Literary and Visual Cultures in the shaping of female monastic life (Iberian Peninsula, c. 1350-1550)

Project Information

LITVIS

Grant agreement ID: 101030153

DOI

10.3030/101030153

Project closed

EC signature date 18 March 2021

Start date 1 July 2021

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 172 932,48

EU contribution

€ 172 932,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LITVIS (Literary and Visual Cultures in the shaping of female monastic life (Iberian Peninsula, c. 1350-1550))

Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Focusing on a specific period and context that is still understudied, the action entitled “Literary and Visual Cultures in the shaping of female monastic life (Iberian Peninsula, c. 1350-1550)”, aimed to assess the role of nuns’ literary and visual cultures in the lives and religious praxis of late medieval and renaissance Iberian nuns. Rising suggestions on the mutual influences between the use and development of texts and artworks in conventual context demanded that these phenomena be analysed as part of the same equation in order to be fully understood. This entailed a change of focus from the isolated object and its formal characteristics, to its functionality and reception, acknowledging it as part of the religious praxis to which it bears witness. Such a task demanded an interdisciplinary study that brought together the fields of Art History, Philology, Religious History and Cultural Studies. In order to reach the project’s main goal, three specific objectives were defined: 1) assess the Iberian nuns’ literary culture; 2) assess the Iberian nuns’ visual culture; 3) assess the existence of interrelations between texts and artworks and the nuns’ religious praxis. By addressing these communities' visual and literary cultures and their religious praxis from a joined perspective, LITVIS contributed to the further comprehension of artworks, texts and rituals that shaped monastic life, unveiling information about their development, functionality and reception that could not be obtain when inquiring those phenomena individually as has happened traditionally.
Through activities centred on the translation of scientific research to the general public, LITVIS will promote lifelong learning and the democratization of culture, offering the citizens a new perspective on an important part of European heritage and identity that is underrepresented in schools, museums and fictional recreations of the period.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Three specific objectives have been defined in order to reach the general goal of this project, which was to analyse what informed the nuns’ choice and use of artworks and texts and if and how both media were interconnected in female monastic life. Thus, the work plan was divided in three main phases designed to reach each of the objectives.
The project started with a fieldwork (fieldwork 1) which main objective was to form a corpus of study based on the artworks and texts that had survived in Iberian convents in this period (c. 1350-1550). The analysis of the possible convents to include in the study was based on the adequacy and availability of surviving sources. After the consultation of inventories and databases that could contain information on the possession and location of texts and artworks produced or acquired in Iberian nunneries during the period of study, a corpus of study was defined. This was followed by the consultation of the selected texts and artworks in several archives and libraries. This, along with the objects’ contextualization in the period and the history of the convents in which they were used/ produced revealed important information about the nuns’ literary and visual cultures, enabling the researcher to reach objectives 1 and 2. These results were used in conjunction in order to analyse the interrelation between the literary and visual cultures in female convents. A second period of fieldwork in which the researcher analysed the role of artworks and texts in the nuns’ religious praxis, enabled her to reach objective 3, and thus, the main goal of the project. The joint and interdisciplinary analysis of elements of material culture that survived from the Iberian convents - such as convent inventories, chronicles, liturgical books and artworks -, enabled the researcher to (1) characterize what informed the nuns’ choice and use of artworks and texts, (2) contribute to the understanding of how both media were interconnected in the nuns’ religious praxis and monastic life in general and (3) reveal the role of both media in shaping these communities’ religious identity.
These conclusions of the project were disseminated in seven scientific meetings, will be available in open-access and will be reported in: three peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals; one peer-reviewed book chapter. They were also communicated to university students through seminars and made available to the general audience through an online course (MOOC), public talks for the general public and a contribution to an exhibition catalogue.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

LITVIS results enabled the researcher to further characterize what informed the nuns’ choice and use of artworks and texts in Iberian nunneries, in this specific period and in a context marked by monastic reform. This represents an important addition to the characterization of Iberian convent culture and in particular to the study of the cultural implications of monastic reforms in this region, from which little was known. Regarding the nuns’ religious praxis LITVIS results are of particular importance as the lack of surviving liturgical sources containing the instructions for the celebration of ceremonies in female religious houses hampers the study of their performance in these communities. Through the joint and interdisciplinary study of liturgical sources and other surviving elements of material culture, it was possible to learn that, despite rooted on the rituals developed to be used in the context of male monasticism, in female religious communities the performed ceremonies were adapted to accommodate the reality of these women (deeply marked by enclosure), and the convents’ particular contexts. Finally, LITVIS results brought to light new information on the use of art, imagery and shared liturgies by enclosed nuns as a way to overcome the limitations of enclosure and legitimize their adherence to radical reformist movements attracting the laity’s support.
Thus, the results of this project contributed to the knowledge of late-medieval and renaissance convent culture through the specific case of Iberian nunneries, providing new information for researchers, students, the general audience and also cultural heritage institutions connected to the history of monasticism. Moreover, LITIVS helped establishing an interdisciplinary methodology that can be used for a holistic comprehension of monastic culture in future studies. The project included activities centred on the translation of scientific research to the general public, promoting lifelong learning and the democratization of culture, offering the citizens a new perspective on an important part of European heritage and identity. These activities were also designed to raise awareness to the lack of gender issues in the writing of History (which is still reflected on History books, museums’ exhibitions and historical recreations in general), and to the importance of funding its rewriting.

Cover of the MOOC "Inside the Convent"