Thousands and Thousands of Lovers: Sense of Community Among the Nuns of Helfta

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Thousands and Thousands of Lovers examines the spiritual significance of community to the Cistercian nuns of Helfta–a concern that lies at the heart of the monastery’s literature. Focusing on a woefully understudied resource and the largest body of female-authored writings in the thirteenth century, this book offers insight into the religious preoccupations of a theologically expert and intellectually vibrant cloister to reveal a subtle interplay between communal practice and private piety, other-directed attention, and inward-religious impulse. It considers the nuns’ attitudes toward community among themselves and with their household members as well as with souls in purgatory and the saints.