nunneries In the early Anglo‐Saxon period, monastic life for women was almost always in double houses, of which Theodore disapproved. In most of these, monks and nuns shared a church, though at Wimborne (Dorset) each group had its own church. An abbess ruled over the community. She was often of royal or noble birth and for centuries nunneries remained places for aristocratic women.

A number of double monasteries were destroyed during the Viking incursions, and when the monastic revival developed in the 10th cent. single houses were in favour. By 1275 there were ten Saxon nunneries surviving in England and Wales, and another 118 had been founded since the Conquest. Of the total of 138 nunneries between 1275 and 1535, well over half were Benedictine; there were 28 Cistercian nunneries, 18 Augustinian, 4 Franciscan, 2 Cluniac, and 2 Premonstratensian. By the time of the dissolution, there were some 125 English nunneries still in existence, sheltering about 2,000 women.

Convent

an association of religious persons secluded from the world; an assembly or meeting; a body of monks, friars, or nuns; a company of twelve (or with a Superior, thirteen); an assemblage or gathering of people.

Examples: convent of apostles, 1526; of courtiers, 1484; of friars, 1554; of merchants, 1534; of monks; of nuns; of veins and arteries, 1578; of warriors, 1383; of witches, 1652.

convent company of religious persons living together XIII (since XVIII often restricted to nunneries); building housing this XVI. ME. covent — OF. covent (varying with convent with latinized sp., which finally prevailed in Eng.), mod. couvent :- L. conventus assembly, company, f. convent-, pp. stem of convenīre CONVENE.
So conventual XV. — medL. conventuālis.

con·vent / ˈkänˌvent/ • n. a Christian community under monastic vows, esp. one of nuns. ∎  (also convent school) a school, esp. one for girls, attached to and run by such a community. ∎  the building or buildings occupied by such a community.

convent. In ecclesiastical usage either the building in which a body of religious live together, or the religious community itself. Historically applied to the domicile of religious of either sex, in English the term is now usually restricted to those of women.

convent.
1. Company of men or women living in the discipline of a religious Order and under one Superior.

2. The institution founded for (1).

3. A nunnery, i.e. a convent for women only.

convent see monasticism .

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