The starting point for this research is the ascertainment of a major
change in the spirituality paradigm of the last centuries of the
European Middle Ages, which, since the 13th century, results in a new
and final interpretation, focused on pauperistic, evangelical and
apostolic ideals, of the religious phenomenon. This symbolic revolution,
which completely changed parameters and involved both men and women,
entailed an intense urbanisation and feminisation of spirituality.
Within that general framework, the pages of this book attempt at
investigating the penetration, evolution and changes of the new forms of
female monastic and religious life in a delimited space and time: the
kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the period from the 13th to the
16th century, trying to establish the connection between those new
spaces of female spirituality and the strategies, wishes and
potentialities of the women who promoted their creation, strengthening
or reform.