THE WOMEN OF THE MONASTERIES
In general, the routine of the nunnery was the same as that of a
monastery. There was the same rotation, hour by hour, of sacred
services, with monotonous regularity and repetition; the only variety
offered was that of labor of one sort or another, with brief intervals
for rest and refreshment. The industry of the nuns usually took
the form of working in wool, for it devolved upon them to make the
clothing of the monks, who were associated with the convents to
perform the outdoor labor and to serve as confessors for the female
inmates. Great care was necessary to prevent too close proximity of
the nunneries and monasteries and to limit the intercourse of the
inmates of the respective institutions to the bare necessities of
their mutual dependence.
The rules by which women were governed in the life of the convent did
not differ much from those for the men. Some of these regulations were
very rigorous: the inmates were to have nothing of their own, nor
were they allowed to go out of the convent, and they were permitted
the luxury of a bath only in time of sickness. Continual silence,
frequent confessions, a spare diet, and hard labor were to be endured
uncomplainingly, on penalty of excommunication.
In the fifth century, prohibitions were issued proscribing the
founding of any more monasteries for monks and nuns together and
ordering the partitioning of those which already existed. No man
excepting the officiating clergy, the bishop, and the steward of the
convent was allowed to enter within its walls; and, indeed, one of
the rules enjoined that the nuns were to make confession to the bishop
through the abbess. Under no pretext whatever were the nuns to lodge
under the roof of a monastery, nor was any person who was not a monk
or a cleric of high repute to be allowed within the precincts of the
convent on temporal business; but in spite of the many rules by which
they were hedged about, in the eighth century nuns are found admitted
into the monasteries on the ground of the necessity for their presence
in sickness and similar emergencies.
Besides the nuns, strictly so called, in the eighth and subsequent
centuries there were canonesses, who differed from the nuns in
retaining more of their secular character. Their vows were not
perpetual, and they confined their labors chiefly to the instruction
of the children of the nobles.
Having cited some of the rules for the government of those who
committed themselves to the life of the nun, it now remains to perform
the delicate task of showing the degree of success which attended
the attempt to isolate a class of unmarried women, that, by religious
offices and meditations, they might wholly dedicate their time and
their faculties to the cultivation of the Christian graces, and serve
as the benefactresses of the poor in giving alms at the convent
gate. The century that witnessed the outbreak of the Reformation is
commonly regarded as exceptional for laxity of religious principle and
perversion of the institutional ideals of the Church; but, from the
eighth century, the ecclesiastical morality was of such a low order as
seriously to affect the moral tone of the people and to invalidate the
efficacy of the Church as a teacher of religion. The celibacy which
was enjoined upon the clergy was largely responsible for this state
of affairs. It is unfortunately not true that the ages of faith, so
called, were ages of great moral purity. In spite of the interdict of
councils, priestly marriages were looked upon as common events. The
marriage of priests being under the ban of the Church, concubinage
was regarded as almost a legitimate relationship, and carried less
of stigma than the proscribed marriages. It is not singular that such
impairment of moral ideas was not confined to the priests, and that
the same low moral tone invaded the convents, many of whose inmates
became the partners of the priests in their derelictions.
"The known luxury and believed immoralities of the wealthy
monasteries" in England, says Sharon Turner, "made a great impression
on the public mind. Even some of the clergy became ashamed of it, and
contributed to expose it, both in England and elsewhere." Nor was the
tone of morals outside the cloister of higher grade than that of the
monks. In 1212 a council commanded the clergy not to have women
in their houses, nor to suffer in their cloisters assemblies for
debauchery, nor to entertain women there. Nuns were ordered to lie
single. In England, these and many other moral prohibitions were
repeated at various intervals, showing that, in spite of the
prevailing corruption, there was an appreciation of pure ideals; and
in its councils the Church took cognizance of and endeavored to stem
the rising tide of unchastity. Thus, inquiries were made in 1252 as to
whether the clergy frequented the nunneries without reasonable cause,
and a year or two afterward an inquisition was made all over England
into the character and actions of the various religious personages.
