Eileen Power explores the internal and external realities of English nunneries during the later middle ages, examining approximately one hundred and thirty-eight houses across various orders. The study begins with an analysis of the novices, demonstrating that convents were essentially aristocratic foundations recruited from the upper and upper-middle classes. Families used nunneries as a respectable career alternative for dowerless daughters, though this practice often resulted in the admission of unwilling girls, political prisoners, or individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The system of entrance dowries, despite canonical prohibitions, became a regular practice that effectively excluded the poor from taking the veil.
The head of the house usually possessed high social standing, which frequently led to friction regarding elections, financial transparency, and the enforcement of enclosure. Prioresses often maintained luxurious lifestyles and engaged in worldly pursuits, mirroring the manners of the secular nobility rather than strict monastic poverty. Financially, nunneries relied on agricultural estates, manorial courts, wool sales, and appropriated ecclesiastical benefices, yet many houses struggled with persistent debt, poor estate management, and heavy exactions.
The daily routine combined religious services with extensive domestic and agricultural administration, supported by various obedientiaries and a staff of servants. Education within the walls was largely limited to simple literacy, needlework, and elementary medicine, alongside the schooling of young children from gentle families. While some houses suffered from severe moral laxity and internal discord due to weak or corrupt leadership, others produced capable administrators and pious women who maintained their establishments with diligence. Ultimately, the nunneries functioned simultaneously as careers, prisons, and refuges, reflecting the broader social structures and economic pressures of medieval English society up to the eve of the dissolution.
