‘Nuns in Space:
Strict Enclosure and the Architecture of the
Clarisses in the Thirteenth Century
Caroline Bruzelius
Ja formalist art historical tradition that has tended to focus on great
monuments and large-scale projects there has been little interest in the
snchitecture of convents: They tended to be small, poor, and humble.
‘Their physical isolation often led to their destruction: in France in
Believing” was delivered at the
‘he material From that talk had
‘Believing. Clarssan Architecture ca.
Hike to thank the Fulbright Foundation in Italy
mech during the Fall of 1983, as well as Beth Lynn, Ingeid
lyn Valone, Anita Voland, Paul Lachence, nd Margaret
Peres tis exeay the term convent is used conventionally to designate + monastic
house for women, whereas manasiy designates one for en
Tmoder literature on
{n Twellth-Centary Monasticism,” The Medieeat
aa nese ota 1988) 4352; and idem, Monks and Nurs Reforming» Mafraan, Wort
‘Cstercon Expansion into Southern France, orthcoming. In 1982 Constance Berman.
cited volume of essays on convent ar and architecture in Geta, 31. (1992). 961
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particular a vast proportion of women’s monasteries were demolished in
the Revolution, among them the remarkable and historically important
convents such as Longchamp, Port Royal, and Maubuisson.
Furthermore, convents were frequently founded in the abandoned
buildings of older abbeys, churches, farms, or hospitals, which
sometimes reverted to their former state.? Not often, then, do convents
present an aesthetically unified or coherent appearance or ground plan.
‘There are few of the satisfactions of studying the systematic approaches
to design and layout such as those of the Cistercians and the other
orders which emphasized the regularity and consistency of the monastic
plan. From the evidence of architectural organization of the Clarisses in
particular, the model for convent spaces shifted away from that of the
male monastery to that of the anchorite, Choirs, rather than being
integrated into the design of the church, were often positioned in
locations analogous to that of the anchoritic cell adjacent to a parish
church. As a result, the choirs of the Clares were rarely integral to the
plan and design of a church, which tended to exist as an independent
and often pre-existing entity. They were tacked on here or there, like
barnacles on a pier, around a structure that had its own separate and
independent architectural coherence. We shall see in this essay that this
“appended” quality also reflected the character of the liturgical
experience of nuns and their relation to the sacraments.
‘The difficulties of an architectural history of convents are com-
pounded by the fact that historical documentation for female monastic
establishments is rarely adequate, and sharp distinctions between the
various phases and permutations of individual convents (from hospital
to convent, from order to order) are difficult to track As a number of
historians have noted, the finances of women’s communities were often
San Damiano, in spite of
short life span (ca
historical prominence, is an excellent example of the
jously been a small and
red church, and today. On the fuidity of
‘women’s religious on, passim. The common
‘rote of wore’ elgus huts peably prove ore conan then than
{ssues pertaining to afliation with any particular order.
“Thompson, esp. 38
‘Nuns in Space: Architecture inthe Thirteenth Century / 55
strained, and the lack of resources inevitably determined the nature of
their buildings >
‘The central and overriding fact of all women’s monasticism by the
late Middle Ages was strict enclosure. Enclosure in some form was of
course fundamental to all monasticism from the outset. But in the male
orders it was intended to insulate the spiritual life from the distractions
land temptations of the external world, whereas for women enclosure as
traditionally defined evolved to protect and isolate them from contact
with lay society, or the violence of invaders.” For women’s com-
mu enclosure also meant a greater degree of financial and
administrative dependence, for the regulations against the egress of
women religious from the monastery to attend to properties and to sell
goods meant that these matters had to be carried out by agents oF
Cervantes ® Visitation, the annual “checkup” of a community, for female
houses was usually performed by a male supervisor, either by an abbot
from a male house of the same order ot by a local diocesan official?
‘Thus conformity to a rule, which in men’s houses often depended upon
‘an annual visitation from a member of the same order, was for women’:
houses enforced by an outsider to the order.”
