Start Date
12-6-2011 9:30 AM
End Date
12-6-2011 12:00 PM
Subject Areas
Europe, medieval, early modern, class, gender, religion
Abstract
At medieval monastic communities for women, there was often a tension around ideas of labor. Though the Benedictine Rule enjoined all religious to engage in manual labor, the reality in many women’s communities was that the nuns left the physical labor that sustained the community to others. In some communities, that labor was performed by lay sisters; in others, by female servants or even slaves. Particularly in the Mediterranean region, where domestic slaves were common, nuns and monasteries also on occasion owned slaves.
This paper uses evidence from women’s monasteries in the Aragon in the 14th and 15th centuries to examine the roles of servants in a monastic setting. Servants, whether paid or enslaved, not only did work; their actions helped to determine the nuns’ reputation and provoke disciplinary action from bishops intending to safeguard the chastity of the nuns under their supervision. The juxtaposition of elite Christian nuns with the lower-status women who worked for them, thus posed challenges for both groups of women. In the case of enslaved domestic servants, religious and ethnic differences might also play a role. The medieval slave trade imported to western Europe large numbers of non-Christian women from central Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. When nuns acquired such slaves, the sanctified, enclosed space of the monastery became a space also inhabited by Muslim, pagan, or recently converted women of distinctly non-sanctified status.
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Serving in the Cloister: Work, Discipline, and Social Status in Late Medieval Nunneries
At medieval monastic communities for women, there was often a tension around ideas of labor. Though the Benedictine Rule enjoined all religious to engage in manual labor, the reality in many women’s communities was that the nuns left the physical labor that sustained the community to others. In some communities, that labor was performed by lay sisters; in others, by female servants or even slaves. Particularly in the Mediterranean region, where domestic slaves were common, nuns and monasteries also on occasion owned slaves.
This paper uses evidence from women’s monasteries in the Aragon in the 14th and 15th centuries to examine the roles of servants in a monastic setting. Servants, whether paid or enslaved, not only did work; their actions helped to determine the nuns’ reputation and provoke disciplinary action from bishops intending to safeguard the chastity of the nuns under their supervision. The juxtaposition of elite Christian nuns with the lower-status women who worked for them, thus posed challenges for both groups of women. In the case of enslaved domestic servants, religious and ethnic differences might also play a role. The medieval slave trade imported to western Europe large numbers of non-Christian women from central Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. When nuns acquired such slaves, the sanctified, enclosed space of the monastery became a space also inhabited by Muslim, pagan, or recently converted women of distinctly non-sanctified status.