Behind the Cloistered Walls: Secret Scandals, Inquisition Records, and the Hidden Realities of Medieval Convents

The smell of incense lingered in the stone corridors. But beneath the fragrance of ritual and prayer, other tensions lived in silence.

When we imagine medieval convents, we picture sanctuaries of purity—women devoted entirely to God, enclosed from temptation, immersed in sacred vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty. Official ecclesiastical chronicles describe monasteries as fortresses of holiness. Vatican records portray nuns as brides of Christ, untouched by the corruption of the world.

Yet buried within Inquisition archives, episcopal registers, and monastic disciplinary records, another story emerges—one far more complex and deeply human.

What really happened inside the walls of Europe’s medieval convents?
What occurred during the long nights of enclosure, when strict religious discipline collided with suppressed emotion, youth, loneliness, and power?

Convent Life: Devotion, Control, and Absolute Enclosure

In medieval Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, convents operated under rigid canon law, particularly in enclosed orders such as the Benedictines, Poor Clares, Dominicans, and Carmelites. Once professed, a nun’s world shrank permanently to stone walls, barred windows, and structured silence.

Many girls entered at fifteen—or younger. Some were devout by choice. Many were not.

Families without sufficient dowries often placed daughters in convents for economic reasons. Noble families sometimes offered daughters as spiritual pledges. Others entered after scandal or family dispute. Once inside, the vow of enclosure meant:

·         No unsupervised contact with men

·         Limited access to family

·         Strict control over speech and movement

·         Severe modesty regulations

·         Constant spiritual surveillance

In some communities, mirrors were forbidden. Bathing required wearing full garments. Even self-touching during washing could require permission from a superior.

The body was framed as a battlefield.
Desire was labeled temptation.
Pleasure was spiritual danger.

But repression does not erase biology.

Inquisition Records: “Sisters of the Heart”

Archival material from 15th and 16th century inquisitorial proceedings in Italy and Spain references intimate “particular friendships” between nuns—often labeled “sisters of the heart.”

Officially, these bonds were spiritual companionships. Unofficially, some investigations describe physical intimacy discovered during internal inspections.

One 1492 inquisitorial record from Toledo documents an interrogation involving two nuns accused of sharing a cell during winter months. Their confessions, extracted under pressure, describe seeking “warmth and consolation” in one another during enforced isolation.

The language of the record reflects moral condemnation.
But beneath it lies something more revealing: intense loneliness.

In a cloistered environment where all emotional expression was monitored, human attachment had few outlets. The Church tolerated spiritual affection. It feared physical affection.

When discovered, punishment followed:

·         Forced transfers to distant convents

·         Extended fasting

·         Solitary confinement

·         Public humiliation during chapter meetings

These cases were rarely publicized. Ecclesiastical authorities managed scandal internally to preserve the image of conventual purity.

Objects of “Mortification” and Suppressed Evidence

Several internal visitation reports mention confiscated carved objects described as “instruments of fleshly temptation.” These were officially labeled tools of mortification—devices used to punish the body and resist sin.

Some confessions suggest alternative uses.

Ecclesiastical authorities often destroyed such items immediately. Records were sealed. Documentation was vague. Scandal threatened institutional credibility.

The pattern is consistent across archives in Florence, Venice, and Palermo:
Discovery.
Private investigation.
Silent removal.
No civil involvement.

The preservation of moral authority took priority over transparency.

Mystical Ecstasy: Holiness or Embodied Experience?

The case of Teresa of Ávila complicates the boundary between spirituality and embodiment. Her writings describe divine union in intensely sensory language—piercing hearts, overwhelming sweetness, physical trembling.

The Church canonized her experiences as authentic mysticism.

Yet male confessors sometimes recorded unease when witnessing similar ecstatic states among other nuns: trembling, altered breathing, vocalized cries, trance-like physical reactions.

Where was the line between spiritual ecstasy and embodied sensation?
Who determined it?

The distinction often depended less on the act itself and more on ecclesiastical approval.

Confessors and Power: When Spiritual Authority Became Abuse

Convents relied heavily on male confessors assigned by bishops. These men possessed extraordinary influence:

·         They heard every “impure thought.”

·         They directed penances.

·         They evaluated spiritual progress.

·         They controlled absolution.