While enclosure in various forms had been an organizing an¢
fundamental principle of convents from the outset,!" it waxed anc
SC. Berman and C. Bruzelivs, “Introduction,” Gest, 31 (1992): 78-75. The article b
‘pernaditis Bensbre in that Sseue, "The Cistercian Convent of Coyroux in the Twelfth an
Thinwenth Centuries,” pp. 7652, i particuasly helpful as regards the special conditions
female monasticism in the context of the Cistercian order.
fan Leclerq, “Clausura,” in the Dizionario deg
190,
Le reco rae in tellin ofthe Foor Claes See for ap
ed 5 Chae Ae) sr oman (25195) Man
San especly p92, 29. As, Shaler
Sn ser Sclebrg 7
aan ee Rosen's comments onthe vistations of the convents is
se etc cane oud in We ies Medel Earp Suen
Emi Ant ew York/ London. 199) 2155.
Tr a ert "lau," cl 117, hat unl the en oft
ee ee er ina fron were ble toattend General Chapt
Ele ce thay Shaler, 8734 74 1 Caroline Bruzelius
presented by the proliferation of new
spirituality in the early thirteenth century, and their subecquent
suppression during the Fourth Lateran Council of 125, only reiniomod
the need for the church to control, manage, and define women
religious, imposing traditional formulae on any obstreperous attempts
including Clare's Form of Life, to redefine female monastidiams
orders and new types of
Za she ha bargined for when she ran aay from home. Te wa the Fanscan ve
fe for which he yearned the wey of adventure and harsship. aig
Cara tration, there were many ich convents near Ase
could have chosen to join inseed The Beguine ne vided ano
Sau have howe ins noth ofthe Als provided another
The Implications of Fasting and Illness
in the Death of Clare of Assisi
Joanne Schatzlein, O.S.F
Death as an experience remains a mystery, one of the few
mysteries which we humans have yet to solve despite our medical
knowledge, technology, and scientific exploration. Death provokes
questions such as why, how did it happen, what is its meaning.
Death evokes feelings of anger, confusion, loss and loneliness, but
also invites belief, faith, reverence, and praise.
‘As a Franciscan woman who is also a registered nurse by
profession, I have witnessed illness and death and all of its accom-
anying questions and emotions. It is this experience of death that
led me as a student at the Franciscan Institute at Saint Bonaventure
University to explore the implications of illness in the death of
Francis. More recently I have been intrigued by the life of Clare
and find myself asking similar questions related to her experience
of illness, her fasting practices, her penitential life-style, and how
these experiences may have contributed to her death.
In order to explore adequately these elements in the life of
Clare, it is necessary to research demographic statistics and medi-
eval medicine. This leads to difficulties due to a dearth of availabl
information. In an article entitled “The Diagnosis of St. Francis:
Evidence for Leprosy,” Dan Sulmasy, OFM, and I point out that
any venture into understanding medical illness and cause of death
in the Middle Ages must be undertaken cautiously, recognizing
that our present day resources only allow us avenues for com-
prehensive study rather than precise conclusions ?
Aoanne Schatelein, OSF, RN, MA, and Daniel Sulmasy, OFM, MD, "The
Diagnosis of St. ands Evidence for Leprosy,” Froncsca Stade, 47, (1987)
Aschataein and Sulmasy, 18. 56 / Caroline Bruzelius
enclosure was for the most part more oriented towards the entrance of
men into the community of women than the egress of the nuns, and it
was understood that nuns often exited the convent to attend to convent
business."? As he notes, Hildegard of Bingen preached publicly.23
Among the Clarisses, Clare's Form of Life of 1253 recognized the
occasional practical needs for the women to attend to the needs of the
community 0 the walls, although the other earlier rules es
tablished for the Clarisses strictly forbade egress.
