Religious Women of Medieval Westphalia: From Manuscript to Microscope- ONL

This lecture will open with an overview of the diverse forms of religious life for women in Westphalia from the early Middle Ages to the thirteenth century before turning to an in-depth discussion of three diverse religious communities: Meschede (a community of secular canonesses), Dalheim (a house of Augustinian canonesses), and Gehrden (a women’s monastery following the Rule of St Benedict). The lecture will highlight the limitations of reading the history of medieval women through surviving texts alone, and the value of research at the intersection of history, archaeology, and archaeological science.

Alison Beach is Professor of Medieval History and Director of the Centre for Archaeology, Technology, and History at the University of St Andrews. Her interdisciplinary research integrates history, archaeology, and archaeological science to explore the lives of religious women in the early and high Middle Ages. She is currently Principal Investigator of ‘Word of Mouth: Embodied Stories of Premodern Women at Work’ (TeamNun), a multidisciplinary research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.