Books by Mercedes Perez Vidal
https://books.openedition.org/efr/21290
In the thirteenth century, mendicant orders introduced n... more https://books.openedition.org/efr/21290
In the thirteenth century, mendicant orders introduced new ways of religious life that engaged the laity through preaching and conversion. Moreover, they founded new movements for religious women dedicated to prayer and contemplation, such as the Dominican nuns and the Poor Clares. In their churches, both friars and nuns were separated from the laity, either in choir precincts situated behind architectural screens, or in upper galleries raised above ground level. Before the widespread removal of these furnishings, therefore, medieval and early modern mendicant church interiors did not resemble the unified spaces we encounter today.
This volume presents a series of European case studies which use textual and material evidence to reconstruct and analyze the internal divisions of churches between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century. Thus, the authors provide a broad understanding of the variety, function, and meaning of the internal divisions that once conditioned the spiritual experience, function and meaning of sacred space for the laity as well as for the religious community.
Nuns and sex: rumour or fact? Did nuns stay in touch with the outside? Despite ecclesiastical aut... more Nuns and sex: rumour or fact? Did nuns stay in touch with the outside? Despite ecclesiastical authorities insistence on enclosure, were nuns truly isolated? How did nuns in observant convents administer their possessions outside the enclosure without leaving it? Which women can really be considered as “Dominican”? Those who were officially linked with the Order or those who perceived themselves as Dominican? Has Fountevraud’s identity as the order in which women lead and men serve medieval origins? Which evidence do we have of transatlantic ties before the arrival of the first European nuns in New Spain in 1620? How could Afro-Latin American women embody saintly virtues? These are some of the questions asked by the essays gathered here.
This book conducts a long-term inquiry regarding the differences and similarities, the continuities and discontinuities in various aspects of the active role of women in monastic and religious life during a long chronological framework (c. 1200-1700). Such a transhistorical approach highlights the continuities between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Traditional periodization with a strict division between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period has not only made it difficult to understand these continuities, but has also led to the attribution of early modern features to the earlier period, as happened with Fontevraud’s identity (Müller). This volume also explores the transregionality and the fluidity of transatlantic exchange of models between Europe and America, and the continuities and connections between several geographical areas. Finally, the interdisciplinary dialogue established between scholars from different backgrounds allows a more comprehensive approach to seeing religious women organizing their life inside their communities and their relationship with the world.
The main issues of this book are two: the transatlantic paradigm in the study of religious women; and the fluidity or permeability of enclosure and the relationship between these monasteries and the social milieu of their era. In both cases, spatial considerations are a significant element of the analysis, and the common thread of the different studies here presented.
This volume is an invitation to continue dialogue among international scholars from both sides of the Atlantic, to open new horizons, and to raise new research questions that will inspire future scholarship.
This book is available as Open Access:
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/97696
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2gmhh4q
In 1218, Saint Dominic founded in Madrid the second female monastery (after Prouilhe) of the Orde... more In 1218, Saint Dominic founded in Madrid the second female monastery (after Prouilhe) of the Order of Preachers, and the first in the Iberian Peninsula. Coinciding with the 800th anniversary of the founder's death in 1221, this long overdue monograph, the first dedicated to the study of Dominican female monasteries in the “Province of Spain”, is finally being published by Trea. Just as the Dominicans had, from the beginning, placed the divine office at the center of the nuns’ religious life, this book uses liturgy as a prism through which to study female monasteries. It has therefore been embedded in the “liturgical turn” which, far from being simply a trend, is shown here as absolutely necessary to go beyond the existing methodological horizons in the study of Dominican female foundations in Castile. This approach was adopted not only for a typological and functional analysis of the physical monastic spaces (mainly in chapter IV), images and artefacts (chapter III), but also for an in-depth study of the social, legislative and institutional history of these foundations (chapter I), and of their cultural, devotional and liturgical contexts (chapters II-III). As a result, this perspective touches on several disciplines: art history, musicology and studies on liturgy, gender studies, literary studies, institutional history of religious orders, cultural history, anthropology, etc.
Despite great efforts to encourage centralization and uniformity in the Order of Preachers from the mid-13th century onwards, this goal remained a utopian dream. Idiosyncrasies in matters of legislation, jurisdiction, enclosure, liturgy, and, of course, architecture, endured largely as a result of the local religious contexts. As the Master General Humbert of Romans (1254-1263) pointed out, the Dominicans had buildings and churches of various types and layouts. In female monasteries diversity was defined by the enclosure, where observance varied from place to place, as well as by the importance of lay patronage and how the nuns’ collective identity was shaped. All these factors had material consequences in the buildings, determining different articulations and functions of the liturgical space, as for instance, the wide range of locations of the nuns’ choirs. A selection of the most significant plans and illustrations at the end of this volume aims to provide a better understanding of the theoretical discourse.
