In general, the routine of the nunnery was the same as that of a monastery. There was the same rotation, hour by hour, of sacred services, with monotonous regularity and repetition; the only variety offered was that of labor of one sort or another, with brief intervals for rest and refreshment. The industry of the nuns usually took the form of working in wool, for it devolved upon them to make the clothing of the monks, who were associated with the convents to perform the outdoor labor and to serve as confessors for the female inmates. Great care was necessary to prevent too close proximity of the nunneries and monasteries and to limit the intercourse of the inmates of the respective institutions to the bare necessities of their mutual dependence.

The rules by which women were governed in the life of the convent did not differ much from those for the men. Some of these regulations were very rigorous: the inmates were to have nothing of their own, nor were they allowed to go out of the convent, and they were permitted the luxury of a bath only in time of sickness. Continual silence, frequent confessions, a spare diet, and hard labor were to be endured uncomplainingly, on penalty of excommunication.

In the fifth century, prohibitions were issued proscribing the founding of any more monasteries for monks and nuns together and ordering the partitioning of those which already existed. No man excepting the officiating clergy, the bishop, and the steward of the convent was allowed to enter within its walls; and, indeed, one of the rules enjoined that the nuns were to make confession to the bishop through the abbess. Under no pretext whatever were the nuns to lodge under the roof of a monastery, nor was any person who was not a monk or a cleric of high repute to be allowed within the precincts of the convent on temporal business; but in spite of the many rules by which they were hedged about, in the eighth century nuns are found admitted into the monasteries on the ground of the necessity for their presence in sickness and similar emergencies.

Besides the nuns, strictly so called, in the eighth and subsequent centuries there were canonesses, who differed from the nuns in retaining more of their secular character. Their vows were not perpetual, and they confined their labors chiefly to the instruction of the children of the nobles.

Having cited some of the rules for the government of those who committed themselves to the life of the nun, it now remains to perform the delicate task of showing the degree of success which attended the attempt to isolate a class of unmarried women, that, by religious offices and meditations, they might wholly dedicate their time and their faculties to the cultivation of the Christian graces, and serve as the benefactresses of the poor in giving alms at the convent gate. The century that witnessed the outbreak of the Reformation is commonly regarded as exceptional for laxity of religious principle and perversion of the institutional ideals of the Church; but, from the eighth century, the ecclesiastical morality was of such a low order as seriously to affect the moral tone of the people and to invalidate the efficacy of the Church as a teacher of religion. The celibacy which was enjoined upon the clergy was largely responsible for this state of affairs. It is unfortunately not true that the ages of faith, so called, were ages of great moral purity. In spite of the interdict of councils, priestly marriages were looked upon as common events. The marriage of priests being under the ban of the Church, concubinage was regarded as almost a legitimate relationship, and carried less of stigma than the proscribed marriages. It is not singular that such impairment of moral ideas was not confined to the priests, and that the same low moral tone invaded the convents, many of whose inmates became the partners of the priests in their derelictions.

"The known luxury and believed immoralities of the wealthy monasteries" in England, says Sharon Turner, "made a great impression on the public mind. Even some of the clergy became ashamed of it, and contributed to expose it, both in England and elsewhere." Nor was the tone of morals outside the cloister of higher grade than that of the monks. In 1212 a council commanded the clergy not to have women in their houses, nor to suffer in their cloisters assemblies for debauchery, nor to entertain women there. Nuns were ordered to lie single. In England, these and many other moral prohibitions were repeated at various intervals, showing that, in spite of the prevailing corruption, there was an appreciation of pure ideals; and in its councils the Church took cognizance of and endeavored to stem the rising tide of unchastity. Thus, inquiries were made in 1252 as to whether the clergy frequented the nunneries without reasonable cause, and a year or two afterward an inquisition was made all over England into the character and actions of the various religious personages. The conduct of the nuns is frequently alluded to in terms of the severest censure, while the ecclesiastics were enjoined not to frequent taverns or public spectacles, or to resort to the houses of loose characters, or to visit the nuns; they were not to play at dice or improper games, nor to leave their property to their children. The vices of the clergy were the unavoidable consequence of the independence of their hierarchy from civil control. The release of the clergy from secular jurisdiction was productive of much personal depravity. They had to fear their abbot only, and he was frequently a mild censor of their morals. At a time when any profligate woman of position might retire to a convent and, by elevation or appointment, become abbess, it is not strange that the moral tone of the convent was not determined by the rules of the order, but by the standards which were actually established.

