Apostate Nuns in the Later Middle Ages

by Elizabeth Makowski and Elizabeth M. Makowski

A study of women who left their nunneries: their motives and actions, and the consequences for them.

To make a vow is a matter of the will, to fulfill one is a matter of necessity, declared late medieval canon law, and religious profession involved the most solemn of those vows. Professed nuns could never renege on their vows and if they did attempt to re-enter secular society, they became apostates. Automatically excommunicated, they could...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1783274263
• ISBN13: 9781783274260
• Release Date: August 2019
• Publisher: Boydell Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"