This book is an important contribution to what is still a largely unexplored area of research on sacred topography and spatial functionality in female monasteries in the Iberian Peninsula. It caters to an increasing interest in female and religious networks, as well as the evolution of women’s role in various artistic and cultural processes. Lastly, the comparative approach guiding this work goes beyond the 21 monasteries analyzed, placing Castilian Dominican nuns within the broader contexts of both the Order of Preachers, and European female monasticism.
https://www.trea.es/books/arte-y-liturgia-en-los-monasterios-de-dominicas-en-castilla-desde-los-origenes-hasta-la-reforma-observante-1218-1506
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En 1218, Saint-Dominique a fondé à Madrid le deuxième monastère féminin, après Prouilhe, lié à l'Ordre des Prêcheurs, et le premier de la péninsule ibérique. Coïncidant avec le 800e anniversaire de la mort du fondateur, survenue en 1221, cette attendue monographie, la première consacrée à l'étude des monastères féminins dans la «province d’Espagne» de l’ordre dominicain, est enfin publiée par Trea. De la même manière que les dominicains placèrent l'office divin au centre de la vie religieuse des moniales, ce livre prend la liturgie comme prisme à travers lequel sont étudiés les monastères féminins. L’ouvrage s'inscrit donc dans le liturgical turn qui, loin d'être une tendance, se présente ici comme une approche absolument nécessaire pour dépasser les horizons méthodologiques existants dans l'étude des monastères de moniales dominicaines en Castille. Cette méthode a été adoptée non seulement pour réaliser une analyse typologique et fonctionnelle des espaces monastiques (chapitre IV) et des images et des artefacts (chapitre III), mais aussi pour étudier l'histoire sociale, législative et institutionnelle de ces fondations (chapitre I) et de leurs contextes culturel, dévotionnel et liturgique (chapitres II-III). Ainsi, plusieurs disciplines s’entrecroisent au fil des pages : histoire de l'art, musicologie et études sur la liturgie, études de genre, études littéraires, histoire institutionnelle des ordres religieux, histoire culturelle, anthropologie.
La centralisation et l'uniformité auquel aspirait l’ordre dominicain depuis le milieu du XIIIe siècle constituaient un objectif ambitieux et, malgré les grands efforts déployés, l’uniformitas allait rester une utopie. Les particularités locales perdurèrent dans de nombreux domaines tels que la législation, la juridiction, la clôture, la liturgie et, bien sûr, l'architecture, largement déterminées par les contextes religieux locaux. Par conséquent, comme l'admit le maître général Humbert de Romans (1254-1263), leurs maisons avaient des bâtiments et des églises de divers types et dispositions. Dans les monastères de moniales la diversité fut définie par la clôture, dont l'observance variait d'un endroit à l'autre, par l'importance du patronage exercé sur les monastères et de la formation de l'identité collective des moniales.
Tous ces facteurs eurent des conséquences matérielles sur les bâtiments, déterminant différentes articulations de l'espace liturgique, comme par exemple la variété des solutions dans l'emplacement du chœur des moniales. L’inclusion d’une sélection des plans et illustrations les plus significatifs à la fin du volumen vise à faciliter la compréhension du discours théorique.
Ce livre vient donc contribuer aux études encore rares sur la topographie sacrée et la fonctionnalité spatiale dans les monastères féminins de la péninsule ibérique et répond à l’intérêt croissant pour les réseaux féminins et religieux et pour la réévaluation du rôle des femmes dans divers processus artistiques et culturels. Pour conclure, l'approche comparative guidant ce travail est allée au-delà des 21 monastères analysés, plaçant les moniales dominicaines castillanes dans les contextes plus larges de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs et du monachisme féminin européen.
https://www.trea.es/books/arte-y-liturgia-en-los-monasterios-de-dominicas-en-castilla-desde-los-origenes-hasta-la-reforma-observante-1218-1506
Bonn University Press by V&R unipress, 2021
Women’s networks – their relations with other women, men, objects and place – were a source of po... more Women’s networks – their relations with other women, men, objects and place – were a source of power in various European and neighbouring regions throughout the Middle Ages. This interdisciplinary volume considers how women’s networks, and particularly women’s direct and indirect relationships to other women, constituted and shaped power from roughly 300 to 1700 AD. The essays in this collection juxtapose scholarship from the fields of archaeology, art history, literature, history and religious studies, drawing on a wide variety of source types. Their aim is to highlight not only the importance of networks in understanding medieval women’s power but also the different ways these networks are represented in medieval sources and can be approached today. This volume reveals how women’s networks were widespread and instrumental in shaping political, familial and spiritual legacies.