Yet, in spite of many instances of reprehensible conduct, the nuns as a class did not break the vows that bound them to chastity, and within the convent walls were found many examples of women of illustrious character. In the Anglo-Saxon times, women of the most admirable traits are found in charge of convents; the names of some of the abbesses of the seventh century, and earlier, are notable as those of women of high rank as well as of high character. Saint Werburga of Ely, the daughter of Wulfere, King of Mercia, was made ruler over all the female religious houses, and became the founder of several convents of note. Her qualities and character were set forth in the following lines:

But such examples of high worth among the abbesses, while not exceptional in the early Middle Ages, are not frequently met with in the closing centuries of the period.

The position of the abbess was not one of honor only, but of privilege; the cloister rule was relaxed for her—she might go and come as she pleased, and see anyone whom she wished to see. In the early times, she is even found taking part in synods. Thus, in 649, the abbesses were summoned to the council at Becanceld, in Kent, and the names of five of them were subscribed to the constitutions which were there made, while the name of not a single abbot appears on the document. Coming down to much later times, abbesses were summoned to attend or to send proxies to the king's council which was held to grant "an aid on the knighting the Prince of Wales." Also, they were required to furnish military service by proxy. While they were more amenable to the clergy than were the monks, the abbesses were nevertheless tenacious of their privileges. They were never ordained, nor did they ever have the right to ordain others, although they claimed the latter as one of their privileges.

They were subject to deposition if they abused their office. Not infrequently the nuns would carry their complaints to the bishop, and seek from him redress for their grievances. If the circumstances warranted his so doing, the bishop would occasionally take the direction of the nunnery into his own hands instead of appointing an abbess, or else he might place it temporarily in the charge of one or more of the nuns. All the affairs of the convent were directed by the abbess—the tillage of the grounds and4the repairs to the buildings, as well as the internal ordering of the establishment and the discipline of its inmates. Also, she was directed to assist, by her own labor as far as she was able, in clothing herself. When a nun became refractory, she might be consigned to punishment outside of the convent. Thus, by the decree of a council near Paris in the eighth century, it was ordered that the bishop as well as the abbess might send a nun to a penitentiary. The same council prescribed that an abbess should not superintend more than one monastery or quit its precincts more than once a year. One of the rules which was at one time in force prohibited abbesses from walking alone, thus placing them under the surveillance of the sisterhood. But their powers varied according to the period and the order with which they were connected.

Through the necessities of their office, the abbesses were brought into closer relationship with the outside world than were the other nuns. Sometimes they were made respondents in a suit at law with regard to the estates of the convent, or to retain the property brought to them by some one of the sisters, who, renouncing her vows, sought to recover her possessions. In 1292 the prioress of an abbey in Somersetshire had to answer in a suit brought against her by a widow and two men in regard to the right of common pasturage upon lands held by the convent, and the case was decided against the religious house; but both the prioress and the widow escaped paying their respective costs in the case, on the plea of poverty.

Not only were the abbesses sued, but they themselves did not hesitate to institute legal proceedings in defence of what they believed were their rights. In the reign of Edward III., a prioress sued a sheriff for the recovery of a pension granted during the reign of Henry III., which had been allowed to lapse. The case was carried to the king's court and won for the convent. Legal difficulties frequently occurred over grants made to convents without the observance of the set formalities. An abbess had a great many secular duties, for all the money that came into the establishment, or was paid out, had to be accounted for by her. The entertainment which the convent dispensed to those who, on one pretext or another, claimed it, furnished another occasion for the intercourse of the abbess with the outer world. Sometimes ladies who were temporarily in want of a home repaired to a convent and were there received. The bishops frequently sent friends to the priory for entertainment; though such persons were charges upon the hospitality of the institution, they, as a rule, either paid for their entertainment themselves or were provided for by their friends. It was not unusual for visitors who came under the authority of the bishop's order to bring with them a retinue of servants and to remain a considerable time.

During the time of Henry VIII., rigid inquiries were made with regard to the regulations and the character of the inmates of the monasteries, especially the abbots and abbesses. The investigations with regard to the character of the abbots and abbesses need not concern us, as we have sufficiently noticed the looseness of conduct which prevailed in many of the religious houses. Among the questions asked were inquiries as to whether hospitality was maintained, and especially toward the poor, whether Church anniversaries were observed, whether proper records were kept, whether any of the conventual property had been alienated, whether the head of the house was given to sober and modest conversation both toward the inmates and lay persons, whether any of the inmates had been punished, whether there had been any overlooking of the faults of a brother or sister through favoritism, whether any novices were received before reaching sufficient age because of friendship and affection or the inducement of money or any other ulterior reason. Besides these inquiries, which were common to the abbots and abbesses, particular questions were asked the latter, looking to the abandonment of all ornaments and superfluities of dress and the keeping in good repair of all the accessories of divine service. They were asked whether the sisters attended divine worship at the proper seasons, whether they taught the novices the rule, whether they maintained proper oversight of them, and whether they saw that they were engaged at proper work. Also, the abbess was to report on the character of the nuns as to whether she suspected any of incontinence, whether any of them slept without the convent walls or walked abroad, and, if so, in whose company. She was asked whether the confessor or chaplain did his duty, and whether she had found any "ancient, sad, and virtuous" woman as mistress of the novices.

