Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9074
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Foot , Sarah.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Unveiling Anglo-Saxon Nuns [The author addresses the widely held belief that the number of women's monasteries dramatically decreased in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Foot cites a variety of reasons for these circumstances including the Viking wars, loss of native royal families that had served as active patrons, and concerns about nuns needing much closer control. However, in tracing contemporary references to religious women, Foot found many instances of women leading consecrated religious lives, many as vowesses, outside of monasteries with the support of their families. These women need to be included when evaluating the state of late Anglo-Saxon female religious life. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Women and Religion in Medieval England.  Edited by Diana Wood.  Oxbow Books, 2003.  Pages 13 - 31.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Doubles Houses Ecclesiastical Reform Monasticism Vowesses Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 7- 8- 9- 10- 11
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Three maps. Figure One Female religious houses in England, circa 630-900. Figure Two Women's religious houses in England, 940-1066. Figure Three Female religious communities in England, 871-1066.
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Sheffield
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 1842170988