"J. PELHAM.
"To my trew Lorde."
While her position gave her equal rank with her husband, it also laid upon the lady of the manor the cares natural to her station. A great lady had always her bodyguard of maidens, and the lord his following of pages, these young people being thus provided for that they might receive the training of gentility and courtesy which were the essentials in the character of the n.o.ble persons of the times. These maidens, who were intrusted to the care of the lady of the manor, had to be trained in all domestic accomplishments as well as in polite attainments. It is singular that this custom of sending children from home was often interpreted by foreigners as an evidence of a lack of parental affection; and, indeed, it did at times furnish a means of easy riddance of daughters whose tempers were incompatible with those of their parents, or whose self-will--or the selfish policy of the household--made it desirable for the parents to sever the tie which lacked the strength of affection. Thus, in 1469, Dame Margaret Paston writes to her son, Sir John Paston, regarding his sister Margery: "I wuld ye shuld purvey for yur suster to be with my Lady of Oxford, or with my Lady of Bedford, or in sume other wurshepfull place, wher as ye thynk best, and I wull help to her fyndyng, for we be eyther of us werye of other."
It will be seen from this fashion of the times--more particularly of the latter part of the Middle Ages--that a knight"s lady performed many of the functions of a mistress of a boarding school. Those intrusted to her care, regardless of their rank or station, were subjected to rigid discipline and were required to perform the arduous duties of the household. These tasks embraced the varied forms of plain and fancy needlework, for every lady was expected to be proficient in such matters; all wearing apparel and fabrics of all sorts required for household use, and the banners and altar cloths of the churches as well, were made in the household. When the household was a large one, the lady and her maidens were kept busily employed in attending to its needs. It is, however, entirely probable that the manufacture of the coa.r.s.er materials and their making into clothing were delegated to the servants, of whom every manor had a large retinue. The designing and making of the costumes of the wealthy--especially those that were to be worn on court and other high occasions--were given over to professional tailors, who were called "scissors."
The round of domestic duty made daily drafts upon the time of the wives. In every family of the higher cla.s.s, the lady of the household had to see to the provisioning as well as to the clothing of its members and servitors. This was not a simple matter, as the provisions had to be supplied at the cost of great inconvenience, excepting in the case of the products of the manor farms belonging to the estate.
The stewards" accounts are often a valuable source of information as to the grade of living of the times.
In view of the industry of the women in the manufacture of textile fabrics, the poet"s eulogy is deserved:
"Of gold tissues, and cloth of silk; Therefore say I, whate"er their ilk, To all who shall this story find They owe them all to womankind."
The limits of the manor formed the horizon of its women; the men frequently had to make long journeys in the pursuit of their larger concerns, and were often in foreign lands serving as soldiers or crusaders. But the lack of variety in the lives of the women was more than compensated for by the opportunities which were furnished them by quiet and seclusion for the improvement of their minds and the cultivation of those finer qualities of character which are the basis of the refinement and good manners of the cultivated English women of the present day. It is not too much to say of the Middle Ages that without the peculiar circ.u.mstances of manorial living, the culture, confidence, self-containment, and initiative of the English woman would not have become as they are--her predominant characteristics.
So effectual, indeed, were the conditions of the times for seclusion, and so greatly were its privileges appreciated, that it could be said of many a fine lady, as was a.s.serted of Lady Joan Berkeley, that she never "humored herselfe with the vaine delightes of London and other cities," and never travelled ten miles from her husband"s houses in Somerset and Gloucester.
The life of the manors was not, however, a round of tireless industry.
The ruddy-cheeked, simple-minded English women of the better cla.s.s were possessed of a redundant vitality and a fund of joyousness and humor which sought and found expression in a variety of healthful outdoor recreations, as well as indoor amus.e.m.e.nts. The pleasing art of letter writing had come to hold a position of interest in polite circles; for although the women may not have been skilled with the quill, their letters were nevertheless natural, simple, and sincere, and they were fairly proficient in the art of reading. Their religious duties occupied a part of each day, as did their visitation of the homes of the dependants on the estate; for it was the lady of the manor who was looked to by the poor for herbal medicines and such delicacies as were supplied to the sick. Great ladies sometimes recognized their duties to the poor not only by giving individual doles, but by founding almshouses. Nearly every lady of distinction felt it inc.u.mbent upon her to do something for the relief of suffering and distress. It is especially pleasing to know that it was the women whose sensibilities were thus touched, and who were first influenced by the idea of social responsibility for the less fortunate cla.s.ses of society. The records of the times abound with instances of benevolence in inst.i.tutional forms. When it was impracticable for her to be her own almoner, the lady employed for the office a monk or a priest, and so a.s.sociated her charities with the Church, by the teachings of which her impulses were trained. The saints" days were customarily observed by especial and important contributions for the poor.