The conduct of the nuns is frequently alluded to in terms of the
severest censure, while the ecclesiastics were enjoined not to
frequent taverns or public spectacles, or to resort to the houses of
loose characters, or to visit the nuns; they were not to play at dice
or improper games, nor to leave their property to their children.
The vices of the clergy were the unavoidable consequence of the
independence of their hierarchy from civil control. The release of
the clergy from secular jurisdiction was productive of much personal
depravity. They had to fear their abbot only, and he was frequently
a mild censor of their morals. At a time when any profligate woman of
position might retire to a convent and, by elevation or appointment,
become abbess, it is not strange that the moral tone of the convent
was not determined by the rules of the order, but by the standards
which were actually established.
Yet, in spite of many instances of reprehensible conduct, the nuns as
a class did not break the vows that bound them to chastity, and within
the convent walls were found many examples of women of illustrious
character. In the Anglo-Saxon times, women of the most admirable
traits are found in charge of convents; the names of some of the
abbesses of the seventh century, and earlier, are notable as those
of women of high rank as well as of high character. Saint Werburga
of Ely, the daughter of Wulfere, King of Mercia, was made ruler over
all the female religious houses, and became the founder of several
convents of note. Her qualities and character were set forth in the
following lines:
"In beaute amyable she was equall to Rachell,
Comparable to Sara in fyrme fidelyte,
In sadness and wysedom lyke to Abygaell:
Replete as Deibora with grace of prophecy,
AEqyvalent to Ruth she was in humylyte,
In purchrytude Rebecca, lyke Hester in Colynesse,
Lyke Judyth in vertue and proued holynesse."
But such examples of high worth among the abbesses, while not
exceptional in the early Middle Ages, are not frequently met with in
the closing centuries of the period.
The position of the abbess was not one of honor only, but of
privilege; the cloister rule was relaxed for her--she might go and
come as she pleased, and see anyone whom she wished to see. In the
early times, she is even found taking part in synods. Thus, in 649,
the abbesses were summoned to the council at Becanceld, in Kent, and
the names of five of them were subscribed to the constitutions which
were there made, while the name of not a single abbot appears on the
document. Coming down to much later times, abbesses were summoned
to attend or to send proxies to the king's council which was held
to grant "an aid on the knighting the Prince of Wales." Also, they
were required to furnish military service by proxy. While they were
more amenable to the clergy than were the monks, the abbesses were
nevertheless tenacious of their privileges. They were never ordained,
nor did they ever have the right to ordain others, although they
claimed the latter as one of their privileges.
They were subject to deposition if they abused their office. Not
infrequently the nuns would carry their complaints to the bishop,
and seek from him redress for their grievances. If the circumstances
warranted his so doing, the bishop would occasionally take the
direction of the nunnery into his own hands instead of appointing an
abbess, or else he might place it temporarily in the charge of one or
more of the nuns. All the affairs of the convent were directed by the
abbess--the tillage of the grounds and4the repairs to the buildings,
as well as the internal ordering of the establishment and the
discipline of its inmates. Also, she was directed to assist, by her
own labor as far as she was able, in clothing herself. When a nun
became refractory, she might be consigned to punishment outside of
the convent. Thus, by the decree of a council near Paris in the eighth
century, it was ordered that the bishop as well as the abbess might
send a nun to a penitentiary. The same council prescribed that an
abbess should not superintend more than one monastery or quit its
precincts more than once a year. One of the rules which was at one
time in force prohibited abbesses from walking alone, thus placing
them under the surveillance of the sisterhood. But their powers varied
according to the period and the order with which they were connected.
Through the necessities of their office, the abbesses were brought
into closer relationship with the outside world than were the other
nuns. Sometimes they were made respondents in a suit at law with
regard to the estates of the convent, or to retain the property
brought to them by some one of the sisters, who, renouncing her vows,
sought to recover her possessions. In 1292 the prioress of an abbey in
Somersetshire had to answer in a suit brought against her by a widow
and two men in regard to the right of common pasturage upon lands held
by the convent, and the case was decided against the religious house;
but both the prioress and the widow escaped paying their respective
costs in the case, on the plea of poverty.
