Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

to ‘nonnae velatae’, who in addition to the same penance would have their hair cut off. 12
Were the nonnae and ancillae intended to describe two different statuses of dedicated
women? It seems probable that they were, and, further, that the description of the latter
group as ‘veiled’ may be a way of differentiating women who were only veiled (that is,
dedicated but living in the community) from those who were fully-fledged members of
communities. 13 The fact that the punishment for such women was having their hair cut
off may also indicate that such women were expected to be visible to outsiders in their
localities, as it was a means of shaming them. This assertion is reinforced by the next
canon, which decrees that monachi and ancillae Dei in monasteries must follow the
Benedictine rule. 14
Such different types of religious women continued to exist into the reign of
Pippin. In 755, a capitulary issued at Verneuil ruled that ancillis Dei velatis (here again,
the veil seemed to be the sign that a woman lived outside a monastery) were to enter
either a monastery or a house of canonesses, or face excommunication. 15 Unusually, the
main concern of the canon is with men who lived outside monasteries; their existence is
even harder to detect than that of comparable women. But this serves even more to
demonstrate the flexibility of dedicated life; both men and women had a choice of how
they wanted to live. This is particularly underlined by the capitulary of Compiègne, of
757. Here, a woman who left her husband ‘to place a veil upon her head’ was permitted
to return to the marriage, if her husband would take her. 16 Yet again, and in contradiction
12 Conc. Germ. (742), MGH Conc. II:I, 4, can. VI: Statuimus…ut, quisquis servorum Dei vel ancillarum
Christi in crimen fornicationis lapsus fuerit, quod in carcere poenitentiam faciat in pane et aqua…
Similiter et nonnae velatae eadem penitentia conteneantur, et radantur omnes capilli capitis eius.
13 There is a sizeable literature on the different forms of consecration for dedicated women: see in particular
the work of Réné Metz La Consécration des Vierges dans l’Église Romaine: Étude d’histoire de la liturgie
(Paris, 1954); idem, ‘Benedictio sive Consecratio Virginum’ Ephemerides Liturgicae 80 (1966) 296-293;
idem, ‘La Consécration des Vierges dans l’Église Franque du VIIe au IXe siècle’ Revue des Sciences
Réligieuses 31 (1957) 105-121; idem, ‘La consécration des vierges en Gaule, des origines à l’apparition des
livres liturgiques’ Revue de droit canonique 6 (1956) 321-339.
14 Conc. Germ., can. VII.
15 Capit. Vern., MGH Conc. II:I can. XI: De illis hominibus qui se dicunt propter Deum quod se
tunsorassint, et modo res eorum vel pecunia habent, et nec sub manu episcope sunt, nec in monasterium
regulare vivunt, placuit ut in monasterio sint sub ordine regulari, aut sub manu episcopi sub ordine
canonica. Et si aliter fecerint, et correcti ab episcopi suo se emendare noluerint, excommunicentur. Et de
ancillis Dei velatis eadem forma servetur.
16 Capit. Compend., MGH Conc. II:I can. V: Mulier si sine commeatu viri sui velum in caput miserit, si viro
placuerit, recipiat eam iterum ad coniugium.
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