Category Archives: Research Seminars

Jeanne-Marie de Maillé

The Other Sister Research Group met on May 16th, 2025, to discuss the noblewoman Jeanne-Marie de Maillé who, after a chaste marriage, lived an intriguing religious life in widowhood, never entering a religious order. Her vita and canonization inquest are currently being compiled, translated, and commented on by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Bruce Venarde, and Edmund (Ed) van der Molen for their forthcoming volume, Jeanne-Marie de Maillé (1331-1414): Searching for Sainthood in Late Medieval France.

The circulated readings included the introduction and four chapters, one with an extract from the vita, “Chapter 3: A Pious Young Widow in the City,” and the others with extracts from the inquest: “Chapter 13: The Articles of Interrogation” “Chapter 20: The Testimony of Pierre des Aubuis,” and “Chapter 25: The Testimony of Jeanne la Carrée.” Each extract is followed by a commentary.

Renate started the presentations by explaining how she came across Jeanne-Marie while working on the political visions of other medieval women religious, such as Constance de Rabastens, and thanks to the work of André Vauchez: Jeanne-Marie had had a vision about the papal schism. Renate then suggested to Bruce that they work together on her vita by the Franciscan Martin of Boisgaultier and her inquest. After they started their collaboration, they came across Ed’s name, through A.J. Langley’s podcast “My Favorite Mystic,” as someone also working on Jeanne-Marie; they contacted him and all three decided to work together. The group’s three-part collaboration functions through a tripartite division of the vita and inquest texts. Each translates their sections of the primary sources and writes commentaries for them, but also comments on the others’ translations and commentaries with a colour-coded schema. They are in the later stages of the process, and Renate noted that their work on the texts has already begun to establish multiple additional projects, such as her current work on Jacques II de Bourbon (d. 1438), Comte de La Marche, who possibly sponsored Jeanne-Marie’s canonization inquest. Bruce added that their chosen structure for the book, which incorporates a commentary at the end of each chapter, has been influenced by the example of the recent publication A Female Apostle in Medieval Italy: The Life of Clare of Rimini, by Jacques Dalarun, Sean L. Field, and Valerio Cappozzo (2023).

Ed, the second speaker, explained that he discovered Jeanne-Marie through his doctoral research on the construction of saints’ identities. He is especially interested in exploring the disagreements that could develop over what kind of saints could emerge from canonization processes. His initial fascination with Jeanne-Marie was due to her liminal position between religious and lay. He considers the texts of the vita and the inquest to represent the first stages of saint-making, and, using the methodology of value theory, he emphasizes the differences in values that are apparent among the different proponents of Jeanne-Marie’s canonization. The initial stages of the canonization process invited people to negotiate, transform, and appropriate value of different kinds, encouraged the exercise of social creativity, and defined the values of the community. In general, Ed said, during the development of a saint’s cult, community consensus was important to the construction of saintly identity, yet multiple identities emerge from Jeanne-Marie’s dossier. As he pointed out, the two texts present additional questions: since there is no known surviving manuscript of the vita (only a seventeenth-century printed edition), the sources provide few answers to queries about the intended audience, purpose, and dissemination. Jeanne-Marie’s name does appear in a fifteenth-century breviary now in Besançon, suggesting her cult spread beyond her native region.

Next, Ed explained that Jeanne-Marie’s hagiographer extrapolated a make-shift set of religious vows for her in the vita encompassing poverty, chastity, and obedience through the mechanism of mystical visions of Mary and Christ and demonstrated, for example, by her refusal to remarry after the death of her husband. Within the vita, there is some effort to cloister her and to regularize her identity.

Bruce, the final speaker, discussed his entry into the project through an invitation by Renate. He also praised the group’s work process, which he emphasized is heavily collaborative in all aspects. This project was particularly attractive, he said, due to the manageable length of the inquest and its potential usefulness for both teaching and research. So far, only canonization inquests in partibus (organized from Rome) have been edited and translated. This will be the first translation into English (or any modern language) of the preceding stage, the diocesan inquest.

During the Q&A period, moderated by Joseph George Akl, Isabelle Cochelin asked how Jeanne-Marie’s hymen could have been inspected after her death (as mentioned in the inquest) to prove her virginity. Renate and Bruce suggested that there is no information about this in the text and mentioned the unique character of the expression used: claustrum virgineum integrum, incorruptum, atque intactum (“a whole, pure, and intact hymen”, Ch. 25). Such an expression does not appear to have been used elsewhere. Lori Walters provided the example of Joan of Arc, whose virginity was also checked, and she suggested that this was a fairly normalized practice. Isabelle clarified that her astonishment was related to Jeanne-Marie being dead when the examination occurred.

Laura Moncion suggested that Jeanne-Marie perfectly fits the description of an “other sister,” owing particularly to her interactions with lay society (taking care of pregnant women, attending baptisms, etc.). Laura asked whether Jeanne-Marie was performing midwife duties and whether she shared a spiritual or worldly relationship with the children whose baptisms she attended or those of the pregnant women she helped. She also asked who set the articles of interrogation in the inquest: a confessor, a court employee, or the community. In response to the latter question, Bruce answered that the hagiographer, local members of the clergy, and perhaps Jacques de Bourbon, the possible funder of the project, each had roles in the process. Renate added that it was most likely a joint project, although the preliminary inquest would have come from the diocese. Jacques de Bourbon’s procurator seems to have acted in his stead since he himself was not physically there: he was about to be married to Queen Joanna II of Naples. Despite these clues, there is no clear indication of who funded the project. There were only 16 witness across the course of a year, most of them from in or near Tours, so funding may simply have been piecemeal.

In response to Laura’s question about midwifery and godparentage, Ed answered that Jeanne-Marie did not necessarily act as a midwife, but she did act as godmother to at least one child, a son of Duke Louis I d’Anjou. While married, she also acted as a foster mother to three orphaned children, who vanish from the narrative after they are mentioned. She is, however, portrayed as a maternal figure. The narrative includes several miracles related to childbirth. In one example, Jeanne-Marie convinces a knight who is skilled in surgery to intervene in a successful caesarian birth. There are also examples of long-distance miracles related to childbirth, which are formulaic: the pregnancy seems doomed, Jeanne-Marie intervenes, and both mother and child survive. Ed added that she is viewed as both a spiritual and worldly maternal figure and godparent and perhaps even as a godparent to the wider community. This appears to have been a significant and purposeful theme in the texts provided through multiple examples of her nurturing of children’s spiritual development.

Lucy Barnhouse responded to Ed,s comments on maternal characteristics, suggesting connections to Laura Kalas’ theory that Margery Kempe did spiritual work that paralleled the roles of mothering and care that she would otherwise have fulfilled within a more traditional life path. Lucy then proposed that some of Jeanne-Marie’s activities complemented the work of hospital sisters. Some hospital records from France excluded pregnant women and foundlings from the hospital, perhaps due to concerns about noise. Thus, Jeanne-Marie was engaging in work that hospitals were not doing for various reasons; her embedment in her community might parallel some phenomena discussed in Ruth Salter’s “cure seekers.” Lucy then asked whether the three speakers have considered Jeanne-Marie’s potential relation to hospital work. Renate answered that Jeanne-Marie did work at a hospital at one point, but an unfortunate incident with an ill man, related to grapes and diarrhea, ended her employment there. Indeed, she was a “gig worker” and did not work in hospitals or the medical field in any consistent way.

Ed added that Jeanne-Marie’s hagiographer struggled to fit her into a box: almost a mystic, almost a recluse, almost a hospital worker, but none of them completely. She often shifted what she was doing, which led to issues crafting a distinct narrative and identity, further emphasizing the code-switching and liminality inherent in her narrative. Renate added that she wants to compare the vita and the inquest at some point in the future since many aspects of the inquest, such as Jeanne-Marie’s visions, are excluded from the vita. Some other aspects of Jeanne-Marie’s life, however, appear to have been over-emphasized and dramatized by the hagiographer. Her liberation of prisoners, for example, mentioned briefly in a written testimony, became a multiple-paragraph section in the vita. Within this context, determining how the hagiographer selected information to include in the vita is a matter of great interest.

Next, Adam Davis asked, related to Ed’s comments on the competing versions of identity, how intensely Jeanne-Marie’s identities differed. He also asked how the ambition of female saints was discussed and represented, extending this question to the ambition of the hagiographer. How did writers stretch the boundaries of what was acceptable for women? Adam offered a comparison between Jeanne-Marie and Clare of Rimini, who both wished to drink from the chalice at Communion. While Clare did drink the wine, Jeanne-Marie’s mouth filled with blood in its place. In response to the first question, Ed answered that there are at least three or four versions of Jeanne-Marie that emerge from the narratives of different witnesses: worldly mystic, efficient healer, and St Martin-like character. The vita is meant to synthesize these different versions and produce a cohesive portrait. He added that her relationship with the Franciscans is emphasized in the vita through mutual support.  She also interacts with a lot of aristocratic networks connected to the Franciscans, which is emphasized in the vita but not by the witnesses, demonstrating significant value differences between different communities. Thus, the identities that emerge include Jeanne-Marie as a traditional healing saint, an idealized Franciscan saint, an otherworldly mystic, and a corporate civic saint. At the point in the process that is revealed by the two source documents, no significant synthesis between these perspectives has yet been achieved.

Bruce added that many aspects of sainthood were comprised in the two texts and that this seems to have been purposeful on the part of the hagiographer. Ed said that they seemed to be “ticking boxes” for different aspects of sainthood. Renate emphasized that no writings directly from Jeanne-Marie survive, unlike for some of her contemporaries such as St Colette of Corbie; we only have second-hand accounts of Jeanne-Marie’s religious philosophy.

Delfi Nieto-Isabel then asked how much we know about Jeanne-Marie.s “devotees” – the people who were behind the inquest and vita – especially about their social connections to Jeanne-Marie and to each other. She also asked what Jeanne-Marie’s exact relationship was to the Franciscans. How was she both reclusive and staying with them? Finally, she inquired about the language used to refer to Jeanne-Marie in the sources. Since Jeanne-Marie fulfilled so many different roles and appeared to have been buried in a Franciscan habit, how did people refer to her? To this last question, Renate answered that the description “hermitesse” was insulting to Jeanne-Marie. She compared Jeanne-Marie to Colette of Corbie, citing her forthcoming article (“La recluse et l’‘Hermitesse’: La place et la fonction de la réclusion et de l’érémitisme dans les vies de Sainte Colette de Corbie (1381-1447) et de la bienheureuse Jeanne-Marie de Maillé (1331-1414)” in Une autre Cité des dames: Hommage à Yasmina Foehr-Janssens, edited by Hélène Bellon-Méguelle, Camille Carnaille, Philippe Frieden, and Marion Uhlig, forthcoming): Colette was enclosed in a church for multiple years, but Jeanne-Marie had a retreat outside of Tours, at Notre-Dame de Planche-de-Vaux, where she stayed from time to time. She lived in a variety of places in and around Tours. Bruce added that she is not referred to as either a recluse or a beguine and that she seems to have been called a “hermitesse” because she used to dress in very simple clothing. Ed clarified that the texts describe her as a “holy woman,” “holy lady,” or “saint.”

Ed also answered Delfi’s question about networks around Jeanne-Marie. The bourgeois of Tours, for example, are demonstrated to have known each other, and their narratives suggest interaction among them. There is also an aristocratic support network, with a prominent Angevin element. There is not much connection in between these two networks, however. Bruce mentioned that there is also a local clerical network, not associated with Franciscans, but with St Martin’s Basilica.  Ed added that there are no Franciscan witnesses included in the inquest. Why? This seems odd, considering the vita’s emphasis on Jeanne-Marie’s Franciscan connection, apparent in both her relationships with individual Franciscans and with the order in a broader sense.

Renate suggested that Jeanne-Marie had at last one direct international connection, as demonstrated by a letter from the King of Cyprus included in the inquest. The king was part of this aristocratic international network, demonstrating its far reach and the circulation of Jeanne-Marie’s reputation.

Alison More asked how useful it was (and is) to fit Jeanne-Marie into a specific box given the diversity of her identities. She suggested that women religious perceived their multiple identities as irregular and extra-regular ways of “life,” and not necessarily as distinct labels. She also asked about the definition of Jeanne-Marie’s tertiary identity and requested additional clarification about the absence of Franciscans among the witnesses. Renate answered that Jeanne-Marie was not officially called a tertiary but that such terminology has been applied in the source texts for other cases, such as that of St Colette, who took tertiary vows, as a recluse before becoming a Poor Clare. It appears that the Franciscans were trying to keep Jeanne-Marie safe throughout her life and that they eventually took her in on their land in Tours, though there was never an official affiliation. Ed suggested that Jeanne-Marie emphasized the Franciscan relationship when it was particularly helpful to her. Her chosen confessor was not a Franciscan, but, later in her life, she decided that Franciscans would provide permanence. Overall, she picked and chose based on differing circumstances. She was buried in the habit of St Clare. Thus, her burial garb was a statement of intent and not a reflection of reality. Bruce said that the relationship between the Franciscans and Jeanne-Marie appears to have been a mutually beneficial arrangement. Although Jeanne-Marie was most likely looking for stability with the Franciscans, the Franciscans would have benefitted from her reputation as a holy woman and significant figure in the region.

