The topic of Sigrún Hannesdóttir's PhD in archaeology at the UI Faculty of History and Philosophy is nunneries in Northern Europe. According to Sigrún, nunneries have received significantly less attention from researchers than monasteries and evidence suggests there has been no particular consensus on the subject.
There were many monastic communities in Iceland before the Reformation. They belonged to the Archdiocese of Nidaros in Norway, like other convents across Northern Europe, i.e. Norway, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and islands around Great Britain. There were two nunneries in Iceland, at Kirkjubæjarklaustur in Skaftafellssýsla district, founded in 1186, and Reynisstaðarklaustur in Skagafjörður, founded almost a century later in 1295. Sigrún's research looks at these and six other nunneries founded in Norway and Greenland, the earliest of which were established in the early 12th Century. Most of the nunneries operated until the Reformation in the 16th Century.
"My project has two aims. Firstly, I want to analyse how nunneries have been presented in academic writing and explore, for example, how nationalism and feminism have influenced research in the field. Secondly, I want to take a new look at the history of nunneries in the context of European church history," explains Sigrún.
She points out that research into Icelandic and Norwegian enclosed religious orders has mainly focused on their role in national history and there has been a tendency to approach them first and foremost as isolated institutions that served the local elite and their families. "The aim of this research, however, is to look at nunneries within the Archdiocese of Nidaros as a whole, shedding light on the shared ideology of monastic culture in the region," explains Sigrún, whose project combines her passion for medieval church history with her interest in gender history.
Sigrún has a BA in archaeology from the University of Iceland and completed a Master's degree at the University of Oxford before returning home for her PhD. She is certainly not new to monastic research, having worked on the Þingeyri excavation of the longest operating monastery in the history of Iceland with her supervisor, Steinunn J. Kristjánsdóttir, professor of archaeology and the leading Icelandic expert in monasticism.
Nunneries given less attention and women's contributions undervalued
Sigrún says that the inspiration behind her thesis is her interest in raising the profile of nunneries in monastic research in general. Scholars have hitherto generally paid nunneries less attention than monasteries, although they have certainly been mentioned in overviews, including in Iceland and Norway. "In the Archdiocese of Nidaros, only a quarter of all enclosed religious orders founded in the Middle Ages were nunneries, so perhaps it is not so surprising that they tend to be overlooked in these discussions," explains Sigrún.
Nevertheless, there has long been a tendency to treat nunneries as lesser institutions, subordinate to the monasteries. "In older scholarship, they are also often described as poorly run, abbesses are described as incompetent and the nuns are even accused of living sinful lives even though such assertions are not based on particularly reliable sources. It is also worth mentioning that very little attention has been given to textile production in nunneries compared to manuscript production. To me this is a very clear example of how women's historical contributions to culture and arts have been valued less than men's contributions," adds Sigrún.
"My study is responding to the demand within academia for more research into women's monastic culture and a cross-national approach. I also think that the gender angle will help to balance male-centric perspectives that may have coloured our ideas about history and influenced which things we find interesting or noteworthy," says Sigrún.
Important to be able to use archaeological methods in document research
The work of an archaeologist is not just about excavating buried remains and artefacts; document research is also an extremely important part of shedding new light on the past. Sigrún is familiar with document research from another project in which she was involved at the University, called Cairns of the Condemned. The goal of this project was to collect information and create a digital map of Iceland providing an overview of the almost 250 people executed in Iceland in the period 1550-1830.
Sigrún says it is important to her to be able to use archaeological methods in her research, which is perhaps largely historical in basis. "Besides analysing the main themes and developments in monastic research in Iceland and Norway, my project is largely about piecing together the fragmented sources we have about nunneries – written sources like muniments, which are records of the assets of churches and monastic orders, and other ancient documents as well as the results of archaeological research. The goal is to get a clearer picture of the role of nunneries, daily life and production, the architecture and land usage, for example," she explains.
Responding to the demand for more research into women's monastic culture
Although document research plays a major role in the study, Sigrún also plans to look for remains of the nunneries at the sites where they stood. "The ruins of some nunneries have already been researched by archaeologists, including the ruins of Kirkjubæjarklaustur in the Skaftárhreppur district, the ruins of Nonneseter Abbey in Bergen and possible ruins of a nunnery in Uunartoq Fjord, which belonged to the Eastern Settlement of Norse Greenland. This research has provided vital clues. No nunnery has been fully excavated, but I plan to take radar measurements of some nunnery sites. Such measurements allow you to identify buried ruins and hopefully can give you an idea of the architecture and scale of buildings without excavating them," she explains.
Sigrún started her PhD last year, so no findings are available yet. She says that the most surprising thing so far has been the similarities between previous research into Icelandic and Norwegian nunneries and how many of the same trends and themes can be seen. "My study is responding to the demand within academia for more research into women's monastic culture and a cross-national approach. I also think that the gender angle will help to balance male-centric perspectives that may have coloured our ideas about history and influenced which things we find interesting or noteworthy," concludes Sigrún.