Contributors: Abigail Armstrong, Karen Dempsy, Alyssa Gabbay, Julia Hillner, Stephanie Hollis, Jitske Jasperse, Máirín MacCarron, Mercedes Perez Vidal, Lucy Pick
Published articles + book chapters by Mercedes Perez Vidal
![Research paper thumbnail of [2025] «“Em Memoria Daquella Dollorosa staçam”. La conmemoración De La pasión De Cristo En Lorvão». Hispania Sacra 77 (156):1066. https://doi.org/10.3989/hs.2025.1066.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/131937474/thumbnails/1.jpg)
“Em memoria daquella dollorosa staçam”. Performing the Passion of Christ in Lorvão.
En 1602 Bern... more “Em memoria daquella dollorosa staçam”. Performing the Passion of Christ in Lorvão.
En 1602 Bernardo de Brito describía la peregrinación virtual a los santos lugares jerosolimitanos realizada por una hermana laica de Santa María de Lorvão. Este artículo explora las evidencias materiales y textuales de la existencia y desarrollo de tales prácticas en fechas anteriores, fundamentalmente en tiempos de la abadesa Catarina d’Eça (1471-1521). Influida por la Devotio Moderna, pero también por un claro propósito de restaurar y actualizar la memoria monástica de Lorvão a través de la liturgia, Catarina d’Eça habría transformado el monasterio laurbanense en la Jerusalén de la pasión de Cristo. Dicha abadesa se sirvió de imágenes, reliquias, relicarios, libros litúrgicos y otros ornamenta sacra para la articulación de las celebraciones conmemorando la pasión, pero también para la creación y afirmación de su auctoritas litúrgica. También se analiza cómo tales prácticas trascendieron las órdenes religiosas, los confines de la clausura y los límites geográficos y cronológicos.
Abstract: In 1602 Bernardo de Brito described a virtual pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem by a lay sister of Santa Maria de Lorvão. This article explores the material and textual evidence of the existence and development of such practices at an earlier date, mainly at the time of the abbess Catarina d’Eça (1471-1521). Influenced by the Devotio Moderna, but also by a clear intention to restore and update the monastic memory of Lorvão through the liturgy, Catarina d’Eça would have transformed the monastery into the Jerusalem of the Passion of Christ. The abbess used images, relics, reliquaries, liturgical books and other ornamenta sacra to articulate the celebrations commemorating the Passion, but also for the creation and affirmation of her liturgical auctoritas. It also examines how such practices transcended religious orders, the limits of enclosure, and geographical and temporal boundaries.
Within Walls: The Experience of Enclosure in Medieval and Early Modern Christian Female Spirituality, ed. by Julia Lewandowska & Araceli Rosillo Luque, 215-238. Brepols, ISBN 978-2-503-59934-2., 2025
This is just the table of contents. I don't have permission to upload the file to Academia.edu or... more This is just the table of contents. I don't have permission to upload the file to Academia.edu or similar sites.
More information on the book is available at https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503599342-1
Coden, Fabio, ed., Sepolture medievali (IV-XV secolo). Spazi, opere, scritture. Tomo I e Tomo II//Medieval Burials (4th-15th centuries). Spaces, artwroks, writings, Vol. I and II, 2024
Sztuka Ameryki Łacińskiej, 2016
![Research paper thumbnail of [2024] Pérez Vidal, Mercedes «Conexiones Fluidas E Identidades Ambiguas. Nuevas Perspectivas Para El Estudio De Las Mujeres Religiosas En El Mundo ibérico Bajomedieval». Archivo Dominicano 45 (diciembre): 47-66. https://archivodominicano.dominicos.org/ojs/article/view/525.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/120297058/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Archivo Dominicano, 2024
RESUMEN. El presente artículo plantea una reflexión historiográfica y metodológica sobre la situa... more RESUMEN. El presente artículo plantea una reflexión historiográfica y metodológica sobre la situación actual de la investigación sobre mujeres religiosas, con particular interés en el mundo ibérico y en relación con la historia del arte, la historia cultural y la liturgia. Si bien el análisis se centra fundamentalmente en el periodo bajomedieval, muchos de los aspectos y problemas aquí abordados son también relevantes para el estudio de estas comunidades en la temprana Edad Moderna. De hecho, la adopción de una perspectiva de longue durée es fundamental para la comprensión y correcta interpretación de muchos fenómenos, que de otra forma solo se perciben de forma fragmentaria y sesgada.
