Mangion, Carmen M. (2013) Avoiding "rash and imprudent measures": English nuns in revolutionary Paris, 1789-1801. In: Bowden, C. and Kelly, J.E. (eds.) The English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800: Communities, Culture and Identity. Catholic Christendom, 1300–1700. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, pp. 247-263. ISBN 9781409450733.
Abstract
Book synopsis: In 1598, the first English convent was established in Brussels and was to be followed by a further 21 enclosed convents across Flanders and France with more than 4,000 women entering them over a 200-year period. In theory they were cut off from the outside world; however, in practice the nuns were not isolated and their contacts and networks spread widely, and their communal culture was sophisticated. Not only were the nuns influenced by continental intellectual culture but they in turn contributed to a developing English Catholic identity moulded by their experience in exile. During this time, these nuns and the Mary Ward sisters found outlets for female expression often unavailable to their secular counterparts, until the French Revolution and its associated violence forced the convents back to England. This interdisciplinary collection demonstrates the cultural importance of the English convents in exile from 1600 to 1800 and is the first collection to focus solely on the English convents. Contents: Introduction, Caroline Bowden, James E. Kelly and Michael C. Questier; Part I Communities: From community to convent: the collective spiritual life of post-Reformation Englishwomen in Dorothy Arundell’s biography of John Cornelius, Elizabeth Patton; Essex girls abroad: family patronage and the politicization of convent recruitment in the 17th century, James E. Kelly; Missing members: selection and governance in the English convents in exile, Caroline Bowden. Part II Culture: Authorship and Authority: The literary lives of nuns: crafting identities through exile, Jenna D. Lay; Naming names: chroniclers, scribes and editors of St Monica’s Convent, Louvain, 1631-1906, Victoria Van Hyning; Translating Lady Mary Percy: authorship and authority among the Brussels Benedictines, Jaime Goodrich; Barbara Constable’s Advice for Confessors and the tradition of medieval holy women, Genelle Gertz; Shakespeare’s sisters: Anon and the authors in the early modern convents, Nicky Hallett. Part III Culture: Patronage and Visual Culture: Petitioning for patronage: an illuminated tale of exile from Syon Abbey, Lisbon, Elizabeth Perry; Parlour, court and cloister: musical culture in English convents during the 17th century, Andrew Cichy; Cloistered images: representations of English nuns, 1600-1800, Geoffrey Scott. Part IV Identity: Archipelagic identities in Europe: Irish nuns in English convents, Marie-Louise Coolahan; Divine love and the negotiation of emotions in early modern English convents, Laurence Lux-Sterritt; Avoiding ‘rash and imprudent measures’: English nuns in revolutionary Paris, 1789-1801, Carmen M. Mangion; Select bibliography of secondary sources; Index. About the Editor: Caroline Bowden is Research Fellow and former Project Manager of the ‘Who were the Nuns?’ project funded by the AHRC at Queen Mary, University of London, and has published a number of papers on women’s education and learning and the English convents in exile. James E. Kelly is post-doctoral fellow at Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies, Project Manager of the ‘Nuns’ project at Queen Mary’s and researches post-Reformation Catholic history in Europe and Britain. Reviews: ‘This is an important book in many respects. The editors have assembled fourteen chapters that bring together in one volume much impressive work that has been undertaken recently in looking at the foundation, sustaining, relevance and impact of the more than twenty communities of English nuns based in continental Europe during the period c.1600-1800… The volume is exceptionally well-presented, and organised through four sections: Communities, Culture: Authorship and Authority, Culture: Patronage and Visual Culture, and Identity. The footnoting is extensive, and an overall bibliography and index are provided. An unexpected delight in a work of this nature is the collection of twenty-eight colour illustrations - many of them never seen widely before or never seen in colour… this is a book not to be missed by all with an interest in Catholic history, women’s history, cultural history, the history of female religious, or just ‘history’ in this period.' Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Dec 2013 14:50 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:08 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/8861 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