Were it not for the manors, the Middle Ages would lack almost altogether poetry and literature other than that of the monkish chroniclers. Literature and poetry in this period were chiefly centred around the women of the n.o.bility. It was probably due to the fondness of Henry I. for letters that a literary taste was excited among his queens. The earliest specimens existing of vernacular poetry are some verses addressed to Henry"s second spouse, Adeliza. Feminine taste and royal patronage combined to free poetry from the pollution of the minstrel and his circle of vulgar auditors, to cause it to be cultivated by studious men and women, whose tastes had become refined by the study of the Latin cla.s.sics, and who were themselves emulous of gaining a literary reputation by the cultivation of the art of serious composition.
Vernacular poetry, having the sanction and esteem of the higher circles of life, came to be generally appreciated; and the mind, which is naturally responsive to matters of good taste, was willing to throw aside the incubus of low stories, dependent for their interest upon prurient situations, and to rise to the acceptance of literature whose interest centred around persons and situations that made their appeal by reason of worthiness or dignity. The patronage of letters by the n.o.bility led many, especially ecclesiastics, to develop their talents in that direction. Wace, a canon of Bayeux and a prolific rhymester, expressly states that his works were composed for the "rich gentry who had rents and money." Even the stormy reign of Stephen seems to have been no impediment to the cultivation of the literary taste which had its beginning in the court of Henry I. and in the patronage of his queens. The vernacular histories were either written or rendered into the popular tongue, and in this way became the intellectual property of the female world; they were not infrequently inspired by the wish of some lady--a wish which became the law of the lay or clerical writer.
The story of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the unhappy queen of Henry II., who in her later life frequently signed herself "queen by the wrath of G.o.d," ill.u.s.trates a phase of domestic infelicity which was not without many parallels. It also serves to show that, with the perfervid sentiment of chivalrous devotion to women, it was easy enough to forget the higher demands of faithfulness in the real relations of life. This queen herself was not blameless, and to an extent must be regarded as suffering the penalties of her own indiscretions. The story is almost too familiar to need reciting. She discovered that, although ostensibly Henry"s wife, the position was really filled by one with whom the king had previously contracted marriage. The family of Rosamond Clifford was as respectable as and scarcely less ill.u.s.trious than her own. During a sojourn at Woodstock, the jealous eye of the queen had observed the king following a silk thread through the labyrinth of trees, by which means she came to knew of her rival.
The meeting of the two women can better be imagined than described: the queen poured out a torrent of reproaches and invectives, ending by offering to Rosamond the cup of poison or a dagger, and did not leave the place until the victim of her jealousy was no more.
But the tragic death of Rosamond did not serve to enlist for the queen the affections of her consort, nor did it tend to promote her domestic peace. Never was a family so torn by dissension and sin; her children were arrayed against their father and one another, and all were opposed to herself. Her husband added to her many troubles the further shame of installing in her place the wife of his son. Seeking release from a situation past all endurance, she eloped from a castle in Aquitaine, intending to find an asylum in the dominions of King Louis of France, her former husband. She was captured by Henry"s myrmidons and thrown into prison, there to remain sixteen years until liberated by her renowned son, Richard Coeur de Lion. The sufferings of her life tempered her spirit and brought her into reliance upon religion for her comfort and strength.
