Fiona J. Griffiths. Nuns’ Priests’ Tales

Historians have long ascribed to a view of medieval monasticism that posited an underlying tension, if not outright hostility, between men and women, stemming largely from the preoccupation of twelfth-century reformers with the ideal of clerical celibacy. Women, including nuns, were identified as the source of sexual pollution, positioned by ecclesiastical leaders as adversaries in the battle for spiritual perfection. The path to victory lay in a rigid separation of the sexes, protecting monks from the spiritual pitfalls that awaited. Studies informed by such views often resulted in the erasure of a key figure in medieval monastic life—the nuns’ priests. Fiona J. Griffiths remedies this oversight. In Nuns’ Priests’ Tales: Men and Salvation in Medieval Women’s Monastic Life, Griffiths argues that the tendency among modern scholars to privilege clerical celibacy over the many concerns animating reform during the twelfth century converged with the opacity of the written sources to obscure the importance of priests residing in nunneries. When they do appear in scholarship, nuns’ priests are often characterized as reluctant spiritual servants, assuming pastoral responsibility for nuns with fear and trepidation. Drawing on a compelling trove of evidence, Griffiths argues for a more nuanced view of the relationship between the sexes. Certain members of the medieval church undoubtedly harbored misogynistic views of women, advocating complete separation of the sexes. However, as Griffiths demonstrates, competing views that integrated pastoral care of women into the monastic, masculine ideal also existed, prompting some monks to actively pursue the cura mulierum (care of women).

Ancient history · Battle · Celibacy · Ideal (ethics) · Monasticism · Pastoral care · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing) · Scholarship · Sociology · Victory · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies