Medieval Nuns at War (Hardback)

An utterly fascinating dive into medieval nuns, and women in the wider world, how they were perceived and how they dealt with the world around them. The characters crammed in this relative slim volume range from Queens, Princesses, Abbess who commanded control over large stretches of land, pious martyrs, heretics, killers and more. If anyone wants to prove the lie that women in history had no power and did nothing but make babies, books like this are a great resource.

Highlights include the first chapter, which deals with rampaging nuns who broke out and hired mercenaries to wage war against not just their abbess but against the church in general...

Then, the final chapter which dealt with Erauso, a nun who escaped a convent in 1600 and lived a life of a male adventurer in the new world. His exploits are so outlandish, so dramatic that if it was fictional, it wouldn't be believed. That Erauso existed cannot be denied, and the book does a good job of drawing on multiple sources to trace this extraordinary life.

Well researched and very well written, this unputdownable book is a triumph and a worthy monument to these oft overlooked women and the spirt they represent.

NetGalley, Sarah Aspden

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I wanted to read this based on the title alone, desperate to know if the text would live up to the image the title conjured in my head of nuns in full head-to-toe robes, riding war stallions into battle and swinging broadswords.

And while the text doesn't give us that exact scenario, it does show how nuns have been extremely active over the centuries, with far more agency than most give them credit for. The cliche of a secluded nunnery filled with quiet nuns who stay inside and don't interact with the outside world is only a recent one - nuns have spent far more time interacting with the world and being active agents in both their own lives and historical events.

Quillen takes us through a history of nuns and nunneries, zeroing in on specific people and places, from just after the fall of the Roman Empire to just before the Industrial Revolution. We meet nuns who defend besieged forts, nuns who take kings to task, nuns who - literally - trample over bishops, nuns who question the entire damn theology of Christianity, nuns who genuinely care for the poor and sick while other nuns live in the lap of luxury, nuns desperate to take vows and put on the robes while others are desperate to shed them, and more.

An excellent book on a topic that is far too overlooked.

NetGalley, Kara Race-Moore

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

An incredibly accessible, well researched, and approachable book on an incredibly interesting part of women’s history in medieval Europe.

Medieval Nuns at War: Rebellious, Resilient & Rowdy Women, by Elizabeth A Quillen, is, hands down, one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. Quillen expertly balances fantastic research and voice, making each account come alive. Facts (as we understand them) are illustrated with action and personalization that, while speculative, are appropriate to the scene being set.

Spanning roughly 1,000 years of history, Medieval Nuns introduces the reader to a series of stories of historic women who persistently challenged what religious life could look like for medieval women, how religious life could also intersect with the civic, and how history is always so much more than we think. Quillen’s writing skill, in particular, shines when telling the story of one specific person at a time.

Chapter 1 focuses on the Saint-Croix monastery, located in Poitiers, France, which was also in the at-the-time Merovingian domain. (This region had not yet been fully converted to Christianity.) Civic and religious authorities were in constant change, which left substantial room for new definitions of religious life. In Chapter 2, Quilen focuses on Saint Leoba and her work with Saint Boniface in Saxony. This point in time yielded a number of convents that were headed by daughters of the imperial family.

In Chapter 3, Quillen writes of Margaret of Beverley and Hildegund von Schonau, women who were active in the first century of the Crusades. Chapter 4, in particular, I found particularly compelling, and in which Quillen’s eye for narrative truly shines: We meet Marguerite Porete, a beguine nun who authored The Mirror of the Simple Soul, a theological text that was considered heretical. Quillen takes the time to really explore Porete’s theology, which centered around the goal to dissolve oneself in the divine and give oneself over completely to love. The beguines were also fascinating; they lived somewhat religious lives, did not take formal vows, and could leave any time to get married or move on with other personal affairs.

Chapter 5 centers on the convent of Le Murate, a group of unaffiliated religious women living together in Florence. Though they eventually affiliated themselves with a religious order to save one sister from an unwanted marriage, the convent’s continued prosperity hinged on navigating de’ Medici family politics and one of the most violent periods in Florence history. The convent thrived under the guiding hand of Scholastica Rondielli, who saw the establishment of an apothecary, additional building projects, and much, much more.

Chapter 6 celebrates Catalina/Antonio de Erauso, a challenging yet popular figure from Spain. At 15, Catalina fled her convent and started a life of adventure as a man. This particular chapter reads as an incredibly compelling adventure tale, with Antonio going overseas to fight in wartime; end up in bloody disputes over gambling, and lead a rambling, free life. While some of the history of Antonio’s life seem too good to be true; Quillen does note that many of the names he claims to have encountered (for fortuitous and dangerous reasons) have left correspondence concerning him.

Medieval Nuns at War: Rebellious, Resilient & Rowdy Women is a must-read for anyone interested in medieval European history, and especially a fantastic book for anyone interested in reading more nonfiction and exploring what reading history has to offer. And with Quillen’s writing style, you will, more than once, start thinking of these women from history as very cool family ancestors.

NetGalley, Laura Kemmerer

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


I'm not Catholic, so I have very limited knowledge on this topic. Beyond not reading much about nuns or the Catholic Church, I haven't read much about the Medevial period. So this was pretty much all new information to me, which was wonderful. So many times, I read a non-fiction book and already know so much of it (although that doesn't have anything to do with the book, just my knowledge of the subject).

This was so interesting and well researched. It immediately pulled me in, and I didn't want to put it down. There were so many amazing stories in here, detailing the lives of these women (being a nun doesn't take away from the fact they are women at all).

Definitely would recommend!

NetGalley, Rebecca Stewart

Elizabeth A. Quillen delivers a fascinating deep dive into the lives of combative, resilient, and rebellious nuns throughout history. Drawing on centuries of research, she highlights not only their actions but also their aristocratic backgrounds, showing how their origins shaped the paths they took and the roles they carved out for themselves.
I found it engrossing to see where these women came from and where they ultimately ended up. The book offers a wide lens on how society viewed women particularly in a secular context—which added a rich layer to the historical detail. While the tone sometimes leaned more toward academic research than narrative storytelling, it remained accessible and engaging to read.
My favorite section was the opening chapters on the 6th century, which set the stage brilliantly. This is certainly a niche book, but very much up my alley. I am Catholic so it was deep within me to enjoy this. I plan to buy a physical copy so I can reread and annotate at my leisure.

NetGalley, Chantal Munu

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Quillen’s book seems to be a product of research that she was doing for her degree. She found references but wanted to know more. In many cases, such as this one, that is where some of the best books come from. Even though, Quillen must have been hampered by the lack of the women’s own voices. Yet, despite this drawback, Quillen does a good, even-handed job of relating history.
Whether or not everyone will agree with the definition of warrior that she uses would be fair to wonder, but there are other wars to fight besides just strength in arms.

The book opens with an account of a group of nuns having to deal with an assault on their convent by men looking for a woman. She also includes tales of women who went on crusades and what happened to them, including whether or not they would be able to return back home.

What is more important is that Quillen goes into the lenses through which we see these stories. She shows how society views of women -but religious and secular influenced not only how the women were seen but also how their stories were recorded. She doesn’t go down the road of kick ass Xena warrior nuns, as it were, but presents the more nuanced view as the various reasons why the women did what they did. She also travels widely in the historical time and place, so it is not entirely euro-centric.

If you liked Vicki Leon’s series about unruly women, you will love this book.

NetGalley, Christine Ethier

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It may be hard to imagine that in the despised and “dark” Middle Ages there were women who beat up bishops, literally knocking them to the ground and trampling them, or whose blades sent clergymen fleeing at full gallop. I fell in love with this topic during my third year at university, started working on it in a seminar, and eventually chose it as the subject of my thesis. History really should be studied more systematically and with a critical mindset—if it were, a lot of things would be clearer, especially the fact that the Church did not systematically destroy or hate women, but that much depended on the circumstances and the region. That’s why I value books like this: they are objective and grounded in what history actually testifies.

The author shows through historical records that nuns could be feisty and combative. Most of them, of course, had aristocratic blood and thus a certain kind of protection, but that doesn’t change the fact that they fiercely stood up for themselves and for what they considered their right—even if sometimes that meant acting out of personal interest. One nun, for instance, kicked a bishop to the ground because he wouldn’t let her run the convent. He later gave a terrified testimony of her behavior. She wasn’t punished; in fact, she continued to pursue him (literally!).

Although I devoured all the information in record time, this is not a book you read once and put away. It’s the kind of book you can always return to for references. What impressed me most was the part that explores women’s involvement in the Crusades. For example, Sikelgaita, a Lombard princess and wife of the Norman leader Robert Guiscard, was known for her remarkable martial bravery. The Byzantine princess Anna Komnene described her as tall, strong, and intimidating—almost like an Amazon. And there were many other women who played important military roles during the Crusading era, not just following men as pious pilgrims.

This is a book for all lovers of history and those interested in slightly different topics. You will be surprised at how wise, insightful, creative, and fierce these women were.

NetGalley, Ana Maria Žura

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In her first published book, Elizabeth A. Quillen offers us to discover the lives of many nuns whose stories have been forgotten or neglected throughout history. She ‘illuminate[s] the variety of religious lives that women carved out for themselves over the course of the medieval period’ through six stories.

And what stories these were! I found the book very engaging from start to finish. Never would I have suspected women living all these adventures, let alone to have enough examples of such women to not make them complete isolated cases. I kept being surprised at what was happening, as if I was reading a work of fiction. The writing was concise, and things were easy to follow. Even if at times, general context is needed to understand a story, I could always follow (even without previous knowledge of some of the figures or events that were talked about). You can tell that the author has put a lot of time, effort, care and love into this book.

I would recommend ‘Medieval Nuns at War’ to anyone who enjoys history, or likes to read a good story. Even if you don’t have a lot of knowledge of this period of history, I think you will be able to appreciate this book. And if you do know a lot about this period, still, pick up this book because you may learn some new exciting stories about forgotten women that deserve to be remembered and talked about.

NetGalley, Pénélope D

This book is a remarkable, thoroughly researched achievement. Quillen deftly brings to light the lives and accomplishments of women across more than 1,000 years—each of whom defied expectations to protect and uplift their convents and communities.

Given the broad scope and relatively concise length, the project is certainly ambitious. It shines most in chapters where Quillen focuses closely on one narrative. A few sections felt a bit dense and harder to absorb, but that’s a natural challenge with such a sweeping timeline.

Overall, I learned so much and appreciated the glimpse into the lives of these rebellious, resilient, and rowdy women as they navigated power, faith, and resistance.

NetGalley, Marlo Chapman

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was an amazing nonfiction book, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. I enjoyed learning about the medieval nuns and really didn't think about nuns during this time-period. It was well researched and was glad I was able to read this. Elizabeth A Quillen has a strong writing style and am excited to read more.

NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer