Caroline Bowden, Laurence Lux-Sterritt, and Nicky Hallett, eds. English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800. Part 1. Vols. 1 3. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2012. cxviii + 1265 pp. $495. ISBN: 978 1 84893 214 2

Goodrich, Jaime

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Wayne State UniversityDigitalCommons@WayneStateEnglish Faculty Research Publications English4-1-2013English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800, Part 1(Book Review)Jaime GoodrichWayne State University, goodrija@wayne.eduThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the English at DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion inEnglish Faculty Research Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState.Recommended CitationGoodrich, Jaime. Rev. of English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800. Part 1., ed. Caroline Bowden, Laurence Lux-Sterritt, and Nicky Hallett.Renaissance Quarterly 66.1 (Spr. 2013), 293-295.Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/englishfrp/20Caroline Bowden, Laurence Lux-Sterritt, and Nicky Hallett, eds. EnglishConvents in Exile, 1600–1800. Part 1.Vols. 1 3. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2012. cxviii + 1265 pp. $495. ISBN: 978 184893 214 2.‘‘Who Were the Nuns?’’ (WWTN), the online database overseen by CarolineBowden, has already demonstrated that around 4,000 women joined Englishconvents on the Continent between 1600 and 1800. As the general editor of EnglishConvents in Exile (a six volume edition of texts culled from the archival researchconducted forWWTN), Bowden now casts a much needed light on the experiencesand writings of these cloistered Englishwomen. The publication of the first threevolumes from this landmark edition, which largely consists of previously uneditedmanuscripts from convent archives, is sure to fuel the growing interest amonghistorians and literary scholars in English nuns of this period.Volume 1 (History Writing), edited by Bowden, contains the first two parts ofthe manuscript chronicles composed by the Rouen Poor Clares (the third part isforthcoming in volume 6 of the edition). Nuns used a variety of historical genresin order to establish a communal identity and history, and the Rouen chronicleoffers an excellent example of how individual lives were subsumed into collectiveframeworks. The first two parts of the chronicle cover the house’s history from itsfounding in 1644 to 1780. This heterogeneous text incorporates a range of Englishand French documents, including obituaries, contracts with patrons, and letters toand from the convent. The result is a lively account of cloistered life, with notablevignettes in which the nuns help build their cloister, pray for English soldiers tolose the 1657 siege of Dunkirk, suffer outbreaks of the plague, or cope with a fire intheir malthouse. The house was hardly isolated from the wider world or Englishpolitics. Acquainted with English and French residents of Rouen, the nuns hadconnections to ecclesiastical authorities (Cardinal Francesco Barberini), Englishroyalty (the courts of Charles II and James II), and French houses (the Cistercianmonks of La Trappe, and French Benedictine convents in Rouen and Paris).The Rouen nuns also offered refuge to English Catholics fleeing the Titus OatesPlot (1678) and the Revolution of 1688. Throughout, the chronicle reinforcesthe convent’s identity as a locus of monastic austerity, especially while handlingpotentially scandalous material such as the defection of Irish nuns.293REVIEWS                  Volume 2 (Spirituality), edited by Laurence Lux Sterritt, offers a wide selectionof texts detailing spiritual practices at a number of houses. When women enteredconvents, they encountered an unfamiliar environment with distinctive customsand rhythms. Part 1, ‘‘The Stages of a Nun’s Life,’’ supplies texts that document andexplain this world, including guidelines for profession ceremonies from theHoogstraten Carmelites and Liege Sepulchrines. In part 3, ‘‘Rules and Liturgy,’’selections from devotional manuals associated with Benedictines and Poor Claresprovide insight into the regulations that structured every aspect of convent life.Other sections focus on the manuscript and print texts that nuns read in order tofoster their spiritual advancement. Part 2, ‘‘Spiritual Instructions and Guidance,’’contains prescriptive treatises written by nuns and priests on meditative methodsincluding the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. In part 4, ‘‘Hagiography, Martyrology,and Edification,’’ Lux Sterritt groups together obituaries of exemplary nuns as wellas popular texts such as the second edition of The Roman Martyrologe (1667).Finally, part 5, ‘‘Nuns’ Writings,’’ offers