Among the Gilbertine nuns, whom we may mention as a typical order, there were three prioresses, one of whom presided, the other two acting as coadjutors. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to enjoin penance, grant all the licenses or allowances, visit the sick, or see that they were visited by one of her companions. The prioresses cut, fitted, and superintended the manufacture of the vestments of the sisters. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to visit the sisters in the infirmary whenever they asked for her presence, unless she were detained by urgent duties. Other rules regulated her conduct on festival days, when she was especially to use diligence in inquiring after the order and religion of the house.

The sub-prioress was under more rigid rules than those which governed her superior; if, in the absence of the prioress, she spoke of anything excepting labor, she confessed having done so, in the chapter. If, in the absence of the prioress, some other of the sisters failed to observe silence, it was not she but the sub-prioress who was held responsible and took the blame. She could not go to the window of the gate without a "sage companion."

When the cellaress assumed office, her duties were to see what was owing to the different farmers and tax gatherers, to receive the sums due from the collectors on the nunnery estates, and to take account of all the sales of the products of the lands of the convent. Also, she was to see to the provisioning of the house, to pay the wages, and to attend to the mowing of the hay and to the repairs to the buildings. She might have associated with her a lay sister, with whom she was at liberty to talk concerning the business affairs of their office.

Of the other convent officials, the precentrix had charge of the library; the sacrist rose at night to ring the bell, attended to the adornment of the church in the vigil of Easter, lighted the lamp in the interval at lessons, had the preparation of the coals for the censer, and performed other duties of a like nature; and the duty of the mistress of the novices was to see that those in her charge behaved in an orderly manner. She was the disciplinarian of those who had not taken the full vows of the order. If the infirmaress desired anything, she had to indicate it by a sign; when the want was of such a nature that it could not be so indicated, the cellaress was summoned, for this was the only official in whose presence the infirmaress could speak. She never served in the kitchen when there were any serious cases of sickness to need her attention. There were other officials who performed special or occasional duties, who need not be mentioned. All the servants in a convent took an oath of fidelity not to reveal the secrets of the house. They were brewers, bakers, kitcheners, gardeners, shoemakers, and the like.

The confessor made periodical visits to the convent; and if the prioress found it necessary that anyone should confess, the latter was told to go to the place appointed, and two "discreet sisters" sat apart from the window of the confessional, where they could hold the nun under observation and see how she behaved. The confessor also was under supervision as to his conduct, for he was to "shun talking vain and unnecessary things; nor ask who she was, whence she came, and such things."

The ceremony with regard to the taking of vows by the nuns was threefold. The first was called the consecration of the nun, and was made on solemn days, preferably Epiphany or on the festivals of the Virgin. After the Epistle was read, the virgin who was to be consecrated came before the altar, dressed in white, carrying in her right hand the religious habit and in her left an extinguished taper. After the bishop had consecrated the habit, he gave it to her, saying: "Take, girl, the robe which you shall wear in innocence." After assuming this, the taper in her hand was lighted, and she intoned the words: "I love Christ, into whose bed I have entered." Then, after the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed, the bishop said: "Come, come, come, daughter, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The nun then prostrated herself before the altar, and after the Veni Creator began, she arose. The bishop then invested her with the veil and pronounced a curse against all those who would disturb her holy purpose. The second ceremony related to a nun who was to make profession, but who had before been blessed, and the third ceremony related to the consecration of a nun who was not a virgin. Such, in brief, is a sketch of the convent routine and exercises. It will now be in place to take a more general view of the nun's environment.