Another example of the high courage and decision of purpose which the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine furnished in its later history is found at a subsequent period in another Eleanor, the daughter of Edward II. This patient, suffering wife, roused to indignant resistance of an unpardonable indignity, exhibited the spirit of an undaunted character. She had been married, at the tender age of fifteen, to the stern Reynald II., Earl of Gueldres and Zutphen. When the large dower she brought her husband had been spent by him, he sought pretext for a divorce from one with whom he could feel no sympathy; but for this her blameless life furnished no excuse. Although the countess was constantly surrounded by spies and her every act and word reported to her lord, she moved with stately dignity in the atmosphere of intrigue and deceit. In default of any other plea, her husband represented to the pope that she was afflicted with leprosy. Arrayed solely in a tunic, and enveloping herself in a capacious mantle, she made her way with majestic mien into the council room of the palace, where the perfidious lord was in consultation with his a.s.sembled n.o.bles about the details of the sinister purpose which he was seeking to effect.
With the words, "I am come, my beloved lord, to seek a diligent examination respecting the corporeal taint imputed to me," she threw aside the mantle, disclosing the healthy texture of her skin, while a wave of emotion pa.s.sed over her, and her eyes suffused with tears.
"These," she continued, "are my children and yours; do they too share in the blemish of their mother? But it may come to pa.s.s that the people of Gueldres may yet mourn our separation, when they behold the failure of our line." Husband and n.o.bles alike were profoundly affected by so sublime an appeal, and the royal pair were reconciled; but the male line of Reynald failed in his son, and the crown pa.s.sed to the female branch, as though the almost predictive words of the n.o.ble English woman were destined to be fulfilled.
Yet another daughter of fair France became the queen of a Plantagenet.
Richard II., the last Plantagenet, from the date of his accession, was involved in constant struggles, first with his Parliament, and then with Henry of Lancaster. His first queen, Anne of Bohemia, died in 1394. Richard"s thoughts were thereupon directed to the necessity of choosing a second consort. He would consider only Isabelle of Valois, daughter of Charles VI., who was less than nine years old. The marriage was solemnized by proxy, and arrangements were made for the king to repair to Calais and receive his child-bride at the hand of Charles VI. The preliminaries having been completed, the ceremony is thus recorded by Froissart:
"On the morrow, the King of England visited the King of France in his tent, where the kings sat apart at one table. During the serving of dinner, the Duke de Bourbon said many things to enliven the kings, and addressed the King of England: "Monseigneur, you ought to make good cheer; you have all you desire and demand. You have, or will have, your wife, she is about to be given to you." The French king then said: "Bourbonnais, we could wish that our daughter were of the age of our cousin of Saint-Pol, although it should have cost us dearly, for our son of England would have taken her more willingly."
"The King of England heard this and responded to the French king: "Father-in-law, our wife"s age pleases us well; we think less of that than we do of the affection between us and our kingdoms, for with mutual friendship and alliance, there is no king, Christian or other, who could give umbrage to us." The dinner was soon over, and then the young Queen of England was brought into the king"s tent, accompanied by a great number of dames and demoiselles, and given to the King of England, her hand being held by her father, the King of France."
This marriage brought nearly twenty years of peace between France and England. The young queen was carefully nurtured and educated by King Richard, whose attachment to her soon grew very deep. Turbulent factions disturbed Richard"s rule, and Isabelle had always before her the menace of a prison rather than the prospect of a throne. Before leaving to quell a rebellion in Ireland, Richard visited his "little queen," for thus she was popularly styled, at Windsor Castle, to take farewell. This interview, at which it is said the young queen first realized how deeply she loved the king, was to be their last. Henry of Lancaster, taking advantage of Richard"s absence to gather a force to wrest the sceptre from him, met Richard on his return, made him captive, and finally secured his resignation of the crown in 1399.
Simultaneously, the young queen fell into Henry"s power, and was moved from castle to castle at the will of Henry. All this time she was kept in ignorance of the fate of her husband, and tortured by suspense and anxiety. Richard alive was too serious a danger to Henry"s supremacy, and, a plot to restore him to his throne having failed, he was killed at Pontefract Castle soon after, in a heroic struggle against the myrmidons of Henry.
Meantime, the "little queen" had joined in the movement against Henry, in the hope that her husband would recover his crown and be restored to her, but she was soon again a captive at Havering Bower. For some time the child-widow--she was not yet thirteen--was kept in ignorance of the death of Richard. Soon, however, she was importuned by Henry IV. on behalf of Monmouth, his son, but, faithful to the memory of Richard, she rejected with horror the proposed union. Finally, all hope of the alliance being destroyed, Henry consented to Isabella"s return to her parents. She had endeared herself to the hearts of the English by her graces, and especially by her steadfast devotion to Richard.
