I monasteri femminili e i loro rapporti con il mondo ecclesiastico nell’Italia altomedievale

The Italian female monasticism in the Middle Ages has been approached by several studies in the last few decades, which have stressed many aspects, although institutional questions have often been neglected. The research focused above all on the specificities of nuns’ communities, strictly linked to their gender. The attention has often been paid to monasteries founded by kings, ruled by abbesses belonging to the royal families, charged of the administration of substantial estates and showing a significant agency. This paper aims at verifying these specificities for the Early Middle Ages – in particular the real ability of how women. belonging to these communities. acted– as well as their effectiveness in a larger framework, including lower level-monasteries, not founded or linked to the royal power and disposing of a limited estate. An institutional perspective is taken, which examines the relationships of female monasteries with the male ecclesiastic world, concerning bishops as well as monastic communities.