Renate added that there are some questions about Jeanne-Marie’s poverty since she donated many relics and riches to churches but still begged on the streets and took a vow of poverty. She also went on pilgrimages, which were expensive. These examples provide a contradiction regarding her financial means. Alison suggested that poverty might have been an identity marker, particularly for Franciscans, but was not necessarily a reality. Delfi added that, within her sources, there are many examples of tertiaries begging while also donating much – voluntary poverty was only possible with funding.

Next, Lori asked where the information about Jeanne-Marie’s connection to and criticisms of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria came from. Renate answered that this connection is mentioned in the vita and had been established because Jeanne-Marie was from the aristocracy. Lori asked as well about the dates of Jeanne-Marie’s interactions with the king and queen as related to the timing of Charles’ mental illness, and Renate responded that they occurred after 1392 and the onset of illness, providing context for Jeanne-Marie’s more significant interactions with Isabeau. Lori then asked whether the information in the vita might have been glossed during the writing process. Renate answered that this is unlikely, since Martin of Boisgaultier, her hagiographer, was simply trying to piece her identity together and did not include allegorical interpretation in his text. Bruce agreed that the dossier was not theological, and Ed suggested that the hagiographer’s sources were other vitae and that he was piecing his vita together from these examples.

Next, Lucy added to the discussion of the flexibility of Jeanne-Marie’s poverty, suggesting that this fluidity reflects the relationships of “other sisters” to the categorization of “poor” since they embraced the identities of service to the poor by being poor themselves (pauperes). Lucy suggested that such identification is related to a rhetorical construction of the poor and the identity of the poor within the Christian community, which hinges upon the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor.

Renate added that they do not know what happened to the canonization dossier later on. To whom was it delivered given that it was written during the Council of Constance and the tri-papacy? The manuscript of the vita no longer exists. Unlike the continued efforts to canonize St Colette, there were no other inquests related to Jeanne-Marie. Why? Renate said that André Vauchez has demonstrated that there was an early modern cult related to the hermitage of Notre-Dame de Planche-de-Vaux, but all of this appears to have had no continued impact.

Isabelle suggested that the nobility was occupied by other events, such as the end of the Hundred Years’ War and Charles VI’s illness, and that there was no religious order to help develop a sustained, devoted cult. She also followed up on Adam’s question about ambition. Renate answered that we do not have much information about Jeanne-Marie’s ambition, since we do not have access to her thoughts in her own words, only her actions as seen through a secondary lens. She does not appear to have been ambitious in terms of pursuing a singular goal, but she was possibly ambitious in the number of things she tried to do and in her liminality and refusal to adhere to a single identity. She also generally refrained from overstepping the boundaries of social acceptability, though she was attacked in Paris and accused of witchcraft.

Bruce added that, once, someone threw a stone at her, but she was never pursued by the inquisition. Renate mentioned that she only appears to have been accused of witchcraft by one person, but this never happened in Tours, where she was very well known. Bruce and Renate also discussed small incidents where she was mistreated or rejected for her clothing and poor appearance and one incident in which her brother acted as if he did not recognize her. Ed added that the question of ambition might be applied to the intention to achieve sainthood, which was unacceptable since a large part of holiness relates to humility. We do not know if Jeanne-Marie attempted to present herself as a saint. How much of her action was deliberate? The hagiographer was also attempting to create this persona for Jeanne-Marie, ticking many of the boxes of sainthood on her behalf: how much of this construction was the agency of the hagiographer and how much of it was the agency of Jeanne-Marie?

Bruce concluded that Jeanne-Marie was very old at the time of her death and that much of the vita reflects her early life. Thus, much of the information in the vita must have been provided by Jeanne-Marie herself.

Clerics’ Wives and Women in the Latin West (800-1200) – Thematic Meeting

The Other Sister – Thematic Meeting 11/04/2025

The members of The Other Sister met on the 11th of April 2025 to discuss three chapters and the introduction of the forthcoming book Clerics’ Wives and Women in the Latin West (800-1200) co-edited by Fiona J. Griffiths and Émilie Kurdziel and published at Cambridge University Press.

This subject was very much of interest to The Other Sister not only due to its subject matter, which presents non cloistered women fulfilling religious roles, but also due to its methodology. This book promotes reading or rereading sources to find these women that others have overlooked and doing so in collaboration with other researchers, something that resonates with The Other Sister’s mission. Furthermore, this pushes The Other Sister’s timeline (1100-1800) back 300 years (800-1200), allowing us to find continuities throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

The three chapters read for this meeting were:

  • Fiona J. Griffiths. “Surrendering Huza: A Clerical Wife and Mother as Gift in the Eleventh Century,”
  • Margot Laprade. “Clerical Dynasties and Marriage Strategies in Eleventh-century Brittany”
  • Émilie Kurdziel. “Gerberga, the Erased Wife of Bishop Willelmus of Arezzo (1011-1013)”

As an introduction, Fiona J. Griffiths explained that this book began from a desire to go beyond the caricatures of clerical wives. She noted that the historiography has sided with the rhetoric of Church reformers and with the idea that reform produces a “better” Church, thusly painting married clerics as inherently corrupt. Much of the historiography on the subject also focus on the legislation regarding clerical marriage, some on the married clerics, and very few on the wives and women living with the clerics. The co-edited book aims to specifically speak to the women’s experiences and lives.

Furthermore, there was a general view that there were no sources on these women. However, Fiona insisted that collaborative work made this possible as many people had found some information to fit into the puzzle.

Fiona finished her presentation thinking through the question as to what role these women might have had in their church. Finding this role is very difficult, but what is clear is that there is a pre and a post-ordination life for these wives. Their virtue prior to ordination is of importance and she often had to agree to the ordination of her husband. Additionally, there is evidence that her clothing would have changed after the ordination of her husband or gained a title, such as ancilla Dei.

Next, Margot Laprade presented her chapter, which deals with two episcopal dynasties in the 10th and 11th century, in which bishops are succeeded by their sons from post ordination marriages. Through examining these families, Margot could see that clerics’ wives were referred to with titles that are closely related to power and function such as sacerdotissa and used the space of the cathedral as spaces in which they had power.

Margot also stressed that there are in fact many clerics’ wives in Merovingian sources from the 5th to 7th centuries, where we see women consenting to their husband’s ordination, continuing to live together, and even having a role in the liturgy. She cited an example of a letter from Licinius of Tours, Mélaine of Rennes and Eustochius of Angers to Lovocat and Catihern who celebrated mass alongside women who had given the blood of Christ during the Eucharist.

Margot also cited the example of an engraving in a fifth- or sixth-century column in France that reads: Martia presbyteria ferit obblata oledbrio par et nepote, thusly showing that she was a cleric’s wife. The “ferit obblata” could mean that she made a one-off offering but also could have the meaning that she offered the Holy Host during mass.

Lastly, Émilie Kurdziel, began by offering the interesting example of the status of a clerical wife from the Ordines romani, which in the 36th ordo, describes the priest’s ordination. It says that once ordained and having received the vestments and vessels, the priest would leave St Peter’s and ride on a white horse to their church, escorted by the faithful who carried candles. The text adds that roman women did the same for deaconesses and priestesses who were blessed on the same day. The women would sing lauds for these wives. This shows that these wives would also be blessed and given a title and receiving the same praise as their priest husbands. It also demonstrates a dignity and status linked to status of men. Interestingly, the manuscript is continued to be copied into the 10th century.

Émilie went on to specify that we must be meticulous when looking for women in sources, as they can be erased for a variety of reasons, just as Dyan Elliott had shown in hagiography. In this case, Gerberga, bishop’s wife from Arezzo, had her name included in some charters, but erased in others. By following her children, Émilie was able to continue to find information about Gerberga. Émilie also urged the group to look and think beyond the reformer and the Gregorian Reform. These women are still there, even if certain people try to erase them.

After such interesting articles and presentations, The Other Sister’s members were eager to start the discussion. Michelle Armstrong-Partida began by asking about the daughters born of clerical marriages and if they were more difficulty traced in the sources. Émilie answered that in fact, daughters appear in the sources and have no issue being recognized by their clerical fathers. There is also evidence of endogamic marriages between the children of clerics. In fact, sons might appear more often in sources as it is more difficult for them to be ordained. Clerical sons required papal dispensation to become priests, as they were technically barred from priesthood, therefore we have many letters asking for this dispensation. Margot added that clerics’ daughters appear relatively often in Merovingian sources and that daughters were allowed to live with their fathers to help with the household.

Next, Bruce Venarde pointed out that in one of the breve that Émilie had presented, Gerberga, the bishop’s wife, had her name omitted, yet her son is named as the bishop’s son. This struck as odd to omit the wife (replacing her name with ***) yet be open to admitting the bishop had children. How is this dynamic working? Émilie suggests that there were two groups. The first were the reformers who believed clerical marriages were not acceptable. This group was related to Arezzo’s cathedral chapter. The second group believed in clerical marriages and within this group was the bishop’s daughter-in-law. This breve was drafted in Santa Fiora, whereas the ones which erase all traces of Gerberga were from the cathedral archives, demonstrating a difference in attitudes. Isabelle Cochelin added that those reading the *** in the breve would surely know this meant the wife of the bishop, with which Émilie agreed saying that they were erasing something which everyone knew.

Meghan Lescault continued by asking if there was any evidence that clerics’ wives ever had legal status conferred on them due to their status as wives? Did they benefit from any privileges or were they viewed the same as a lay women under the law? Émilie answered that clerics were meant to be living according to Roman law, at least in Italy. Therefore, a cleric who was born as a Lombard or a Frank, once he became a cleric, he needed to start using Roman law and this was the same for his wife. This did not apply to lay women. Margot stated that she had not come across this in Frankish sources.

Next, Roisin Cossar asked if clerics’ wives would have had a religious identity and if there was evidence of them being in contact with each other, to which Fiona answered that she feels that they surely must have a role in running the parish. There are sources speaking of them making vestments and decorating the church, which requires theological knowledge. They would also have been patrons of arts in their own right. Émilie added that they also would have a role in raising and educating the future clerics in the household.

Nicole Shulman then spoke of how there are two aspects for concern regarding clerical marriage, the sexual and the property. She asked what was happening the Church property and if there was any concern or examples of clerics’ children inheriting Church property. Margot responded by stating that in canon law, everything the priest acquires after ordination belongs to the Church, but they can keep possessions acquired prior to ordination and thusly bequeath these items. However, for a cleric’s wife, Margot did not see why she would not be able to leave any of her goods or property to her inheritors. However, Fiona stressed that although reformers speak a lot about the sexual aspect of clerical marriage and that reform is required for this reason, property seems to be the real heart of reform. It is a major issue for them. Focusing too much on the sexual aspect of reformer’s opposition to clerical marriage is missing the target.

This concluded the very interesting and fruitful discussion surrounding the new publication and clerical wives. Another example for how we must not be afraid to look for women and their roles in the texts and histories we study.

Mapping Non-Cloistered Religious Women

The Other Sister Research Group met on March 7, 2025 to discuss the topic of “Mapping Non-Cloistered Religious Women”. It was organized by Delfi Nieto-Isabel and Tanya Stabler-Miller, and chaired by the latter. Tanya introduced the four projects which explore the experiences of pre-modern women outside of the cloister.

  • Tracy Chapman Hamilton (Sweet Briar College), working with Mariah Proctor-Tiffany (California State University, Long Beach): Mapping Medieval Women

Using material and textual archival sources, mappingthemedievalwoman.com makes visible women’s foundations, rituals, residences, convents, and work in the cityscape of Paris c. 1300.

  • Michelle M. Sauer (University of North Dakota) and Justin Wigard (University of North Dakota): Mapping Anchorholds of the Northwest Atlantic

In this project, sacred space of the medieval past comes alive with the tools of modern geomapping. The project creates a digital map of extant anchorholds along with the sites of textual production of anchoritic and anchoritic-affiliated texts (including sites of their original composition, places where copying occurs, and maps of dialectal features). This has not been done before in any form despite the importance of space to this religious life.

  • Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel (Queen Mary University of London): ILLITTERATAE – Digital Cataloguing and Historical Network Analysis of Dissident Beguines in the Western Mediterranean

Using social network analysis, geographic information systems, and other digital tools, ILLITTERATAE locates and maps the activity of groups of beguins and beguines associated with the reforming branch of the Franciscan order in western Mediterranean cities.

  • Eleonora Rava (University of St Andrews) and Frances Andrews (University of St Andrews): Recluses Mapping Project

The project was initially part of, “InSpeCo. Inside Speaker’s Corner. Late Medieval Italian Anchoresses in European Context” funded by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship in 2016-2018 (https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/inspeco/map/). The map, which is automatically generated by a relational database of recluses, illuminates the presence of recluses throughout Italy.

Tracy Chapman began with an overview of the project mappingthemedievalwoman.com. It started in 2014, when Tracy and Mariah Proctor-Tiffany learned how to use ArcGIS in their work as art historians. Using ArcGIS, they marked the same sites on both a historic and modern map of Paris in order to ‘geo-rectify’ it, to then use the map to represent information about several women who became queens of France. They also traced these queens’ actions in the city to see how they honored both their natal land and their marital land. They did so through founding chapels, supervising the creation of specific objects, and more, therefore forging their own identity through those actions. The project maps networks of exchange for these queens, specifically their networks in Paris. Other locations were also mapped, such as burial sites and religious and educational foundations. The project works to display how visible these elite women were. The team next investigated tax rolls which led to the discovery of other women, especially those who worked in the arts, who were very wealthy and successful and had a strong presence in the tax rolls as significant businesswomen. These women were added to the map, with specifications about their trade, parish, and street. The project brings together many maps, sources, and data points, to show how visible women were in Paris c. 1300. While Paris might have been thought to be mainly a domain of men, this project challenges that notion, and locates women participating in society fully, even in jobs which are typically coded as masculine (carpenters, gravelmakers, masons). One of the joys of the project, Tracy shared, is the collaboration with other scholars on this project to expand it and include more women.

Tracy handed things back to Tanya (Stabler Miller), who is also involved in the project. Tanya briefly shared more information about beguines living outside of the beguinage in Paris. Many of these women worked, holding highly skilled jobs and paying significant taxes. They can be followed through tax rolls over time. Tanya highlighted the importance of mapping to understand how beguines lived, for example clustered around a specific parish church, and how their networks functioned in the city.

The next project was ‘Mapping Anchorholds of the Northwest Atlantic’ introduced by Michelle M. Sauer (University of North Dakota) and Justin Wigard (University of North Dakota). It is worth underlining that Justin is not a medievalist but specializes in twentieth- and twenty-first century literature, comic studies, and popular culture, but brought technical expertise to the project. Their project is an interactive ArcGIS map of known anchorholds in the northwest Atlantic region, showing each site with known information and photographs. Michelle shared that for 25 years she has explored the Northwest Atlantic looking for anchorholds, leading to an understanding of how recluses were highly integrated into their communities and to urban networks (such as roads and bridges). Justin shared how the mapping of the project worked, which includes over 300 sites of anchorholds. By mapping the sites, clusters of anchorholds can be identified and better understood. Each site includes the associated church, anchorite title, patrons, dates, and other information if known. There are also photographs and primary source documents. Michelle and Justin gave an example of how the project works by using a Sussex case. Justin highlighted how much content there is and how much more information there is to continue adding to the project. This could include hermitages, holy wells, and other related sites. The project is not yet available but with some additions Justin and Michelle are hopeful that it will be accessible to the public shortly.

Next, Tanya introduced Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel (Queen Mary University of London), a co-organizer of The Other Sister, and her project, ILLITTERATAE – Digital Cataloguing and Historical Network Analysis of Dissident Beguines in the Western Mediterranean. Using social network analysis, geographic information systems, and other digital tools, ILLITTERATAE locates and maps the activity of groups of beguins and beguines associated with the reforming branch of the Franciscan order in western Mediterranean cities. Delfi explained that while she does mapping, she is less concerned with geographic mapping and more with other forms of mapping. The project is based on the question of what roles illiterate women (those who didn’t understand Latin) played in religious dissidence movements, focusing on beguines and their male counterparts, beguins. These groups were based in different areas of the western Mediterranean and were increasingly suspected of heretical beliefs. They were strongly associated with radical Franciscans. After May 7, 1314, when Franciscan friars were burned at the stake for the first time, the movement spiralled out of control. Delfi consulted a multitude of sources in many archives and libraries, including inquisition manuals and other materials which discuss these women; the coordinates of where to find these sources is included in the project. The ‘actors’ interface’ shows where we can find each woman (with her age, religious status, marital status, and in which sources she is mentioned) and her social network.  From here, the maps allow researchers to find gaps in sources and ask new questions.

One such question concerns the leadership of men and women in these movements. Delfi shared that the project reveals that the leadership of men can be seen as circumstantial – disappearing when the man in question was arrested –, while that of women is generally charismatic and community-based. Indeed, usually, women’s groups had formed even before persecution began and were able to survive the arrest of a given woman. Delfi hopes to make a better history using these networks.

Next, Tanya introduced Eleonora Rava (University of St Andrews) and Frances Andrews (University of St Andrews), who joined to share their ‘Recluses Mapping Project’ for Italy. It was one of the outputs of the project “InSpeCo (Inside Speaker’s Corner): Late Medieval Italian Anchoresses in European Context” funded by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship in 2016-2018 (https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/inspeco/map/). It tracks known and anonymous recluses from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. The map is automatically generated by a relational database of recluses hosted on Research Computing technical infrastructure maintained by St Andrews IT Services. This type of project has not been undertaken in Italy before and is important because of the idea that urban reclusion relied on local context and therefore varied highly between locations. The map ties together sites which otherwise appear unrelated, showing new connections and a better understanding of recluse networks and how they interacted with the urban and natural environment. The website includes registers, chronicles, and many other sources. The project uses a multidisciplinary approach. The database is available to the public online, except for the transcript of the documents, which will be made available once Eleonora’s monograph on recluses is published. Currently, the project includes 1068 entries, providing researchers with extensive information. The mapping project can be adapted to the needs of researchers by altering the period, sorting recluses by gender, specific location, etc. It illustrates how extensive the instance of male and female reclusion was, where it occurred, its distribution, etc. This can show how far recluses were at times from towns, political borders, and more.

Next, Tanya opened the discussion up to questions. Isabelle Cochelin asked both presenters about the gender of their recluses; she specifically cited an article (Clare M. Dowding, “’A Certain Tourelle on London Wall… Was Granted…. For Him to Inhabit the Same’: London Anchorites and the City Wall,” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, 41/2 [2016] 44-55) which seemed to refer to as many male recluses as female recluses in late medieval London. She asked; how much was it representative of what was to be found in England compared to the situation on the continent? Eleonora answered that in Italy, female recluses were much more common. Male recluses were often priests or friars when they did occur. Justin answered that in their project, recluses also appear to be mainly women, though there are examples of men.

Tracy asked Michelle and Justin if they built their project starting with a simpler map or keeping true to modern maps. Justin answered that so far, they have used the default map but have been working to rectify it to consider the historic spaces. Michelle agreed that it is a challenge to balance historic landmarks with modern factors like modern administrative divisions.

Next, Renate Blumenfield-Kosinski asked about the technology that Delfi used. She answered that Kumu was the software, which had superior analysis capabilities but less comprehensive mapping capacity. Renate also asked Tracy and Tanya if the women listed in the Paris project worked independently, or if they shared a workshop, and if they seem to have been completely independent from men. Tanya explained that the tax rolls listed only a limited number of actors; in most cases married women are obscured from the sources by reference to their husband. She shared that sometimes married women showed up in the tax rolls, but it was rare. Singlewomen and beguines show up as long as they make a significant enough income. She added that the clusters of beguines are treated as distinct working groups within the rolls.  Tracy added that widows offer a striking example of women’s work. She finds the networks between all these women, widowed, singlewomen and beguines, especially fascinating.

Delfi added that she finds many unnamed women in her sources and includes them in her project to include them in the record, with names like ‘woman from Avignon’. Excluding women for not having a name was one of the issues that Delfi identified in projects like this. She stated that problem-solving this kind of issue is important.

Laura Moncion asked Tracy, Tanya, and Justin if their maps cover one moment or a period and how they express time in their projects. Tanya answered that the tax rolls cover about a decade around the year 1300. Other added data points also surround this period, but she hopes to expand the capabilities of the project to increase the data and other capabilities. Justin answered for their project that each map point has its own date but that he has gained new ideas for how to sort by chronological date in their project.

Next, Meghan Lescault asked how those who are interested can start adding digital humanities projects to their repertoire and how this can work alongside their other responsibilities when they want to obtain an academic position and, later, tenure. Delfi answered that there has been a movement asking for time and support to create digital humanities, especially in European funding schemes. Medievalists, she shared, are especially active in developing digital projects. Tracy added that discipline also matters in this, sharing that art historians have been working to convince departments to start including digital humanities materials in their criteria for hiring and granting tenure, and taking them as seriously as publications. Delfi also offered advice to those who wish to make a project like this, that databases have downloadable materials with a doi, so that these contributions can be viewed as a publication and the author given credit. Justin added via the chat that he agreed with the comments from Delfi and Tracy, adding that he has had positive experiences with departments who are receptive to Digital Humanities projects. He also suggested referencing the MLA guidelines for evaluating these types of projects.

Eleonora Cappuccilli asked if a shift can be seen over the centuries or in relation to certain events (for example, the Reformation) in the evolution of recluses in Eleonora’s project. Eleonora answered that reclusion in Italy expanded especially during the 13th and 14th centuries, related to mendicant movements. In particular, it was related to the creation of the Franciscan third order. Recluses, compared to women tertiaries, were less under the influence of authorities like an abbess or bishop. Another important moment was the Black Death, because the type of evidence available changed after this event. Often recluses are found in bequests for the poor in this period, while fifteenth-century sources reveal information about changing ideas of spirituality for recluses and how their confinement informed their piety.

Next, Sarah Carruthers asked Tracy and Tanya about the jobs for women that were related to book making, whether there were separate workshops for bookmaking or if they were connected to households. Tracy answered that both instances occurred, and that there was overlap and collaboration between households and communities but also instances of individual production.

Melissa Moreton asked the final question, highlighting the potential of the Italian Recluse mapping project. She shared that this kind of tool is very useful for her research but noticed that it is not as accessible to a user who is not an expert. She wondered if there is an apparatus to identify the capabilities and uses of the database so that it can be used by more people. Delfi agreed and discussed the uncertainty of medieval sources, and how to translate that into projects that still allows them to be user-friendly. Data must be adjusted to reflect the realities of the sources and incorporate the knowledge of historians so that the information has more context that allows more users to understand it. Tracy added that uncertainty has been reflected in their map using color-coding to identify the level of certainty in a piece of information (a location, for example). She echoed that making sure the viewer knows that uncertainty exists is very important.

Tanya closed the discussion with thanks to the presenters. Isabelle Cochelin highlighted the collaborative work of these kinds of projects and how well it fits into the goals of The Other Sister research group.

The Other Sister Research Seminar: Images

By Meghan Lescault

As The Other Sister project examines women who often took religious life in new and interesting directions, it was only fitting that we followed in their footsteps ever so slightly for our most recent online research seminar on December 13, 2024, where we departed from our customary format and ventured into new territory. Prior to the meeting, images that had been sent in by several scholars were disseminated to all participants. During the seminar, these scholars had the opportunity to discuss these images that they had come across in their research of medieval and early modern religious women and to ask all attendees for information, ideas, and points of comparison with their own research. This collaborative exercise, hosted by Mary Doyno and Tanya Stabler Miller, was a great success, as it led to robust discussion and a helpful exchange of ideas.

A close-up from the left panel, taken from the larger image seen here.

Isabelle Cochelin began the conversion with the above image of a woman, who is thought to be St. Monica, from a fifteenth-century Netherlandish triptych depicting scenes from the life of St. Augustine. She discussed her search for representations of non-cloistered religious women in art, of which this painting is a potential example. This search has led to questions as to whether such women can be detected in crowds and as attendees of sermons in pieces of artwork. Cochelin also mentioned the difficulties of determining the identity of women depicted in art on the basis of their habits. For example, how can we tell whether the subject is meant to be dressed in the garb of a widow or of another type of non-cloistered woman? Devon Sherwood offered the comparison of books of hours that did in fact belong to religious women but depict their owners in secular clothing. Ashley Tickle Odebiyi offered the insight that the potential St. Monica is portrayed here in a blue habit, a noteworthy point given that the bizzoche of Rome studied by Odebiyi are associated with a consorority of St. Monica that also had habits of a blue hue.

Meghan Callahan further stirred up a flurry of conversation with an image taken from Francesco da Castiglione’s sixteenth-century biography of Sister Domenica da Paradiso. It can be seen on the second page of Callahan’s 2012 article found here. The unusual image is meant to depict Domenica in the midst of a vision, seemingly having a mystical experience of Christ’s crucifixion. Callahan asked the group if others had encountered any comparable images. Amongst several interested respondents, Kate Bush recalled a description of a similar image portraying Vanna of Orvieto in 1306 as well as the accounts of Margaret of Cortona mystically experiencing the wounds of Christ. Callahan was the recipient of several inquiries, as curious attendees wanted to know more about the intriguing image: Who drew it? Could it have been a female artist? Why the detailed outline of Domenica’s legs? Why the Y-shaped cross? Callahan believes that it was composed by Domenica’s confessor and biographer Francesco and that the details of the image simply represent an attempt to portray the sight of Domenica during her visions accurately.

Margot Fassler’s chosen image, found in the Klarenbuch, Karlsruhe, BLB Cod. Thennenbach 4, continued the theme of women depicted in unusual places that are typically reserved for Christ. In this case, St. Clare is placed at the middle of a Last Supper table—seated between Christ and St. John—in a late-fifteenth- or early-sixteenth-century painting by the Poor Clare Sybilla von Bondorf. In comparing this painting to a similar depiction of St. Francis at the Last Supper, also painted by Bondorf and found in the Life of Francis in German (London, BL 15710, f.168v), Fassler surmised that Bondorf may have been appealing to her viewers’ memories, as she painted Clare as the presider in one painting and Francis in the other. This can also be seen in two depictions of Bonaventure painted by Bondorf. Fassler’s work on music, in which one melody can have multiple settings, led her to the realization that a similar phenomenon may be at play in artwork—highly stylized images with similar themes but slightly different details. Amanda Pullan offered a helpful comparison with seventeenth-century embroidery in which women would embroider angel or biblical stories on the left side of the panel, changing the exact content but maintaining the same location of the images.

Tanya Stabler Miller continued the discussion by presenting sketches of the tomb effigies of three identifiable medieval Parisian beguines—Jeanne Brichard, Agnes d’Orchies, and Marie de Gonesse. Images of the latter two can be found on pages 100 and 51, respectively, in Stabler Miller’s book. She pointed out that such items allow for interesting observations about how the women chose to represent themselves, and she specifically drew attention to the girdle books carried by Brichard and Gonesse in these images, suggesting that such an accessory might have an association with beguines. Their connection with these wearable pouches intended to carry and protect psalters and other books would make sense given their reputation for piety and charitable work as well as their movement between spaces such as the beguinage, workshops, and home. In asking the group for comparisons, Stabler Miller received feedback about similar tomb effigies of women depicted with books. Moreover, Margot Fassler and Siobhan Nelson noted the similarity of these girdle books to chatelaines, which were used by women working in nursing and haberdashery to store their belongings needed for such tasks. Stabler Miller pointed out that beguines could function as caregivers and silk-workers and that the need for a storage device of this kind highlighted their mobility and fluidity between spaces.

Diptych-reliquary depicting Dominican saints, saint Ursula, saint Catherine of Alexandria, the Virgin and donors. Burgos, Monastery of Santa Maria de Las Huelgas. 13.2 x 20.2 x1 cm (both panels). Beginning of the fourteenth century. Reproduced with the permission of Patrimonio Nacional.

Mercedes Pérez Vidal brought the conversation off the page and into the third dimension, as she discussed the above devotional diptych and reliquary that probably originated in or near Cologne but is now housed at the Cistercian monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos, Spain. She emphasized two especially intriguing, even puzzling aspects of this object. The diptych contains one of the earliest known depictions of Helen of Hungary, a Dominican nun who is styled as a saint here, and at the same time, it is very similar to an object that belonged to Christina von Stommeln, a beguine who lived near Cologne in Jülich. Pérez Vidal noted that this points to a blurring of boundaries between cloistered and non-cloistered women, Dominicans and beguines. Isabelle Cochelin responded by inquiring about the price of such a precious object and who would have had the means to afford it. Pérez Vidal emphasized that the origin of the diptych remains unknown but discussed the possibility that it came out of the context of the circulation of relics, especially those of the 11,000 virgins of Cologne, that occurred in the area between Cologne and the Low Countries.

Barbara R. Walters furthered the discussion with a presentation of an illumination in a Mosan Psalter (The Hague, KB 76 G. 17 f. 82v). She explained that she approaches images in terms of historical sequences, palimpsests, and progressions with particular emphasis on the feast of Corpus Christi. The thirteenth-century women of Liège, especially the recluse Eve of St. Martin and St. Juliana of Mont-Cornillon, are represented here by this image from a Mosan Psalter, as this is part of a group of psalters that likely circulated among laywomen of Liège. Moreover, the image’s depiction of the elevation of the host highlights the Eucharistic devotion among the women of Liège, who were instrumental in instituting the new feast of Corpus Christi in 1246. Thinking about generations of recluses, Walters asked the group if it makes sense to see different generations of recluses in Liège as part of a progression from a friendship network to a more formal set of church roles and relationships. Isabelle Cochelin responded that the notion of recluses as wholly enclosed with a locked door has been debated throughout the centuries. While the rhetoric suggested constant enclosure, there were significant variations in reality.

Katherine Clark Walter brought the session to a fitting close with some perplexing illuminations from a fourteenth-century pontifical of William Durand (Clm 10037, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich). Three images found on folios 80v (page 170 in the above link), 81r, (171), and 233r (475) depict women standing behind a bishop at various consecration ceremonies, an unusual sight in such manuscripts. We especially focused on folio 81r (171), where such an illumination is paired with the text for the benediction of widows. Clark Walter thought that the woman right behind the bishop might be an officiant at the benediction alongside the bishop and asked the group why this might be. In response, Isabelle Cochelin discussed the often-significant roles played by abbesses at the professions of nuns and introduced the question of the potentially diverging roles of the abbess and the bishop, depending on the sources consulted. Margot Fassler and Meghan Callahan both questioned whether the woman was playing an active part as an officiant or rather was serving as a witness. Bruce Venarde drew everyone’s attention to the highly unusual nature of the image, highlighting the strange placements of the virgins to one side, the bishop to the other side, the woman behind the bishop, and a monk front and center.

Mary Doyno noted that ending on the note of oddity was a fitting cap for this meeting, as its goal was to elicit analysis, draw out questions, and illustrate the need for further research. This session did just that, highlighting the potential successes of crowdsourcing and proving that sometimes a picture is worth more than 1000 words.

The Other Sister Research Seminar: Prophecies and Politics Outside Enclosures: Visionary Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

By Sarah Carruthers

On Friday, November 22, 2024, The Other Sister Research Group held a thematic meeting on the topic of Prophecies and Politics Outside Enclosures: Visionary Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Our invited scholars and readings were:

  • Frances Kneupper, “Female Prophets Transcending Gender Expectations During the Great Schism – The Revelations of Constance of Rabastens and Marie Robine,” in Mediävistik im kulturgeschichlichen Kontinuum, edited by Gerda Brunnlechner, Nadine Holzmeier, et al. (Niva Mediaevalia), Göttingen: V&R Unipress, 2024. (to appear)
  • Eleonora Cappuccilli, “Domenica da Paradiso and the Prophetic Discipline of the Body and Soul,” in Body, Gender, Senses: Subversive Expressions in Early Modern Art and Literature, edited by Carin Franzén and Johanna Vernqvist, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024, pp. 11-29.
  • Unn Falkeid. “‘The Most Illustrious and Divine of All the Sibyls.’ Saint Birgitta in the Prophetic Visions of Tommaso Campanella and Queen Cristina of Sweden,” in The Legacy of Birgitta of Sweden, edited by Anna Wainwright and Unn Falkeid, Leiden: Brill, 2023, pp. 277-307.

For the first time we also had a respondent, our co-organizer Delfi Nieto-Isabel

Frances Kneupper began by explaining that prophetic authority could be both claimed and dismissed. Men justified their prophetic voices through text, including scripture and reading, whereas women (or at least men who wrote about women) justified their prophetic voices through the body, such as the stigmata and illness. Frances emphasised the differences between these two traditions: the male prophetic tradition was educated and written, while the female prophetic tradition was oral and more bodily. However, Frances stressed that the occasional merging of these two traditions is understudied. She explained that the female and male prophetic traditions at times drew on each other, for instance in the cases of Vincent Ferrer and Marie Robine, regarding concerns about the Antichrist. Moreover, Constance of Rabastens and Marie Robine broke the molds with their prophetic voices. Both were laywomen and illiterate, who used their roles as prophets to participate in the political uncertainty and the papal schism which formed the social background to their prophetic visions and engagement with apocalyptic rhetoric.

Eleonora Cappuccilli spoke next about Domenica da Paradiso, focusing on the questions and paradigms surrounding this prophetic figure. Eleonora notes that scholars have primarily focussed on Domenica’s lived and embodied experience, but Domenica’s body is in dialogue with her intellect. Domenica’s body could be both positive and active, becoming the link to the divine for the prophet. Dominica used extreme ascetism against her body, but Eleonora noted that martyrdom of the body has limits. Nevertheless, Eleonora explained that the earthly body also opens women to the divine and that the imitatio Christi does not have a limit. For hagiographers, prophetic women doubting themselves shows their legitimacy because doubt is answered by God. Domenica and Constance are connected to St Birgitta of Sweden, as Birgitta is authorized as a widow and prophet, and these women used their positions as prophets to influence the political climate that emerged around the fourteenth-century papal schism between Rome and Avignon. Domenica is not as political as Birgitta and Constance, but she calls on the Pope in 1526 to warn him of catastrophe. Eleonora underscored that a prophet could function as a critic even in a supportive capacity for an authority figure, but prophecy could also expose women to public circulation and legal danger. 

Unn Falkeid was the session’s third speaker. Unn began by explaining that this article emerged from her latest book. Because the article does not go into great depth about Birgitta of Sweden, she reminded the group about Birgitta’s life. She was born as an aristocrat, married at thirteen, and had eight children. In the 1340s, she became a widow and started to engage in public political debates while creating her own religious order. Birgitta moved to Rome, established a monastic rule, and traveled widely in Italy, where she produced her Liber celestis. According to scholarship, Birgitta was one of the most influential figures of the visionary tradition in the late Middle Ages. At the end of her life, she is at the height of her authority in Rome. Birgitta had a significant influence throughout Italy and was a key figure in the Italian Renaissance. Unn worked with Anna Wainwright on a research project on Birgitta of Sweden that produced a database and articles. The article presented today is one of the articles that emerged from this research project. Unn and Anna Wainwright’s most surprising discovery was that in the early modern period, long after her death, Birgitta was still invoked as a prophetic authority.

Delfi Nieto-Isabel was the session’s respondent. She indicated that she would first discuss how the papers work together, then turn to how her own work on prophetic women fits in, and then bring the key themes of the session’s prophetic women together. Delfi emphasised that prophecy is never about good things: it has an aura of negativity and catastrophe surrounding it. Although there were prophetic religious women before, the fourteenth century was a turning point. Drawing on the Book of Revelations, such women were concerned with the Antichrist and criticized the Pope, as the fourteenth century was a time of papal schism, leading to an increase of apocalypse rhetoric based on the Book of Revelation. On the other hand, Delfi stressed that in this session’s papers the relationship between intellectual and emotional authority is mediated for women. In the early fourteenth century, female prophets could respond to and draw on scripture in their writing and prophecies directly. By the late fourteenth century, male theologians drew on scripture, while women needed to negotiate the way in which they approached scripture, using a male figure to record their oral prophecies, claiming ignorance of the scripture draw on in the prophecy, and presenting their prophecies as embodied rather than intellectual. Delfi emphasised that earlier women paved the way for these later prophetic women. She then noted that another theme in this session is illiteracy, which is sometimes a trope and sometimes real. Prophetic women were able to participate intellectually, as the somatic body and reason interact in prophetic writing. Delfi stressed that there is both a turning point and a tension present here. For instance, the fourteenth-century beguine Na Prous is much more focused on her intellect and is less bodily, but the source that provides us with Na Prous’ visions is a legal source based on her testimony, not a source based on the tradition of affective piety associated with women, such as Catherine of Siena’s Dialogue or Birgitta of Sweden’s Liber celestis. Delfi indicated that this tension comes from women moving away from the aesthetics of the body in the fourteenth century. Delfi gave temporality as another reason for this tension, as the coming of the apocalypse is a concern in Franciscan circles at the time. 

Frances then responded to Delfi, saying that she is curious about the Franciscan prophetic circles. How did this tradition continue and change throughout time? And how was the tradition disseminated and continued?

Next, Eleonora responded to Delfi, mentioning the relationship between literacy and intellectual production. Birgitta’s pen was moved by God. Yet, women had to justify their non-traditional way of life. Eleonora stresses that orality is connected to the collective production of prophetic writing, and that women used orality to justify their tertiary lifestyles to their audiences. Eleonora stressed that prophetic women called on authority figures to pray, act immediately, take power, and interact with God. She also remarked that the mortification of the body filtered in and out. Prophetic women drew on the imitatio Christi, as Christ died for everyone. Christ touches everyone as equals, but in some moments the Passion becomes a political message. Eleonora said that a key theme is the relationship between the prophetic message and self-doubt. Eleonora then drew on Unn’s thinking, saying that Birgitta was sometimes misinterpreted, saying that theologians, systematised and challenged living saints. How should they use someone’s joy? Joy for prophetic women was divine, not diabolic. Eleonora said that doubt is always present, but women could not be deluded by the devil if they knew their hearts were clear. Prophetic women placed reform on themselves; it is true and from God.

Next, Unn responded to Delfi and Eleonora, explaining that Birgitta turned into a figure who became part of the language of prophecy. Unn argued that prophecy was way for women to enter politics, differentiating prophetic and mystical language. Unn also said that Birgitta’s language was vague, making it easy to re-use. Thus, her revelations gained popularity in the early seventeenth-century, and her Liber celestis turned into a tough document for the Church to grapple with. 

Delfi then asked a question to all three speakers about heresy: “What is the connection between prophecy and heresy? How does it play out?” 

Unn responded that prophecy was a powerful assistant to women, as drawing on Birgitta could increase the authority of other women. Birgitta of Sweden’s legacy is full of tensions between the tradition of the classical saint and the prophetic figure, as she became a figure that bridges the lines between a saint and a rebel.

Frances then responded that Birgitta of Sweden’s prophetic writing was taken out of context by theologians but not substantially so, especially at the Council of Basel. Constance and Marie questioned authority, but they were disobedient, not heretical. Disobedience and heresy are not the same. Frances stressed that heresy and the rejection of authority were different.

Eleonora responded that the reason for prophecy was clear, everything is coming directly from God. Divine authority sent by God is instrumental for a prophetic woman, so her prophecies are authorised by God and she is not mistaken for a preacher, a role Biblically forbidden to women. Eleonora mentioned that the church authorities tried to exclude Domenica, who became a pawn within this system, but Domenica wanted to be autonomous. The Dominicans considered that to be an issue. Domenica’s trial revealed the detention of another prophet. Dominica took responsibility for this woman, taking spiritual care of her.

The question-and-answer period then began.

Isabelle Cochelin asked a question about the social status of prophets. Birgitta of Sweden had no issues with writing because of her high status, and her disobedience was accepted. How does this change for lower-status women?

Unn responded that Birgitta’s high status and literacy matters here. The Virgin Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Birgitta speaks with the Virgin Mary in her visions. High status does lead to acceptance. Nevertheless, Birgitta faced resistance during her life and her canonization process was challenging.

Frances responded that there are two models at play here. Birgitta acts as an inspiration for everyone, but no one else has her status. Yet, illiterate lowly women also said that God had chosen them because of their simple status, as humility was a trope used by women and their hagiographers to authorise women’s speech.

Eleonora weighed in that Birgitta took a vow of poverty at one point, making Birgitta of Sweden an unusual model as a higher-status woman.

Bob Sweetman then asked if there were any allusions to the prophet Amos in Dominica’s visions and sermons as Amos was himself a farmer prophet. Frances responded that many women connected their authority to male prophets, not female prophets. Women also drew on John the Baptist, and Domenica also acted as “a New Age Mary.”

Jane Tylus then inquired about the Virgin Mary as an example of a prophetic figure whose body is crucial. Eleonora responded that the body anchored the Virgin Mary to the earth, but the body also opened her to the birth of Christ. Unn then responded that in Birgitta’s world, the Virgin Mary functions as a sister, mother, and friend, explaining that Birgitta also experienced many of the same social roles as the Virgin Mary. The late Middle Ages is the height of Marian devotion, as the Virgin Mary was simultaneously an inspiring figure and fountain head, and the imitation of Birgitta followed in the tradition of the imitatio Mariae.

Margot Fassler then asked Unn if she can say more about the oratorio of St Birgitta composed by Decio Azzolino (d. 1689), if it had been transcribed and ever performed and recorded: if not, “these things should happen.” Unn replied to Margot that she did not know if the oratorio had been performed, but the piece would be sung. She added that the oratorio still needed to be transcribed.

Next, Devon Sherwood asked Eleonora if a permeability is present between secular and religious works. Is corporality and intercessory language present regarding Queenship? Was the political undertones of these religious works meant to be an attempt to claim secular authority? Eleanora responded to Devon that as Birgitta is noble, she is a bearer of secular authority and power. The more classical image of this type of authority is the procession of queens in a religious ritual.

Lydia Walker asked Unn and Eleonora about Campanella’s love and Domenica’s doubt. Does the relationship between gender and emotion provide authorization? Is the authentication of doubt also gendered? Unn responded to Lydia, bringing in the history of emotions, saying that love is a strong word and can be an uncertain word due to translation issues. Eleonora said that doubt is gendered. Doubt for women is a formal form of authorization, as scripture is for theologians. Eleonora stressed that human intellect cannot have complete knowledge. Doubt needed to be reflected in action. This opens a space for women as prophets. Eleonora stressed that for Domenica, the garden and the virtues of the Virgin Mary are clear influences on her imagery.

The Other Sister Research Seminar Brides of Christ: Varieties of Women’s Religious Expression in Ireland

by Julia Cole

On Friday, October 18, 2024, The Other Sister Research Group had a thematic meeting on the topic of Irish women religious.

Our invited scholars and readings were:

  • Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB, “Marginal Figures? Quasi-Religious Women in Medieval Ireland,” in Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland M. Browne, T. Collins, C. Ó Clabaigh, & B. A. McShane (Four Courts Press, 2023), pp. 118-135.
  • Bronagh Ann McShane, “Who Were the Nuns in Early Modern Ireland,” in Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland ed. M. Browne, T. Collins, C. Ó Clabaigh, & B. A. McShane (Four Courts Press, 2023), pp. 148-170.
  • Victoria Anne Pearson, “Deeds, Not Words: Reconciling Enclosure with a Missionary Ethos in Eighteenth Century Ireland”, in Bishop Francis Moylan, A Merchant Prince of the Catholic Church, 1735-1815, PhD thesis, Ulster University, 2024, chapter 4.
  • For background, we also circulated Tracy Collins and Bronagh McShane, “Introduction,” to Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland M. Browne, T. Collins, C. Ó Clabaigh, & B. A. McShane (Four Courts Press, 2023), pp. 1-6.

Alison More started the meeting by reminding attendees of the ongoing mission of The Other Sister, to uncover the stories of women religious. In this meeting, the group heard about and discussed Irish women religious, a group which has been largely ignored by the scholarship.

The first presentation was from Colmán Ó Clabaigh, who was one of the editors of the volume from which two of the papers presented came, Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland. Bronagh Anne McShane, one of the other presenters, and Tracy Collins, an attendee of the session, were also editors of the volume. The fourth editor of the volume was Martin Browne.

Colmán began by expressing his gratitude at seeing so many of the scholars whose work he had used to inform his own. First, he explained the volume and then presented the chapter he authored. The fifth Glenstal history conference was the starting point of the volume. The area that these conferences focus on is Irish material and history overall. Female monasticism was a long-hoped for topic for Colmán, and this was realized in 2021, supported by the work of Bronagh Ann McShane and Tracy Collins. The volume that arose from this conference was a long-awaited work on female monasticism in Ireland, a field that has been under-studied so far.

“Marginal figures? Quasi-religious women in medieval Ireland” was the title of Colmán’s chapter, a fitting topic for The Other Sister. The image gracing the cover of the book, a fifteenth-century depiction of the Virgin Mary sheltering a group of possibly Franciscan nuns under her mantle, shows (upon close examination) that diverse groups of women (and men) religious are represented. He began with a discussion of the difficulty of terminology, such as pallium, which is an early Latin borrow word in the Irish language, a word used for many meanings, from a widow leading a penitent life to a witch.

He then discussed four categories: vowesses, virgins and widows; anchoresses and recluses; tertiaries (mainly of the Franciscan tradition); and finally nursing sisters in Ireland. It is challenging to overstate the fragmentary nature of the sources in Ireland; there is no material comparable to that, for example, of female monasticism in England. Therefore, he explained, much of the scholarly process to bring the stories of these women to light is wondering if one has enough source material to do so.

The second presentation was by Bronagh Anne McShane (Trinity College, Dublin), president of the steering committee of the “History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland”, whose research is involved in exploring the voices of early modern women religious in Ireland and Europe. Bronagh agreed with Colmán on the fragmentary nature of the sources for this topic, comparing her work to weaving a tapestry together to paint a picture of the women found in the sources.

She then discussed the idea of enclosure regarding early modern women religious in Ireland. She specifically highlighted how contested and varied this phenomenon was across the period and between different institutions, as well as how it operated, compared to how it was prescribed to operate. For most nuns in Ireland, it was impossible to observe strict enclosure, not for lack of zeal but due to the ongoing conflicts, upheavals, and wars in Ireland. Further, the imposition of penalties against the practice of Catholicism in Ireland meant that many nuns had to leave for the continent. Bronagh was struck by how mobile early modern nuns were, especially at a time when travel could be challenging. She spoke about a specific group of Irish Poor Clares, who, upon their return to Ireland in 1629 with the intent of establishing a foundation in Dublin, were expelled from the city, and later emerged in a rural area, which foundation did not last long. Bronagh also pointed out that the term enclosure is being thought about and contested by modern communities, especially in the context of the digital age which enables unprecedented access ‘to the world’.  Finally, Bronagh highlighted that the live and experiences of tertiary sisters remain a poorly understood dimension of Irish history. She highlighted how Colmán’s work has been essential to our understanding of the function and operation of tertiary communities medieval Ireland. But as yet we know very little about third order sisters in the modern era. She concluded by raising a call to arms to find out more about third order secular, and religious female foundations in Ireland and the wider European context.

Next Victoria Pearson, financial officer of the “History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland” group, PhD Researcher at Ulster University, and scholar of the life and work of Dr. Francis Moylan, Bishop of Kerry, spoke. She explained her work as the study of a bishop and by extension the examination of institutional impacts on women religious. She is interested in how Tridentine Catholicism was applied to the Irish context and how it emerged in Ireland in the late eighteenth century to revitalize Catholic life. She again echoed the challenges of the fragmentary sources which survived into the period of increased Catholic acceptance in the eighteenth century. This context of reform is vital to her exploration of the relationship between Francis Moylan and ‘Nano’ Nagle, which includes the idea that there was a change in both the leadership of the Irish Catholic Church and stewardship of the Catholic Nation. Their relationship is especially interesting considering that Nagle was from an old Irish Gaelic aristocratic family and Francis represented a new group. This new group was Catholics who had eked out an existence for themselves under the restrictive laws, by pursuing businesses and using their capital to grow their communities. This shift highlights the emerging middle class. There was a change in ownership, values, and ideas about respectability. Nagle never believed that enclosure would work in Ireland, and she had always envisioned that enclosure would not be part of her community. Moylan came around to her way of thinking when he returned home to Ireland, seeing the schools in Cork that Nagle had formed, and attempted to get her community under the protection of the Catholic Church. Nagle herself did not take vows until she was in her fifties, likely because of her desire to work in the community. Moylan knew of communities in France who did this and tried to find a way to apply this knowledge in the Irish context. This creates an intriguing story, in which the bishop argued with his superiors and authorities in Rome that Nagle’s community should not be enclosed. This issue dragged on for the congregation, but after Nagle’s death, the community decided they were willing to accept enclosure in the early 1800s. By this point, many changes had occurred in Ireland, both culturally, politically, and in terms of the workings of the congregation.

Next, the group turned to the discussion period. Michael Hahn led the discussion, beginning with a question posed by Eleonora Cappuccilli. She asked Bronagh about her definition concerning transnational religious experiences, considering the mission of the “counter-reformation” to recover territories lost to the faith, and the work of missionaries. She wondered about how scholars are defining the transnational experiences of women, and if shared models can be applied in these cases. She asked: how can the nation be defined not in ethnic terms, but in religious terms? She also discussed Teresa of Avila and her influence in this period, wondering if there is evidence of her influence in Ireland. Bronagh began her response by connecting both transnational and local sites and emphasizing the importance of understanding these in conjunction. She highlighted the Tridentine context on one hand, and the local Irish context on the other. In her work, there is a complex context in Ireland in which Catholicism is suppressed by the state, but “counter-reformation” ideas are being explored. Exile as an aspect of religious identity for Irish women religious is also important to consider, as being exiled from Ireland and going to religious houses on the continent informed women’s experiences. This brings up interesting tensions between women of different nationalities within these houses on the continent. She also discussed the ethnic vs. religious question, giving the example in Ireland in this period that saw the coming together of ethnic groups such as Gaelic and Old English groups. Finally, she agreed that Teresa of Avila had significant influences on Irish nuns and concepts of ecstasy, on which some work has been done in Ireland. Victoria Pearson also elaborated that Nagle was known to engage in long hours kneeling in prayer, and aspects of bodily mortification, and taking up the cloak of a beggar to collect money for her community, even before she took any vows.

Next, Isabelle Cochelin asked about an example of a pregnant tertiary, and Colmán’s discussion of tertiaries who were married. She wondered how common this was in Ireland? She also asked about the proportion of male to female religious communities. Colman answered that these women were secular tertiaries, and marriage and child-rearing was allowed under the secular tertiary rule. They were further not expected to follow the same fasting regulations as the others. Bronagh elaborated further by highlighting the need to clarify the third order and regular vs. secular tertiaries in the scholarship. She explained that male communities survived both exile and ongoing conflict in higher numbers than female houses, not to mention the head start those men had due to the establishment of seminary training houses. Victoria Pearson also highlighted the fact that scholars are only starting to understand how much was lost from female houses when the exile happened. She also stated that considerations which acknowledge tertiary lifestyles are allowing scholars to reconsider how secular women led lives of community service which can be seen as forms of religious life. Exile and return were part of the tradition of St Patrick and the great saints, and this means Nagle was following this same tradition.

Next, Devon Sherwood asked a general question about the fragmentary nature of the sources in both the medieval and early modern period, and if there is any difference in the nature of the sources in these times. She wondered what types of sources are still available. She also asked about religious self-identity of women religious and the phases of religious life these women may pass through; further, how the acceptance of enclosure could change the self-perception of these women. Victoria Pearson answered that Nagle’s successor, Sister Angela Collins, was in a liminal space for much of her life, living as a religious woman in a community. However, she did not take solemn vows nor was she officially recognized by the community until later in life. The sources, she states, are fragmentary, but sometimes sources remain unknown and therefore research is needed. This is especially true of the sources which are stored in other places, or sources which were brought back and forth to the continent, which may not be known yet. Colmán discussed the medieval sources, sharing that it is sometimes necessary to interrogate what sources are available and in what new ways known sources can be used to highlight female monasticism and religious activity. He also says that many have not interrogated the vernacular sources, which are vital to understanding and exploring the topic.  Finally, on identity, he said that there is evidence of groups redefining themselves between their exile and subsequent movement, especially many communities oscillated between Augustinian, Cistercian, and Benedictine identities.

In the meantime, Sioban Nelson asked how much influence there was from the Vincentian movement, in which humble women cared for the sick and the poor. Bronagh answered that the Vincentians did not come to Ireland, but that there were examples of women living out a form of religious expression that was not defined by claustration, between the closure of the monasteries and the official dissolution of religious life. At the end to these restrictions, there were groups which emerged to provide community services and observed some form of religious community life but were not restricted in the sense of enclosure. This, of course, upset many Jesuits, who had worries about the close working relationship between these women and the missionaries charged with their care. Especially the Tridentine clergy posed questions about these groups.

Margot Fassler recommended some sources on liturgical life. She highlighted the need to give the sources which do exist more attention, and especially to organize and present them clearly. Bronagh agreed, sharing works which catalogue the collections and will be instrumental in future research. Colman added an exciting upcoming edition of the anchoritic Rule of Godwin of Salisbury which will be released soon and will add to the corpus of available works. We will update this post with a reference to this new edition as soon as possible.

Alison More wrapped up the meeting with thanks to the speakers and those who attended, noting the fruitful session even amidst internet service interruptions due to inclement weather in Ireland.

Book Culture

by Devon Sherwood

On February 23, 2024, The Other Sister held a thematic meeting on the topic of book culture among non-cloistered religious women. Works from the invited speakers had been circulated prior to the meeting.

  • John Van Engen (University of Notre Dame) gave a short introduction.
  • Barbara Newman (Northwestern University), “Mechthild of Magdeburg at Helfta: A Study in Literary Influence,” in Women Intellectuals and Leaders in the Middle Ages, ed. Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Katie Bugyis and John Van Engen, Cambridge, MA: D.S. Brewer, 2020, p. 383–95.
  • Diana Denissen (Université de Lausanne), “Literacies, Learning, and Communal Reform: The Case of Alijt Bake,” in Medieval Women Religious, c. 800–c. 1500. New Perspectives, ed. Kimm Curran and Janet Burton. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2023, p. 137–51.
  • Patricia Stoop (Universiteit Antwerp) for an article written with Anna Dlabačová, “Incunabula in Communities of Canonesses Regular and Tertiaries Related to the Devotio Moderna: Toward an ‘Inclusive’ Approach of Late Medieval Book Ownership in the Low Countries,” Quaerendo, 51 (3), 219–48.

As is customary, the four speakers first spoke for a few minutes.

John Van Engen (University of Notre Dame) discussed his 2020 publication, Women Intellectuals and Leaders in the Middle Ages (co-edited with Kathryn Kerby-Fulton and Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis). He explained that the recent turn to inclusion in the history of women and a significant emphasis on the struggles of women inspired the editors to consider the roles of all women in religious history – those who struggled and those who did not. He highlighted the theme of “belonging” within religious communities as central to the study of women religious, emphasizing cultural, social, and religious inclusion. He concluded his introduction by sharing that Women Intellectuals focuses on this narrative of inclusion and development of community over time. Some similar themes have been highlighted in a recent review of the volume by Annette Volfing, in Speculum (2023), 898-899.

Barbara Newman (Northwestern University), discussed how the perspective explored in the volume Women Intellectuals focuses on the intellect of women religious. Her presentation emphasized how much fantastic research has come from approaching women religious in this way. Her chapter employs this lens to study Mechthild of Magdeburg, who, going blind, was invited to enter the Helfta monastery to complete the last book of her magnum opus, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, in dictation. Newman suggested that to be a writer was to work within a literary tradition. How, then, she asked, did women use their sources? What were their influences, how did they rebel, how did they influence others, and how did they understand and work within genres? Such questions are now givens serious consideration and new insights can come from an examination of how women writers responded to each other and to their predecessors: for example, Elizabeth of Schönau and Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Antwerp and her unnamed disciple, “Hadewijch II,” and Birgitta of Sweden and Margery Kempe have recently been studied. Newman’s chapter considers the “Two Mechthilds”: the visionary Mechthild of Magdeburg and her younger contemporary, Mechthild of Hackeborn, whom the elder Mechthild’s writing had inspired. Their cases are important because we rarely know so much about the contexts and conditions for medieval women’s writing. Newman explained that Low and High German are complex and that it can be difficult to trace discernible influences, such as remnants of court poetry, between texts written in the vernacular. For example, Mechthild of Magdeburg used the Goddess figure in her writing. While Mechthild of Hackeborn also used the same figure, she employed it via Latin masculine conventions, as with “love (amor) in the figure of a beautiful virgin,” thus obfuscating a direct link to the Goddess. Newman also referenced the possible influences of bridal mysticism, which has a long history of use and is significantly different from men’s mysticism, in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s texts. Differences are apparent between what Newman terms “servile-filial-bridal love” used in men’s mystic writing, in which God remains stable, and bridal mysticism in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s and Mechthild of Hackeborn’s texts, which depict God as filled with fierce desire. Mechthild of Magdeburg had to be moderated by the Helfta nuns due to her perceived excessive, erotic, and heterodox language. Her mysticism is very individual; theirs is communal. Newman also problematized the question of external virtues – while Mechthild of Magdeburg sheds them, the nuns of Helfta do not. Finally, Newman made a comparison between Mechthild of Magdeburg and Alijt Bake, the subject of the second speaker’s research. Both women lived extra-religious lives prior to entering nunneries. While Mechthild of Magdeburg did not know Latin and functioned exclusively in the vernacular, however, Bake was rebellious against the prospect of institutional learning and favoured prophetic revelation and book learning. Mechthild of Magdeburg needed assisted living; Bake was younger and drew concern about heresy, which she met with ferocity.

Diana Denissen (Université de Lausanne) discussed how her ideas since writing “Literacies, Learning, and Communal Reform: The Case of Alijt Bake” have evolved with her current research. She explored plural literacy as a continuum (e.g. oral vs. written, vernacular vs. Latin) and suggested that it is difficult to discuss literacy within women’s communities because of its many forms. The sister-books of Engelthal and Diepenveen contain evidence about how female religious translated or interpreted Latin texts during table readings, making texts available to all, regardless of levels of literacy.  Alijt Bake’s life further problematizes the concept of literacy and expresses a paradox about learning related to the tension between her intellectual skepticism/anti-intellectuality and her desire to read specific titles quickly to absorb as much information as possible. Denissen further considered the question of how books entered and left the convent, stating that both women religious and lay women moved books between communities. Her book chapter has become part of a broader project on spiritual autobiographies and biographical sketches incorporating interesting aspects of hagiography in sister books, and particularly on the relationship between social and intellectual networks that cross linguistic boundaries.

Patricia Stoop (Universiteit Antwerp) reiterated the previous speakers’ emphasis on collective and diverse forms of literacy and then discussed her co-authored article (with Anna Dlabačová), which grew out of Dlabačová’s research on ownership inscriptions from a printer in the Low Countries and Stoop’s similar work in Brussels. She contextualized their research by relating that, at the end of the eighteenth century, when the convent of Jericho was dissolved, a huge collection of books was discovered. Several incunabula were sold to other women, as mentioned in other contemporary archival documents. Yet, there is a massive gap between the claimed number of books and what remains. Early-modern book ownership needs to be studied as it is not as clear-cut as in the modern era. Certain Dutch lists of book ownership, copying, and transmission exist, but not for early printed books or manuscripts. The Devotio moderna movement had a huge impact on book production in the Low Countries. How did books come into convents? Were they purchased, bequeathed, or borrowed? What kind of texts were included? Were they new texts or copies? Stoop stated that the issue with this kind of research is that books are not systematically inventoried with ownership marks. She has begun to inventory books related to women religious in the Low Countries in the 1600s and researches how women were involved in the circulation of books, whether as authors, illuminators, or in other roles. She hopes that this will eventually lead to a broader understanding of intellectual culture across convents and institutions.

Q&A

Joseph Akl moderated the Q&A period. The first question was from Isabelle Cochelin, who asked Newman and Denissen whether the women whom they study seem to have been sensitive to the issue of enclosure vs. non-enclosure. Newman answered that women often transitioned between groups (e.g. from being beguines or anchoresses to cloistered nuns). “We tend to build walls between orders,” she stated, “based on history written by religious men, but women tended to be more fluid and moved around much more than men or what men expected, but where you placed them wasn’t the question that mattered the most to these women.” Denissen added that Alijt Bake had a full life before entering a convent, and there seems to have been a text about her life before this point. She had friends among other groups, and Denissen wonders if she could have been an anchoress if she had been advised differently. Bake also appears to have experienced anxiety related to which convent would have suited her best – how did she want to express and live her spirituality? These tensions, preserved in her writing, reveal choice in the different paths for women religious.

Van Engen offered some additional contextual information about Bake’s life. She came from a privileged family and, after experiencing a deeply unpleasant unknown event in Utrecht, was directed to start over in a religious community further to the South. The section of her writing describing the event is missing (and was possibly confiscated from her at some point), but contextual information suggests that she wanted to teach, preach, and write and had already started doing this, potentially without permission. These threads are picked up in later sections of her writing as she explains how she became a woman religious, and she is reprimanded repeatedly for engaging in certain kinds of reading. Bake asserted herself as an intellectual figure whose writing could not be understood by some of her superiors. Van Engen suggested that it is possible she was deposed and exiled from Utrecht – letters written to friends ask for suggestions for her defence and bring up the possibility of an exile to Antwerp. Denissen asked Van Engen why Bake chose to relocate to Ghent and why she settled on this particular convent. Van Engen answered that Johannes Eckhart’s house was turned into a convent and that they offered to take Bake in. In fact, she was eventually made prioress (possibly by Eckhart himself) at a young age. Her removal from the position most likely occurred after his death. Stoop added that Bake suggests that she is unconvinced of the importance of texts and that spirituality should be learned elsewhere. Denissen responded that, on the contrary, texts were quite important to Bake. She also suggested that Bake’s commentary was a rebellion against certain forms of authority and possibly perceived as dangerous due to her visionary nature of textual production and drive to share knowledge with others, whether acceptable or not. Yet, she also had non-textual visionary experiences.

Next, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski discussed the trajectory of Colette of Corbie’s vocational shift from anchoress to Observant Clarissan. She also considered the process of transition between manuscripts, incunabula, and early printed books, when texts were sometimes transcribed back into manuscripts. She asked Stoop’s opinion of this phenomenon. Stoop responded by considering why people began to copy printed books in manuscript forms. As an example, she brought up copying for annotation and as a spiritual exercise, also noting that some people might not have been able to afford a printed book, though she thinks that this is unlikely. Anna Dlabačová added other possibilities for manual transcription, such as the desire for a luxurious manuscript copy. She suggested that scholarship is only beginning to form understandings of these transitions since the trajectory from manuscript to printed book is often (wrongly) perceived as linear. Newman reiterated what other speakers had responded, focusing on what is lost in the transition from manuscript to printed book: hand-copying books is useful for intellectual and spiritual growth and to deeply internalize texts.

Bruce Venarde asked Newman about her evocation of a sanitization of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s writing. Who did Mechthild think would be reading her novel ideas, which incorporated so much originality? Newman responded that there was certainly an element of subversion at work since Helfta nuns were known to be proponents of the cult of the Sacred Heart. Newman suggested that Mechthild of Magdeburg’s book was for internal consumption since writing was a communal process. Dominican confessors also had a huge network, and Newman thinks that this is how the book was circulated, primarily in an abridged, Latin form, which allowed it to spread early beyond regional locations and outside purely religious contexts.

Akl asked, related to Venarde’s question, whether the symbolism of the heart as a door was used in the two Mechthilds’ texts. Newman responded that the cult of the Sacred Heart spread widely and that piety centred around the heart as a symbol of the interiority of Jesus and the Trinity, but she is unsure of whether illustrated copies exist and whether they are directly connected to the Helfta texts.

Michael Hahn asked Newman whether the shifts in bridal mysticism were part of a broader trend or specific to Helfta. Newman answered that the Helfta texts were particularly visible due to how prolific the nuns were in their writing. There was also a crossover between secular and religious ways of perceiving love and significant influence from courtly romance and troubadour poetry. This is shown in the notion of both parties as desiring love and becoming enmeshed in a turbulent relationship instead of as the soul making progress towards a stable and immovable God. John Arblaster evoked William of Saint-Thierry’s exposition on the Song of Songs: the mutuality between the heavenly bride and bridegroom, such as in the passage about the flowery bed, does not discuss desire, but points to a significant mutual passion expressed as kisses and joy. He also noted that the copying of texts was a devotional practice in itself and not only to familiarize oneself with the text.

Next, Cochelin returned to the issue of different denominations for women, suggesting that thinking in terms of orders is too limiting for women religious. Newman added the example of Juliana of Cornillon, who spent time in a leprosarium, which she tried to turn into an Augustinian priory, was exiled and moved between Cistercian monasteries without taking vows, then ended her life as an anchoress, suggesting that these transitions were more common than we might think. Stoop also specified that texts circulated easily across religious orders.

Stoop then asked Newman how far Mechthild of Magdeburg’s texts had circulated. Newman answered that her texts circulated much less than others at the time and that they mainly circulated in translation, reiterating that Latin texts enabled wider circulation.