Not only were the abbesses sued, but they themselves did not hesitate
to institute legal proceedings in defence of what they believed were
their rights. In the reign of Edward III., a prioress sued a sheriff
for the recovery of a pension granted during the reign of Henry III.,
which had been allowed to lapse. The case was carried to the king's
court and won for the convent. Legal difficulties frequently occurred
over grants made to convents without the observance of the set
formalities. An abbess had a great many secular duties, for all the
money that came into the establishment, or was paid out, had to be
accounted for by her. The entertainment which the convent dispensed
to those who, on one pretext or another, claimed it, furnished another
occasion for the intercourse of the abbess with the outer world.
Sometimes ladies who were temporarily in want of a home repaired to a
convent and were there received. The bishops frequently sent friends
to the priory for entertainment; though such persons were charges upon
the hospitality of the institution, they, as a rule, either paid for
their entertainment themselves or were provided for by their friends.
It was not unusual for visitors who came under the authority of the
bishop's order to bring with them a retinue of servants and to remain
a considerable time.
During the time of Henry VIII., rigid inquiries were made with
regard to the regulations and the character of the inmates of the
monasteries, especially the abbots and abbesses. The investigations
with regard to the character of the abbots and abbesses need not
concern us, as we have sufficiently noticed the looseness of conduct
which prevailed in many of the religious houses. Among the questions
asked were inquiries as to whether hospitality was maintained,
and especially toward the poor, whether Church anniversaries were
observed, whether proper records were kept, whether any of the
conventual property had been alienated, whether the head of the house
was given to sober and modest conversation both toward the inmates
and lay persons, whether any of the inmates had been punished, whether
there had been any overlooking of the faults of a brother or sister
through favoritism, whether any novices were received before reaching
sufficient age because of friendship and affection or the inducement
of money or any other ulterior reason. Besides these inquiries, which
were common to the abbots and abbesses, particular questions were
asked the latter, looking to the abandonment of all ornaments and
superfluities of dress and the keeping in good repair of all the
accessories of divine service. They were asked whether the sisters
attended divine worship at the proper seasons, whether they taught the
novices the rule, whether they maintained proper oversight of them,
and whether they saw that they were engaged at proper work. Also, the
abbess was to report on the character of the nuns as to whether she
suspected any of incontinence, whether any of them slept without the
convent walls or walked abroad, and, if so, in whose company. She was
asked whether the confessor or chaplain did his duty, and whether she
had found any "ancient, sad, and virtuous" woman as mistress of the
novices.
Among the Gilbertine nuns, whom we may mention as a typical order,
there were three prioresses, one of whom presided, the other two
acting as coadjutors. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to
enjoin penance, grant all the licenses or allowances, visit the sick,
or see that they were visited by one of her companions. The prioresses
cut, fitted, and superintended the manufacture of the vestments of
the sisters. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to visit
the sisters in the infirmary whenever they asked for her presence,
unless she were detained by urgent duties. Other rules regulated her
conduct on festival days, when she was especially to use diligence in
inquiring after the order and religion of the house.
The sub-prioress was under more rigid rules than those which governed
her superior; if, in the absence of the prioress, she spoke of
anything excepting labor, she confessed having done so, in the
chapter. If, in the absence of the prioress, some other of the sisters
failed to observe silence, it was not she but the sub-prioress who was
held responsible and took the blame. She could not go to the window of
the gate without a "sage companion."
When the cellaress assumed office, her duties were to see what was
owing to the different farmers and tax gatherers, to receive the sums
due from the collectors on the nunnery estates, and to take account of
all the sales of the products of the lands of the convent. Also, she
was to see to the provisioning of the house, to pay the wages, and to
attend to the mowing of the hay and to the repairs to the buildings.
She might have associated with her a lay sister, with whom she was at
liberty to talk concerning the business affairs of their office.