In the convent, strict enforced enclosure meant that nuns were to be
protected and separated not only from the lay public, but also, and
equally importantly, from the clergy. Indeed, the issue of the clergy
Presents the fundamental irony of women’s religious vocation: to
‘women’s communities, which sought isolation and removal from the
world of men, men were nonetheless indispensable. Only clerics could
administer confession, the Mass, and the Eucharist. In the thirteenth
century a new spirit of rigor concerning enclosure, inaugurated by the
regulations imposed beginning in 1219 upon the Clarisses, even
effected the administration of the sacraments,
‘One last observation related to enclosure is also essential for an
understanding of the architectural history of women’s houses. As noted
above, since enclosure prohibited meetings and travel by nuns, there
could be no overall organizational structure for women’s communities
that would ensure consistency and uniformity between all houses on
architectural (or other) matters. Whereas modern scholarship on
architecture has often focused on a uniform approach to the
\d design of monastic buildings within an Order (whether
. Benedictine, or Dominican, for example), a systematic
Studi Prancescan, Assisi, 1980) 67, 83, The distinction is between “active” enclosure, the
runs being able to leave the convent, versus “passive” enclosure, access tothe convent by
outsiders, See Schulenburg, 5.
3 Ledeng, 67
Chae of A
ary Documents, ed. Regis J. Armstrong (New York/Mahwah, 1988)
63, For a synthetic discussion ofthe various phases and controversies concerning the rules
of the Clares, see Micheline de Fonttte, “Les Clarstes,” in Lev religieses age dic droit
canon: our lea structures uviigues des branches féminines des adres (Paris, 1967) 129-
view, se Sister Ciara Augusta Lainal, "The Enclosure of St. Clare and of
lares in Canonical Legislation and in Practice,” The Card 28 (1978) 4-15,
‘nluns in Space: Prchitecture in the Thirteenth Century / 57
analysis is rarely possible for convents.15 Each convent perforce existed
1s a separate cell, inaccessible except under exceptional circumstances
‘even to nuns from other houses of the same order. The transmission of
systematic architectural solutions from one female house to another
could happen only through four channels: the founding of a new house
by “colonializing” sisters moving from one house to another, letters
the travels or special demands of an important lay patron," or an
unusually active role played by a Minister General. But normally, as
noted above, the simple fact that a large proportion of convents were
established in already existing buildings militated against consistency
in architectural solutions; in each case the acquired buildings were
adjusted or remodeled to suit the needs of the new community,
modifying pre-existing structures to meet the demands of enclosure.
The solutions varied widely depending on the configuration of the
erited buildings.
nae history of ‘vromen’s monastic architecture, therefore, cannot be
neatly organized for many reasons. By the end of the thirteenth
century, there was far less unity within the overall phenomenon of the
nuns’ architecture than between their male counterparts."® In other
words, by the end of the thirteenth century it becomes more difficult to
identify and describe an architecture as characteristically Cistercian,
Clarissan, or Benedictine when it comes to wore ments. As
we shall see, social and intellectual changes, especially within the
structure of the church, by 1200 led to a reaffirmation of strict enclosure
‘eample, my own work on the thirteeth-century churches ia the I
Ctra ory which demonstrated st modular pipe ape in
‘early twellth-century churches of the order, suchas Fontenay, contined to
‘Sap cemers in the deg of henge ce cures o te thee. See CA
Bruzalius, “Cistercian High Gothic: The Abbey Church of Longpont and the Architecture
ofthe Cistercian Order inthe Tenth Century, "Anlece cerciensis®. 0579)
Teach as those from Clare to Agnes of Bohemia, though inthis case there survive no
architectural instructions
Me ‘ssue in particular the work of Thompson, 161-90, Ina forthcoming
‘Tian Eice t rreentrcentury Quen Sancia of
ofthe convent of St. Chiara in