Mercedes Pérez Vidal added an example to Stoop’s discussion of the circulation of texts between different religious communities. She mentioned a particular manuscript, a book on the Passion, copied by (and for) a Portuguese nun, which can be compared with manuscript copies of the Tleven ons Heren Ihesu Cristi, which circulated widely among communities of religious women in the Netherlands. As was the case in these communities, the Cistercian nuns of Lorvão also used incunabula alongside manuscripts.

Barbara Walters thanked Newman for her work and help with others’ research and mentioned Anneke Mulder-Bakker whose work was also instrumental.

The Other Sister Research Seminar: Book “Medieval Religious Women”

by Julia Cole and Devon Sherwood

On Friday, December 15th, The Other Sister met for a discussion of Medieval Religious Women, c. 800-1500, ed. Kimm Curran and Janet Burton (Boydell, 2023). Kimm Curran, Janet Burton, Cate Gunn, and Alison More joined us to discuss their contributions (listed below) to this exciting new publication. The thematic session was organized by Delfi Nieto-Isabel and Mary Doyno.

  • Kimm Curran and Janet Burton, “Introduction,” p. 1-21.
  • Alison More, “Change and Renewal: Mendicants and Tertiaries in Later Medieval Europe,” p. 61-75.
  • Cate Gunn, “On the Fringes: Anchorites,” p. 76-89.

Janet Burton, Professor of Medieval History at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, and co-editor of the volume, was the first speaker. She recalled how she and Kimm Curran commissioned essays for the volume after the initial rejection of their proposed volume topic. This disappointment galvanized them and allowed them to rethink traditional narratives as they pertain to medieval religious women. The texts themselves includes an extensive temporal range, beginning with the councils of Aachen (816-17), and ending c. 1500. Burton points out, however, that movements differed regionally and that the same thematic approaches cannot be applied to all geographic regions in the same way.

Next, Kimm Curran, an independent researcher based in Scotland, and co-editor of the volume, echoed Burton in sharing their desire to produce a book that would break down barriers between those in formal institutional communities and those who existed outside of them but who still lived a religious lifestyle. She noted commonalities between the two groups in addition to acknowledging women’s search for identity within the environments of new orders and transition between groups, illustrating the issues inherent in anachronistic categorization. Decisions about the choice of words were at the forefront of their minds as they worked on the volume, with a preference for ‘women religious’ or ‘sister’ over ‘nun’. Similarly, Curran emphasized their avoidance of the term ‘nunnery’. Alongside their contributors, they navigated the challenging issue of language and adjusted to more inclusive terminology. In its final form, the multi-disciplinary book represents topics such as women’s agency, authority, identities, literacies, and materialities, and reflects the diversity of its multi-disciplinary contributors.

Alison More, Associate Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of St Michael’s College, University of Toronto, added to the discussion on terminology. She pointed out that terms themselves do not mean anything other than what you choose them to mean. Her chapter discusses the emergence of a spiritual revolution, which people sought out and participated in with fervor. She highlighted the diversity of religious women, even within the category of ‘tertiary’, a label that she suggested warrants further investigation. Finally, Professor More spoke about the fact that many of the women in her study do not fit neatly into institutional parameters; rather, they sought out ‘do-it-yourself religion’.

Next, Cate Gunn, an independent researcher with a focus on medieval English literature, religious literature, and medieval devotional culture, spoke. She explained that the question, ‘how do we talk about female anchorites?’ guided her study. She sought to question their marginality and explore where and how they lived. During her talk, she, too, returned to the issue of medieval categorization and specific identity. She paints the anchorites that she studies as spiritually, textually, and physically impactful to their landscapes, even given the extreme form of religious life carried out in such as small cell. Serving this role, anchorites were necessary to their communities since they served as proxies for spiritual matters and carried out meaningful functions through prayer while also generally reflecting the values of medieval society by means of anchoritic life.

The Q&A period touched upon a number of themes including further inquiry into the classification, organization, and self-identification of specific groups, the problematization of terminology as related to translation in different languages, evidence of cultural exchange and similarities between disparate groups, and transitions between groups over time. Furthermore, speakers and participants discussed relationships within and between groups, leading to a broader discussion about the social practices of anchorites and different experiences of liminality and marginality. In addition, the speakers answered several questions specific to their contributions, providing essential context for ongoing discussions about the experiences of women religious in a variety of geographical regions.

Mary Doyno posed the first question to Alison More, asking if she felt that there is use in employing terminology used by the historical women that she studies. More expressed similar sentiment as to wanting to use these terms, but explained the jigsaw-like puzzle of sources that her work has drawn from can make it difficult. Rather, she explained, women seemed to focus more on what needed to be done than issues of self-identification and classification. Cate Gunn also responded, pointing out that some women felt anxiety associated with the uncertain status of not being under a rule, and therefore adopted a rule to quash this anxiety.

Remaining on the topic of terminology, Renate Blumfield-Kosinski then brought up the challenge posed by different languages both in sources and in modern scholarship. She pointed out that as much scholarship has been focused on Italy and England, many of these terms are familiar, but that a multitude of terms exist in other languages. This poses the question; do we define every term when we use it? Agreeing, Cate Gunn echoed that definitions can be very different, even between scholars working in the same field.

Devon Sherwood wonderedunder if there is evidence of women shifting between different groups over time. This question brought to mind a common misconception for Cate Gunn, who shared that many think that anchorites ended up transitioning to communal living, but that this is not true. Rather, anchorites connected through their beliefs and lifestyles but did not live communally. Instead, they would transition from communities to the more isolated lifestyle that an anchorhold provided.

Kimm Curran returned to the anxiety over terminology that she had as an editor: she felt trapped by publishing norms that focused on certain categories of religious women and sought a broader and more inclusive category for women religious. For Curran, this issue was embodied in the complex identity of Saint Hedwig, who graces the cover of the volume. Curran also discussed the issue of male authors writing about these women, making it difficult at times to find the voices of the women directly. Alison More brought up transitions of religious life, whether reforming or moving to a stricter form of life. The associations of women religious with a specific order poses challenges for perceived identity, which could either change or simply appear to have changed from the sources based on who was providing pastoral care. Within this topic, she concluded, there is much to explore.

Lucy Barnhouse returned to Alison More’s chapter, wondering how women were in part defined by their relationships (with other women, bishops, confessors). Janet Burton agreed as to the centrality of women’s relationships, highlighting the importance of locating women within their wider communities. This included their relationships with their orders, the secular community, patrons, and others. Delfi Nieto-Isabel pointed out that often the locality of the women studied lies in different terminologies, an issue of the modern day, not the sources. Turning back to Cate Gunn’s chapter, she then asked about the difference between liminality and marginality, claiming that what was liminal in the period under study has only been made marginal through modern study. Though Gunn pointed out that the anchorites in her chapter did not use either term, their position on the threshold between life and death posed a serious challenge, but the value in their role made it easier. Alison More agreed, stating that women did not choose to be liminal, but rather filled the positions that they saw as necessary, waiting for their institutions to catch up with them. Janet Burton added that being liminal did not mean one was unimportant. Bruce Venarde agreed that liminal, marginal, and identity are our modern words and shared Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper’s 2000 article, “Beyond ‘Identity’”.

Sister Carla Thomas sought clarification from Cate Gunn on her mention of vows, wishing to know who received the vows of the women in her study. For lay anchorites, Gunn answered, they made vows to a bishop and were usually linked to a specific church not living under a rule. There was, however, an earlier practice of women transitioning from a monastic community to an anchorhold. Making an oath to a bishop was part of an attempt to control this practice (of lay women becoming anchorites) but was also practical as it allowed the church to check that the women had the financial means to support themselves and were connected toa church that could administer the sacraments. Kimm Curran agreed, giving a Scottish example of a nun moving from an enclosed community to an anchorhold.

Next, Letha Böhringer connected the ongoing discussion of terminology to the context of practices and social spaces. She asked Cate Gunn about her experience regarding the social practices of anchorites as opposed to those of other women. Gunn answered that the main difference was that anchorites lived in isolation, enclosed on their own, even when connected to others via letters. Isabelle Cochelin commented that recluses in England were perhaps more solitary, but those on the continent were very social and played a vital role in society. Some women even applied for the job of recluse through their local government. Gunn agreed that though a recluse’s life was solitary, they played an important role in their communities.

Barbara R. Walters Doehrman brought up the impacts of geographical and economic milieu on the practices of anchoresses, even though daily practices could be quite similar place to place. Cate Gunn responded that work in this area is beginning to be done, highlighting the similar nature of the spirituality of women in different regions.

Minlib Dahl posed the final question, asking Alison More to explain Raymond of Capua’s influence on and relationship with Catherine of Siena. More explained that he wrote in a way that sought to highlight the links she had with the Dominican Order as a tertiary.

Concluding a fruitful and lively discussion, the chat continued with encouraging and complimentary messages for the speakers from participants until the very end of the meeting. The important themes of terminology (both that in sources and modern scholarship), identities of religious women, and the ties that they had with each other and their wider community drove the conversation. Thank you to all contributors and those who posed thoughtful questions and comments.

The Other Sister Research Seminar: Dissent

By Meghan Lescault

On October 27, 2023, The Other Sister held a thematic meeting on the topic of dissent among non-cloistered religious women. The following works from the four invited speakers had been circulated prior to the meeting:

  • Justine L. Trombley, “‘Against the Foundation of the Faith’: Theological Refutation in MS Vat. lat. 4953” and “Conclusion,” in A Diabolical Voice: Heresy and Reception of the Latin “Mirror of Simple Souls” in Late Medieval Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2023), 93–124 and 170–178.
  • Huanan Lu, “Marguerite Porete et l’enquête de 1323 sur le béguinage Sainte-Élisabeth de Valenciennes,” Revue du Nord 440 (2021): 451–485. The English summary of the article can be found here.
  • Sean L. Field, “Clare of Rimini: A Case Study in the Circulation of Controversial Religious Claims” (work in progress to be published in a volume edited by Delfi Nieto-Isabel and Justine L. Trombley for the Routledge series Religious Dissent and Persecution in the Pre-Modern World).
  • Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel, “Beguines, Free Spirits, and the Inquisitorial Network Conundrum,” Oliviana 7 (2023). The open access article can be found here.

The meeting commenced with the four speakers presenting their research.

Justine Trombley, Lecturer in European History, 1300–1500 at Durham University, discussed the traditional tendency to label women as spiritual and mystical, but not intellectual. In her own work she strove to emphasize that Marguerite Porete was in fact treated as an intellectual, even if anonymously, as theologians, canons, and preachers assumed the Latin Mirror of Simple Souls to be the work of a man and engaged with it on a serious intellectual level in their attacks and condemnations of it. Not only these critics, but also the supporters of the work ascribed an intellectual character to it. Trombley tied the works of all four speakers together, noting the importance of networks as a major theme and their ability to impact, both positively and negatively, the lives of intellectual women. While a figure such as Clare of Rimini could benefit from a strong network, such networks could also attract the negative attention of inquisitors.

Huanan Lu, Assistant Professor of History at Nanjing University, explained that while she was sifting through archival documents for her PhD studies, she came across the inquisitorial record of 1323 of the beguinage of Saint Elizabeth in Valenciennes. This record mentioned a beguine by the name of Marghoneta, whom she was able to identify as Marguerite Porete. Lu discussed the effect of Marguerite’s inquisitorial trial on the beguine communities at the Council of Vienne, including her own community in Valenciennes, which was the first to be investigated in the diocese of Cambrai following the council. She explained that this investigation turned out to be rehabilitative, as everyone involved identified Marguerite as an exceptional figure with no followers in the community. The beguines of Saint Elizabeth were deemed innocent and orthodox, placed under the protection of religious and secular powers, and granted a high degree of autonomy.

Sean L. Field, Professor of History at the University of Vermont, introduced his paper as a result of a larger project of an English translation of and commentary on the vita of Clare of Rimini (Jacques Dalarun, Sean L. Field, and Valerio Cappozzo, A Female Apostle in Medieval Italy: The Life of Clare of Rimini [Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022]). He explained that by being asked by Delfi Nieto-Isabel to think about the flow of controversial ideas in the text, he saw the clear trajectory of Clare’s life from a solitary penitent woman to the leader of an informal community. Moreover, by being asked to think about moments in the text in which Clare is a recipient and dispenser of ideas, he was able to notice the rhetorical machinations by which the author of the text protects her from accusations of heresy. Field noted that Clare is a good example of an understudied figure who could help shed light on important themes related to non-cloistered women.

Delfi Nieto-Isabel, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Lecturer in History, and Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, focused on the perennial problem of categorization, which she finds to be particularly relevant to the discussion of late medieval lay religiosity, especially in the case of women. She explained that this struggle goes back to the inquisitors themselves, who attempted to rely on categories for their detection of heresy. When they tried to fit a vast array of expressions of penitential lay religiosity into a small hole of orthodoxy, they inevitably met with failure. Nieto-Isabel noted that modern scholars still easily fall into this same mistake, and she challenged the group to move away from this tendency. Recalling the late medieval religious women who readily identified themselves both as beguines and as members of the Third Order of St. Francis, she asked why we would have a problem acknowledging this double identity if the women themselves embraced it.