After Isabelle"s return to France, Henry still persisted in suing for her hand, but it was impossible to move her determination. In 1406, it seemed that joy might yet brighten the life of this unfortunate princess, for in that year she was betrothed to her cousin, the young Charles of Orleans, whom she married in 1409. The affection of husband and wife appeared to offer every prospect of happiness, but she was permitted to enjoy her newly found state for only a brief period, as she died during the following year, a few hours after the birth of an infant daughter. The memory of this sweet but unfortunate princess is enshrined in the poetic tributes of the Duke of Orleans, nor did the English fail to sing in ballads her praise.
The origin of the Order of the Garter is traceable to the spirit of chivalry; it was inst.i.tuted by Coeur de Lion, and in 1344 was revived by Edward III. Froissart appears to credit the story which connects the revival of the order to Edward"s pa.s.sion for the Countess of Salisbury, whose garter he is said to have picked up and presented to her in the presence of the court, with this exclamation: _Honi soit qui mal y pense!_ The chronicler gives us a full account of the attachment of Edward for the countess, and places in excellent light the integrity of her character. When she was besieged in her husband"s castle at Wark, Edward advanced to her relief, compelling the Scots to retreat. At the interview which followed, the king looked upon her with such an air of profound thoughtfulness that she was led to inquire: "Dear sire, what are you musing on? Such meditation is not proper for you, saving your grace." "Oh, dear lady!" replied the monarch; "you must know that since I have been in this castle, some thoughts have oppressed my mind that I was not before aware of." "Dear sire, you ought to be of good cheer, and leave off such pondering; for G.o.d has been very bountiful to you in your undertakings." Whereupon the king replied with more directness: "There be other things, O sweet lady, which touch my heart, and lie heavy there, beside what you talk of. In good truth, your beauteous mien and the perfection of your face and behavior have wholly overcome me; and my peace depends on your accepting my love, which your refusal cannot abate." "My gracious liege," the countess exclaimed, "G.o.d of his infinite goodness preserve you, and drive from your n.o.ble heart all evil thoughts; for I am, and ever shall be, ready to serve you; but only in what is consistent with my honor and your own."
The first chapter of the Garter was graced by another queen who adorns the history of England"s women of rank--Queen Philippa. She was attended by the princ.i.p.al ladies of the court, who, with herself, were admitted dame-companions of the order, and the wives of the knights continued to enjoy this dignity during several succeeding reigns.
In even the best homes of the Middle Ages we must not expect to find the refinements which are regarded as the commonplaces of modern life. The essence of refinement is the same in all ages, and, while it involves manners, these change with the standards and conventions of different times. Much that is amusing, absurd, or even disgusting, as we regard manners to-day, was entirely in good form during the Middle Ages. It will be of interest to notice some of the things which were regarded as commendable in the deportment of the young ladies of the aristocratic cla.s.s of mediaeval society, and what they were cautioned to avoid. A _trouvere_ of the thirteenth century, named Robert de Blois, compiled a code of etiquette which he put in French verse under the t.i.tle, _Chastis.e.m.e.nt des Dames_. The young ladies who would deport themselves in an irreproachable manner must avoid talking too much, and especially refrain from boasting of the attentions paid to them by the other s.e.x. They were recommended to be discreet, and, in the freedom of games and amus.e.m.e.nts, to leave no room for adverse criticism of their actions. In going to church, they were not to trot or run, but to walk with due seriousness, with eyes straight before them, and to salute _debonairely_ all persons they met. They were enjoined not to let men kiss them on the mouth, as it might lead to too great familiarity; they were not to look at a man too much unless he were an acknowledged lover; and when a young woman had a lover, she was not to talk too much of him. They were not to manifest too much vanity in dress, and to be entirely delicate in the matter of costume; nor were they to be too ready in accepting presents from the other s.e.x. The ladies are particularly warned against scolding and disputing, against swearing, against eating and drinking too freely at the table. They were exhorted not to get drunk, a practice from which, they were advised, much mischief might arise. That the restrictions were, on the whole, sensible is apparent from our statement of them, and the good sense of the times receives special point from the rule of society which recommended the ladies not to cover their faces when in public, as a handsome face was made to be seen. An exception is made in the case of ugly or deformed features, which might be covered.