Palabras clave: mujeres religiosas, estudios comparativos, historiografía, mundo ibérico bajomedieval.
ABSTRACT. This article presents a historiographical and methodological reflection on the state of the art in research on religious women, with a particular focus on the Iberian world and related to the art history, cultural history, and liturgy. Although the analysis is primarily concerned with the late medieval period, many of the aspects and issues addressed are also relevant to the study of early modern religious women. Indeed, the adoption of a longue durée perspective is fundamental for understanding and correctly interpreting many phenomena, which are otherwise only perceived in a fragmentary, biased manner.
Keywords: women religious, comparative studies, historiography, late medieval Iberia.
This article is available online (OA) thanks to the financial support of my Ramón y Cajal contrac... more This article is available online (OA) thanks to the financial support of my Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2021-033027-I funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR).
![Research paper thumbnail of [2023] «Senhoras que cantan y no cantan caresciendo de la theorica y pratica». Musical Theory and Liturgical Practice in the Monastery of Lorvão»](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/131917636/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Textus & Musica [En ligne], Les numéros, 7 | 2023 - Performance of Medieval Monophony: Text and Image as Evidence for Musical Practice, Performance of Medieval Monophony: Text and Image as Evidence for Musical Practice, 2023
This article addresses the transmission context of a formerly unknown text on music theory, copie... more This article addresses the transmission context of a formerly unknown text on music theory, copied on the verso of the last folio of a gradual (Lisbon, BnP, L.C. 238), which was part of a set of choirbooks commissioned by Catarina d’Eça, abbess of Santa María de Lorvão (1471-1521). The article discusses this source within the broader context of the production and circulation of liturgical books, particularly among Cistercian nuns. It reviews some assumptions concerning women’s agency in creating and performing liturgy and the negotiation between nuns and priests over nearly every aspect of liturgical care. It shows how the role of both lay and religious women as mediators across and between religious orders and kingdoms or territories can no longer be overlooked. The last section examines the theoretical sources of this brief musical treatise to determine whether the author of the text drew on the tradition of the Bernardian reform, or on other kinds of musical sources from outside the Cistercian tradition. Both the sources and the use of the Castilian language shed light on the origins of the text’s author.
Archivo Ibero-Americano, 2023
(2023) Pérez Vidal, Mercedes, "La Liturgia En La Encrucijada De La Reforma Religiosa En Los Monas... more (2023) Pérez Vidal, Mercedes, "La Liturgia En La Encrucijada De La Reforma Religiosa En Los Monasterios Femeninos Castellanos", Archivo Ibero-Americano 83 (296), 127-67. https://doi.org/10.48030/aia.v83i296.271.
![Research paper thumbnail of [2023] “Circulation of Books and Reform Ideas between Female Monasteries in Medieval Castile: From Twelfth-Century Cistercians to the Observant Reform”](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/115613046/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Women and Monastic Reform in the Medieval West, c. 1000 - 1500. Debating Identities, Creating Communities, ed. by Julie Hotchin and Jirki Thibaut, https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837650491/women-and-monastic-reform-in-the-medieval-west-c-1000-1500/, 2023
[OA version: RYC2021-033027-I funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union... more [OA version: RYC2021-033027-I funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR]
Abstract of the book:
New approaches to understanding religious women's involvement in monastic reform, demonstrating how women's experiences were more ambiguous and multi-layered than previously assumed.
Over the last two decades, scholarship has presented a more nuanced view of women's attitude to and agency in medieval monastic reform, challenging the idea that they were, by and large, unwilling to accept or were necessarily hostile towards reform initiatives. Rather, it has shown that they actively participated in debates about the ideas and structures that shaped their religious lives, whether rejecting, embracing, or adapting to calls for "reform" contingent on their circumstances. Nevertheless, fundamental questions regarding the gendered nature of religious reform are ripe for further examination.
This book brings together innovative research from a range of disciplines to re-evaluate and enlarge our knowledge of women's involvement in spiritual and institutional change in female monastic communities over the period c. 1000 - c. 1500. Contributors revise conventional narratives about women and monastic reform, and earlier assumptions of reform as negative or irrelevant for women. Drawing on a diverse array of visual, material and textual sources, it presents "snapshots" of reform from western Europe, stretching from Ireland to Iberia. Case-studies focussing on a number of different topics, from tenth-century female saints' lives to fifteenth-century liturgical books, from the tenth-century Leominster prayerbook to archaeological remains in Ireland, from embroideries and tapestries to the rebellious nuns of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, offer a critical reappraisal of how monastic women (and their male associates) reflected, individually and collectively, on their spiritual ideals and institutional forms.
