Daily Lives of Medieval Nuns | Human Voiced, No Ads transcript

It is the year 1200 somewhere in Europe and in the pre-dawn darkness a bell rings out. Dozens of women stir from their strawfilled mattresses in a communal dormatory and they wrap themselves in their heavy woolen habits and form a silent procession down the hall. These medieval nuns gather in the chapel and begin to chant. Their voices echo through that chilly air as they sing the first prayers of the day. The rest of the world is still sleeping, but the nuns have already commenced their sacred routine.

If you wanted to ask the question, what was daily life like for medieval nuns? Well, that's pretty much it. at least the first part of it. It's a lot more nuanced than that. You see, nuns were not ordinary people. They took vows that set them apart from ordinary life. They renounced wealth. They renounced marriage. They devoted themselves entirely to God. and their days followed a strict schedule of prayer, study, and work, all within the confines of the closter.

But far from being idle or cut off from the world in any simplistic sense, medieval nuns led lives of purpose, discipline, and often, as we shall see, considerable influence. So spend the next hour with me and we can find out who exactly were these women and what did they do all day behind those cloister walls. Of course, where are my manners? Allow me to welcome you to the channel. I am your host. If you are new here, you might have noticed the tagline on the end of the video of the no ads.

Well, we're serious. We turned them all off. because we hate ads. It's the kind of uh irrational frothing at the mouth hatred that leads us to have a strict policy on this site. And uh well, fortunately for us, we're supported by those on Patreon, YouTube memberships, and also the merch store, and the occasional donation. If you want to find where to go with that, then you can navigate yourself to the pinned comment and video description.

Otherwise, do us a favor. Click the like button, the subscribe button, and leave a comment because it helps push us out in the algorithm. And perhaps one day the channel will be something a little more than brain rot nonsense. Maybe. In any case, with all that being said, let's begin. But hold on a second. Why would women choose or be chosen to enter convents in the first place? Well, that's a good place to start. You see, in medieval Europe, joining a monastery was one of the very few paths that women had outside of marriage.

Some of them felt a genuine spiritual calling. They want to devote themselves entirely to religion and others were placed in nunnies by their families. For instance, noble families often offered one daughter to the church if they had more daughters than marriage prospects available. Whatever the reason, once a woman took the veil and pronounced vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, she was expected to embrace her life wholeheartedly.

A venerable bride of Christ. By the high middle ages, numerous monasteries for women called nunneries, of course, existed across Europe. These communities lived by monastic rules, sets of precepts originally written for monks but uh also used for nuns. The most widespread among these was the rule of St. Benedict. Yes, the of the famed eggs benedict variety I do believe which provided a balanced daily regimen of prayer, work and communal living.

In the 12th and 13th century, new religious orders for women also arose. Just a few examples, we have uh the Cistersians who pursued stricter austerity and the Franciscan poor Claire's who embraced absolute poverty. But despite some differences, all nuns orders required renouncing worldly goods and living separately from secular society under the authority of a superior. A medieval nun relinquished personal property and freedom of movement, committing to a community where humility and obedience were the guiding principles.

But becoming a nun was quite a momentous step, but it wasn't something that was easily done evil. You couldn't just rock up at the door. Young women usually spent some time as a novice, learning the prayers and all the chores of the convent life. And when they were done with all this, then they would be finally ready to take those final vows. If she persevered and was accepted, she would make her profession in a sacred ceremony.

She might cut off her hair, symbolizing renunciation of worldly vanity, that is, and receive the habit. And you'll hear this word a lot. Uh the habit is basically the outfit that uh nuns wear that plain religious dress and a veil marking her as a consecrated woman. This entire ritual signified leaving secular life behind forever. Thereafter the convent became her entire world. Nunnaries were typically cloistered meaning enclosed off limits to outsiders.

The convent walls and the church's rule of enclosure kept nuns physically separate from everyday society. Family visits were rare, and when they were happening, they'd be strictly supervised, often conducted through a metal grill. The intent was to minimize worldly distractions and protect the sister's focus on prayer. Inside the convent, the environment was austere but quite orderly. A typical convent complex included a chapel for worship, a dormatory where none slept in simple beds, often all of them in the same large room, a refactory or dining hall, a kitchen, store rooms, and a chapter house for daily meetings.