ad an important role in tbe conception and design
(rtheoming in Memoir ofthe American Acer in Rome, 1995). he
‘ecerg (1973), 167, divided the history of enclosure ino thee periods: up
end of the eighth century from the end ofthe eighth until the end ofthe thisten
then afterwards, Our research here concems the
periods. 58 / Caroline Bruzelius
that in 1298 resulted in universal regulations for the enclosure of all
female religious. The new regulations stipulated elaborate architectural
s, and screens for female communities regardless of
The regulations for the Clarisses are of particular interest with
losure of women. Clare of Assisi was
woman to have her rule for San Damiano (Clare herself described it as
the “Form of Life”) approved by papal authority.” ‘The regulations of
the Clarisses (though not in fact Clare’s own rule) subsequently became
regulations of 1298 on female
f the Clarissan rules specified in
is, and turning wheels
by about 1220 a particularly rigorous
¢ had been imposed on Clare and her companions at
San Damiano, and that this Clarissan model, irrespective of its par-
ticularly complex evolution, sources or origins, had a profound impact
on female monasticism of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.2
‘An examination of the first century of Clarissan churches (c. 1212-
1310) reveals that a wide variety of solutions for the relationship of the
choir to the church existed within the order. Although in some houses
the choir is placed in a lateral space flanking either nave or apse (Plate
1; the choirs are indicated by an arrow), in other cases, as at S. Tomaso
in Potenza Picena, the choirs were behind the altar (Plate 2), ot,
alternatively in an upper gallery or room at the west end of the
building (San Paolo at Tuscania, Plate 3). Interconnecting windows or
api, "Fratri mendicant e pinzochere in Toscana,” Tem ¢ problemi nella
nistcafemminle recentesca (Tod, Accademia Tudertina, 1983) 109.35, reprinted in Misiche
© devote nal tardomeicoale, ed. Daniel Bornstein e Roberto Rusconi (Liguori Editore,
192) 85-106,
‘Nuns in Space: Architecture in the Thirteenth Century / 59
Plate 1. San Darniano, Assisi, plan. The arrow indicates the present choir 60 / Caroline Bruzelius
Pate3S Paolo Toscana (Toearel 7
, carl), rom Hlipak
‘The arrow indicates the choir. ss
‘uns in Space: Architecture in the THrteenth Century / 61
doors permitted the passage of sound and the delivery of the
consecrated host for communion. A well-preserved arrangement
1) which would have permitted sound 6 pass from the
through the upper door at the back of a small upper
(Plate 5). The nuns could descend a small wooden staircase for
confession behind the curtain (right side of Plate 5) and the host could
the same stairs. However, from
of the existing choir stalls, fitted into the comer of the choir
(Plate 4, left side) itis clear that vision into the church would have been
difficult if not imposs
The one common f
generally the sisters could
of all these churches, however, is that
strated represent a generé
is rules of the Clares: thy
attendance at the Mass
experience. The central act of the liturgy, the elevation of the host anc
the dramatic visual allegory of the Mass, were not visually accessible te
the resident female population.
‘There is ample evidence to suggest that enclosure, above all
managed the senses by rejecting vision in favor of the more controllablt
and distilled sense of heating. For example, the various versions of
rules provided for the Clarisses make references to grills which are t
be covered with a cloth on the inside of enclosure. These permitted th
passage of sound but prevented sight. Within the various regulation
of the Clarisses, only Clare’s own Form of Life, 1253, approved on he
deathbed, stipulates that the cloth may be removed during Mass: “Let
curtain be hung inside the grille which may not be removed excer
when the Word of God is being preached, or when a sister is speaking 62 / Caroline Bruzelius Ns in Space: Srcitecture in te Trteeth Century / 62
Plate 4 §, Sebastiano, Alats, view of the nun's choir towards the church ie
i laced Plate 6, Sta, Maria Iacobi, Nola, upper choi towards the apse
Plate 5.S. Sebastiano, Alatri, view of the church towards the choir.