CONTENTS:
1 Debating Identities: Women and Monastic Reform in the Medieval West, c. 900-1500
Julie Hotchin and Jirki Thibaut
2 Liturgy and Female Monastic Hagiography around the Year 1000: A lecture croisée of the Life of Liutrud, the Second Life of Glodesind of Metz and the So-called Pontificale Romano-Germanicum
Gordon Blennemann
3 Remakers of Reform: The Women Religious of Leominster and their Prayerbook
Katie Anne-Marie Bugyis
4 The Materiality of Female Religious Reform in Twelfth-Century Ireland: The Case of Co-Located Religious Houses
Tracy Collins
5 Women as Witnesses: Picturing Gender and Spiritual Identity in a Twelfth-Century Embroidered Fragment from Northern Germany
Julie Hotchin and Vera Henkelmann
6 Mulieres Religiose and Cistercian Nuns in Northern Italy in the Thirteenth Century: A Choice of 'Order'
Elena Vanelli
7 Circulation of Books and Reform Ideas between Female Monasteries in Medieval Castile: From Twelfth-Century Cistercians to the Observant Reform
Mercedes Pérez Vidal
8 Women, Men and Local Monasticism in Late Medieval Bologna
Sherri Franks Johnson
9 Building Community: Material Concerns in the Fifteenth-Century Monastic Reform
Jennifer Edwards
10 Who Made Reform Visible? Male and Female Agency in Changing Visual Culture
Katharina Ulrike Mersch
11 Nuns, Cistercian Chant and Observant Reform in the Southern Low Countries
John Glasenapp
Index
Contents here: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837650491/women-and-monastic-reform-in-the-medieval-west-c-1000-1500/
Medieval Women Religious, c. 800-c. 1500 New Perspectives. Edited by Kimm Curran and Janet Burton, The Boydell Press. ISBN: 9781837650293; 9781800108981; 9781800108998, 2023
Pecia. Le livre et l’écrit, 24 (2021, publ. 2022) Du manuscrit à l’imprimé: une autre modernité. ISBN 978-2-503-59767-6, 2023
© Casa de Velázquez. dossier l'ordre dominicain dans la péninsule ibérique 153 Pour citer cet art... more © Casa de Velázquez. dossier l'ordre dominicain dans la péninsule ibérique 153 Pour citer cet article / Para citar este artículo / To quote this article Haude MORVAN, Mercedes PÉREZ VIDAL, « La mémoire du passé. Les couvents dominicains des provinces d'Espagne et d'Aragon à travers les écrits de l'époque moderne », Haude MORVAN et Eduardo CARRERO SANTAMARÍA (coord.), L'ordre dominicain dans la péninsule Ibérique : nouvelles perspectives de recherche en histoire de l'art (XIII e-XVI e siècles), Dossier des Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez. Nouvelle série, 52 (2), 2022, pp. 153-180.
Historical Reflections/Reflexions Historiques, 2016
Although well known in the case of Poor Clares or Cistercian nuns, the development of Corpus Chri... more Although well known in the case of Poor Clares or Cistercian nuns, the development of Corpus Christi devotion and liturgy in the Dominican nunneries has not been hitherto studied. This article analyzes these issues in the particular case of Dominican nuns in medieval Castile. The article discusses the role of these women in the development of devotional and liturgical performance, the artistic and architectonic consequences and peculiarities of the devotion of Corpus Christi, the changes in monastic spaces that resulted from it, and, fi nally, the use of Corpus Christi as a means of empowerment by some aristocratic nuns and foundresses.
Spaces for Friars and Nuns: Mendicant Choirs and Church Interiors in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. by H. Morvan, Rome, École Française de Rome, 2022. ISBN: 978-2-7283-1533-8, 2022
Publications de l'École française de Rome Spaces for friars and nuns | Haude Morvan «Estavan toda... more Publications de l'École française de Rome Spaces for friars and nuns | Haude Morvan «Estavan todas no coro e ben cantand' e leendo» Tipologie e funzioni dei cori nei monasteri delle domenicane dal XIII al XVI secolo, con particolare riferimento alla Castiglia
* I am grateful to Lydia Gulick for revising the English version of this essay, to Jaime Reyes Mo... more * I am grateful to Lydia Gulick for revising the English version of this essay, to Jaime Reyes Monroy and Juan Carlos Jiménez Abarca for permission to use the image of the "Traslado de las monjas dominicas a su nuevo convento de Valladolid" on the book cover, and to all the contributors for making this publication possible, despite all the struggles we faced.
reform and renewaL have been continuous and cyclical throughout church history. Some argue it was... more reform and renewaL have been continuous and cyclical throughout church history. Some argue it was an idealistic and maybe utopian aspiration-ecclesia semper refor manda-with a vague and unspecific meaning of these words and their synonyms. 1 Each reform movement was distinct and contingent on the time and place and deserves detailed individual analysis. Compared with the Franciscans the lack of study into reforms of the female branch of the Dominican Order is particularly striking, especially for Spain and its colonial dominions in the Americas. Past research has superficially offered a vision of false homogeneity. However, the agents involved and the features and consequences across monastic life-art, architecture, liturgy, etc.-varied from one nunnery to another and from one place to other, and presents a complex picture. Moreover, the importance of Observance and reform movements within the religious orders and in relation to art and architecture has not been taken into consideration until recently, not only with Dominican nuns, and not only in the Spanish territories. 2 The present article intends to offer an introduction to these questions, namely the Observant reform and subsequent reformists * Much of this essay was written with the support of a Clarí� nCofund grant under the Seventh Work Programme of the European Union, Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions, grant agreement no. 600196.
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Books by Mercedes Perez Vidal
In the thirteenth century, mendicant orders introduced new ways of religious life that engaged the laity through preaching and conversion. Moreover, they founded new movements for religious women dedicated to prayer and contemplation, such as the Dominican nuns and the Poor Clares. In their churches, both friars and nuns were separated from the laity, either in choir precincts situated behind architectural screens, or in upper galleries raised above ground level. Before the widespread removal of these furnishings, therefore, medieval and early modern mendicant church interiors did not resemble the unified spaces we encounter today.
This volume presents a series of European case studies which use textual and material evidence to reconstruct and analyze the internal divisions of churches between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century. Thus, the authors provide a broad understanding of the variety, function, and meaning of the internal divisions that once conditioned the spiritual experience, function and meaning of sacred space for the laity as well as for the religious community.
This book conducts a long-term inquiry regarding the differences and similarities, the continuities and discontinuities in various aspects of the active role of women in monastic and religious life during a long chronological framework (c. 1200-1700). Such a transhistorical approach highlights the continuities between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Traditional periodization with a strict division between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period has not only made it difficult to understand these continuities, but has also led to the attribution of early modern features to the earlier period, as happened with Fontevraud’s identity (Müller). This volume also explores the transregionality and the fluidity of transatlantic exchange of models between Europe and America, and the continuities and connections between several geographical areas. Finally, the interdisciplinary dialogue established between scholars from different backgrounds allows a more comprehensive approach to seeing religious women organizing their life inside their communities and their relationship with the world.
The main issues of this book are two: the transatlantic paradigm in the study of religious women; and the fluidity or permeability of enclosure and the relationship between these monasteries and the social milieu of their era. In both cases, spatial considerations are a significant element of the analysis, and the common thread of the different studies here presented.
This volume is an invitation to continue dialogue among international scholars from both sides of the Atlantic, to open new horizons, and to raise new research questions that will inspire future scholarship.
This book is available as Open Access:
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/97696
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2gmhh4q
Despite great efforts to encourage centralization and uniformity in the Order of Preachers from the mid-13th century onwards, this goal remained a utopian dream. Idiosyncrasies in matters of legislation, jurisdiction, enclosure, liturgy, and, of course, architecture, endured largely as a result of the local religious contexts. As the Master General Humbert of Romans (1254-1263) pointed out, the Dominicans had buildings and churches of various types and layouts. In female monasteries diversity was defined by the enclosure, where observance varied from place to place, as well as by the importance of lay patronage and how the nuns’ collective identity was shaped. All these factors had material consequences in the buildings, determining different articulations and functions of the liturgical space, as for instance, the wide range of locations of the nuns’ choirs. A selection of the most significant plans and illustrations at the end of this volume aims to provide a better understanding of the theoretical discourse.