Some internal Church investigations—such as a 1587 Roman Curia inquiry—document priests dismissed for “excesses in spiritual direction.”

Records describe:

·         Inappropriate touching disguised as exorcism

·         Explicit questioning framed as spiritual interrogation

·         Coercion under threat of damnation

One Venetian case involving a priest confessor resulted in multiple pregnancies within a convent. The priest was quietly removed. The nuns were isolated. The children disappeared into adoption registers.

Civil courts were not notified.

Ecclesiastical jurisdiction shielded the institution from public scandal.

The Case of Benedetta Carlini

Among the most documented convent scandals is that of Benedetta Carlini, abbess of a Tuscan convent in the early 17th century.

She claimed to receive visions and divine visitations. During an ecclesiastical investigation, another nun testified that their intimate relationship was justified as divine possession by a male angel named Splenditello.

The transcripts, preserved in Florentine archives, reveal theological confusion among investigators:
Was it fraud?
Mental illness?
Demonic influence?
Or suppressed desire expressed through religious language?

Benedetta was ultimately condemned and confined for decades. The Church framed the case as spiritual deception.

Modern historians interpret it as a window into how women navigated impossible systems of repression.

Pregnancies Within Enclosure

Perhaps the most destabilizing scandal involved pregnancies in strictly enclosed convents.

Internal convent records from 16th–17th century Italy and Spain document cases where nuns gave birth in secrecy. Official explanations often blamed “diabolical assault” or spiritual violation.

More frequently, investigations revealed access points:

·         Confessors

·         Visiting physicians

·         Gardeners

·         Supply workers

In one Sicilian case from 1623, three nuns became pregnant simultaneously. The gardener possessed a secondary key. He was executed quietly. The nuns were transferred. The children were registered as orphans.

Public knowledge was avoided at all cost.

Flagellation and the Blurred Line of Devotion

Self-mortification was encouraged in many monastic traditions. Whips with braided cords were used during penitential rituals.

The more intense the suffering, the greater the perceived devotion.

Yet physicians such as Girolamo Mercuriale observed psychological patterns resembling addiction: anticipation, altered states, emotional dependency on ritual pain.

Collective flagellation ceremonies blurred boundaries between discipline and embodied experience.

Was it punishment?
Or an outlet in a world that denied every other outlet?

No official answer exists.

Psychological Consequences of Extreme Repression

Modern scholars examining convent archives identify recurring symptoms among nuns subjected to severe enclosure:

·         Hallucinations

·         Self-harm

·         Eating disorders

·         Psychosomatic illness

·         Obsessive behaviors

Many entries describe what contemporary psychology would recognize as trauma responses.

Others reveal tender bonds formed between women seeking emotional survival in isolation.

These women were not caricatures of scandal. They were human beings navigating institutional rigidity.

The Architecture of Silence

The most consistent pattern in monastic scandal is not the act itself—but the concealment:

·         Documents removed from circulation

·         Witnesses relocated

·         Trials conducted internally

·         Records classified under vague terminology

Ecclesiastical courts prioritized containment over exposure.
Reputation over reform.

As historian Carlo Ginzburg notes, authority often determines what is labeled sacred or sinful—not inherent moral difference.

A Larger Question of Power and Control

The medieval convent was both refuge and prison.

Some women found genuine spiritual fulfillment. Others endured forced enclosure, systemic repression, and abuse.

The historical record suggests a recurring lesson:
When institutions claim total authority over bodies—particularly women’s bodies—abuse becomes structurally easier to conceal.

The walls of extreme enclosure have largely disappeared in modern Europe. Yet debates surrounding bodily autonomy, religious authority, and institutional accountability remain deeply relevant.

Listening to the Archived Voices

The surviving documents—interrogation transcripts, episcopal reports, sealed visitation records—carry filtered voices. They are written by judges, confessors, and investigators.

Yet beneath that language, something unmistakable persists: longing, fear, devotion, confusion, survival.

These women were neither saints nor monsters. They were individuals navigating a system that demanded spiritual perfection while denying biological reality.

The scandals of medieval convents are not merely stories of forbidden acts. They are case studies in institutional power, repression psychology, religious authority, gender control, and archival secrecy.

And perhaps the most unsettling question is not what happened behind stone walls centuries ago.

It is whether systems of silence and power have truly vanished—or merely changed shape.