As usual, a robust discussion began after the conclusion of these presentations. The theme that clearly dominated the discussion was that of networks. Emma Gabe turned the group’s attention to Trombley’s earlier point about the strong influence that networks could have on whether someone would be deemed heretical or orthodox. Nieto-Isabel elaborated on this point, illustrating the importance of networks by explaining that Na Prous Boneta (a beguine from Languedoc who was burnt at the stake in 1328) was not judged as a beguine by the inquisitors, but as a very specific type of heretic, entirely because of her network and the people in it with whom she was associated. Networks were so important that they could define boundaries and determine the categories into which people were placed. Trombley applied these ideas to Marguerite Porete and The Mirror of Simple Souls, showing how networks could either bring support or ruin depending upon the circumstances. She pointed to the ultimate failure of the networks around Marguerite to provide protection for her. In the case of The Mirror, she noted that its reception depended upon not only who was reading and interpreting it, but also the milieu in which it was being read. For example, its circulation in the Tuscan monastery of the Camaldolese Order seemed to be free from problems, while its circulation in a network in Venice resulted in trouble for those who were reading it. Courtney Barter-Colcord introduced the figure of Guglielma of Milan (d. 1282) into the discussion, remarking upon the fact that unlike Na Prous Boneta, Guglielma was already dead at the time of her inquisition (c. 1300) and that unlike Marguerite, she had a great deal of support, albeit the wrong kind of support as far as the inquisitors were concerned. Barter-Colcord posed the question of whether there were many other cases in which a network was built up around an individual who was no longer present. Nieto-Isabel discussed the persistence of social capital beyond death and tied this question to the idea of martyrdom and sainthood, explaining that in most cases of these, the individual being venerated is not living. She also demonstrated the importance of networks, discussing how Guglielma herself was never deemed suspect in her lifetime but only after her death when her network made dramatic claims about her, whereas Na Prous was considered problematic while alive.

In addition to a more general discussion of networks, closer examination of the networks specific to Marguerite took place. Isabelle Cochelin mentioned Lu’s assertion that Marguerite had no support in her own beguinage. Lu elaborated on this point, explaining that the beguines were largely responsible for their own protection. In response, Nieto-Isabel questioned whether we can truly know the nature of the relationship between Marguerite and the other beguines of Saint Elizabeth before 1310 given their obvious desire to present themselves as orthodox during the inquisition occurring after Marguerite’s execution. Lu responded by appealing to the text of The Mirror itself in which Marguerite claims that the beguines held her views to be wrong, suggesting their rejection of her. She also cited the dearth of archival documents mentioning Marguerite/Marghoneta, perhaps implying by their silence that Marguerite was poor and lacked strong social support. Field took up this particular line of discussion to emphasize the many possible interpretations of these situations for which we have no definite answer. John Arblaster moved from discussion of support for Marguerite in the beguinage to that of support for The Mirror. He noted that the three approbations given to the work by clerics must indicate a geographically wide network. To this point, Nieto-Isabel responded that the circulation of a manuscript requires a network and that Marguerite’s book would have had to be circulated in other networks before reaching those of the ecclesiastical authorities. Trombley elaborated on this, explaining that the rapid early appearance of the Latin translation of The Mirror suggests that Marguerite had introduced her original vernacular text into circulation very early. Field clarified that the words “approbation” and “approval” are not quite right here, because the clerics who commented on The Mirror did not give their full approval to it, but rather tentative praise that could be withdrawn if the work met with trouble, as happened in this case.

The networks of Clare of Rimini also arose as a topic of discussion. Mary Harvey Doyno introduced this topic by asking if there is a relationship between the idea of networks and the fact that Clare’s vita was begun while she was still alive. Field noted that a network that was physically gathered around a dying person, as in the case of Clare, would function differently from a posthumous canonization inquiry. He surmised that the former might have a stronger value in that the individuals around Clare would have to be gathered there of their own accord in a free exchange of ideas. Nieto-Isabel agreed that it is a question of the strength of the network and that the organic accompaniment of Clare in her dying moments would suggest a strength not available to a network built around an individual who had already died.

At the conclusion of this substantial conversation, Nieto-Isabel pointed out that in citing each other in their papers, the speakers had created their own network about networks. While the participants were discussing the importance of medieval networks, they were demonstrating in real time the necessity of a modern network such as The Other Sister.

The Other Sister Research Seminar: Identities on the Italian Peninsula

by Joseph George Akl

On September 29th, 2023, The Other Sister research group held a seminar on the topic of varieties of religious life on the Italian peninsula. Four invited speakers presented some of their work on the subject, which had been circulated to all 44 participants prior to the online meeting:

  • Mary Harvey Doyno, “Roman Women: Female Religious, the Papacy, and a Growing Dominican Order,” Speculum 97, no. 4 (2022): 1040–72.
  • Thomas Luongo, “Catherine of Siena’s Advice to Religious Women,” Specula 3 (2022): 99–124.
  • Ashley Tickle Odebiyi, “Betwixt and Between: The Formation of Non-Cloistered Religious Women’s Identities in Rome, 1400-1600,” 2–31. This unpublished chapter is from an upcoming monograph.
  • Thérèse Peeters, “To Overcome Distrust: Three Religious Initiatives by Genoese Women,” in Trust in the Catholic Reformation, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions 231 (Leiden: Brill, 2022), 182–229.
    • The introduction from this publication (pages 1-36) was also circulated for additional context.

Each paper focused on the question of identity using the Italian peninsula as a case study. As is often the case with non-cloistered religious women, the issue around nomenclature was central. However, the aim of the discussion was not to box-in (or, in a manner, cloister!) these women, but to uncover their multifold identities and find non-cloistered religious women in sources where they have been overlooked.

Mary Harvey Doyno, associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Religious Studies at Sacramento State University, centered her discussion on the growth of the universal convent of San Sisto envisioned by Pope Innocent III and achieved by Honorius III (with the help of Dominic of Caleruega). She argued that, by considering Cecilia of Rome’s Miracula beati Dominici alongside the extant charter evidence from Santa Maria in Tempuli, she was able to give more visibility to Roman women religious and Dominicans, albeit one that was tied to the attempt to cloister all of Rome’s women religious.

Thomas Luongo, associate professor of history and the director of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Tulane University, focused his short presentation on the loaded question of Catherine of Siena’s identity as a woman religious. He asked what Catherine’s conception of her life and vocation was, and if we can even speak of a formal vocation when discussing Catherine’s identity – one that is completely idiosyncratic. Lunogo argued that Raymond of Capua’s life of Catherine positions her as following the Dominican order, even suggesting her as a friar, an identity that fits into Catherine’s advice of claustration to some women while never cloistering herself. Catherine’s lifestyle was an impossible one and Luongo added that if we try to make it work, pushing Catherine into the box of laity or of religious life, we ignore the tension at play.

Next, Ashley Tickle Odebiyi, assistant professor of history at Arizona State University, focused her discussion on the bizzoche of Rome and how, though each bizzoche house was associated with a different order, such as the Benedictines, Franciscans, or Dominicans, these women had networks and identities that crossed the borders of the male orders. Despite the limited extant documentation for some of these houses, Odebiyi has found commonalities between the Roman bizzoche in their clothing, affective piety, and service to the poor – a lens she believes is important to apply to the study of non-cloistered religious women in general, drawing on similarities between beguines, beatas, bizzoche and others.

Finally, Thérèse Peeters, author of Trust in the Catholic Reformation, asked what role did trust play in the post-Tridentine Church in general, a period characterised by distrust, especially of female religious. This distrust was exemplified by Genoa’s seventeenth-century magistrato delle monache which supervised and controlled female religious life in the city. Peeters examined three religious groups, the Turchine, Medee, and Brignoline, that, despite this climate, arose during the period in Genoa. She discussed the interplay between trust and freedom, with the freedom of choice, spirituality and movement increasing the women’s view of the trustworthiness of their own religious project, while similarly increasing the distrust of those whose support they needed. Peeters found that a higher level of trust was necessary for the women religious who acted publicly, while lower levels of trust were needed for religious groups who kept a lower profile.

The discussion began with Alison More asking about the interplay between identity and order. Mary Harvey Doyno answered that she is trying to understand this very thing. San Sisto is associated with the Dominican Order but it is clear that the friars did not think of it as theirs, at least not in the modern understanding of affiliation. At opportune times the friars point to San Sisto as an example of women in their order, but the relationship is never fully clear. Thomas Luongo also answered saying that, of course, Raymond of Capua did not wish to make Catherine a friar, this is impossible, but just as Mary Magdalene was a model for some, Catherine was made into a model for the friars. Luongo wished to underscore the difficulty (or the missing-the-point) of trying to clarify identities with labels.

Adrian Kammerer next asked two questions. First, he wanted more information on Amata from Cecilia’s Miracula who had spirits expelled from her by Dominic of Caleruega, as she does not seem to be cloistered even later in the writings. Second, he wondered if the charters from Santa Maria in Tempuli discussed by Doyno complicated not only the distinction between nuns and other sisters, but also the one between conversae and other sisters. Doyno answered that though she wished she had more information on Amata, it is not clear what becomes of her from the documentation. As for the second statement, she agreed that this understanding can be broadened to include semi-religious women, and how she was interested by the abbesses’ attempts to nod to a larger community of women, outside of the smaller community of nuns. The fact that this larger community was involved in guarding the convent’s patrimony is understood by Doyno as a red flag for Innocent III or Honorius III, aiding the idea of a universal convent.

Maiju Lehmijoki Wetzel asked if it was too radical to assert that the Dominican Order did not exist before women were involved. Doyno answered that, though radical, the statement identifies that the institution, and therefore perhaps the identity, is formed around a process of including everybody but giving women a clear, contained space. Luongo specified that even during Catherine of Siena’s life, the identity of the order was still being articulated. There is a clarity organisationally for men that does not exist for women. It is this lack of organisation for the women that brings these questions. However, Luongo added that if one digs deeper, there is a variety in the friars’ identities as well, which could also bring a (diverse) range of issues.

Michèle Mulchahey stated that in the discussion on the tension between the cura monialium and mendicancy, scholarship focuses on the friars’ relationships with women, but, with women being cloistered, there were also the problems linked with property and ownership. Would this not be a real stumbling block to including women into the order? Doyno agreed but added that in her reading of the situation, the convent of San Sisto really remained under the control of the papacy, who had asked Dominic for assistance. So there were no real issue of the properties of women creating a problem with the friars’ mendicancy during the thirteenth century. Luongo wondered if, by Catherine’s time, there is a sense that this concern has folded into the situation concerning the Dominican Reform. He added that it is often forgotten that during Catherine life there was a female Dominican community in Sienna that interacted with Catherine and the mantellate.

Sioban Nelson asked Doyno to explain her comment that the Church needed this universal convent to grow. Doyno responded that though there was a resource element to this need, Innocent III had the idea to create a Church for the entirety of Christendom and to be able to articulate authority in this way. This amorphous growth is what she conceptualised when stating that this was needed for the Church to grow.

Carla Thomas asked if we should think of Catherine having a vocation in her time or are we projecting a modern notion onto her when saying this. Dr. Luongo suggested that “vocation” is probably a term we are using with a modern sense and that it is not entirely applicable.

Isabelle Cochelin asked if these women were allowed to choose their confessors or spiritual advisors. Peeters answered that the smaller of the three female groups in Genoa, the Medee, had this choice and they often picked the Jesuits. The cloistered women in Genoa had this decision made for them. Odebiyi gave the example of Santa Francesca who chose two confessors in her life, neither one coming from the Benedictines of Mount Olivet with whom her house of bizzoche was affiliated. Doyno was unsure and said that the sources seem to suggest that Dominic was selected for the women rather than the other way around. Luongo answered that even though Catherine made everything seem like a choice, the choice of confessor was made for her. However, she had a close relationship to Raymond of Capua, who berated Catherine’s early confessors in his work.

Michael Hahn enquired as to when the term “Dominican” is first used as well as asking if we are perhaps imposing a modern identity onto the period when using the terms “Dominican” or “Franciscan” to speak of the orders. Doyno answered that the appellation “Order of Preachers” was used during Innocent III’s reign and that Amanda Power has dealt with this historiographical issue for the Franciscans. She answered that thinking about the historical narrative being fabricated when we connect these non-cloistered religious women to the mendicant orders is important, as Alison More has written, but this fabricated narrative also gives us the false sense that there is a coherent identity for the mendicants earlier than there was. Odebiyi added that her sources use the terms Third Order of Saint Francis and then pinzochere in the same documents, which complicates the understanding of these women’s identity. This is why she has opted to simply use the term bizzoche instead of tertiaries. Michèle Mulchahey added that the earliest use of the term ordo in relation to the Dominicans was to designate their propositum and refered to their preaching.

Delfi Nieto-Isabel summarised the major themes of this meeting’s discussion asking if we are boxing in the non-cloistered religious women when trying to categorise them and impose identities onto them. She asked if this was a heritage handed down to us by the Church authorities of the period and if, ultimately, these are useless categories, even when thinking across the north-south European border. Doyno agreed and brought to light the fact that this confusion does not happen with male groups, and Odebiyi added that this categorisation comes from the sources, which can obscure real commonalities between groups. Peeters specified that for the women she studied, categorisation depends on the type of project the women were trying to set up. Sometimes a fluid identity can serve a group. Luongo added that not all had access to Latin, through which many ideas were spread, which can lead to some of the regional divides