I cannot conclude these prefatory remarks without a word of thanks to those who have aided me by criticism and revision. Besides the two friends to whom I have dedicated this book, I have to cordially thank Mrs R. W. Cracroft for the labour she has spent on the literary revision of my work in manuscript. To Dr H. F. Heath of Bedford College I am indebted for many suggestions on points of philology, and to Robert J. Parker, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn for advice on some points of law and of general arrangement. Conscious as I am of the many defects in my work, I cannot but be grateful to the Syndics of the University Press, for the assistance they have rendered me in its publication, and I trust that these defects may not deter readers from following me into somewhat unfrequented paths, wherein at any rate I have not stinted such powers of labour as are mine. LINA ECKENSTEIN. _December, 1895._ CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. § 1. The Borderland of Heathendom and Christianity 1 § 2. The Tribal Goddess as a Christian Saint 15 § 3. Further Peculiarities of this Type of Saint 28 CHAPTER II. CONVENTS AMONG THE FRANKS, A.D. 550-650. § 1. At the Frankish Invasion 45 § 2. St Radegund and the Nunnery at Poitiers 51 § 3. The Revolt of the Nuns at Poitiers. Convent Life in the North 65 CHAPTER III. CONVENTS AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXONS, A.D. 630-730. § 1. Early Houses in Kent 79 § 2. The Monastery at Whitby 88 § 3. Ely and the influence of Bishop Wilfrith 95 § 4. Houses in Mercia and in the South 106 CHAPTER IV. ANGLO-SAXON NUNS IN CONNECTION WITH BONIFACE. § 1. The Women corresponding with Boniface 118 § 2. Anglo-Saxon Nuns abroad 134 CHAPTER V. CONVENTS IN SAXON LANDS BETWEEN A.D. 800-1000. § 1. Women’s Convents in Saxony 143 § 2. Early History of Gandersheim 154 § 3. The Nun Hrotsvith and her Writings 160 CHAPTER VI. THE MONASTIC REVIVAL OF THE MIDDLE AGES. § 1. The new Monastic Orders 184 § 2. Benedictine Convents in the Twelfth Century 201 § 3. The Order of St Gilbert of Sempringham 213 CHAPTER VII. ART INDUSTRIES IN THE NUNNERY. § 1. Art Industries generally 222 § 2. Herrad and the ‘Garden of Delights’ 238