What did medieval nuns do all day?

Many women chose to dedicate themselves to the Church, for any of many reasons. Some nuns were dedicated at young ages by their families, who wished to do good for the Church. However, nuns could enter convent at any stage in life from young childhood to old age. Why did they? In many cases, it was a question of true piety, and God became these women's lives. In other cases, monasticism was an escape from a life of shadows and insecurity, childbearing and degradation, and seeing a potential they were taught they did not have go unfulfilled forever. Prior to the 12th Century, religious houses were independent of one another. During the 12th Century, orders arose which set a standard of life and behaviour for groups of houses.

In denying marriage and dedicating their lives to the Church, women were able to preserve both their minds and their bodies. It gave ordinary women a chance to examine the makeup of the soul, and in its own silent way encouraged them to make choices for themselves. The Church became an asylum where men had access to education -- and if men, why not women? Many women realized that as long as they remained uneducated, they would be regarded as inferior. Armed with intelligence and knowledge, women could outwit the witty. Literacy was a privilege that many took advantage of.

However, in many cases, it was not to be. Few women who devoted their lives to the Church ever learned how to write. Priests did not see the need for nuns to write. What little writing we have today are endeavours stemming from the desire of certain individuals to have their messages transcend time.

Another advantage to joining the church was celibacy, which, like literacy, elevated women in medieval society to a point of high regard. Remaining chaste supposedly saved a woman from becoming as sinful as Eve.

Nunnery Life

The life of a nun was based on routine and regularity. The most austere orders of nuns spared themselves no hardship observed in male religious houses. At 2 a.m., the nuns would rise for Mass. At 6 a.m. they would rise for the day and say Prime. Tierce, sext, none, vespers, and Compline followed throughout the day. In winter, when it got dark earlier, nuns retired to bed at 7 p.m.; in the summer, at 8 p.m.

Nuns had a degree of freedom when they were allowed to choose their own abbesses and prioresses. Many times they petitioned a local male church official to have their choice supplant his. However, many abbesses, whoever appointed them, were poor businesswomen. Nunneries often suffered from excessive poverty (i.e., greater poverty than the nuns' vows intended). Demands made by locals often drained their resources.

As time went on, educational and moral standards declined. Many male Church officials were vexed because nuns could no longer read Latin, only French -- and then, Horror of horrors -- English. Nuns became more careless about keeping the services. They also enjoyed such forbidden luxuries as dancing, pretty dresses, and lapdogs.