Publisher's description:
The starting point for this research is the ascertainment of a major change in the spirituality paradigm of the last centuries of the European Middle Ages, which, since the 13th century, results in a new and final interpretation, focused on pauperistic, evangelical and apostolic ideals, of the religious phenomenon. This symbolic revolution, which completely changed parameters and involved both men and women, entailed an intense urbanisation and feminisation of spirituality. Within that general framework, the pages of this book attempt at investigating the penetration, evolution and changes of the new forms of female monastic and religious life in a delimited space and time: the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the period from the 13th to the 16th century, trying to establish the connection between those new spaces of female spirituality and the strategies, wishes and potentialities of the women who promoted their creation, strengthening or reform.

Index:
7 Blanca Garí, Introduction
19 María del Mar Graña Cid, Queens, Infantas and Court Ladies at the Origin of Castilian Mendicant Nuns (c. 1222-1316). Spiritual Sponsorship and Female Religious Movement
43 Concepción Rodríguez-Parada, Female Networks around the Order of Our Lady of Mercy in the 13th-century Barcelona: an Approach to the Bibliographic and Documentary Sources for the Study of Maria de Cervelló and the First Mercedarian Nuns
77 Maria Filomena Andrade, Foundresses and Patronesses of Portuguese Mendicant Nunneries in the 13th and 14th Centuries: Practices and Models
89 Jill R. Webster, The Importance of the Aristocrats and the Wealthy Bourgeoisie in the Foundation and Development of the Monasteries of the Order of Saint Clare: Valencia, Játiva and Gandía
107 Anna Castellano i Tresserra, Queen Elisenda de Montcada and the Monastery of Pedralbes. A Model for Female Spiritual Promotion in the 14th Century
129 Núria Jornet-Benito, Sança of Majorca, Queen of Naples: Monastic Foundation within a Project of Genealogical Awareness and Franciscan Spirituality
147 Delfi-Isabel Nieto-Isabel, «Qui spiritus ambo sunt unum». The Network of Beguin Spirituality in the Early 14th-century Languedoc
167 Araceli Rosillo-Luque, «Habeant ecclesiam Santorum Blasy et Latzari edifficatam iuxta dictum eorum monasterium Sancte Clare»: Evidences and Hypotheses on the Foundation of Santa Clara de Manresa
185 Núria Silleras-Fernández, Controlling Feminine Excess: Isabel the Catholic and Didactic Literature
205 Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues, Spirituality and Religious Sponsorship in the 15th-century Portuguese Crown: Kings, Queens and Infantes
221 Cristina Sanjust i Latorre, Following the Steps of the Foundress. Teresa de Cardona and the Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes
239 Laia de Ahumada, Teresa Rajadell and the Society of Jesus. A Forgotten Story of the Monastery of Santa Clara and Sant Antoni de Barcelona (16th Century)
257 Mercè Gras Casanovas, Female Patronage and the Foundation of Convents. The Convent of the Discalced Carmelites of the Immaculada Concepció de Barcelona (1588)
273 Bibliography
293 The authors.