Convent Education

Julie Hotchin

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76219-3_309-1

Convent Education

Julie Hotchin

School of History

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review

Abstract

Medieval nuns required education to enable them to perform their core liturgical duties of reading and singing the Divine Office, and to manage the affairs of their monastery. Nuns were long thought to be generally unlearned or lacking competence in Latin. For several decades, however, this image has been challenged by scholarship on the writings nuns produced for use within their communities, which reveals a more nuanced picture of nuns’ education and the extent of their literacies. Evidence for the content and methods of convent education is scant; nevertheless, internal convent sources reveal that, at least in some communities, women underwent rigorous instruction before they became choir nuns. While not all women within a community possessed equal levels of intellectual capability or linguistic competence, they collectively shared in a literate culture based on the liturgy and scripture.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women's Writing in the Global Middle Ages
Subtitle of host publication	Living Reference Work
Editors	Michelle Sauer, Dianne Watt, Liz Herbert McEvoy
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-030-76219-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76219-3_309-1
Publication status	Published - 25 Jun 2025

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10.1007/978-3-030-76219-3_309-1

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abstract = "Medieval nuns required education to enable them to perform their core liturgical duties of reading and singing the Divine Office, and to manage the affairs of their monastery. Nuns were long thought to be generally unlearned or lacking competence in Latin. For several decades, however, this image has been challenged by scholarship on the writings nuns produced for use within their communities, which reveals a more nuanced picture of nuns{\textquoteright} education and the extent of their literacies. Evidence for the content and methods of convent education is scant; nevertheless, internal convent sources reveal that, at least in some communities, women underwent rigorous instruction before they became choir nuns. While not all women within a community possessed equal levels of intellectual capability or linguistic competence, they collectively shared in a literate culture based on the liturgy and scripture.",

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Convent Education

Abstract

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Benedictine Nuns of Lüne: Letters

'Emotions and the Ritual of a Nun's Coronation in Late Medieval Germany'

The Nun's Crown

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