Clare Evans memorial essay prize 2006: Liberty, Citizenship and the Suppression of Female Religious Communities in France, 1789-90

Abstract

This article examines how nuns reacted to the proposed suppression of religious orders by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution. Drawing upon petitions sent to the Assembly by female religious communities, as well as the letters of their individual members, it explores how these women harnessed revolutionary discourse to argue for their rights as citizens, revealing in the process their sentiments towards the religious state. Whether they were happy to leave their convents or professed a desire to stay, their correspondence encapsulates the dilemma faced by the Assembly in determining how to ensure liberty for all without overriding individual rights. Show more