As the hospitality of the convent was often extended to strangers, it will not be without interest to give a list of the contents of a chamber which was allotted to a "Dame Agnes Browne" in the Priory of Minster, in Sheppey: "Stuff given her by her friends:—A fetherbed, a bolster, 2 pyllows, a payre of blankatts, 2 corse coverleds, 4 pare of shets good and badde, an olde tester and selar of paynted clothes and 2 peces of hangyng to the same; a square cofer carvyd, with 2 bed clothes upon the cofer, and in the wyndow a lytill cobard of waynscott carvyd and 2 lytill chestes; a small goblet with a cover of sylver parcell gylt, a lytill maser with a brynne of sylver and gylt, a lytill pese of sylver and a spore of sylver, 2 lytyll latyn candellstyks, a fire panne and a pare of tonges, 2 small aundyrons, 4 pewter dysshes, a porrenger, a pewter bason, 2 skyllotts (a small pot with a long handle), a lytill brasse pot, a cawdyron and a drynkyng pot of pewter."

That, in the mind of the religious recluse, cleanliness was not associated with godliness was due to the idea of penance. Washing was regarded as a luxury not to be indulged in excepting at infrequent intervals or by special permission. This idea of ablutions was probably derived at first in reaction from the public baths which were so much in vogue among the Romans, and which were associated in the public mind with luxury, and were often the scenes of conduct quite at variance with the principles for which the nuns stood. The licentiousness which centred around these places brought them into such ill repute that to the ascetic mind washing did not so much signify cleanliness as sin. The virtue of dirt did not extend to the abbesses, who were allowed to wash whenever it was necessary and as frequently as they pleased. By a similar process of deduction, the nuns remained untonsured. In the early times, a woman whose hair was cut short was looked upon as a disreputable character, so that it was repellent to conventional ideas of propriety to conform to the practice of the monks in having the head shaved.

The nuns were not always of the most serious disposition and deportment, as is shown by the peculiar enjoinment that they were not to look fixedly on any man, or to romp or frolic with him; neither were they to allow any man to see them unveiled, nor to embrace any man, either an acquaintance or a stranger. The convivial nature of some of the nuns is revealed by an order commanding them not to "use the alehouse or the watercourses where strangers daily resort, or bring in, receive, or take any layman, religious or secular, into the chamber, or any secret place, day or night, or with them in such private places to commune, eat, or drink, without license of your prioress." The monastery which is described by Wriothesley as the most virtuous religious house in England, Sion Monastery, was under an even stricter rule. Conversation with secular persons was permitted only by the license of the abbess from noon to vespers, and only then on Sundays and the great feast days of the saints. Sion Monastery was subjected to the further restriction that the nuns might not receive their friends, but could converse with them by sitting at appointed windows, in the presence of the abbess. If any sister desired to be seen by "her parents or honest friends," she might, by the special permission of the abbess, open the window occasionally during the year; but if she had the self-denial to forego this privilege, a greater reward was assured her in the hereafter.

Despite the criticism to which the monastic system of the Middle Ages may justly be subjected, it would be great remissness to fail in appreciation of the tremendous work of civilization which was performed by its expositors. They were the centres of culture, as well as of benevolence; in the convents, and also in the monasteries, there could always be found a select library, which included works of the classic authors, as well as books of religion. The nuns, as a class, were well educated for their time. They could read Latin, and were qualified to direct the education of the novices who came under their training. Even in the ninth century, some of the continental convents had such high repute as educational centres that children were sent long distances to get the benefit of the opportunities they offered; and in this respect England was no whit behind, for children were sent from the continent to be educated in the schools established by Theodorus and Hadrian. This fact is the more to the credit of the English schools, as the tide had been setting strongly in the other direction.

The addition of literary and pedagogic duties to the religious routine and manual labor of the convents made the lives of the nuns extremely busy, for, in addition to their reading theological and classical literature, they had the duty of copying and embellishing manuscripts. It was not unusual for a nun to become proficient in Latin versification and to correspond in that language with others of a similar literary taste and training. These women were thus often highly qualified to teach the subjects which were then included in polite education. For many centuries theirs were the only schools for girls. The suppression of the convents was, educationally, a disaster to England. They were not merely schools for book learning, but such little knowledge as was current in regard to the treatment of various disorders and the care of the sick was obtained in the convent schools. The general custom of bleeding people for every form of illness, as well as to prevent possible sickness, made necessary some kind of bandage ready prepared to apply to the wound, and it was a common practice for nuns to make such bandages and to present them as gifts to friends. The convent pupils were also taught the finer sorts of cooking, such as the preparation of special dishes and the making of sweetmeats and pastry. Needlework, as the most characteristic employment of women of refinement, music, both vocal and instrumental, and writing and drawing, entered into the curricula of the convents.

