The European Nunneries' Reform In The Period From The Middle Age To The Early Modern Age

In the Modem Age, polity, economy, religion, culture acquired the unprecedented developments, that was, the national consciousness sprouted, the capitalism had been established, religion had been divided, science had been developed. A new society with the fragmentary dream met the dawn. At that time, women, especially celibacy women, took part in the reform of society and show their special effect and compose their magnificent canto.Medieval nunnery was a special community with noble and religious charm. It had never been a pure monastic community due to its strong polity, independent economy, deep culture, rigid order and paradoxical feel, but a community of both religion and secularity, both closing and opening, both dependence and independence, both hierarchy and equality, both internality and externality. With the development of society, these contradictions were intensified to induce the reform of the nunnery. Under the Reformation, nuns in nunneries had made different choices with their different situations, some kept on to live in the convents, some other returned secular society.It is easy to associate the Chinese monks and nuns with the European friars and nuns, so the author make a comparison between premodern Christian nuns and Buddhistic nuns in order to give a new view for different cultures.