This book is an important contribution to what is still a largely unexplored area of research on sacred topography and spatial functionality in female monasteries in the Iberian Peninsula. It caters to an increasing interest in female and religious networks, as well as the evolution of women’s role in various artistic and cultural processes. Lastly, the comparative approach guiding this work goes beyond the 21 monasteries analyzed, placing Castilian Dominican nuns within the broader contexts of both the Order of Preachers, and European female monasticism.
https://www.trea.es/books/arte-y-liturgia-en-los-monasterios-de-dominicas-en-castilla-desde-los-origenes-hasta-la-reforma-observante-1218-1506
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En 1218, Saint-Dominique a fondé à Madrid le deuxième monastère féminin, après Prouilhe, lié à l'Ordre des Prêcheurs, et le premier de la péninsule ibérique. Coïncidant avec le 800e anniversaire de la mort du fondateur, survenue en 1221, cette attendue monographie, la première consacrée à l'étude des monastères féminins dans la «province d’Espagne» de l’ordre dominicain, est enfin publiée par Trea. De la même manière que les dominicains placèrent l'office divin au centre de la vie religieuse des moniales, ce livre prend la liturgie comme prisme à travers lequel sont étudiés les monastères féminins. L’ouvrage s'inscrit donc dans le liturgical turn qui, loin d'être une tendance, se présente ici comme une approche absolument nécessaire pour dépasser les horizons méthodologiques existants dans l'étude des monastères de moniales dominicaines en Castille. Cette méthode a été adoptée non seulement pour réaliser une analyse typologique et fonctionnelle des espaces monastiques (chapitre IV) et des images et des artefacts (chapitre III), mais aussi pour étudier l'histoire sociale, législative et institutionnelle de ces fondations (chapitre I) et de leurs contextes culturel, dévotionnel et liturgique (chapitres II-III). Ainsi, plusieurs disciplines s’entrecroisent au fil des pages : histoire de l'art, musicologie et études sur la liturgie, études de genre, études littéraires, histoire institutionnelle des ordres religieux, histoire culturelle, anthropologie.
La centralisation et l'uniformité auquel aspirait l’ordre dominicain depuis le milieu du XIIIe siècle constituaient un objectif ambitieux et, malgré les grands efforts déployés, l’uniformitas allait rester une utopie. Les particularités locales perdurèrent dans de nombreux domaines tels que la législation, la juridiction, la clôture, la liturgie et, bien sûr, l'architecture, largement déterminées par les contextes religieux locaux. Par conséquent, comme l'admit le maître général Humbert de Romans (1254-1263), leurs maisons avaient des bâtiments et des églises de divers types et dispositions. Dans les monastères de moniales la diversité fut définie par la clôture, dont l'observance variait d'un endroit à l'autre, par l'importance du patronage exercé sur les monastères et de la formation de l'identité collective des moniales.
Tous ces facteurs eurent des conséquences matérielles sur les bâtiments, déterminant différentes articulations de l'espace liturgique, comme par exemple la variété des solutions dans l'emplacement du chœur des moniales. L’inclusion d’une sélection des plans et illustrations les plus significatifs à la fin du volumen vise à faciliter la compréhension du discours théorique.
Ce livre vient donc contribuer aux études encore rares sur la topographie sacrée et la fonctionnalité spatiale dans les monastères féminins de la péninsule ibérique et répond à l’intérêt croissant pour les réseaux féminins et religieux et pour la réévaluation du rôle des femmes dans divers processus artistiques et culturels. Pour conclure, l'approche comparative guidant ce travail est allée au-delà des 21 monastères analysés, plaçant les moniales dominicaines castillanes dans les contextes plus larges de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs et du monachisme féminin européen.
https://www.trea.es/books/arte-y-liturgia-en-los-monasterios-de-dominicas-en-castilla-desde-los-origenes-hasta-la-reforma-observante-1218-1506
Contributors: Abigail Armstrong, Karen Dempsy, Alyssa Gabbay, Julia Hillner, Stephanie Hollis, Jitske Jasperse, Máirín MacCarron, Mercedes Perez Vidal, Lucy Pick
Published articles + book chapters by Mercedes Perez Vidal
En 1602 Bernardo de Brito describía la peregrinación virtual a los santos lugares jerosolimitanos realizada por una hermana laica de Santa María de Lorvão. Este artículo explora las evidencias materiales y textuales de la existencia y desarrollo de tales prácticas en fechas anteriores, fundamentalmente en tiempos de la abadesa Catarina d’Eça (1471-1521). Influida por la Devotio Moderna, pero también por un claro propósito de restaurar y actualizar la memoria monástica de Lorvão a través de la liturgia, Catarina d’Eça habría transformado el monasterio laurbanense en la Jerusalén de la pasión de Cristo. Dicha abadesa se sirvió de imágenes, reliquias, relicarios, libros litúrgicos y otros ornamenta sacra para la articulación de las celebraciones conmemorando la pasión, pero también para la creación y afirmación de su auctoritas litúrgica. También se analiza cómo tales prácticas trascendieron las órdenes religiosas, los confines de la clausura y los límites geográficos y cronológicos.
