A multi-disciplinary re-evaluation of the role of women religious in the Middle Ages, both inside and outside the cloister.Medieval women found diverse ways of expressing their religious aspirations: within the cloister as members of monastic and religious orders, within the world as vowesses, or between the two as anchorites. Via a range of disciplinary approaches, from history, archaeology, literature, and the visual arts, the essays in this volume challenge received scholarly narratives and re-examine the roles of women religious: their authority and agency within their own communities and the wider world; their learning and literacy; place in the landscape; and visual culture. Overall, they highlight the impact of women on the world around them, the significance of their presence in communities, and the experiences and legacies they left behind.

List of FiguresList of ContributorsPrefaceList of AbbreviationsIntroductionKIMM CURRAN AND JANET BURTON1. Reform, Change, and Renewal: Women Religious in the Central Middle Ages, 800-1050STEVEN VANDERPUTTEN2. New Movements of the 12th Century: Diversity, Belonging, and Order(s)KATHARINE SYKES3. Change and Renewal: Mendicants and Tertiaries in Later Medieval EuropeALISON MORE4. On the Fringes: AnchoritesCATE GUNN5. `Quasi-religious': VowessesLAURA RICHMOND6. Authority and Agency: Women as Heads of Religious HousesELIZABETH A. LEHFELDT7. Women Religious, Secular Households: The Outside World and Crossing Boundaries in the Later Middle AgesRACHEL M. DELMAN8. Literacies, Learning, and Communal Reform: The Case of Alijt BakeDIANA DENISSEN9. Family and Friends: Gift Giving, Books, and Book Inscriptions in Women's Religious Communities SARA CHARLES10. Communities of Medieval Religious Women and Their LandscapesYVONNE SEALE11. Materiality and Archaeology of Women ReligiousTRACY COLLINS12. Between Collective Memory and Individual Remembrance in Women's Religious CommunitiesMERCEDES PÉREZ VIDALSelect BibliographyIndex