Relief, ease, hope

Our friend is recovering from surgery and is still herself. She has chemo ahead, but for now, fears are eased and we can laugh again.

Notes for the novel I didn't write #2

Set in England, near Salisbury
Inspired by Narcissus and Goldmund but with female characters.
Time period 1245-1310

Nunneries were a means for privileged, educated women to escape the dangers of marriage and childbirth, and the life expectancy of nuns was much greater than that of lay women. Large nunneries like those at Shaftesbury were self-contained, housing as many as 350 nuns and many servants, and they followed strict routines of prayer, work, and contemplation. The day began with Matins at about 2 a.m. and continued through Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, and Vespers, ending with Compline between 7 and 8 p.m. 

Many nunneries operated schools for the daughters of the gentry and the upper bourgeoisie. They taught children to read and to recite the Credo, the Ave, and the Paternoster. Nuns also taught songs, spinning, needlework, and manners. Discipline was harsh and could include spanking, lashing, and torturous punishments. Girls of intellectual ability learned Latin and French literature in the 12th and 13th centuries, though some church patriarchs felt literature inflamed women’s carnal desires and should be discouraged; by the 15th century Latin and French were no longer offered. 

Nuns came from all social strata and had jobs in convents appropriate to their stations. Nuns from wealthy families were not expected to take vows of poverty and might wear golden hairpins, silver belts, jeweled rings, slashed tunics, long trains, and gowns of silk or velvet. Aristocratic nuns went hawking, embroidered altar cloths and ecclesiastical garments, played a few musical instruments, enjoyed reading and writing, and were tended by less-pedigreed nuns.

Commoners who became nuns did the same kind of work in the nunneries that they would have done outside them. They were butchers, bakers, chandlers, ironmongers, net-makers, shoe-makers, glovers, skinners, bookbinders, gilders, silk-weavers, goldsmiths, and brewers. There were far more occupations open to women in the 13th century than were available later on.