Abbess, Judge, Jailor: Authority and Imprisonment at Holy Trinity, Caen

What is it about?

The abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen was founded by Mathilda of Flanders, duchess of Normandy and queen of England in June 1066. The abbesses of Holy Trinity are the focus of this study, especially their judicial role and their power to imprison. These rarely discussed aspects of women’s authority are revealed in Manchester, John Rylands Library, GB 133 BMC/66. Produced in 1292 at the meeting of the Exchequer at Rouen, the modest parchment reveals the existence of a prison in Ouistreham, France, under the authority of the abbesses of Holy Trinity. This article engages heretofore unexamined elements of female abbatial authority, jurisdiction and the mechanisms of justice. The preservation of BMC 66 also reflects the documentary imperatives of the women who governed Holy Trinity and fits in to a broader context of memory and documentary culture.

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Why is it important?

Medieval abbesses are rarely imagined as women who ran their own judicial courts, acted as judges, or as jailers. Yet abbesses did indeed operate the prerogatives of judicial power. These rights were highly valued by these elite women, based on the measures they took to preserve the manuscripts that provide evidence for them.