Another rule was as follows: "A lady who is pale-faced or who has not a good smell ought to breakfast early in the morning, for good wine gives them a very good color; and she who eats and drinks well must heighten her color." Anise seed, fennel, and c.u.min were recommended to be taken at breakfast to correct an unsavory breath, and persons so affected were told not to breathe in other persons" faces.
A special set of rules was given for the lady"s behavior while in church, and if she could sing she was to do so when asked and not require too much pressing. Ladies were further recommended to keep their hands clean, to cut their nails often, and not to suffer them to grow beyond the finger or to harbor dirt. When pa.s.sing the houses of other people, ladies were not to look into them: "for a person often does things privately in his house, which he would not wish to be seen, if anyone should come before his door." For the same reason a lady was not to go into another person"s house, or into another"s room, without coughing or speaking to give notice to the inmates. The directions for a lady"s behavior at the table were also very precise.
"In eating, you must avoid much laughing or talking. If you eat with another (i.e., in the same plate, or of the same mess), turn the nicest bits to him and do not go picking out the finest and largest for yourself, which is not courteous. Moreover, no one should eat greedily a choice bit which is too large or too hot, for fear of choking or burning herself.... Each time you drink, wipe your mouth well, that no grease go into the wine, which is very unpleasant for the person who drinks after you. But when you wipe your mouth for drinking, do not wipe your eyes or nose with the tablecloth, and avoid spilling from your mouth or greasing your hands too much." Added to these directions for deportment, particular emphasis was laid on the avoidance of falsehoods, which suggests the prevalence of the vice.
The modern "servant question" was not without its counterpart in the Middle Ages. We find instances of advice tendered upon the subject to the ladies of those times. An early writer on domestic economy divided the servants who might be found in a manorial establishment into three cla.s.ses: those who were employed on a sudden and only for a certain work, and for these a previous bargain should be made regarding their payment; those who were employed for a certain time in a particular description of work, as tailors, shoemakers, butchers, and others, who always came to work in the house upon materials provided there, or the harvest men for the gathering of the crops; and domestic servants who were hired by the year, these latter being expected to pay an absolute and pa.s.sive obedience to the lord and lady of the household and any others who were set in authority over them.
Naturally, it was the female servants who came under the supervision of the lady of the house, and minute directions are given for their ordering. She was to require her maids to repair early in the morning to their work; the entrance to the hall and all other places by which people enter, or places in the hall where they tarry to converse, were to be swept and made clean, "and that the footstools and covers of the benches and forms be dusted and shaken, and after this that the other chambers be in like manner cleaned and arranged for the day." After this, the pet animals were to be attended to and fed. At midday the servants were to have their first meal, which was to be bountiful, but "only of one meat and not of several, or of any delicacies; and give them only one kind of drink, nourishing but not heady, whether wine or other; and admonish them to eat heartily, and to drink well and plentifully, for it is right that they should eat all at once, without sitting too long, and at one breath, without reposing on their meal or halting, or leaning with their elbows on the table; and as soon as they begin to talk or to rest on their elbows, make them rise and remove the table." After their "second labor" and on feast days also--when seemingly the workday was not so long as usual--they were to have another lighter repast, and in the late evening, after all their duties were performed, another abundant meal was served. It then devolved upon the lady of the house or her deputy to see that the manor was closed, and to take charge of the keys, preventing anyone from going in or out; and then, having had all the fires carefully "covered," she sent the servants to bed and saw that their candles were extinguished to prevent the risk of fire. The lady was always careful as to whom she received into her house as servitors; female servants who came to her as strangers were not well regarded, and were not given trusts of importance, and their characters, so far as was possible, were looked into, as well as the circ.u.mstances of their leaving their former place of employment.
The term "spinster," which is now confined to unmarried women, was a term of consideration applied to all women of the better cla.s.s during the Middle Ages. It was indicative of her superior rank, and was especially adhered to by gentlewomen who married out of their station, as a sign of their good birth and gentle breeding.
