Thursday, November 13, 2008

Bits and pieces

So. Incremental progress today. The job applications are done, so I hope I can get back into a groove of writing / researching more regularly. Today I read a few articles and made notes toward some pending revisions. I am returning now to some of the issues I raised in this post. Specifically, I'm reading up on various debates about the early existence of Cistercian nuns. I have to say that the need to address all of the major arguments on this subject seems a little tiresome. Newer arguments that favor the existence of women's communities that believed themselves to be Cistercian seem much more compelling than older pieces' simple assertion that there were no early Cistercian nuns. I am much in favor of observing realities on the ground: if people act like Cistercians, look like Cistercians, and talk like Cistercians, I tend to think they're Cistercians.

I am paying particular attention to references to Spain, of course. There's a Navarrese community of Cistercian nuns called Tulebras which appears to have had some influence both into Aragon and into Castile, but it's difficult to find out much about it. My initial searches haven't turned up much, and the community is not usually mentioned among the standard lists of early Cistercian nunnieres (Jully, Tart, etc.). I seem to have identified yet another topic that could use more research...

2 comments:

heu mihi said...

Hey, what do you think of the Helfta community's status--Benedictine or Cistercian? Without having really given it a lot of thought, I inserted a footnote into the Gertrude of Helfta chapter of my dissertation saying that, yeah, some people have argued that they're Cistercian, but acc. to whomever they have to be Benedictine, so. Your post has made me reflect upon the obvious intellectual laziness of such footnoting (not that I'm beating myself up over it--can't do everything in a diss!). But anyway, have you looked into them? I'd be interested in your take on the community.

clio's disciple said...

I hadn't thought much about their affiliation until I read your comment, so I did a little poking around...actually, I think this could be its own post...