These buildings usually clustered around a central uh central rather closter courtyard, a small garden or yard encircled by covered walkways. The closter garden offered a bit of greenery and fresh air, but it was still well within the convent walls. The life here was deliberately simple and very communal. The architecture and daily routine alike were designed to direct the nuns mind towards God at all times. Cut off from the hustle of towns and the complications of the courts, they formed a self-contained community of women devoted to prayerful living.

And within this cloistered microcosm, time itself was regulated. Comforts were few. of the outside world was kept at bay. The nuns would now find their purpose in the structured daily rhythms and spiritual labors, ones that we are about to explore. Of course, I think it goes without saying that the backbone of a nun's daily life was prayer. Nearly every few hours, day and night, the community gathered in their chapel to sing the divine office, the cycle of canonical hours of prayer.

In total, there were eight scheduled services, the hours spaced throughout the 24 hours. Long before dawn, the nuns arose from their beds for the first and most solemn service. Mattens, also called vigils. This could be at midnight or in the very early morning while still dark. They assembled in the chilly, dimly lit church, and chanted psalms and readings by candle light, offering praise to God when most of the world was still nice and comfy in their beds.

After Matals, a uh short prayer service called the Lords at daybreak welcomed the sunrise. Once daylight came, the nuns began the daytime portion of their routine, but their work was regularly interrupted by prayer, of course. Short services took place around 6:00 a.m., which was called prime, midm morning around 9:00 a.m. Tur noon 6, and mid-after afternoon around 3:00 p.m. noon. At each of these times, a bell rang, and the sisters dutifully filed into the choir stalls to chant a few psalms, hymns, and prayers.

Each office only lasted several minutes. But together they punctuated the day and kept the nuns in a constant rhythm of devotion. No matter what task a nun was doing, whether tending the garden or illuminating a manuscript, when the bell told for the next hour of prayer, she would stop and head to the chapel. This structure ensured that sacred time overlaid all earthly activities. Every day, the most important worship event was the mass, usually held in the morning after tears.

Because women could not be ordained as priests, an outside chaplain or monk from a neighboring monastery would come to celebrate the eukarist for the nuns. They attended the mass on the other side of a lattis or screen that marked their closter, hearing the sacred Latin prayers and receiving holy communion through an opening. The mass was the spiritual high point of the day, the moment when the sisters believed Christ was truly present among them in the sacrament.

During strength from the mass, the nuns then continued their cycle of work and prayer. In the evening, the community gathered for vespers, that is evening prayer, singing psalms of praise and thanksgiving as the sun set. The nun sang a gentle service asking for God's protection through the night. After complain, the great in uh great silence rather was enforced. The convent went quiet and the sisters were tired to bed, speaking no more until the morning.

This peaceful silence overnight was broken only when the bell would sound in the middle of the night to summon them again for mattens. the beginning of a new day of prayer. And so in total, a medieval nun spent many hours each day in communal prayer. The officers were as regular as clockwork, and defined the cadence of cloistered life. This tireless routine, I'm sure you can imagine, could be quite exhausting, especially the duty of rising in the middle of the night, but it was seen as the nuns sacred service.

The sound of chanting voices echoing through the chapel at all hours. That was the heartbeat of the convent. A sign that every moment belonged to God. Now there's an old saying, idleness is the enemy of the soul. You might have also heard u the devil makes work for idle hands. Well, monastic tradition certainly taught that. Therefore, when they weren't in a chapel praying, the nuns were expected to be busy with productive things, or at least pious study.

There was no slacking. It wasn't like they just finished the prayers and went back to their rooms and chilled out. None of that, I'm afraid. Each day after the early morning services and chapter meeting, the company shifted into work mode. The range of tasks and none might do was pretty broad, covering everything needed to sustain their small community and to support the church's worship. One important occupation was textile work.

None spent many hours spinning wool or flax, weaving cloth, sewing or mending garments. this kind of thing. They made their own clothing too, the habits, of course, and also linens and often produced fine alter cloths and vestments for the chapel. Medieval nuns were particularly known for their skilled needle work, and they had plenty of time to practice it. Some convents actually became famed for their embroidery, creating ornate church bests decorated with gold, thread, and silk.

A nun could be assigned to sit by a window embroidering altar frontals or lurggical robes. Of course, they'd have images of saints on them, too. Quietly dedicating each little stitch to God. Pretty important handmade stuff. They just don't make them like they used to. This kind of delicate handywork not only kept their hands busy, but it was also considered a form of devotion. It was a beautifification of the house of God.

And of course uh there is a logic too of uh showing God the glory of his creation. This kind of thing filling the world with beautiful things, you know. In any case, in addition to fabric work, some nuns turned their energies to books. Our female monasteries had libraries and sometimes scriptoria sometimes, not all the time. Uh we're talking about writing rooms like those of monks. Literate nuns spend time in lectio deina, sacred reading, but they could also copy manuscripts.

Now while monks are often more celebrated as scribes there were a few nuns too that engaged in preserving and producing books. In fact there are striking examples of their contributions. A 12th century German nun named Guda for example wrote as a scribe and illuminator and even painted a small self-portrait in a manuscript's initial letter. one of the uh first self-portraits by a woman known to history. Another discovery in a medieval woman's cemetery revealed ultramarine blue particles from rare lapis lassly paint in the teeth of a nun that is suggesting that she had been illuminating manuscripts with luxury pigments likely licking her brush and ingesting tiny little bits of the blue paint.

It all adds up over time, doesn't it? Well, there's some pretty interesting clues, aren't they? They tell us that some nuns were highly skilled artists and calligraphers. They created beautiful books for use in worship and spiritual study. A well educated absess might even write letters, compose hymns, compile treatises. The comfort, after all, was a place of learning as well as prayer. You had to hone your academic skills.

That being said, the subjects were somewhat limited, but of course, not every nun could be an embroiderer or a scribe, and not every wanted to be. Uh, many took on more practical chores, which were essential to daily living. The nuns would do the cooking in the kitchen. They would bake bread. They would brew ale, which, by the way, was the common drink since water could be unsafe. But the alcohol content was quite a bit lower.

They also tended to vegetable gardens and orchards and cared for domestic animals like chickens for eggs. They washed and repaired their simple clothing. Some sisters were appointed to specific roles. One might act as the infirmarian, kind of like a nurse, tending sick or elderly nuns in the infirmary with herbal remedies. another as the sacristine keeping the chapel clean and the altar adorned with fresh candles and flowers.

In larger wealthier convents, much of the heavy outdoor labor, plowing of fields and harvesting crops, was done by lay brothers or hired workers, allowing the nuns to focus on tasks within the closter. But in poorer or smaller houses, the nuns themselves had to milk the cows, chop the vegetables, sweep the floors, and do all manner of manual labor in addition to their spiritual work. Compared to monks, medieval nuns generally did less plowing and heavy field work.

Partly due to the societal expectations of uh well the men had to take on the rougher jobs and partly because the strict cloister rule prevented women from ranging too far outside. The 12th century Abbis Eloise once pointed out that it was unrealistic to make nuns do the same rugged agricultural labors as the men. Typically task deemed suitable for women like needle work, food preparation, laundry were prioritized, and local men were enlisted to handle strenuous farm work from the convent.

Still the principle of ora at lea prayer and work applied equally to nuns. Every able nun had duties to fill the day. Idleness was avoided. Even though recreation could be purposeful, such as painting devotional art or writing music. Indeed, one famous abbis Hildigard of Bingen composed sacred music and wrote books of theology and medicine in the 12th century showing a bit of creative potential that some nuns realized during work hours.

So whether they were engaged in gardening, illuminating a manuscript, or tutoring a child in reading, the nuns understood their work as part of their service to God. They often worked in silence or accompanied by the softly spoken recitation of a prayer or pious reading. In the summer, one might find sisters in the cloister courtyard with baskets of vegetables or spindles of wool, working quietly in the fresh air as bells told the hours.

All of their labor, humble, largely unseen by outsiders, was essential to sustain the convent and was offered a service to God. And in this way, the sisters balanced the Marthaike duties of their work with the merrylike devotion of prayer, keeping both of their hands and minds occupied in the quest for holiness. Now, apart from prayer and work, a significant feature of convent life was a strict discipline in daily habits, no pun intended, including long periods of silence, simple meals, and well, admittedly minimal personal comforts.

I mean, what were you expecting? Medieval nuns were expected to practice restraint in speech. Most convents impose silence during the night and for large parts of the day. For example, after complain, the final prayer at night, the rule of great silence meant no talking. That's right, not a word until the next morning. Even during daytime, unnecessary chatter was discouraged. To meet practical needs without words, the sisters developed a system of hand signals to communicate quietly, indicating things like asking for bread or water at meals with simple gestures.

This culture of silence was meant to foster an atmosphere of contemplation, but also to avoid idle gossip. Daily meals in the refactory, that is the dining hall, were humble and orderly. Typically, nuns ate one or two meals a day, depending on the season. That is one main midday dinner in the summer and a lighter supper added in the winter when the days were a little bit shorter. Also, the weather was a bit bad. If you're shivering and old dress, you tend to burn up a few calories.

For the cold showers routine knows about that one. Well, their diet was modest, too. often vegetarian, at least predominantly. The rule of Benedict forbade the eating of meat from fourlegged animals except in cases of illness. So a conference fair consisted of bread, porridge or pottage. Now just quickly pottage is basically a stew of grains and vegetables, whatever you have on hand, very rustic. Legumes and occasionally fish or eggs for protein, of course.

You know, Benedict, you have to have the eggs. Of course, the rule of Benedict. Oh, someone stopped me. Well, they also drank water, or more commonly, weak ale or beer that the nuns brewed themselves, since fermented beverages were safer than water in many places. At designated fasting times, like lent or Fridays, their meals became even more sparse. Perhaps just some bread and a bit of broth. In the refactory, the nuns ate in silence, while one sister read aloud from a religious book, providing spiritual nourishment alongside the physical.

But all of them sat together at long tables, and before and after eating they chanted prayers of thanks. Convent records note that conversation during meals was all but forbidden. So only the sound of uh uh the clink of pottery bowls and wooden spoons would be heard or the one who was uh doing the prayer readings. Living conditions in the closter were spartan but adequate by the standards of the time. The nuns all slept in a common dormatory, often on the simple straw-filled mattresses or pallets with woolen blankets for warmth.

They typically slept in their robes or other modest nightwear, ready to rise quickly for the night office. A single oil lamp or candle might burn in the dormatory to give a little bit of light. In some well-off monasteries, the dormatory eventually was divided into small wooden cubicles for each nun. But this was certainly not the norm, especially not in the high middle ages, which is our time period. Personal space was minimal.

Privacy was sacrificed in favor of community. Likewise, personal possessions were few. By vow of poverty, a nun owned little to nothing privately. Her clothing was uniform, the habit, and was regularly patched or replaced by the convent sewing work. The habit itself was usually made of coarse wool in a subdued color. For instance, the Benedicting nuns wore black habits, Cistersians off-white, and the poor Claire's gray or brown.

The outfit typically included a tunic, a scapula, which was like a apron-like panel over the tunic, and a veil to cover the hair. Comfort was not the goal. The habit could be heavy and itchy, but it was durable and reminded the wearer of her renunciation of luxury. Constantly reminded her, I assume. Well, discipline was maintained under the watch of the abbess. minor infractions like speaking out of turn or showing up late to prayers and small penances, perhaps extra prayers or taking one's meal sitting on the floor as a humbling reminder.

Major violations were rare, but when they did happen, they were quite scandalous. If a nun seriously broke her vows or tried to flee the closter, she faced severe punishment or expulsion, which for the ones who tried to flee the closter, well, it's not much of a punishment to uh give them expulsion. But, you know, far be it from me, I'm not the abb, so I don't make the rules. where more commonly bishop's visitation records show the abbis admonishing nuns for small things.