a sustained look at the nuns’ owndevotional writings. While previous sections included works produced by nuns,this section focuses on individual spirituality, from personalized prayers andmeditations to the poetry of Anne Throckmorton (1687 1734), a Paris Augustinian.Such works are not necessarily apolitical or private, as demonstrated by CatherineGascoigne’s 1633 defense of the controversial mysticism espoused by AugustineBaker.Volume 3 (Life Writing 1), edited by Nicky Hallett with contributions fromElizabeth Perry and Victoria Van Hyning, assembles texts documenting nuns’lives. This volume casts a wide net, including typical life writing genres(autobiography, biography, and obituaries) as well as profession certificatesand letters. In part 1, ‘‘Reading and Writing Lives,’’ Hallett gathers accountsof prominent nuns from the Louvain Augustinians, Brussels and PontoiseBenedictines, and Gravelines Poor Clares. The Life of Leonor de Mendanha, theonly Portuguese abbess of the Lisbon Bridgettines, serves as a salutary reminderthat these convents attracted local women. The Life of Lucy Knatchbull (GhentBenedictines) has already been edited by David Knowles (The Life of Lady LucyKnatchbull [1931]), but Hallett’s version is based on a previously unknownmanuscript from the Liege Sepulchrines, which abridges the work to focuson Knatchbull’s spiritual experiences. Part 2, ‘‘Vocation, Arrival, Clothing andProfession,’’ contains material that complements Volume 2: profession certificatesfrom the Brussels Benedictines and Lisbon Bridgettines as well as accounts ofprofessions at the Brussels Benedictines and Gravelines Poor Clares. In part 3,‘‘Daily Lives,’’ letters from the Aire Poor Clares, Cambrai Benedictines, andLouvain Augustinians reveal the ways that nuns interacted with family and friendsafter profession. In some of the most memorable selections, nuns requestassistance after major disasters such as the Lisbon Earthquake. This section alsoincludes a recipe book from the Gravelines Poor Clares (with weekly menus) andtwo poems written by male authors on nuns’ jubilees (the fifty year anniversaryof their profession).RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY294                  As this overview suggests, these volumes cover a range of orders and convents,with the exception of the uncloistered Mary Ward Institute. Even so, the selectionshave much in common, perhaps because these women faced similar struggles: tocultivate a shared religious identity, to propagate English Catholicism, to survivein a foreign land, and to pursue a close spiritual relationship with God. Genresthat could serve these ends such as chronicles, obituaries, letters, and didacticor instructive material appear across volumes. These parallels allow readersan opportunity to make illuminating comparisons between convents and orders,revealing the rich complexity of cloistered life as well as shared threads of devotionand monastic customs.The editors approach their sources conservatively, expanding contractionsbut preserving spelling, punctuation, and strike outs. Material characteristicsthat impede full transcription (burns, creases, tears) are duly noted. Generousannotations identify convent terminology, archaic words, and historical figures, andintroductory notes offer information on the authors and their historical contexts.Because of the editors’ commendable fidelity to their sources, these volumes arebest suited to advanced students and scholars. Indeed, readers must exercise cautionin dealing with volume 3’s Life of Margaret Clement, which is based on atranscription of the manuscript by Dorothy Latz that does not consistently expandor identify manuscript abbreviations. A fewminor typos and errors occur throughout,and the addition of an index of major people and places would have facilitated crossreferencing.The first three volumes of English Convents in Exile chart important newterritory for a number of scholarly fields, including history, literature, religiousstudies, and women’s studies. While the price may destine this edition for librariesrather than the individual scholar’s bookshelf, these volumes will be a vital resourcefor anyone interested in early modern Englishwomen’s lives and writings. Thesubstantial accomplishments of this first installment suggest that the threeconcluding volumes of this edition, which are slated for publication in 2013, willbe similarly groundbreaking.JAIME GOODRICHWayne State University295REVIEWS                  

English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800, Part 1 (Book Review)

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English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800, Part 1 (Book Review)

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