Abstract: In 1602 Bernardo de Brito described a virtual pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem by a lay sister of Santa Maria de Lorvão. This article explores the material and textual evidence of the existence and development of such practices at an earlier date, mainly at the time of the abbess Catarina d’Eça (1471-1521). Influenced by the Devotio Moderna, but also by a clear intention to restore and update the monastic memory of Lorvão through the liturgy, Catarina d’Eça would have transformed the monastery into the Jerusalem of the Passion of Christ. The abbess used images, relics, reliquaries, liturgical books and other ornamenta sacra to articulate the celebrations commemorating the Passion, but also for the creation and affirmation of her liturgical auctoritas. It also examines how such practices transcended religious orders, the limits of enclosure, and geographical and temporal boundaries.
More information on the book is available at https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503599342-1
Palabras clave: mujeres religiosas, estudios comparativos, historiografía, mundo ibérico bajomedieval.
ABSTRACT. This article presents a historiographical and methodological reflection on the state of the art in research on religious women, with a particular focus on the Iberian world and related to the art history, cultural history, and liturgy. Although the analysis is primarily concerned with the late medieval period, many of the aspects and issues addressed are also relevant to the study of early modern religious women. Indeed, the adoption of a longue durée perspective is fundamental for understanding and correctly interpreting many phenomena, which are otherwise only perceived in a fragmentary, biased manner.
Keywords: women religious, comparative studies, historiography, late medieval Iberia.
Abstract of the book:
New approaches to understanding religious women's involvement in monastic reform, demonstrating how women's experiences were more ambiguous and multi-layered than previously assumed.
Over the last two decades, scholarship has presented a more nuanced view of women's attitude to and agency in medieval monastic reform, challenging the idea that they were, by and large, unwilling to accept or were necessarily hostile towards reform initiatives. Rather, it has shown that they actively participated in debates about the ideas and structures that shaped their religious lives, whether rejecting, embracing, or adapting to calls for "reform" contingent on their circumstances. Nevertheless, fundamental questions regarding the gendered nature of religious reform are ripe for further examination.
This book brings together innovative research from a range of disciplines to re-evaluate and enlarge our knowledge of women's involvement in spiritual and institutional change in female monastic communities over the period c. 1000 - c. 1500. Contributors revise conventional narratives about women and monastic reform, and earlier assumptions of reform as negative or irrelevant for women. Drawing on a diverse array of visual, material and textual sources, it presents "snapshots" of reform from western Europe, stretching from Ireland to Iberia. Case-studies focussing on a number of different topics, from tenth-century female saints' lives to fifteenth-century liturgical books, from the tenth-century Leominster prayerbook to archaeological remains in Ireland, from embroideries and tapestries to the rebellious nuns of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, offer a critical reappraisal of how monastic women (and their male associates) reflected, individually and collectively, on their spiritual ideals and institutional forms.
CONTENTS:
1 Debating Identities: Women and Monastic Reform in the Medieval West, c. 900-1500
Julie Hotchin and Jirki Thibaut
2 Liturgy and Female Monastic Hagiography around the Year 1000: A lecture croisée of the Life of Liutrud, the Second Life of Glodesind of Metz and the So-called Pontificale Romano-Germanicum
Gordon Blennemann
3 Remakers of Reform: The Women Religious of Leominster and their Prayerbook
Katie Anne-Marie Bugyis
4 The Materiality of Female Religious Reform in Twelfth-Century Ireland: The Case of Co-Located Religious Houses
Tracy Collins
5 Women as Witnesses: Picturing Gender and Spiritual Identity in a Twelfth-Century Embroidered Fragment from Northern Germany
Julie Hotchin and Vera Henkelmann
6 Mulieres Religiose and Cistercian Nuns in Northern Italy in the Thirteenth Century: A Choice of 'Order'
Elena Vanelli
7 Circulation of Books and Reform Ideas between Female Monasteries in Medieval Castile: From Twelfth-Century Cistercians to the Observant Reform
Mercedes Pérez Vidal
8 Women, Men and Local Monasticism in Late Medieval Bologna
Sherri Franks Johnson
9 Building Community: Material Concerns in the Fifteenth-Century Monastic Reform
Jennifer Edwards
10 Who Made Reform Visible? Male and Female Agency in Changing Visual Culture
Katharina Ulrike Mersch
11 Nuns, Cistercian Chant and Observant Reform in the Southern Low Countries
John Glasenapp
Index
Contents here: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837650491/women-and-monastic-reform-in-the-medieval-west-c-1000-1500/
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837650293/medieval-women-religious-c-800-c-1500/
DOI available soon: https://doi.org/10.1484/J.PECIA.5.132378