(Photo Chester Brummme!) (Photo Chester Beummel)
Plate 7. San Damiano, Assisi, upper oratory: 64 / Caroline Bruzelius
with someone The rules for the Clarisses of 1219 and 1247, on the
other hand, insisted that the curtain be kept in place during the Mass as
well as at all other times, The 1219 Rule of Hugolino states that the cloth
be placed so that “no sister is able to see anything in the chapel
outside;” no mention is made of removing the cloth during the
liturgy.26
Irrespective of important differences in other matters, all regulations
for the Clarisses (1219, 1247, etc.), as well as Clare’s own Form of Life,
‘emphasize the importance of silence within the convent. The result is
thus that hearing the Mass must have had particular pungency, and
indeed the terminology in all the rules states that the mass is heard (as
opposed to seen). These strictures are reiterated in the 1247 Rule of
Innocent IV.” In all the rules formulated for the Clarisses other than
Clare's own, the assumption is that the cloth remains in place even
during the performance of the Mass. The language used to describe the
sister's participation in the liturgy is exclusively one of listening and
hearing.
The character of Clare's Form of Life, approved in 1253, suggests
that slightly different liturgical arrangements may have prevailed at
San Damiano, although we cannot be exactly sure of the location and
character of the original choir of the sisters, and therefore of the degree
of their visual access to the liturgy. According to Jean-Frangois Godet,
Clare herself never referred to her community and sisters as reclusae but
rather as inclusae, the difference being between the definition of sacred
and community space in the latter as opposed to the complete
separation and isolation suggested by the former.?# As it exists
presently, a process of listening, rather than seeing, would seem to
have existed at San Damiano and all other convents of the Clares that I
know of prior to 1310” At San Damiano private and collective gazing
lare's Form of Life simply codified
San Damiano had lived for & long time.
6.
Forts, ed. Marie Therese Becker, Jean-Francois Gade, and Thadée
) 82.3.
No serious study of San Damiano tas yet been undertaken. Professor Romanini in
Rome is presently proposing an excavation project at the site, which we hope will be cor
Nuns in Space: Architecture in the Thirteenth Century / 65
upon the host would have taken place primarily, and perhaps
exclusively, in the privacy of the nun’s oratory upstairs (as distinct from
the choir downstairs) and not during the liturgy itself. As can be seen in
Plate 7, the oratory contains a small niche to the left of the altar whose
purpose as a container of the host is emphasized by the paintings of the
adoring nuns below.
in general practice within lay
communities as well. Though modem studies of the medieval liturgy
usually describe the medieval Mass as sacred “drama,” and the
gestures of the priest as an allegorical re-enactment of the Passion,
architectural evidence suggests that by the late thirteenth century seeing
the elevation at the high altar may have been an increasingly rare
event for the lay public; participation in the liturgy for laymen was
evolving towards an ever more internalized, private, meditative
affair* Indeed, one might wonder if the jingling of bells that accom-
pany this moment in the Mass might not have functioned as a signal for
what was not only not audible but also, perhaps, not easily visible.®>
No doubt there were wide regional variations in these practices, but the
ubiquity of choir screens reveals an increasing physical separation of
the clergy and main altar from the lay public. The viewing of the
ray well ny some of the ues concerning th ao the
{bodiaten ete See uecfer
ef hure ben pkad n consid wea es xpos ont
saeogg hates sacaatn Ser oerghaee
"ppc, pet ret speak ost that the could not have been
tear Seton he ncs Yeph hn The of he Res Re ls Ong ot
Becta rn ran se Mt et rm on
Ree nese pT apd eng Gogo, a SB
apis, 36 Se also OLB Hardon, Cristian Ril and Cristian Drama in the Mile Ages:
Inc rl Lay wy Md Dreier 9065.
Ps tannes 1. Eminghauy, The Scart Ene, Frm, Cotati,
weary, angmann points oa
heh lee ang hat ae weigh ls ul pe nn ve
ae
placed in a monstrance in a niche, such as that found inthe up
(Plate 7). 65 / Caroline Bruzelius
clevation of the Eucharist within the choir was ever more reserved for
an elite few, primarily the clergy.
“Though the separation of nuns from the church and altar may seem
surprising to modern sensibilities, it is useful to recall that internal
screens and barriers were common in medieval churches, and that by
the second half of the thirteenth century these were often of
considerable height? Although in Continental Europe almost all of
these choir screens were destroyed during the Counter Reformation and
the Enlightenment, it is clear that by the end of the thirteenth century
the canonical clergy tended to be separated from the lay public, and the
‘Mass was evolving towards a ritual that could be directly experienced
(Geen as well as heard) only by an elite, mostly clerical.°*
Tt may also be that there evolved a hierarchy of vision that was
enforced by the physical barriers or screens and roods.?” The
‘proliferation of subsidiary chapels and altars in large-scale churches
meant that there was often a large number of services conducted during
any given day, ideally timed with precision so as not to interfere with
one another3* As a result, there was a whole range of subsidiary clergy
whose primary function was to officiate at such secondary masses.”
High Mass, celebrated once a week, became an exalted and separate
phenomenon, celebrated with processions and music, most of which by
the middle of the thirteenth century seems to have been only partially
audible and visible to the lay public. For laymen, vision of the elevated.
Meike Doberer, "Der Lettner seine Bedeutung und
igleichende Kunstforschurg in Wien, TX (1956)
‘out in "Women Mystics and Buch
‘Century in Women’s Studies, XI, (688) 193, women's eucharistic visions often compensated
for the absence of access to the altar, and even projected them into the role of the
Celebrant. See also Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: the Eucharist in Late Madieoal Culture
ty Press, 1951),
22
Bynum, Holy Fes en Holy Fat The Ralgiows Signicac oF
Medios! Wormer (Berkeley, 1387) <0, Centres later, the Counc of Trent
fired te pret of ent gu xpi 9 eer
Se apudal here contingent on vision i alluded on an interesting
Bosra sSoil Space in the Englah Medieval Parish Church”
Troy ond Sty 18 (1989) 316.
angen, Te Mas, 1301
funganan, The Mas, 1S
‘Nuns in Space: Architecture in the Thirteenth Century / 67
host must have occurred primarily at the smaller subsidiary altars at
which the lower clergy officiated.“
Jungmann points out that by the late thirteenth century looking, at
the host during the elevation was further complicated by requirements
placed on the physical position of the body during the consecration” A
thirteenth-century Roman Ordo written under Gregory X (d. 1276)
required the clerics to stretch out face down on the floor, and the lay
public to kneel not only during the consecration, but from the Sanctus
onwards.” A position of reverence to the host, either in prostration, or
with the head bowed, took precedence over the need to see. Within the
‘community of lay men and women, however, there were further
distinctions, as women and men did not necessarily have access to the
same spaces at the same times. Although there are few surviving
examples that preserve the internal barriers of churches, occasional
historical sources give some information about some of the various
forms of divisions of church space separating men and women?
Women were generally placed on the north side. An interesting
example is the seventh-century convent and parish church in Kildare,
Ireland, described in detail in a life of St. Brigit in the following terms:
‘A new church has been erected in the place of the old one in
order to hold the increased number of the faithful. Its ground-
plan is large, and it rises to a dizay height. . . . The interior
contains three large oratories, divided from one another by
‘walls of timber, but all under one roof. One wall, covered with
linen curtains ‘and decorated with paintings, traverses the
‘eastern part of the church from one side to the other. There are
doors in it at either end. The one door gives access to the sanc-
tuary and the altar, where the bishop and his school of clerics
and those who are called to the celebration of the holy
mysteries, offers the divine sacrifice to the Lord. By the other
“Dx, 590, and Jungmana, I, 129 and 223.
