Beyond the Vows: Living in Loneliness and Hidden Desires in Female Portugal Convents

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Landscapes of Care: Exploring Heart-centered Practice in Historical Archaeology", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper evidences the emotional struggles of women in convents in Portugal during the 17th and 18th century. Triggered by a novice unsent letter, found during a 1988 archaeological excavation at the Jesus convent in Setubal, Portugal, that reveals her turmoil and longing for her lover, this letter together with other strategies, shows how nuns coped with isolation and forbidden desires.

A significant number of girls and women were most probably forced into religious life by several reasons, from family pressure to personal refuge. This study examines the way these girls would most probably feel displaced and lonely. Strict vows of obedience, chastity, silence, enclosure, and poverty were not enough to break them. Despite the austerity, archaeological findings like luxury items and pets reveal nuns' efforts to combat their loneliness. The study emphasizes the complex emotional lives of nuns, who often, despite their vows, maintained ties to the outside world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• Landscapes of Care: Exploring Heart-centered Practice in Historical Archaeology

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Contact(s): Nicole Haddow