The Female Convents of Lisbon, 1640 to 1750

Female convents in early modern Lisbon were important economic, cultural, social and even political spaces which housed generations of elite women. This book begins to tell the complex history of Lisbon’s convents and to explore the experience of those women and girls who lived within them and of those who worked for them.

Female convents in early modern Lisbon were important economic, cultural, social and even political spaces, which housed generations of elite women. Until now, they have received much less attention than comparable institutions across the early modern Roman Catholic world. This book begins to tell the complex history of Lisbon’s convents and to explore the experience of those women and girls who lived within them and of those who worked for them. The convents were home to some of the kingdom’s most elite women whilst employing – at times owning – some of the most marginalised. This volume considers the economics and organisation of convents, their connections with the court, and the final chapter focuses on the enslaved and servants within the convent. This book is an invaluable resource for those studying monasticism, the history of gender, women’s history, court culture and early modern Portugal.