Some had kept pet dogs or pet rabbits which was against the rules or gossiped and formed small clicks. Even in a devout convent, human nature finds its way into daily life. Yet the convent was not without joy. On church feast days, the rules were a little bit more relaxed. The liturgy would be extra celebratory, the chapel decorated with flowers, and the meal would be a little bit more sumptuous if it was possible. There are accounts of nuns singing with particular obserance on holy days.

Some communities even had little celebrations. For example, Abbas Hildigard of Bingen once let her nuns wear crowns of flowers and sing with a stringed zyther on a saint's feast. A break from routine that she defended as pure expression of joy in God. Though a more austere abbess did criticize it, but uh you know can't have everyone ruining the fun, can't we? In any case, they're pretty rare instances, but they do show that while nuns lived or steerly, they were still very human and so savored innocent moments of brevity and festivity, that being the rare moments of it in their secluded lives.

Well, let's move on. Let's talk a little bit about uh a hierarchy because there's a bit of that going on, too. A medieval convent was a community with its own internal roles. At the head, we've mentioned stood the abbis or in some smaller houses it was called a prioress. You know, priaryy, this kind of thing. She was the spiritual mother and the leader of the nuns. Typically elected by the sisters and often coming from an educated or noble background, the abbas held authority over nearly every aspect of convent life.

She overheard discipline. She managed the convent's finances and properties and represented the community in dealings with church officials or secular patrons. The abb was addressed with respect. In some regions, the abessers of the major convents even carried a staff or croser just like a bishop would. It symbolized their office. But she was also expected to govern with maternal care and humility and that is the embodiment of the ideals of the rule.

Now beneath the abbas were other officials appointed to help run things. These included the prioress as we mentioned that is the abbess's deputy and second in command the seller who managed food and supplies of course we have that word from the sellar and the infamarian the one who was in charge of the sick. Then we had the sristian who cared for the church and its vestments and the novice mistress who trained all of the new entrance, showed everybody the ropes.

In a small convent, one nun might wear several of these hats, while large abbies could staff each role with a different experienced nun who was kind of a bit more of a specialist. These officers made the convent a self-sufficient world. Each sister had some duty, whether it was as simple as helping in the kitchen or as specialized as preparing herbal medicines in the infirmary. Whatever the case was, all knew to obey their superiors in the spirit of cooperation.

And well, unless you were the pope himself, you always had a superior. Well, I suppose the pope's superior is God. But yeah, you know what I mean. The nuns addressed one another as sister and ideally the convent cultivated a strong sense of family in Christ. They prayed side by side. They ate side by side. They worked side by side. You get it right. Senior nuns were like aunties or uh elder sisters to the younger ones.

They'd guide them in virtue and any little issues they would have. Of course, a little bit of gentle discipline before the problems uh got up to the level of the abbess. Of course, living in any community over many years, human relationships developed, friendships, mentoring bonds, and occasionally tensions. In fact, we have hints from letters and records that clicks could form and disagreements could arise. For example, in some convents, factions supported different candidates in Abbess's election.

You could see how this would uh drive the prayer group apart. The rule and the abbis worked to smooth out any conflicts by emphasizing charity and forgiveness. Daily at the chapter meeting, nuns could confess any small wrongdoings or voice a grievance so it could be resolved peacefully. In this way, resentments were ideally not allowed to fester for too long, but you can only uh imagine within the uh reasonable bounds that uh they did at some point.

In any case, despite the occasional friction, many nuns form deep spiritual friendships with one another. They share the joys and sorrows of life in a way that very few outsiders could understand. When a nun fell ill, her sisters nursed her tenderly in the infirmary. And when one died, they all gathered to sing her funeral office and bury her on the convent grounds, mourning yet trusting in the hope of God. There are accounts of nuns who, after decades spent together, describe their bond as closer than that of blood kin.

The sense of solidarity was reinforced by the rituals of everyday life. From collectively kneeling in prayer at dawn to enjoying the small leisure periods together on a Sunday afternoon. Those little moments of restbite they turn into treasured memories. Even though nuns were hidden behind walls, some abbesses became figures of considerable influence. A capable abbess administered lands and revenues and might even advise local nobles.

