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1 results

  • Chapter 5 - Syon Abbey and the Birgittines

  • from II - Circles and Communities in England
  • Edited by Corinne Saunders, Durham University, Diane Watt, University of Surrey
  • Book:
    Women and Medieval Literary Culture
    Published online:
    28 July 2023
    Print publication:
    17 August 2023, pp 104-123

  • Summary

    The rich textual history of Syon Abbey, the only English house of St Birgitta of Swedenߣs Order of St Saviour, is the focus of this essay. Although there is limited evidence of English Bridgettine nuns authoring their own texts, St Birgitta, Syon Abbey, and its community of nuns as well as monks had profound and multiple influences on womenߣs literary culture in fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century England. While the significance of Syon within the late medieval English cultural landscape cannot be overemphasised, its (textual) community is also representative of the intricacies of womenߣs literary culture. Syon women, including as well as superiors aristocratic lay women with close ties to the abbey, were engaged in the commissioning of texts. The Syon community, led by Abbess Elizabeth Gibbs, was quick to exploit the new technology of printing, and also supported by the patronage of wealthy noble women, such as Lady Margaret Beaufort. However, the textuality of the abbey expanded beyond these powerful women to include the wider community of Syon nuns, and beyond England into continental Europe.