Nuns: A History of Convent Life, 1450–1700 (review)

Silvia Evangelisti’s book is an intelligent and thorough synthesis of an area of research that has seen a veritable explosion of studies in the last twenty years by both European and American scholars, with considerable research also into Latin America. The author’s choice of period, the early modern, is not only a reflection of the state of the research but also of the fact that the phenomenon of monachization has been studied above all within the context of the social and cultural history of the early-modern age, during which it reached its peak in response to changes in the family and inheritance systems. The author’s perspective, however, is that of women’s studies, which has directed its attention more to the condition of nuns’ lives and consideration of the convent as a particular place of “female agency” than to investigation of the political and social issues connected to its extraordinary growth in the early-modern period. The book’s scope is broad and takes into consideration the various countries of Europe, while also touching upon the institutional consequences of Protestant reform and Counter-Reformation. It is equipped with an ample bibliography.

The book is divided into seven chapters, the first two of which examine the female monastic condition and the convent space. The next chapters consider the nuns’ intellectual (chap. 3) and artistic (chap. 4–5) activities, while the two final chapters highlight the active role of cloistered nuns in the expansion of convents through reform, new foundations, and missions (chap. 6), and remind us that monasticism was not the only expression of female religious life during the early-modern period. Even after the Tridentine reforms renewed strict cloister rules, active communities with the goals of teaching or of aid to the poor, ill, or women in difficulty continued to exist and were newly founded (chap. 7).

Within this vast panorama the author considers various historical and historiographical issues, seeking to balance often opposing interpretations. In the case of the first issue addressed—Why did women become nuns?— Evangelisti describes the frequent cases of involuntary monachization (family strategies, forced profession of prostitutes or Jews), but also offers many examples of voluntary choices made for a variety of reasons (rejection of marriage, desire to study, wish for autonomy, or religious fervor). With regard to the issue of enclosure, the author shares the now majority view that Tridentine enclosure was overestimated by earlier historians and emphasizes the persistence of links between nuns and their families of origin and between the convent and the public sphere.

The book reserves significant space for the examination of convents as centers of culture from the Renaissance through the Baroque period. With reference to a rich series of individual and collective works that have examined the internal lives of convents from an interdisciplinary perspective, Evangelisti considers female monastic writing, theater, and music. With regard to the first, the author does not limit herself to the numerous examples of spiritual or mystical works, but considers in particular biographical and historical writing and even the participation of some nuns in the European debate on the Querelle des femmes. For theater and music, Evangelisti draws above all on the innovative field of studies opened up by historians of language and of music, who are mostly Americans.

One of the most original parts of the volume is found in the chapter “Expansion: Nuns across the Globe,” which, arguing against the dominant idea of enclosure, demonstrates the mobility of nuns who left their convents to establish new foundations. The final chapter, devoted to open communities, is also concerned with the active contributions that female religious made to the cultural development and social well-being of girls, women, and the needy during the early-modern period. Here the author highlights the activities of devout French women such as Louise de Marillac, founder of the Daughters of Charity, and also describes the aspiration of Mary Ward...