Nunneries,” Archuslogic
Simeon of Durham's comments on the segregation ofthe sexes are also interesting, see
Women’s Lies, 231-3. 68 / Caroline Bruzelius
door of the dividing wall, the abbess enters with her virgins
land with pious widows in order to participate in the Supper of
Jesus Christ, which is His flesh and blood, The remainder of the
building is divided lengthwise into two equal parts by another
wall, which runs from the western side to the transverse wall
Priests and lay persons of the male sex entet by an ornamental
door on the right-hand side; matrons and virgins enter by
another door on the left-hand side. In this way the one basilica
is sufficient for a huge crowd, separated by walls according to
state, grade and sex, but united in the Spirit, to pray to the
almighty Lord.#
No doubt, as suggested by this text, different parts of the church
were signalled in various ways, either through the decorations on
doors, and perhaps also by the paintings and hangings, to reinforce the
categories of gender and status.
For nuns in the later Middle Ages, the problem of vision and
separation involved particular difficulties. These resided not only in the
common metaphor for the monastic vocation as either a death or an
imprisonment, but also, and much more importantly, in the
‘understanding of the female body. Women were seen to have special
difficulties managing the senses, and numerous authors refer to the
permeability of the female body.46 Because women were less able to
manage the wide range of stimuli to the senses, their virtue was
considered more fragile, and their souls were in need of greater
guidance and protection. As a purely passive form, then, women
presented special problems.
But women were also villified as the active source of temptation and
evil. Medieval authors revived ancient sources which stressed the
‘essential fleshliness of women, elaborating a view of the female sex as a
dangerous, aggressive, and disruptive sexual force not easily or
naturally in control of its own intemal urges. Whereas men represented
“iyawig Bieler, Ireland: Harbinger ofthe Middle Ages (Loneion 1960) 28.
Marjorie Kee and Translations ofthe Flesh Philadelp
Block, Mediceal Mizgury andthe Invostion of Western Romantic Love (Chicago, 1991,
‘Nuns in Space: Architecture in the Thirteenth Century / 69
t, women represented matter, and matter of an especially
bumptious nature that required control and supervision” As has been
pointed out by Bynum and others, by the late twelfth century women
were prohibited from contact with the altar vessels, and the practice of
frequent communion for women was opposed because it was felt that
their frequent reception of the host would trivialize it*¥
‘The relationship drawn between chastity and bodily enclosure is, of
course, a natural one. It has its sources in the earliest discussions of
female monasticism. Ailred of Rievaulx also speaks of female che
terms of bodily enclosure in his instructions for anchorites,
institutione Inclusarum.? Because women’s bodies had the particular
quality of perme: the integritas of the female body had to be
preserved by physical sealing—a sealing that concerned not only phys-
ical chastity but also the senses of sound, sight, and touch. 5°
Perhaps because of the particular material physicality of women’s
bodies, it is perhaps not surprising that some authors developed an
analogy between the female body and architecture. As noted by Bloch,
both popular and religious texts refer to the female body as a building,
either because of its beauty (the Jongleur d’Ely) or because of its
permeability.®! The relationship of the body to architectural openings
had already been explored by Jerome, who referred to the five senses
as the windows through which vice has access to the soul. These
concepts appear later in the fourteenth century with particular
pungency. For example, the biographer of Colette of Corbie stated that
she guarded her senses as though they were doors and windows?
while Bridget of Sweden in a lengthy parable speaks of the body as a
‘house whose foundations must not be undermined, nor its walls scaled
or breached, and that no enemy enter through the gates.
Loci, and Bynum, passin,
“Bynum, 58 and 123. The Clarsses were permitted communion seven times a yea,
although they may have actually received it more frequently
‘PLochrie,25 and 51, 57
chrie, 39,
‘Bloch, 32.
rey F. Hamburger, “Art, Enclosure and the Cura Monialum: Prologomena inthe
Guise ofa Posterpt,” Gest 31 (1992194 n. 184
‘Snirgita of Sweden: Life and Selected Revelations, ed. with a preface by Marguerite
‘Teer Haris, trans. Albert Ryle Kezl Paulist Press, New York/Mahwaly 1990) 164-7 70 1 Caroline Bruzelius
The issue that this view of the female body presented for women’s
monasticism, of course, was that the control and supervision of religious
women was undertaken by the clergy. Two important conditions may
have had an important impact on the shaping and character of
enclosure in relation to definitions of gender in the later Middle Ages.
