In late medieval England, cloistered nuns, like all substantial property owners, engaged in nearly constant litigation to defend their holdings. They did so using attorneys (proctors), advocates and o
WINNER OF THE 2007 HISTORY OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARDWhether they were secular canonesses or beguines, tertiaries or Sisters of the Common Life, quasi-religious women in the later Mid
Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) published a decree in 1298 that transformed long-standing attitudes toward nuns into universal Church law. Referred to as Periculoso, the first word of the Latin text, t