Of the other convent officials, the precentrix had charge of the
library; the sacrist rose at night to ring the bell, attended to the
adornment of the church in the vigil of Easter, lighted the lamp in
the interval at lessons, had the preparation of the coals for the
censer, and performed other duties of a like nature; and the duty
of the mistress of the novices was to see that those in her charge
behaved in an orderly manner. She was the disciplinarian of those who
had not taken the full vows of the order. If the infirmaress desired
anything, she had to indicate it by a sign; when the want was of
such a nature that it could not be so indicated, the cellaress
was summoned, for this was the only official in whose presence the
infirmaress could speak. She never served in the kitchen when there
were any serious cases of sickness to need her attention. There were
other officials who performed special or occasional duties, who
need not be mentioned. All the servants in a convent took an oath of
fidelity not to reveal the secrets of the house. They were brewers,
bakers, kitcheners, gardeners, shoemakers, and the like.
The confessor made periodical visits to the convent; and if the
prioress found it necessary that anyone should confess, the latter
was told to go to the place appointed, and two "discreet sisters" sat
apart from the window of the confessional, where they could hold the
nun under observation and see how she behaved. The confessor also was
under supervision as to his conduct, for he was to "shun talking vain
and unnecessary things; nor ask who she was, whence she came, and such
things."
The ceremony with regard to the taking of vows by the nuns was
threefold. The first was called the consecration of the nun, and was
made on solemn days, preferably Epiphany or on the festivals of
the Virgin. After the Epistle was read, the virgin who was to be
consecrated came before the altar, dressed in white, carrying in her
right hand the religious habit and in her left an extinguished taper.
After the bishop had consecrated the habit, he gave it to her, saying:
"Take, girl, the robe which you shall wear in innocence." After
assuming this, the taper in her hand was lighted, and she intoned the
words: "I love Christ, into whose bed I have entered." Then, after
the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed, the bishop said: "Come, come, come,
daughter, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The nun then
prostrated herself before the altar, and after the _Veni Creator_
began, she arose. The bishop then invested her with the veil and
pronounced a curse against all those who would disturb her holy
purpose. The second ceremony related to a nun who was to make
profession, but who had before been blessed, and the third ceremony
related to the consecration of a nun who was not a virgin. Such, in
brief, is a sketch of the convent routine and exercises. It will now
be in place to take a more general view of the nun's environment.
As the hospitality of the convent was often extended to strangers,
it will not be without interest to give a list of the contents of a
chamber which was allotted to a "Dame Agnes Browne" in the Priory of
Minster, in Sheppey: "Stuff given her by her friends:--A fetherbed, a
bolster, 2 pyllows, a payre of blankatts, 2 corse coverleds, 4 pare of
shets good and badde, an olde tester and selar of paynted clothes
and 2 peces of hangyng to the same; a square cofer carvyd, with 2 bed
clothes upon the cofer, and in the wyndow a lytill cobard of waynscott
carvyd and 2 lytill chestes; a small goblet with a cover of sylver
parcell gylt, a lytill maser with a brynne of sylver and gylt,
a lytill pese of sylver and a spore of sylver, 2 lytyll latyn
candellstyks, a fire panne and a pare of tonges, 2 small aundyrons, 4
pewter dysshes, a porrenger, a pewter bason, 2 skyllotts (a small pot
with a long handle), a lytill brasse pot, a cawdyron and a drynkyng
pot of pewter."
That, in the mind of the religious recluse, cleanliness was not
associated with godliness was due to the idea of penance. Washing was
regarded as a luxury not to be indulged in excepting at infrequent
intervals or by special permission. This idea of ablutions was
probably derived at first in reaction from the public baths which
were so much in vogue among the Romans, and which were associated in
the public mind with luxury, and were often the scenes of conduct
quite at variance with the principles for which the nuns stood. The
licentiousness which centred around these places brought them into
such ill repute that to the ascetic mind washing did not so much
signify cleanliness as sin. The virtue of dirt did not extend to the
abbesses, who were allowed to wash whenever it was necessary and as
frequently as they pleased. By a similar process of deduction, the
nuns remained untonsured. In the early times, a woman whose hair was
cut short was looked upon as a disreputable character, so that it
was repellent to conventional ideas of propriety to conform to the
practice of the monks in having the head shaved.
The nuns were not always of the most serious disposition and
deportment, as is shown by the peculiar enjoinment that they were not
to look fixedly on any man, or to romp or frolic with him; neither
were they to allow any man to see them unveiled, nor to embrace any
man, either an acquaintance or a stranger. The convivial nature of
some of the nuns is revealed by an order commanding them not to "use
the alehouse or the watercourses where strangers daily resort, or
bring in, receive, or take any layman, religious or secular, into
the chamber, or any secret place, day or night, or with them in such
private places to commune, eat, or drink, without license of your
prioress." The monastery which is described by Wriothesley as the most
virtuous religious house in England, Sion Monastery, was under an even
stricter rule. Conversation with secular persons was permitted only
by the license of the abbess from noon to vespers, and only then on
Sundays and the great feast days of the saints. Sion Monastery was
subjected to the further restriction that the nuns might not receive
their friends, but could converse with them by sitting at appointed
windows, in the presence of the abbess. If any sister desired to be
seen by "her parents or honest friends," she might, by the special
permission of the abbess, open the window occasionally during the
year; but if she had the self-denial to forego this privilege, a
greater reward was assured her in the hereafter.
Despite the criticism to which the monastic system of the Middle
Ages may justly be subjected, it would be great remissness to fail
in appreciation of the tremendous work of civilization which was
performed by its expositors. They were the centres of culture, as well
as of benevolence; in the convents, and also in the monasteries, there
could always be found a select library, which included works of the
classic authors, as well as books of religion. The nuns, as a class,
were well educated for their time. They could read Latin, and were
qualified to direct the education of the novices who came under their
training. Even in the ninth century, some of the continental convents
had such high repute as educational centres that children were sent
long distances to get the benefit of the opportunities they offered;
and in this respect England was no whit behind, for children were
sent from the continent to be educated in the schools established
by Theodorus and Hadrian. This fact is the more to the credit of the
English schools, as the tide had been setting strongly in the other
direction.
The addition of literary and pedagogic duties to the religious routine
and manual labor of the convents made the lives of the nuns extremely
busy, for, in addition to their reading theological and classical
literature, they had the duty of copying and embellishing manuscripts.
It was not unusual for a nun to become proficient in Latin
versification and to correspond in that language with others of a
similar literary taste and training. These women were thus often
highly qualified to teach the subjects which were then included in
polite education. For many centuries theirs were the only schools for
girls. The suppression of the convents was, educationally, a disaster
to England. They were not merely schools for book learning, but such
little knowledge as was current in regard to the treatment of various
disorders and the care of the sick was obtained in the convent
schools. The general custom of bleeding people for every form of
illness, as well as to prevent possible sickness, made necessary some
kind of bandage ready prepared to apply to the wound, and it was a
common practice for nuns to make such bandages and to present them as
gifts to friends. The convent pupils were also taught the finer sorts
of cooking, such as the preparation of special dishes and the making
of sweetmeats and pastry. Needlework, as the most characteristic
employment of women of refinement, music, both vocal and instrumental,
and writing and drawing, entered into the curricula of the convents.
The educational record of the various convents at the time of their
suppression shows that this act of Henry VIII., whatever other
justification it may have had, cannot be supported on the ground that
the convents were not performing a useful service to society in the
education of the youth of the country. Gasquet, in his _Suppression
of the Monasteries_, says: "In the convents, the female portion of the
population found their only teachers, the rich as well as the poor,
and the destruction of the religious houses by Henry was the absolute
extinction of any systematic education for women during a long
period." Thus, at Winchester Convent the list of ladies being educated
within the walls at the time of the suppression shows that these
Benedictine nuns were training the children of the first families in
the country. Carrow, in Norfolk, for centuries gave instruction to
the daughters of the neighboring gentry; and as early as A.D. 1273
a papal prohibition was obtained from Pope Gregory X., restraining
the nobility from crowding this monastery with more sisters than its
income would support. Again, we read of Mynchin Buckland that it was
a noted seminary for the daughters of the families in its vicinity.
