Author: Laurence Lux-Sterritt
Entering religion in the wake of thwarted marriage plans Keeping in mind the idea of a safe haven, and the fact that marriage and the cloister were not necessarily as diametrically opposed as either...
God the Only Bridegroom From what we saw in Part One, it seems clear that not all vocations were clear-cut, and inspirational literature was meant to convince, to select a few cases to construct...
Some months back, John McCafferty posted on Twitter a portrait of A Young Nun, by French artist Claude Mellan (1598-1688). This drawing attracted interesting reactions as viewers assumed, perhaps from her slightly flushed complexion,...
After the long disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I had not had the pleasure of working in monastic archives for quite some time. My last research trip dated back to 2018 and it...
‘Jesuitresses’, or ‘Jesuicesses’? Patriarchal Society against the Effectiveness of the English Ladies. The word ‘Jesuicesses’ is a play on words we invented, mixing ‘Jesuit’ and ‘Success(es)’ MA students Illona Cadenel and Léa Motisi, from our...
Mary Knatchbull, an Early English Businesswoman? MA students Agnès Guery and Clémentine Raoux looked into the life and most salient traits of Abbess Mary Knatchbull. Their work shows how this extraordinary woman has been...
‘Why are nuns funny?’ or how the habit does not make the nun. A study of how making fun of nuns eventually unveiled their power of action. For their assignment, MA students Manon Martin...
Mary Ward and the Power of Words. A Discursive Opposition to Patriarchy This semester, I asked students to write a reflexive piece on some of the readings ascribed in the curriculum of my...
This session will explore the building of common narratives through the study of the texts of the English convents exiled on the Continent; whilst they sought to publicize the shared values and opinions of...
From Exile to Exile? An examination of the personal correspondence and narratives of five communities of English Benedictine nuns who sought refuge in England 1794–5 Today, EMEN is glad to present a blog post by Scholastica...
Today, our blog is honoured to host a post by Dr Cormac Begadon, Assistant Professor and Sepulchrine Fellow in the History of Catholicism in the Department of Theology and Religion of Durham University. Cormac...
On 17 December 2020, and as part of its project entitled A Material World – Portable Devotion, the Warburg Institute aired a wonderful lecture by Anna Forrest, presenting the incredible finds made by the...
We are delighted to announce the publication of three #nuntastic articles in RECONSTRUCTING EARLY-MODERN RELIGIOUS LIVES: THE EXEMPLARY AND THE MUNDANE co-edited by Anne Dunan-Page, Laurence Lux-Sterritt and Tessa Whitehouse in the latest issue...
Today I would like to take a closer look at the subject of religious emotions through the prism of performativity and religious rituals. One of the striking aspects of early modern conventual archives is...
Our common modern saying “A place for everything, and everything in its place” can be used to illustrate the monastic conception of space: each room, and within each room, each feature, was to serve...