“NO OTHER MEANS THAN BY PEN”: LETTERS FROM EARLY MODERN ENGLISH NUNS IN EXILE by Tanyss Sharp, B.A. Honours A thEsis submittEd to thE Faculty of GraduatE and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillmEnt of thE requiremEnts for thE dEgreE of MastEr of Arts in History CarlEton UnivErsity Ottawa, Ontario © 2020, Tanyss Sharp ii Abstract This thesis explores how early modern English nuns in exilE on the European continent purposEfully utilizEd lEttEr writing as a stratEgy of communication with the outside world. Cut off from their homEland and familiEs by both geographic distancE and physical Enclosure, lEttErs provided womEn religious with a mEdium to ensure their convents’ survival and presErve English Catholicism. This critical analysis of nuns’ lEttErs reveals the multidimEnsional nature and intEntional construction of their correspondencE. Nuns made deliberatE epistolary choicEs. They employed stratEgic language, utilizEd flattEry and humility, as wEll as exaggeration and gossip to achiEve their objEctives. A comparison of individual epistolary experiEncEs demonstratEs that lEttErs wEre vital for maintaining familial and kinship tiEs, financial and spiritual economiEs, political EngagemEnt, and the transnational diffusion of information. iii Acknowledgements This thesis could not have beEn complEtEd without the support and encouragemEnt of numErous peoplE. This thesis was funded in part by SSHRC and OGS, which made it significantly EasiEr to accomplish and allowEd for a vital resEarch trip. During my timE in England and Belgium the assistancE of thosE at the British Library, National Archives, BodlEian Library, Ushaw CollEge, Ghent StatE Archives, ArchdiocEsE of MEchelEn-BrussEls and Bisschoppelijk ArchiEf Bruges was invaluablE to my resEarch ExperiEncE. In particular, I would like to thank Abbot GEoffrey Scott of Douai Abbey for his timE and allowing me accEss to his archive. I am gratEful to the faculty and staff of the CarlEton University History DEpartmEnt, and particularly Joan WhitE, for all their assistancE throughout this procEss. I thank my fellow MA’s for their friEndships, pasta nights, and timE spent listEning to my musings on nuns. I most of all thank my best friEnds and family – Especially my mom and ElliE – for their constant support and comic reliEf, as wEll as eating too many wafflEs with mE in Belgium. Special thanks also to Dr. JaimE Goodrich for her guidancE and photocopiEs of lEttErs that saved mE valuablE resEarch timE. My sincEre gratitude is resErved for my thesis supervisors Dr. Paul NEllEs and Dr. Susan Whitney, for their endlEss guidancE and encouragemEnt. iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii AcknowlEdgemEnts ........................................................................................................... iii TablE of ContEnts ............................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... v Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 ChaptEr 1: LEttErs to Family & FriEnds From ExilE ......................................................... 31 ChaptEr 2: CorrespondencE During Conflict .................................................................... 75 ChaptEr 3: Political Correspondents, Displomatic CorrespondencE ............................... 108 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 127 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 132 v List of Figures Figure 1.1 LEttEr from Winefrid ThimElby to HErbert Aston ………………………… 50 1 Introduction “I can no longer delay conversing with one so near and Dear to me, since I've been frustrated of what I've so many years long’d for; the comfort of your acquaintance of which as all hopes is losst, I’ve no other means than by pen, & that can never express ye fullness of my good wishes, nor ye tenderness of my affections for you.”1 This passage originates from a letter written by Arabella Benedicta Caryll, a nun at the English Benedictine convent in Dunkirk in 1734. Her words evoke an attachment to the temporal world seldom expected from women who devoted their lives to the Catholic Church. As this quote demonstrates, women religious maintained significant contact with the secular world after their profession. Because they were enclosed in convents and not allowed to leave without special permission, letters were the only means through which nuns could communicate with the outside world.2 As Victoria Van Hyning has stated, “letters had the power to bind and bridge secular and convent spheres. They were the veins through which vital