"Get thee to a nunnery"

So I am taking an undergrad Renaissance course this semester, with more work in order to make it a grad level course. This course was a huge disappointment to me (professor spent more time name dropping and discussing his experiences at Penn than lecturing, manyclassmates either not present intellectually or pretentious douches, and no discussion of goings on outside of Italy). My final paper (due tomorrow - not started yet) is: I want a paper showing how the themes, events or ideas contained in this book are related to the general course of Renaissance History. I do not want a book report nor a summary of the books 'plot'; instead I want you to find places in the book that tell you something about Renaissance history.

My book is Life And Death In A Venetian Convent: The Chronicle And Necrology Of Corpus Domini, 1395-1436. Which is actually a pretty insightful book on what life was like for women behind cloistered walls. Traditional view is that women were sent to convents because they were too poor to marry well (Jesus apparently required a cheaper dowry - go figure), or too ugly/deformed, were widows, or were escaping traditional life for any reason. Basically anything but a desire to serve God. This necrology paints a different portrait where women were so devoted to God that they strove to be as pure and without sign as possible. Women prized their virginity so much that they ran when a priest or doctor entered the convent. I admit to laughing out loud when she describes an elderly nun who had a problem escaping quick enough - the visual made me giggle. These were girls as young as 7 that were so resolute in their spiritual calling that they flagellated themselves and fasted almost constantly. Almost all of them claimed spiritual visions on a regular basis (probably brought on by the fasting).

What I found the most interesting about the book was the necrology portion where Sister Bartolomea wrote a brief obituary on each of the women who died. They were as long as 2 pages, or as short as a couple of sentences. The highest praised women were "purest virgins" (didn't realize their were purity levels associated with virginity) and submitted themselves to any level of demeaning chores (wonder if there was a hierarchy chart for this: I get x amount of purity points for volunteering to wash soiled linens). She also revered their benefactor almost more than she revered God (certainly the benefactor got more mentions than God did).

It makes me wonder what drove these girls to make the choices they did. Most of the girls joined the convent as a very young teen (13-14) and lived there for decades. Imagine deciding to join a convent just when your hormonal years begin and being so resolute in your decision that you stay there for the rest of yourself in service to God and your sisters? Imagine being the prioress of a convent of 72 women, most of whom were still young girls, and dealing with the hormones of women who live together in a cloistered setting?
Anyhow, the book was interesting. Still not sure how I am going to write 10+ pages on how that reflects on my opinion of the Renaissance. I'll be flagellating myself before the bullshit gods if need be.