Monastic Women and Secular Economy in Later Medieval Europe, ca. 1200 to 1500
By Annalena Müller
Routledge
ISBN: 9781032290706
This book uncovers the economic influence of female monasteries in medieval society, revealing how they played a central role in shaping the economy. Through a look at four powerful convents in France, Germany, and Switzerland, it highlights how abbesses and prioresses managed land, justice, and wealth, challenging the traditional view of the Middle Ages.
Excerpt:
This monograph will contribute to rewriting the narrative of women and power in medieval society by focusing on the secular and, particularly, the economic authorities of female monastics. With a chronological focus on the late Middle Ages, the following chapters will center on four convents located in modern-day France, Germany, and Switzerland. The four institutions are Notre-Dame de Soissons, Buchau Abbey, Fraumünster of Zurich, and Klingental of Basel. The first three were founded in the early Middle Ages. Notre-Dame’s origin dates to the mid-seventh century, Buchau’s to ca. 770, and those of Fraumünster Abbey to the year 853. All three were aristocratic convents which were endowed with far-ranging feudal prerogatives that were largely, but not exclusively, derived from landed possessions.
The influence of the fourth convent, Klingental, a thirteenth-century foundation, was primarily economic and financial. It rested on an impressive portfolio which the convent’s nuns steadily built throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The four convents considered in this study are examples of top-tier female monasteries that existed all over Catholic Europe and that possessed both great economic and territorial authority throughout the Middle Ages and frequently beyond.
Who is this book for?
While many studies explore the economic power of medieval monasteries, few focus on nunneries. This book provides fresh insights and will appeal to scholars of medieval monasticism, economic history, and the role of women in medieval society.
The author
Annalena Müller is a Researcher at the University of Fribourg where she studies medieval monasticism. Click here to view her Academia.edu page.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
Monastic Women and Secular Economy in Later Medieval Europe, ca. 1200 to 1500
By Annalena Müller
Routledge
ISBN: 9781032290706
This book uncovers the economic influence of female monasteries in medieval society, revealing how they played a central role in shaping the economy. Through a look at four powerful convents in France, Germany, and Switzerland, it highlights how abbesses and prioresses managed land, justice, and wealth, challenging the traditional view of the Middle Ages.
Excerpt:
This monograph will contribute to rewriting the narrative of women and power in medieval society by focusing on the secular and, particularly, the economic authorities of female monastics. With a chronological focus on the late Middle Ages, the following chapters will center on four convents located in modern-day France, Germany, and Switzerland. The four institutions are Notre-Dame de Soissons, Buchau Abbey, Fraumünster of Zurich, and Klingental of Basel. The first three were founded in the early Middle Ages. Notre-Dame’s origin dates to the mid-seventh century, Buchau’s to ca. 770, and those of Fraumünster Abbey to the year 853. All three were aristocratic convents which were endowed with far-ranging feudal prerogatives that were largely, but not exclusively, derived from landed possessions.
The influence of the fourth convent, Klingental, a thirteenth-century foundation, was primarily economic and financial. It rested on an impressive portfolio which the convent’s nuns steadily built throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The four convents considered in this study are examples of top-tier female monasteries that existed all over Catholic Europe and that possessed both great economic and territorial authority throughout the Middle Ages and frequently beyond.
Who is this book for?
While many studies explore the economic power of medieval monasteries, few focus on nunneries. This book provides fresh insights and will appeal to scholars of medieval monasticism, economic history, and the role of women in medieval society.
The author
Annalena Müller is a Researcher at the University of Fribourg where she studies medieval monasticism. Click here to view her Academia.edu page.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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