communication…flowed to the convents” and vice versa.3 In other words, there was no other means than by pen. Letters provide us insight into the complex ways women religious facilitated, maintained, and exploited transnational social contacts in order to sustain their connections with the world outside their convent walls. This thesis examines the multifaceted ways English women religious used letters while in exile. Regarding the source material, Nicky Hallett has observed that, “many of the nun’s papers have literally been dispersed, ‘preserved by chance’ or sheer determination in the face of geographic tumult over several centuries.”4 Due to the 1 British Library, Family of Caryll Correspondence, Vol. II1. 1732–1739, Additional MS 28 229, fol. 119. The correspondence of Arabella Benedicta Caryll will be discussed in Chapter 1. 2 Enclosure will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 1. 3 Victoria Van Hyning, Convent Autobiography: Early Modern English Nuns in Exile (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 41. 4 Nicky Hallett, English Convents in Exile, 1600–1800: Volume 3. Life Writing I, ed. by N. Hallett, E. Perry and V. Van Hyning (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2012), xi. Most of the time, 2 fragmented preservation of letters from this period, this thesis will not be constrained to one particular order. Instead, it will focus on the letters of women religious from the Benedictines, Poor Clares, Carmelites, and Augustinians. Largely excluded from this examination are the Dominicans, Bridgettines, Third-Order Franciscans and Sepulchrines due to a lack of available evidence. Discussion of the Mary Ward institute will also be omitted given that these sisters were not enclosed, as such, letter writing would have held a very different meaning and purpose.5 Nonetheless, this thesis it will examine the letters of women religious from different orders to show how letter writing served as an invaluable tool of communication. By comparing individual experiences and uses of epistolary space, we gain a greater understanding of the complex ways in which women religious utilized letters. Comparison exposes common features, including the use of letters to maintain emotional bonds, remain informed and involved in political or worldly affairs, provide spiritual services, sustain economic connections, solicit new recruits, and navigate convent disputes. We will see that although the tone and content of their familial letters differed, Winefrid Thimelby and Mary Caryll were both deeply concerned for their respective family’s spiritual well-being as well as the security of their convents. Analysis also the letters preserved only provide us with one side (usually the nuns’) of the conversation, adding a further challenge for those seeking to reconstruct these histories. 5 For a selection of historical scholarship on Mary Ward and her institute, see Jennifer Cameron, A Dangerous Innovator: Mary Ward (1585–1645) (Strathfield: St Pauls, 2000); Peter Guilday, The English Catholic Refugees on the Continent 1558–1795 (London: Longmans, 1914), 163– 214; Laurence Lux-Sterrit, “Mary Ward’s English Institute: The Apostolate as Self-Affirmation,” Recusant History 28, no. 2 (2006): 192–208; Laurence Lux-Sterrit, “Mary Ward’s English Institute and Prescribed Female Roles in the Early Modern Church,” in Gender, Catholicism and Spirituality, ed. by Laurence Lux-Sterrit and Carmen M. Mangion (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 83–98; Henriette Peters, Mary Ward: A World in Contemplation, trans. H. Butterworth (Leominster: Gracewing Publishing, 1994). 3 reveals the diverse and intentional ways that women religious constructed correspondence. Nuns made deliberate epistolary choices. They employed strategic deferential language and utilized flattery and humility, as well as exaggeration and gossip. But letters were not always a positive tool. In some circumstances, especially during times of conflict, letters could exacerbate a situation and harm a convent in the long term. This thesis will demonstrate that letters were never one dimensional. Ultimately, letter writing was a powerful tool for women religious. Without letters, they would not have been able to engage actively and regularly with the outside world. Literature Review The study of English nuns in exile exists at a crossroads of historical inquiry. Examinations of this topic are interdisciplinary, incorporating religious history, women’s and gender history, and transnational history. Because English convents existed as