Description

Book Synopsis
Collection of letters and texts offering guidance for nuns, and including selections from Abelard's letters to Heloise. These translated letters and texts composed for younger and older women in twelfth-century convents illuminate the powerful medieval ideals of virginity and chastity. Abelard's history of women's roles in the church and his letteron women's education, both written for Heloise in her work as abbess, are seen here alongside previously untranslated letters and texts for abbesses and nuns in England and France. An interpretive essay explores the practical and spiritual engagement of women's convents with medieval commemorative and memorial practices, showing that the professional concern of women religious with death goes far beyond the stereotype of nuns as dead to the world, or enclosed in living death. VERA MORTON gained an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Liverpool in 1994. JOCELYN WOGAN-BROWNE is Professor of English at Fordham University, NY.

Trade Review
A significant and lasting contribution to the field of medieval women's religious literature and culture. -- DIANE WATT, THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW

Guidance for Women in Twelfth-Century Convents

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    A Paperback / softback by Vera Morton, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne

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      Book details

      Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
      Published 15 March 2012
      ISBN-13 9781843842958
      978-1843842958
      ISBN-10 1843842955
      Also in:
      ELT & Literary Studies Ancient, classical and medieval texts Religious communities and monasticism

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Collection of letters and texts offering guidance for nuns, and including selections from Abelard's letters to Heloise. These translated letters and texts composed for younger and older women in twelfth-century convents illuminate the powerful medieval ideals of virginity and chastity. Abelard's history of women's roles in the church and his letteron women's education, both written for Heloise in her work as abbess, are seen here alongside previously untranslated letters and texts for abbesses and nuns in England and France. An interpretive essay explores the practical and spiritual engagement of women's convents with medieval commemorative and memorial practices, showing that the professional concern of women religious with death goes far beyond the stereotype of nuns as dead to the world, or enclosed in living death. VERA MORTON gained an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Liverpool in 1994. JOCELYN WOGAN-BROWNE is Professor of English at Fordham University, NY.

      Trade Review
      A significant and lasting contribution to the field of medieval women's religious literature and culture. -- DIANE WATT, THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW

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