Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

kingdom of western Francia. The purpose of this count was to check that numbers of
dedicated religious had not declined too greatly, with a view to increasing their numbers
if necessary. 164 Clearly all members of the community of dedicated religious had a role to
play in Christian society, religious women as well as men. The capitulary has further
interest in the terms it uses for these dedicated men and women. The capitulary begins
‘Ut missi nostri per civitates et singula monasteria, tam canonicorum quam monachorum
sive sanctimonialium…’ 165 Here, still, there is no distinction between dedicated women
who follow a monastic rule and those following canonical guidelines.
Conclusion
In the reforms of Charlemagne, abbesses and nuns saw their role in Christian
society being increasingly defined as part of a wider effort to ensuring every element of
that society worked in harmony together. Consideration of the capitularies alone suggests
that this was not aimed at limiting the powers of the abbess, but that each figure of
authority – bishop, count or head of monastery – was expected to know their role and
adhere to it. The figure of Gisela, although inevitably something of a special case,
suggests also that abbesses could have considerable room to manoeuvre, and that
women’s monasteries could be centres of influence and authority beyond the enclosure.
Under Louis the Pious, the decisions of reforming councils such as those in 813
were built on to provide more detailed guidelines for dedicated women. However, these
in no sense resulted in uniformity, nor, it has been argued, were they intended to. The
Institutio sanctimonialium offered not a prescription but a set of guidelines to be selected
from: its importance as a normative document lay not in advocating a wholesale reform
of lifestyle for all dedicated women but in placing before them such a range of alternative
164 MGH Capit. II, 266-270, at 267:…ubi minor numerus fuerit, nostra auctorite addamus. See also J.
Verdon ‘Recherches sur les monastères féminins dans la France du sud aux IXe – XIe siècles’ Annales du
Midi 88 (1976) 117-138, at 133.
165 Ibid.
253