gh providing instruction for the
young, the convent was a large establishment for various orders of
women. There were the nuns, the lay sisters, always a numerous class,
and a large body of domestics; while in those higher convents, where
the abbess exercised manorial jurisdiction, there were seneschal,
esquires, gentlemen, yeomen, grooms, indeed the whole establishment of
a baronial castle, except the men-at-arms and the archer-band. Thus
within the convent walls the pupil saw nearly the same domestic
arrangement to which she had been accustomed in her father's castle;
while, instead of being constantly surrounded with children, well born
and intelligent women might be her occasional companions. And then the
most important functions were exercised by women. The abbess presided
in her manorial court, the cellaress performed the extensive offices
of steward, the praecentrix led the singing and superintended the
library, and the infirmaress watched over the sick, affording them
alike spiritual and medical aid. Thus, from her first admission, the
pupil was taught to respect and to emulate the talents of women. But
a yet more important peculiarity did the convent school present. It
was a noble, a well-endowed, and an independent institution; and it
proffered education as a boon. Here was no eager canvassing for
scholars, no promises of unattainable advantages; for the convent
school was not a mercantile establishment, nor was education a trade.
The female teachers of the middle ages were looked up to alike by
parent and child, and the instruction so willingly offered was
willingly and gratefully received; the character of the teacher was
elevated, and as a necessary consequence so was the character of the
pupil."

But in addition to those inmates who had dedicated their lives to
religion, and those who were placed there specifically for education,
convents afforded shelter to numbers who sought only temporary
retirement from the world under the influence of sorrow, or temporary
protection under the apprehension of danger. And this was the case not
merely through the very dark era with which our chapter commences, but
for centuries afterwards, and when the world was comparatively
civilized. Our own "good Queen Maude" assumed the veil in the convent
of Romsey, without however taking the vows, as the only means of
escaping from a forced marriage; and in the subsequent reign, that of
Stephen, so little regard was paid to law o