WOMEN’S STRUGGLE FOR EXİSTENCE İN WOMEN’S MONASTERİES İN MEDİEVAL EUROPE
Abstract
Monasteries were multifunctional structures in medieval Europe, serving multiple functions. The term "monastery," meaning alone, garnered considerable attention due to its diverse roles. During that era, parents often entrusted their children to monasteries for education. The predominance of men in monasteries exerted significant pressure, particularly on the few women's monasteries. This pressure caused women to create a new system and even create a new order for themselves However, when we evaluate the monasteries in general, we come across two different windows as monastic life from the eyes of men and women. At this point, women's monasticism or women's monasteries begin to draw attention and we encounter a system that is different from the eyes of women. Women's monasteries could be seen as pivotal in the nascent women's movements of the time. Women entered monasteries not solely for education but also to explore their inner worlds or seek refuge from the outside world. This created a system where monastic life was largely dominated by men, reinforcing beliefs that women could not achieve independently. This study aims to clarify the perspective of women's monasticism during the Middle Ages and their role within monasteries.
Keywords: Medieval; Monastery; Europe; Women; Women's Monasteries.
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References
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[2] Berman, C. (2000). The Cistercian Evolution, Philadelphia.
[3] Berman, Constance (1988), “Men’s Houses, Women’s Houses: The Relationship Between the Sexes in Twelfth-Century Monasticism”, The Medieval Monastery, ed. A. MacLeish, Minneapolis, 43-52.
[4] Brooke,C. (2006). The Rise and Fall of the Medieval Monastery. London.
[5] Burton, J.(2015). “Medieval Nuneries and Male Authority: Female Monasteries in England and Wales”.Women in the Medieavl Monastic World. ed. Janet Burton-Karen Stöber Belgium. 123-145.
[6] Butler, R.U. (1909). Order of Gilbertines. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
[7] Cariboni, G. (2015). “Cistercian Nuns in Northern Italy: Varety of Foundations and Construction of an Identity”. Women in the Medieavl Monastic World. ed. Janet Burton-Karen Stöber Belgium. 53-75.
[8] Constable, G. (1978), “Aelred of Rievaux and the Nun of Watton: An Episode in the Early History of the Gilbertine Order,” Medieval Women, ed. D. Baker, Oxford, 205-26.
[9] Constable, G. (1996), The Reformation of the Twelfth Century, New York, Cambridge University Press.
[10] Çetin Ünal, B. (2023) “Orta Çağ Almanya’sında Kadın Manastırları”, AHBVÜ Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 25-32.
[11] Documentación del monasterio de las Huelgas de Burgos (1983), ed.J. M. Lizoaín Garrido, Fuentes Medievales Catellano-Leonesas 30, no. 11, Burgos.
[12] Elkins, Sharon k. (1988), Holy Women of Twelfth-Century England, Univ of North Carolina Press.
[13] Gaillard, M. (2015). “Female Monasteries of the Early Middle Ages in Northern Gaul: Between Monastic Ideals and Aristocratic Powers”. Women in the Medieavl Monastic World. ed. Janet Burton-Karen Stöber Belgium. 75-97.
[14] Gold, Penny Shine (1990), “The Charters of Le Ronceray d'Angers: Male/Female Interaction in Monastic Business” Medieval Women and the Sources of Medieval History, ed. Joel T. Rosenthal, Athens, 122-132.
[15] Gregg, Karen Monique. (2017). “Clare of Assisi (1191–1253): Breaking Through Social Barriers for Women”, In Women, Religion and Leadership: Female Saints as Unexpected Leaders, Barbara Denison (Ed), New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, s. 35.
[16] Hibrodian, Sigrid. (2014). “Pastors and Seducers: The Practice of the Cura monialium in Mendicant Convents in Strasbourg”. Partners in Spirit: Women, Men, and Religious Life in Germany, 1100-1500. Brepols Publishers.
[17] Johnson, P. D. (1991), Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women in Medieval France, Chicago.
[18] Knowles, D. (1935), “The Revolt of the Lay Brothers of Sempringham,” English Historical Review 50, 479, 483-5.
[19] La Regla de Monastir de Santa María Sixena (1960), ed. A. Duran Gudiol, Saragossa, 1960.
[20] Leclercq, Jean (1981), “Medieval Feminine Monasticism: Reality versus Romantic Images,” Benedictus. Studies in Honor of St. Benedict of Nursia, ed. R. Elder, Kalamazoo.
[21] Makowski, C. (1997), Canon Law and Cloistered Women. Periculoso and its Commentators, 1298-1500, Washington.
[22] McNamara, Jo Ann (1996), Sisters in Arms. Catholic Nuns through Two Millenia, Cambridge.
[23] Mueller, Joan. (2001). “Clare’s Letters to Agnes”, Texts and Sources, St. Bonaventure, St. Bonaventure Üniversitesi, ss.27-51.
[24] Pascual, Ernest Zaragoza (1997), Catàleg dels monastirs Catalans, Barcelona.
[25] Pelenzuela, Vincente-Angel Alvarez (1978), Monasterios Cistercienses en Castilla, siglos XII-XIII, Valladolid.
[26] Peter the Venerable (1988), De Miraculis Libri Duo, ed. D. Bouthillier, Turnhout.
[27] Petit, F. (1983), Norbert et l’Origine des Prémontrés, Paris.
[28] Schulenburg, Jane T. (1984), “Strict Active Enclosure and Its Effects on the Female Monastic Experience ( 500-1100),” Medieval Religious Women. Distant Echoes, ed. John A. Nichols and Lilian T. Shank, Kalamazoo, 51-86.
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[30] Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints’ Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1995), ed. F. X. Noble and T. Head, University Park.
[31] Southern, R. (1970), Western Society and the Church, London.
[32] Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis (1934), ed. J. M. Canivez, Revue d’Histoire Écclésiastique, Louvain, 2.
[33] The Book of St. Gilbert (1987), ed. R. Foreville and G. Kerr, Oxford, Clerandon Press, 1987.
[34] Thompson, S. (1978), “The Problem of the Cistercian Nuns in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,” Medieval Women, ed. D. Baker and R. Hill, Oxford, 227-52.
[35] Translation in Guidance for Women in XIIth Century Convents (2003), ed. V. Morgan - J. Wogan-Browne, Woodbridge.
[36] Venarde, Bruce L. (1997), Women's Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215, Ithaca.
[37] Weber, Max (1993), The Sociology of Religion, çev. E. Fischoff, Boston.
Published
2024-08-24
How to Cite
Ülgen, P. (2024). WOMEN’S STRUGGLE FOR EXİSTENCE İN WOMEN’S MONASTERİES İN MEDİEVAL EUROPE. PALIMPSEST / ПАЛИМПСЕСТ, 9(17), 135-144. https://doi.org/10.46763/PALIM24917135u
Section
КУЛТУРА/ CULTURE