It didn't happen too often, but there's a few exceptional cases and fame and uh excuse me uh her fame reached far beyond the convent in some cases. Uh for example, the 12th century Abbis Hildigard of Bingen, we've mentioned her a few times, regularly corresponded with popes and emperors. She even preached in public forums. Now that's a pretty remarkable thing how a woman in the cloyster could become a respected voice in Christryendom.

It was uh well not the common trend at the time. But of course we can't tar it all with the same brush. That would be stupid. Not every community of nuns was a onesizefits all. They weren't all exactly alike. And while the general pattern of prayer, work, enclosure was pretty consistent, different monastic orders had different emphasises and traditions. A few comparisons highlight the variations. For example, a Benedicting abbey of nuns typically followed St.

Benedict's moderate rule. Their days were balanced, somewhat moderate in routine. Some benedicting nunneries, especially older or wellendowed ones, became relatively comfortable over time. They had ample food. They had well-built closters, though they still kept the core monastic disciplines. These nuns wore black habits, earning the nickname the black nuns. They devoted much of their time to liturgy. sometimes with beautiful music and more elaborate ceremonies, especially in the influential abbies.

And then there were the Cistersian nuns, an offshoot reform in the 12th century, who in contrast practiced a more austere lifestyle. Cistersian sisters, who often wore undyed white or gray habits, hence the name white nuns, emphasized simplicity and strictness. Their convents were often located in remote areas, which once again was just another way to encourage seclusion. Daily life for them was even more Spartan. Their churches were plain, unadorned, the diets scantier, and silence and manual labor were even more pronounced.

A Cersian nun's meal might be more meager and her bedding more rough than her benedicting sisters, reflecting the order's ideal of poverty and penitence. Just going to take a sip of tea. Excuse me. That's better. Well, around the same era, the mendicant movement brought new models for women's communities. The poor Claire's founded by St. Clare under the inspiration of St. Francis of Aisi embrace this kind of radical poverty.

They refuse to own property or have any guaranteed income living entirely off donated arms. Daily life for a poor Clare was extremely austere. They often went barefoot, slept on the simplest of beds. They fasted frequently. Many poor Clare convents had no farmland or stable income to speak of. So the nuns truly did depend on God and the charity of the town's folk, more to the point for survival. Yet their days were filled with fervent prayer and joyful simplicity.

They took a bit of pride in having the privilege of poverty that St. Clare won approval for. Meanwhile, the Dominican nuns established by St. Dominic in the early 13th century devoted themselves to prayer and study in support of preaching the mission of the Dominican order. These nuns followed the rule of St. Augustine and the Dominican constitutions. Like other nuns, they kept the divine office and closter, but they placed a special value on intellectual engagement.

Many Dominican nuns were educated, some even before entering the closter, and their convents maintained pretty extensive libraries. A Dominican nun might spend a portion of her day reading theology or copying a manuscript, aligning with the order's emphasis on seeking knowledge and truth. Their contemplative life was intended to be the spiritual powerhouse behind the active preaching of their brother friars. Other variations existed as well.

Of course, some nuns were canonessers who lived under the rule of St. Augustine and often engaged more with charitable works, for instance, running a hospital for the poor attached to their convent. And outside the formal monastic system were the beguins. Lay religious women living in the community without vows. Beguins especially common in the low countries led devout lives of prayer and service like nursing the sick or uh I don't know weaving cloth for a living this kind of thing.

But they weren't nuns to speak of. They didn't take permanent vows or live under strict enclosure. They were halfway there. I mean, they weren't nuns in the official sense, but they certainly did show how women found alternate paths to uh this quasi monastic life within medieval society. But despite the differences in emphasis, whether one convent was stricter about poverty, another about silence, another about study, all the nuns shared the core commitments of chastity, community prayer, and withdrawal from worldly life.

A sister from any uh order would recognize a kindred life in another's convent. The same chanting of psalms at regular hours, the same cloistered routines of work and worship, and that same goal above everything of just serving God with all your heart. But we do have to say that although medieval nuns lived physically separated from society, they weren't entirely isolated from the outside world. In fact, a convent maintained many carefully controlled points of contact.

