Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
DOI
10.17077/1536-8742.2037
Abstract
This essay examines documents from abbeys of Cistercian nuns in northern France. The documents reveal the presence of numerous women of power and authority as founders and patrons of those women's houses. Where some women were acting as widows or regents, others had access to sufficient funds for acts of patronage and foundation because they were heiresses. Here those named Matilda from the ecclesiastical province of Sens in northern France are underlined, showing the diversity of female wealth and power.
Rights Information
Copyright © 2016 Constance H. Berman
Recommended Citation
Berman, Constance H. "Archives from Houses of Cistercian Nuns and Their Evidence for Powerful Thirteenth-Century Secular Women." Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 51, No. 2 (2016) : 132-144.