The term "gentle blood," as now understood, means only that some persons have the fortunate circ.u.mstance of refined parentage or ancestry; but in the Middle Ages, when the pride of gentle blood was one of the most distinguishing characteristics of the prevailing feudal society, it was seriously believed that through the whole extent of the aristocratic cla.s.ses there ran one blood, distinguishable from the blood of all other persons. So strongly was this view entertained, that it was commonly thought that if a child of gentle blood should be stolen or abandoned in infancy, and then bred up as a peasant or a burgher, without knowledge of its origin, it would display, as it grew toward manhood, unmistakable proofs of its gentle origin, in spite of education and example. Whatever the fallacy of this belief, its effect upon the ladies of superior birth was to make them prize their station highly; but it also created a spirit of haughtiness toward those who were below their station, and a harshness in their relation to their domestics which was not always conformable to the graciousness and consideration which these very ladies often displayed where there was no question involving their caste.
In considering the dress of the women of the Middle Ages, we remarked upon the censure and sarcasm which were pa.s.sed upon the vanities into which women were led by their devotion to the changing fashions of the day. Every cla.s.s of society was pervaded by a love of dress, which expressed itself in the greatest extravagances and absurdities. A knight of the fourteenth century compiled for three young ladies, the daughters of a knight of Normandy, a ma.n.u.script which contains advice and directions for the regulation of their conduct through life.
It contains several very curious pa.s.sages relative to dress: "Fair daughters," says their mentor, "I pray you that ye be not the first to take new shapes and guises of array of women of strange countries." He then inveighs against the wearing of superfluous quant.i.ties of furs as edging for their gowns, their hoods, and their sleeves. After commenting upon the sinfulness of useless fashions and their effect upon the lower cla.s.ses, he proceeds to portray the absurdities into which the latter were led by aping their betters, and suggests that the furs which they wore in profusion had better at least be dispensed with in summer, as they served only "for a hiding place for the fleas." The knight whose daughters are thus counselled is unable to deter them from falling into extravagances of attire, and has recourse to the legend of a chevalier whose wife was dead and who made application to a hermit to know if her soul had gone to Paradise or to punishment. The holy man, after long praying, fell asleep, and saw the soul of the fair lady weighed in the balance; with Saint Michael standing on one side and the Devil on the other. The latter addressed Saint Michael and claimed the woman as his own on the score that she had ten diverse gowns, and a less number than that would have sufficed to lose her soul; besides which, with what she had wasted she might have clothed two or three persons who for the lack of her charity died of want. So saying, the fiend gathered up all her gay attire, ornaments, and jewels, and cast them in the balance with her evil deeds, which determined the balance against her, and he bore her away to the lake of fire. The same night, in order to deter his daughters from painting their faces, the knight recounts a horrible legend of a fine lady who was punished in h.e.l.l because she had "popped and painted her visage to please the sight of the world."
It is not by such incidentals as dress, but by the enduring qualities of character, that the women of the higher circles of the English Middle Ages were able to make an indelible impress upon the life and character of the nation. And more especially may this be said of the women whose lives were largely spent in the sheltered circle of a pure domesticity,--the women of the manors.
CHAPTER VII
THE WOMEN OF THE MONASTERIES
In general, the routine of the nunnery was the same as that of a monastery. There was the same rotation, hour by hour, of sacred services, with monotonous regularity and repet.i.tion; the only variety offered was that of labor of one sort or another, with brief intervals for rest and refreshment. The industry of the nuns usually took the form of working in wool, for it devolved upon them to make the clothing of the monks, who were a.s.sociated with the convents to perform the outdoor labor and to serve as confessors for the female inmates. Great care was necessary to prevent too close proximity of the nunneries and monasteries and to limit the intercourse of the inmates of the respective inst.i.tutions to the bare necessities of their mutual dependence.
The rules by which women were governed in the life of the convent did not differ much from those for the men. Some of these regulations were very rigorous: the inmates were to have nothing of their own, nor were they allowed to go out of the convent, and they were permitted the luxury of a bath only in time of sickness. Continual silence, frequent confessions, a spare diet, and hard labor were to be endured uncomplainingly, on penalty of excommunication.
In the fifth century, prohibitions were issued proscribing the founding of any more monasteries for monks and nuns together and ordering the part.i.tioning of those which already existed. No man excepting the officiating clergy, the bishop, and the steward of the convent was allowed to enter within its walls; and, indeed, one of the rules enjoined that the nuns were to make confession to the bishop through the abbess. Under no pretext whatever were the nuns to lodge under the roof of a monastery, nor was any person who was not a monk or a cleric of high repute to be allowed within the precincts of the convent on temporal business; but in spite of the many rules by which they were hedged about, in the eighth century nuns are found admitted into the monasteries on the ground of the necessity for their presence in sickness and similar emergencies.