‘The first, as Susan Stuard has argued, is that the concept of gender took
hold in the twelfth century and led to a new definition and separation of
the sexes, which in practical terms eventually translated into an
eventual loss of autonomy in many aspects of the daily life of medieval
women. Although some authors dispute this view, and instead situate
the origins of gender in the patristic literature of first centuries of
Christianity ‘it may be that the Renaissance of the twelfth century,
which brought about such a clear consciousness of Early Christian
sources, also revived patristic notions concerning women.
The second condition that had an impact on the shaping of
architectural enclosure was caused by the changing nature of the clergy.
wrocess of Gregorian reform, which increasingly insisted on
ibacy, culminated in the final promulgations of the 11305.”
increasingly defined (end perilous, at least to the life of the spirit)
“other,” but also an “other” of ever growing unfamiliarity to the very
population entrusted with its care, supervision, and spiritual
pethaps not surprising that a sense of
gender difference began ise medieval discussions of women.
Although some of the more conspicuous examples of the literature
concerning the dangers of women is possibly spurious, and at times
no doubt the authors exaggerated for thetorical effect, the misogyny of
Gusan Stuard, “The Dominion of Gender: Women’s Fortunos in the High Middle
Ages,” in Becoming Visible, Women in Ewopean History, 2nd ed, Boston, 1987) 165-70.
‘Bloch, 37-53,
5a, general survey ofthe phenomenon of the twelfth century revival canbe found in
Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelth Contury, ed. Robert Benson and Giles Constable, with
forbade married priests to perform thelr
iow, Marie Priests and the Reforming Pepacy
2) 7B. For some general comments on the
fee Caroline Walker Byntim, Jesus as Mother: Stutcs inthe Spirituality ofthe High
Middle Age (Berkeley, 1984) 10.
aymum (1964), 15.
‘Nuns in Space: Architecture in the Thirteenth Century / 71
twelfth- and thirteenth-century authors is nonetheless striking,
especially in relation to the writings of the previous centuries.
‘The “monasticizing” of the clergy imposed by the final impositions
of clerical celibacy in the twelfth century was certainly one of the most
important transformations of the medieval church, and had a wide
range of repercussions. It has been suggested, for example, that the
eroticized spirituality of the devotional literature that developed in this
period reflected the channels into which the human need for intimacy
found expression." But for our purposes in this essay, the separation
and alienation of women led to a series of phenomena that changed the
character of female monasticism in many ways. There was not only the
well-documented disassociation and rejection of female branches of the
Promonstratentian and Cistercian orders, but also important aspects of
the legislation on strict enclosure.
‘The final and complete set of regulations imposing universally strict
enclosure for all female communities are those of Boniface VIII in 1298.
‘The opening and concluding lines strikingly of Boniface VIN’s bull,
Periculoso exemplify the new tone of much of the literature concerning
women
Desiring to provide for the perilous and detestable state of
certain nuns, who, having slackened the reins of decency and
having shamelessly cast aside the modesty of their order and
their sex, who sometimes gad about outside their monastery...
and frequently admit suspected persons within their
monasteri decree with
healthful intent that all and sundry nuns shall henceforth
remain perpetually enclosed in their monasteries; 0 that no
Barstow, 175.
pars, 17.
‘Ry ehe end ofthe thirteenth century, clerical celibacy was extended as a model for
and found expression in a period of intense interest in conjugal celibacy asin
ied in the marrage of Saint Eloéar and Delphine de Sabran. See for example M,
‘Sainteté et mariage as cours dela seconde querelle pélagienne,” Mystique et cor
les proces de canonization tle documents hagiographigue, Bibliotheque des études francases
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