Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 1783
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Hotchin , Julie.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Abbot as Guardian and Cultivator of Virtues: Two Perspectives on the "cura monialium" in Practice [The author explores two twelfth century letters from the abbey of Reinhandsbrunn concerning the pastoral care of nuns. The first is from a papal legate to the abbey's abbot answering his concerns about providing spiritual direction for the women at his monastery. The second letter is from the abbess of a nearby female house asking Reinhandsbrunn for one of its monks as a spiritual director. Title note supplied by Feminae.]
  • Source: Our Medieval Heritage: Essays in Honour of John Tillotson for His 60th Birthday.  Edited by Linda Rasmussen, Valerie Spear, and Dianne Tillotson.  Merton Priory Press, 2002.  Pages 50 - 64.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Abbots Double Houses Letters Monasticism Pastoral Care- Nuns Reinhardsbrunn, Thuringen, Germany- Benedictine Double House Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 12
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  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: Histories of the "cura monialium," or the pastoral care of nuns, have tended to be written within the context of the history of the different monastic orders, and consequently form a predominantly male perspective. The obligation for abbots and their monks to provide spiritual services to religious women has been presented as an onerous responsibility that distracted them from their primary contemplative role. The female perspective on this relationship is less readily discerned. The correspondence from the Benedictine Abbey of Reinhardsbrunn contains letters that offer an opportunity to explore the different concerns of both men and women as participants in the "cura monialium." [Reproduced by permission of both the author and the publisher. The collection's Website is available at http://arts.anu.edu.au/medievalheritage/.]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Australian National University [ Ph. D. candidate ]
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 1898937559