Many families whose names were the highest in the list of the English
gentry of the day owed to the convent systems all the accomplishments
which enabled them to shine brilliantly in their after life.
"Reading, writing, some knowledge of arithmetic, the art of
embroidery, music and French, 'after the scole of Stratford atte
Bowe,' were the recognized course of study, while the preparation
of perfumes, balsams, simples, and confectionery was among the more
ordinary departments of the education afforded." There was as great
protest aroused among the laity against the suppression of the
convents as has been latterly witnessed in France against the rigid
enforcement of the law as to unregistered schools, resulting in
the closing of many schools which were established on a religious
foundation and taught by the nuns.
Many pathetic pleas were addressed to Thomas Cromwell in behalf of
the convents at the time of the Reformation. The abbess of the famous
convent of Godstow, in Oxfordshire, wrote to Cromwell as follows:
"Pleaseth hit your Honour with my moste humble dowyte, to be
advertised, that where it hath pleasyd your Lordship to be the verie
meanes to the King's Majestie for my preferment, most unworthie to
be Abbes of this the King's Monasterie of Godstowe.... I trust to God
that I have never offendyd God's laws, neither the King's, wherebie
this poore monasterie ought to be suppressed." She then continues
in an earnest strain to set forth that the recommendation for the
suppression of her convent arose from private malice on the part of
her enemies, and closes with a denial of the charges preferred, as
follows: "And notwithstanding that Dr. London, like an untrew man,
hath informed your Lordship that I am a spoiler and a waster, your
good Lordship shall know that the contrary is trew; for I have 'not
alienated one halporthe' of goods of this monastery, movable or
unmovable, but have rather incres'd the same, nor never made lease of
any farme or peece of grounde belonging to this House, or thet hath
been in times paste, alwaies set under Convent Seal for the wealthe of
the House."
The convents were charitable as well as educational centres, although
their benevolent methods would not meet the approval of modern ideas
as to wise almsgiving. At the set time for the disbursement of alms,
the mendicants thronged the institution, and, by the liberality of
the donors, were encouraged to continue in a life of shiftlessness
and beggary. The disbursement of alms was really regarded by the
recipients not so much as an act of charity as something which they
had a right to expect.
One of the best phases of conventual charity was its influence in
developing the benevolent tendencies of women of position and means.
The feudal system, as we have seen, was largely a system of dependent
relations, so that those who were in the lowest social scale felt
that they had a right to the gifts of those who were above them. By
the inevitable working of the system, the lives of the poor were
interwoven into the lives of their betters. It was a gracious work
of the Church to teach those who were in the fortunate places of
life their responsibility toward their less happily situated fellow
creatures, and the monastic almsgiving was a practical exemplification
of the spirit of the Gospel in so far as the customs and practices
of the times made possible a clear interpretation of its benevolent
teachings. Although charity was not organized, and was dealt directly
to the needy without investigation of their claims on any other ground
than actual and manifest want, and thus was in violation of modern
social tenets and methods, it yet furnishes one of the most engaging
chapters of mediaeval life. Modern benevolences, however different
from those of earlier times, nevertheless derive their spirit and
inspiration from the gracious charities of the mediaeval nuns.
Under the incentive of the example of the monasteries, the great
ladies recognized and frequently performed their full duty toward
their dependants. The Countess of Richmond maintained a number of poor
people within her own walls. In the sixteenth century, Lady Gresham
left, by her will, tenements in the city, the rents of which were to
be used for the poor. The Countess of Pembroke built an almshouse and
procured for it a patent of corporation. These are but a few of many
illustrious examples of large charities which serve to brighten the
pages of mediaeval history.
In the Middle Ages, charity was a personal obligation. With the
elimination of personal service, charity came increasingly to be
dispensed by voluntary associations. Of such organizations may be
instanced the Sisters of Charity and, in recent years, the various
orders of deaconesses. For although charity has gone outside the
bounds of the Church, its ministrations are directly traceable to the
convents, and it yet finds its most appropriate relations and allies
to be religion and the Church.