Chapter XI: The Olde Daunce

Nuns and the celibate ideal 436

Sources of evidence for the moral state of the English nunneries 439

Apostate nuns 440

Nuns' lovers 446

Nuns' children 450

Disorder in two small houses, Cannington (1351) and Easebourne
(1478) 452

Disorder in the great abbeys of Amesbury and Godstow 454

Moral state of the nunneries in the diocese of Lincoln at two
periods 456

Attempted statistical estimate of cases of immorality in
Lincoln (1430-50), Norwich (1514) and Chichester (1478, 1524)
dioceses 460

Punishment of offenders 462

General conclusions 471

CHAPTER XII. THE MACHINERY OF REFORM

The chapter meeting 475

Reform by external authorities:
(1) a parent house 478
(2) the chapter general of the order 481
(3) the bishop of the diocese 482

The episcopal visitation and injunctions 483

How far was this control adequate?
(1) concealment of faults 488
(2) visitation too infrequent 490
(3) difficulty of enforcing injunctions 492

Value of visitation documents to the historian 493