The Other Sister is a research blog dedicated to the study of women who pursued forms of religious life outside of the cloister in medieval and early modern western Europe and New France. These women include but are not limited to beguines, tertiaries, penitents, pizzochere, bizzoche, beatas, lay sisters, recluses, Deo devote, oblates, and secular canonesses. They were especially numerous in cities and from a variety of social backgrounds, unlike their cloistered sisters who were from mostly noble and patrician backgrounds.

Although many non-cloistered religious women played significant roles in society, religiously and socially, they often appear marginal in traditional historiography. This is primarily due to a model that compartmentalizes women’s groups and imposes artificial categories on their lived experiences. The belief that there were only two options for pre-modern women, marriage or cloistered life (aut maritus aut murus), is still prevalent. For this reason, more collaborative research is necessary. 

This project is focused on non-cloistered religious women between the twelfth and eighteenth century, from Italy to New France. By defining and contextualizing the experiences of these women, the research project, The Other Sister, will establish a necessary corrective to the standard historiographical picture. In this way, it will help to clarify the place of religious women in the Church and society.

The main goal of our research project is twofold:

• To enhance the study of this important and global part of Christian history through workshops, thematic meetings, publications and this blog
• To challenge the usual boundaries imposed on these non-cloistered religious women

We do not limit ourselves to regional studies; we believe it is key to think also about these women in pan-European and non-European perspectives. For this reason, we have included New France and, hopefully in the future, we will also include other regions of the world. 

We do not want to think about these women only in terms of one group, such as the beguines, but want to explore the similarities and differences that existed beyond the confines of labels.

Two questions animate this project: ‘Who were these women?’ and ‘What were their roles?’ From here, we can build a picture that allows us to understand the multifaceted aspects of their existence. We will:

• Establish a methodology to reconstruct the individual experiences of devout women living outside ecclesiastical institutional structures
• Rethink categories used to discuss feminine religious experience in both the Middle Ages and the early modern period
• Explore the roles and functions of non-cloistered religious women by prioritizing links and continuities outside of traditional temporal or geographic boundaries 

This collaborative blog presents the various stages of the project and tracks the progress of the research. It features the following:

• Postings concerning the work of the researchers involved
• Discussions of historiographical issues
• Presentations of archival findings
• Case studies of non-cloistered women
• Interactive maps illustrating the geographical locations of groups of non-cloistered religious women and tracking the development of specific movements

In the long term, we also plan to include a comprehensive searchable bibliographic database of scholarship concerning non-cloistered women.

Through our blog, The Other Sister disseminates the archival, historiographical, and geographical findings about non-cloistered women by the researchers. It sets the stage for an inclusive history of non-cloistered religious women in the Christian world between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. In addition to giving these women a proper place in the historical record, The Other Sister has as its goal the creation of a medium for exchange and dialogue within and beyond the academic community. To this end, our blog aims to initiate and foster discussion. The posts, archival sources, bibliography, and maps provide information and present avenues for further research, while the ‘comments’ section welcomes insights and reflections from readers.