The educational record of the various convents at the time of their suppression shows that this act of Henry VIII., whatever other justification it may have had, cannot be supported on the ground that the convents were not performing a useful service to society in the education of the youth of the country. Gasquet, in his Suppression of the Monasteries, says: "In the convents, the female portion of the population found their only teachers, the rich as well as the poor, and the destruction of the religious houses by Henry was the absolute extinction of any systematic education for women during a long period." Thus, at Winchester Convent the list of ladies being educated within the walls at the time of the suppression shows that these Benedictine nuns were training the children of the first families in the country. Carrow, in Norfolk, for centuries gave instruction to the daughters of the neighboring gentry; and as early as A.D. 1273 a papal prohibition was obtained from Pope Gregory X., restraining the nobility from crowding this monastery with more sisters than its income would support. Again, we read of Mynchin Buckland that it was a noted seminary for the daughters of the families in its vicinity. Many families whose names were the highest in the list of the English gentry of the day owed to the convent systems all the accomplishments which enabled them to shine brilliantly in their after life.

"Reading, writing, some knowledge of arithmetic, the art of embroidery, music and French, 'after the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,' were the recognized course of study, while the preparation of perfumes, balsams, simples, and confectionery was among the more ordinary departments of the education afforded." There was as great protest aroused among the laity against the suppression of the convents as has been latterly witnessed in France against the rigid enforcement of the law as to unregistered schools, resulting in the closing of many schools which were established on a religious foundation and taught by the nuns.

Many pathetic pleas were addressed to Thomas Cromwell in behalf of the convents at the time of the Reformation. The abbess of the famous convent of Godstow, in Oxfordshire, wrote to Cromwell as follows: "Pleaseth hit your Honour with my moste humble dowyte, to be advertised, that where it hath pleasyd your Lordship to be the verie meanes to the King's Majestie for my preferment, most unworthie to be Abbes of this the King's Monasterie of Godstowe.... I trust to God that I have never offendyd God's laws, neither the King's, wherebie this poore monasterie ought to be suppressed." She then continues in an earnest strain to set forth that the recommendation for the suppression of her convent arose from private malice on the part of her enemies, and closes with a denial of the charges preferred, as follows: "And notwithstanding that Dr. London, like an untrew man, hath informed your Lordship that I am a spoiler and a waster, your good Lordship shall know that the contrary is trew; for I have 'not alienated one halporthe' of goods of this monastery, movable or unmovable, but have rather incres'd the same, nor never made lease of any farme or peece of grounde belonging to this House, or thet hath been in times paste, alwaies set under Convent Seal for the wealthe of the House."

The convents were charitable as well as educational centres, although their benevolent methods would not meet the approval of modern ideas as to wise almsgiving. At the set time for the disbursement of alms, the mendicants thronged the institution, and, by the liberality of the donors, were encouraged to continue in a life of shiftlessness and beggary. The disbursement of alms was really regarded by the recipients not so much as an act of charity as something which they had a right to expect.

One of the best phases of conventual charity was its influence in developing the benevolent tendencies of women of position and means. The feudal system, as we have seen, was largely a system of dependent relations, so that those who were in the lowest social scale felt that they had a right to the gifts of those who were above them. By the inevitable working of the system, the lives of the poor were interwoven into the lives of their betters. It was a gracious work of the Church to teach those who were in the fortunate places of life their responsibility toward their less happily situated fellow creatures, and the monastic almsgiving was a practical exemplification of the spirit of the Gospel in so far as the customs and practices of the times made possible a clear interpretation of its benevolent teachings. Although charity was not organized, and was dealt directly to the needy without investigation of their claims on any other ground than actual and manifest want, and thus was in violation of modern social tenets and methods, it yet furnishes one of the most engaging chapters of mediÃval life. Modern benevolences, however different from those of earlier times, nevertheless derive their spirit and inspiration from the gracious charities of the mediÃval nuns.

Under the incentive of the example of the monasteries, the great ladies recognized and frequently performed their full duty toward their dependants. The Countess of Richmond maintained a number of poor people within her own walls. In the sixteenth century, Lady Gresham left, by her will, tenements in the city, the rents of which were to be used for the poor. The Countess of Pembroke built an almshouse and procured for it a patent of corporation. These are but a few of many illustrious examples of large charities which serve to brighten the pages of mediÃval history.

In the Middle Ages, charity was a personal obligation. With the elimination of personal service, charity came increasingly to be dispensed by voluntary associations. Of such organizations may be instanced the Sisters of Charity and, in recent years, the various orders of deaconesses. For although charity has gone outside the bounds of the Church, its ministrations are directly traceable to the convents, and it yet finds its most appropriate relations and allies to be religion and the Church.