Female religious on the British Isles: Interactions with the Continent

The History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI) and KADOC-KULeuven invite both individual and panel proposals on the history of women religious of Britain and Ireland. The overarching theme of the conference is Female religious on the British Isles: Interactions with the Continent.

Interactions between convents and female religious on the British Isles and the continent were intense as well as diverse throughout the whole medieval, early modern and modern period.  A lot of questions remain to be answered with regard to the medieval interactions, the early modern exile of English religious and convents and the modern flow of women religious and religious institutes from the continent to Britain and Ireland. First of all, who were these women that crossed boundaries to live their lives of religious vocation on both sides of the North Sea? What can we say about their motives? How significant, for example, was the idea – fostered by the growing interest in the past – of an ‘historical debt’ towards the Irish, English, Welsh and Scottish missionaries who played an important role in the early medieval Christianisation of the continent? How can we describe the influence – religious and cultural as well as political and economical – of these ‘foreigners’ abroad, whether we talk about medieval ‘conquerors’, exiled English sisters in northern France and the Southern Netherlands or about religious from continental institutes in 19th- and 20th-century Britain and Ireland? Which routes and networks were used to shape these interactions and which elements were crucial to make them persist on a long-term basis? How can we characterise their mutual contacts and their relationships with local and church authorities? All these questions will be discussed at the 2010 annual conference of the History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI), in cooperation with KADOC-KULeuven.

Abstracts of not more than 500 words (together with curriculum vitae and a list of publications) are requested and proposals from postgraduate students are particularly welcomed. H-WRBI and KADOC-KULeuven encourages papers on consecrated women from all historical periods (medieval, early modern and modern) and from different religious traditions within the history of Britain and Ireland.

Deadline for proposals: 1 March 2010

Programme and booking forms will be found on our website after 2 April 2010

http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Bedford-Centre/history-women-religious/

Please send all proposals to Kristien Suenens at kristien.suenens@kadoc.kuleuven.be