TY - JOUR
T1 - Clare evans memorial essay prize 2006
T2 - Liberty, citizenship and the suppression of female religious communities in France, 1789-90
AU - Betros, Gemma
PY - 2009/4
Y1 - 2009/4
N2 - This article examines how nuns reacted to the proposed suppression of religious orders by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution. Drawing upon petitions sent to the Assembly by female religious communities, as well as the letters of their individual members, it explores how these women harnessed revolutionary discourse to argue for their rights as citizens, revealing in the process their sentiments towards the religious state. Whether they were happy to leave their convents or professed a desire to stay, their correspondence encapsulates the dilemma faced by the Assembly in determining how to ensure liberty for all without overriding individual rights.
AB - This article examines how nuns reacted to the proposed suppression of religious orders by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution. Drawing upon petitions sent to the Assembly by female religious communities, as well as the letters of their individual members, it explores how these women harnessed revolutionary discourse to argue for their rights as citizens, revealing in the process their sentiments towards the religious state. Whether they were happy to leave their convents or professed a desire to stay, their correspondence encapsulates the dilemma faced by the Assembly in determining how to ensure liberty for all without overriding individual rights.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=73649087645&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09612020902771350
DO - 10.1080/09612020902771350
M3 - Review article
SN - 0961-2025
VL - 18
SP - 311
EP - 336
JO - Women's History Review
JF - Women's History Review
IS - 2
ER -