Synopses & Reviews
A well-illustrated and innovative analysis of convent culture in sixteenth-century Italy.
Review
"The book adds much to the fields of religious, women's and early modern social and cultural history. More specifically, readers of this work will emerge with a deeper appreciation of the richness and complexity of convent life in this period." American Historical Review, Monica Chojnacka
Synopsis
This well-illustrated and innovative book analyses convent culture in sixteenth-century Italy through the medium of three unpublished nunsâchronicles. It uses a comparative methodology of âconnected differencesâto examine the intellectual and imaginative achievement of these nuns, and to investigate how they fashioned and preserved individual and convent identities by writing chronicles. The chronicles themselves reveal many examples of nunsâagency, especially with regard to cultural creativity, and show that convent traditions determined cultural priorities and specialisms, and dictated the contours of convent ceremonial life.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. History Writing and Authorship: 1. The creation of chronicles: contents and appearance; 2. The authors of the chronicles; Part II. Historical and Cultural Context: 3. The convents and physical space; 4. Nuns and convent communities; 5. Rules and traditions; Part III. Chronicles and the Culture of Convent Identity: 6. The chronicles and ceremonial life; 7. Cultural creativity and cultural production; 8. Convents and art; Conclusion.