Besides the nuns, strictly so called, in the eighth and subsequent centuries there were canonesses, who differed from the nuns in retaining more of their secular character. Their vows were not perpetual, and they confined their labors chiefly to the instruction of the children of the n.o.bles.
Having cited some of the rules for the government of those who committed themselves to the life of the nun, it now remains to perform the delicate task of showing the degree of success which attended the attempt to isolate a cla.s.s of unmarried women, that, by religious offices and meditations, they might wholly dedicate their time and their faculties to the cultivation of the Christian graces, and serve as the benefactresses of the poor in giving alms at the convent gate. The century that witnessed the outbreak of the Reformation is commonly regarded as exceptional for laxity of religious principle and perversion of the inst.i.tutional ideals of the Church; but, from the eighth century, the ecclesiastical morality was of such a low order as seriously to affect the moral tone of the people and to invalidate the efficacy of the Church as a teacher of religion. The celibacy which was enjoined upon the clergy was largely responsible for this state of affairs. It is unfortunately not true that the ages of faith, so called, were ages of great moral purity. In spite of the interdict of councils, priestly marriages were looked upon as common events. The marriage of priests being under the ban of the Church, concubinage was regarded as almost a legitimate relationship, and carried less of stigma than the proscribed marriages. It is not singular that such impairment of moral ideas was not confined to the priests, and that the same low moral tone invaded the convents, many of whose inmates became the partners of the priests in their derelictions.
"The known luxury and believed immoralities of the wealthy monasteries" in England, says Sharon Turner, "made a great impression on the public mind. Even some of the clergy became ashamed of it, and contributed to expose it, both in England and elsewhere." Nor was the tone of morals outside the cloister of higher grade than that of the monks. In 1212 a council commanded the clergy not to have women in their houses, nor to suffer in their cloisters a.s.semblies for debauchery, nor to entertain women there. Nuns were ordered to lie single. In England, these and many other moral prohibitions were repeated at various intervals, showing that, in spite of the prevailing corruption, there was an appreciation of pure ideals; and in its councils the Church took cognizance of and endeavored to stem the rising tide of unchast.i.ty. Thus, inquiries were made in 1252 as to whether the clergy frequented the nunneries without reasonable cause, and a year or two afterward an inquisition was made all over England into the character and actions of the various religious personages.
The conduct of the nuns is frequently alluded to in terms of the severest censure, while the ecclesiastics were enjoined not to frequent taverns or public spectacles, or to resort to the houses of loose characters, or to visit the nuns; they were not to play at dice or improper games, nor to leave their property to their children.
The vices of the clergy were the unavoidable consequence of the independence of their hierarchy from civil control. The release of the clergy from secular jurisdiction was productive of much personal depravity. They had to fear their abbot only, and he was frequently a mild censor of their morals. At a time when any profligate woman of position might retire to a convent and, by elevation or appointment, become abbess, it is not strange that the moral tone of the convent was not determined by the rules of the order, but by the standards which were actually established.
Yet, in spite of many instances of reprehensible conduct, the nuns as a cla.s.s did not break the vows that bound them to chast.i.ty, and within the convent walls were found many examples of women of ill.u.s.trious character. In the Anglo-Saxon times, women of the most admirable traits are found in charge of convents; the names of some of the abbesses of the seventh century, and earlier, are notable as those of women of high rank as well as of high character. Saint Werburga of Ely, the daughter of Wulfere, King of Mercia, was made ruler over all the female religious houses, and became the founder of several convents of note. Her qualities and character were set forth in the following lines:
"In beaute amyable she was equall to Rach.e.l.l, Comparable to Sara in fyrme fidelyte, In sadness and wysedom lyke to Abygaell: Replete as Deibora with grace of prophecy, aeqyvalent to Ruth she was in humylyte, In purchrytude Rebecca, lyke Hester in Colynesse, Lyke Judyth in vertue and proued holynesse."
But such examples of high worth among the abbesses, while not exceptional in the early Middle Ages, are not frequently met with in the closing centuries of the period.