And yes, we'll say it once again, carefully controlled. One of the most important was through the clergy because nuns could not perform the mass or sacraments themselves. A priest from outside had come into the convent's orbit daily or weekly. Most communities had a designated chaplain, perhaps a local parish priest or monk from a nearby abbey, who would enter the convent church to celebrate mass each morning and hear the nuns confessions when needed.

These priests usually operated behind the convent's choir screen or spoke to the nuns through a grill as we mentioned maintaining enclosure even as they provided spiritual service. Nevertheless, through them the nuns stayed connected to the larger church. The chaplain might bring news, deliver letters, carry the sisters questions to a bishop. Family ties were never linked to the world. Many nuns came from noble or wellto-do families, and their relatives did not just forget them.

Under strict protocols, family members could occasionally come and check things out. Typically visiting a parlor with a metal screen between the visitor and the nun. I mean, I know what you're thinking. It sounds like a prison. Yes, I know. Pretty much like that. A father and mother might come to see their daughter on her profession day or siblings might feast on a paternal feast day. The nuns could also send and receive letters of courses or had to have the permission of the abbs and through correspondence they learned of events like births, marriages or deaths in their family.

They often responded with uh responded rather with spiritual counsel or promises of prayers. A nun, though cloistered, thus remained a daughter, a sister, an aunt, offering prayers on behalf of her kin. Nobles who had daughters in a convent often became benefactors, sending food supplies, money, or gifts to support the community, especially on the feast days, which provided material relief and maintained a bit of goodwill.

Convents also interacted with the local community in acts of charity and service, but usually in a more indirect form. Nuns couldn't roam the streets to tend to the poor, of course, but they did what they could from within. Many convents fulfilled Christian charity by distributing food to the needy at the gate on certain days. The almaner, which uh that's by the way the nun that's in charge of alms, would hand out bread or soup to poor locals.

Many of them came seeking help. They knew that the nuns would not turn them away. A few houses, especially uh those of more active orders, even ran small infirmaries or hostels next to the closter, where sisters quietly tendered to sick or destitute women. In this way, the nuns met their duty of compassion without compromising their enclosure. Education was another bridge to society. Some convents served as modest schools for the girls, particularly those of nobility or the rising merchant class.

Such girls lived in the convent for a time and were taught reading, writing, needle work, and Christian doctrine. After a year or two, most returned to their families to marry, though a few eventually did decide to take the veil themselves. In instructing these young charges, the nuns performed an important social duty, passing on culture and piety to the next generation. Finally, the convent had relationships with ecclesiastical authorities and patrons.

Bishops conducted periodic visitations to ensure the nuns were living properly. And these inspections could be understandably quite stressful. The sisters knew they would be questioned on any perceived uh laxities, but they also kept the community aligned with the wider church reforms. Local lords and noble patrons might attend mass in the convent chapel from the public side of the grill. that is or ask the nuns to pray for their special intentions.

In gratitude, those patrons often protected and endowed the convent. Lay people also sometimes sought spiritual counsel from nuns. One famous example, the English pilgrim and mystic Marjgerie Kemp in the early 15th century visited a community of nuns for advice and comfort. Instances like that, well, they demonstrate the continuing esteem for nuns. not only as spiritual guides but kind of wise women too. In these ways, the wall of the cloister was permeable to prayers and messages.

Medieval people valued the prayers of nuns as especially efficacious, considering nuns to be the closest to Christ. Wealthy families endowed convents specifically so that sisters would pray for their souls each day. The nuns, for their part, understood their role as praying for the world behind closed doors. When plagues, famines, or wars struck the region, the nuns intensified things. Thus, even though the sisters rarely set foot outside of their abbey, they were spiritually engaged in the world's troubles and hopes.

A convent might be physically enclosed by high walls, but in the medieval mindset, it was an integraable part of the community, integral rather, a powerhouse of prayer and a beacon of faith that, well, just benefited everybody outside. But for all of its piety, the life of medieval nuns was not without challenges. And of course, the periodic need for reform. Human weaknesses and outside pressures sometimes disrupted the ideal routine.

