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages By Clarissa W. Atkinson. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1991. Pp. xiv, 274. $24.95.) Early in this impressive book, Clarissa Atkinson reminds us of the exemplary case of the young North African matron, and martyr, Perpetua. Writing her own account of the events preceding her death, at the very beginning of the third century, she rejected her father's appeal to her familial and maternal ties the proud insistence that the only name by which she would identify herself was the name of Christian. For Perpetua and her companion, Felicitas, who went to the arena fresh from childbirth, motherhood was neither an obstacle nor an avenue to holiness, to the martyrdom by which they proclaimed their Christian identity and sacred vocation. When the present study reaches its end, in the early modern centuries, motherhood itself had come to define the good Christian woman. For both Protestants and Catholics, reproductive labor served both God and man; developing ideologies idealized and enforced such service. To discover how and why these and earlier ideologies came to share in the of Christian motherhood is the central purpose of an inquiry that belongs, as its author carefully notes, more to the history of ideas than to social history. In her excavations of motherhood's vast buried history, she is by no means inattentive to the real, that is, biological o appear, at times significantly, often fleetingly, in the pages of this book. They appear most actively as the late medieval mothers of love and tears whose saintly achievements contributed to a major reshaping of Christian motherhood. With these and similar exceptions, however, this artifact of history and ideology was largely the creation of men rather than the work of themselves. Its ideologies were formed and reformed in a world controlled, broadly speaking by fathers, a world whose religious and intellectual Life, during much of this period, was dominated by the celibate men who powerfully influenced successive phases in the Christian construction of motherhood. Assembling the building-blocks of the new institution in its diverse ancient contexts, Atkinson's early chapters focus on the challenges that Christian offered to, and encountered in, traditional social and physiological views of motherhood. To ancient notions of modernity as women's sole or primary claim to status and significance, early Christian women such as Perpetua opposed a conviction that motherhood was essentially irrelevant to their spiritual aspirations. Challenging these aspirations in more complicated ways were the sometimes conflicting, chiefly male notions of physical motherhood and, more generally, of women's bodies, and the meanings of sex and gender, propagated in the works of ancient and medieval science and medicine. Often stressing female inferiority, learned writers might well convey ideas of maternity supporting the incompatibility of health and holiness. Holiness was, in any case, the goal strongly stressed by the exaltation of virginity and spiritual motherhood that marked the new ideology most vigorously fostered by the dominant monastic life and culture of the early Middle Ages. In spiritual motherhood, the only religious leadership open to women, as Atkinson notes, the term mother, transformed, retained its ancient power. Its early representatives, commonly virgin abbesses of women's monasteries, displaced the physical to whose often precarious fortunes during these centuries we have a singular witness in the manual of advice composed by the ninth-century Frankish noblewoman, Dhuoda, for her young son. Uniquely joining virginity and maternity, the changing images of the Virgin Mary introduce the next phase in the remodeling of motherhood, which Atkinson explores in a perceptive analysis of the stages in the theological, and popular, construction of the Mother of God. …

Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) and the Reform of Russian Women's Monastic Communities

D espite the title of this article, let me say at the outset that during Filaret's long episcopate (1821-67) there was no reform of monastic communities-in the sense of a major reform-such as the church reforms of Peter the Great in 1721 or Catherine the Great in 1764. In addition, many of the reforms in the communal and spiritual life of monasteries that Filaret advocated were intended for both men's and women's monasteries. Nevertheless, a scholarly work focusing specifically on Filaret and women's monastic communities is multiply warranted: first, because little has been written on women's religious life; second, because certain new forms of religious life peculiar to women, particularly women's religious communities (zhenskie obshchiny), developed in the nineteenth century which Filaret encouraged because of their unusual vitality; and, finally, because the movement toward communal reform in Orthodox religious life had a significant, though understudied, impact on prerevolutionary popular culture.1 When Filaret became archbishop of Moscow in 1821 (rising to metropolitan in 1825), his diocese included seven women's monasteries in the city of Moscow and three outside the city.2 These were old, venerable institutions such as the Alekseevskii convent, founded in 1358, Novodevichii, founded in 1524, and