Mallory Holbrook

Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 is a landmark study of English convents from the high Middle Ages to the eve of the Dissolution. Power reconstructs endowment, governance, recruitment, discipline, education, and devotion through close readings of account rolls, episcopal visitations, charters, and royal and papal records. In lucid, restrained prose, she places Benedictine, Cistercian, and Augustinian houses within the currents of late medieval reform, local society, and debates over "decline, " grounding interpretation in exacting notes and archival appendices.
Eileen Power, a pioneering economic and social historian, taught at Girton College and later held the Chair of Economic History at the London School of Economics. Her training in institutional records and her interest in women's work and everyday life-evident also in Medieval People-guided this early monograph. Years spent in diocesan registers and monastic cartularies, alongside collaboration with M.
M. Postan, shaped the quantitative and comparative methods that animate the book. Recommended for students and scholars of medieval religion, gender, and the English Reformation, this classic offers a model of source-driven analysis. Readers interested in how female communities managed resources, authority, and piety will find Power's conclusions authoritative, nuanced, and enduring. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted.
Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.