You see, not every woman in the closter had entered by pure choice. Nor did every one of them have a strong vocation. Some had been compelled by family or maybe circumstance. A few struggled to accept the rigorous life. Perhaps it felt like a good idea at the time, but uh well, once you get in there, it's not so fun. There were instances, albeit rare, of nuns breaking their vows. The most scandalous being those who slipped out to secretly meet lovers or who fell into illicit relationships and even became pregnant.

Good luck hiding that one. Church chronicles recount a few such scandalous incidents with shock. Such dramatic failures were the exception. But they understood that not everyone in the cloister was a saint, and that human nature could occasionally override the strict separation from the world. More commonly, problems in nunnaries took the form of declining discipline or material hardship. Some communities, especially those with meager endowments, fell into poverty.

Nuns sometimes had to worry about having enough food or firewood for winter, which could distract their spiritual focus, turning to more practical matters, not going to get much praying done if you're starving. Conversely, other convents became too comfortable over time, lacks in observing silence or poverty, and overly involved with local society through frequent visitors or letters. By the late 13th century, the church recognized that many women's houses needed a tightening of standards.

In 1298, Pope Bonafice VI issued a decree mandating strict cloister for all nuns, requiring that they remain perpetually enclosed. His papal command, essentially enforcing for all convents the kind of seclusion that had been expected for the strictest orders, was an attempt to curb the easygoing interactions with the outside world that some convents had adopted. But enforcing it was not always simple. But over the following decades, enclosure became much more uniform across nunnaries.

Despite occasional lapses and outside disruptions, the institution of the nunnery proved to be remarkably resilient. For centuries through wars, plagues, social upheavalss, convents stayed. They remained as the centers of persistent faith and prayer. Many nuns attained reputations for their great holiness. A few like certain abbisses and mystics which we know by name even produced writings that reached far beyond the closter.

We have for instance the personal letters of Abbas Eloise which reveal a keen intellect and the human insight within the closter itself and the visionary treatis uh treatises rather and music composed by Hildigard of Bingan which earned her fame across Europe. Samles like that show that the convent could nurture extraordinary talent alongside the everyday piety. Far more nuns lived in quiet lives of dedication, and their names are unknown to history, but perhaps still cherished in their communities.

The nuns supported each other through hardships like disease and hunger, and they shared moments of simple happiness in their common life. Through it all, their faith and sisterhood sustained them. Year after year, generation after generation, the choir's psalms continued, and the lamps in the covenants kept burning. So, what do you think? Do you think you could be a nun? Maybe. Well, I think we see a pattern of constancy and devotion that's truly remarkable.

Every day getting up before the sun beginning the prayers and every night silence behind those walls ending the day as it began just in the presence of God. Such was the loop of existence continuous offering of time labors and love. Well, their ceaseless prayers were believed to safeguard the world beyond their closter. Whether that worked or not is well arguable. Their work, whether copying books, tending gardens, or teaching girls, quietly contributed to preserving learning and caring for the vulnerable within their communities.

They cultivated virtues of charity, patience, and discipline, striving with very human effort to live out high ideals. But yes, human, that's the issue. There were difficulties to be sure. Not every day matched the lofty standard. But hey, you're not perfect either. Well, the overall impression is one of sincere commitment and conviction. And I I think that should be uh that deserves something for us today. I think it's a little bit hard to imagine this kind of life.

But for those people back then, there was a meaning in the routine and rhythm, the community oriented toward the divine. Truly, the vows of nuns, they're not really grand heroic actions, but it really rests in the faithful repetition of humble days. In any case, that is enough for us. And that's about time for us to end it for today. But what did you think? H do you think that kind of life is for you? I don't know. Certainly not for me.

Although locking yourself away from the uh less pleasant elements of society. That that sounds okay. I mean, I spend enough time at home anyway as it is, you know. Well, I can't become a nun because I'm a I'm a bloke. But uh you know maybe a monk or something like that. Who knows? Who knows? The future is a very big place. Who knows? Any case, I'm going to thank the top deer patrons keeping everything adfree. Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Ember, Susan, Cameron, Gary, Charlene, Lindterice, Katiana, Nicholas, Oladne, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr.

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