This study has sought to bring into the foreground some of the women elected to lead English nunneries between the years 1280 and 1539, invested as they were with the kind of authority normally reserved for males. The diagrams representing power relations experienced by the superior within and around the nunnery give some idea of the complex interactions taking place. However, linear forms of this kind cannot show the constant change which affected the dynamics of the whole.

The model of leadership indicated both explicitly and implicitly in monastic rules and contemporary literature has been shown to have two distinct ‘sides’: a dual model, bearing the attributes of both authoritarianism and submission. Such a model is complex enough, but later medieval religious houses, existing in a world of commerce and beholden to secular supporters, required even more of their superiors. Evolving customs added significant demands, with the result that heads of nunneries were required to administer estates, supervise secular staff, participate in litigation, entertain at socially-determined levels and devise strategies to elicit aid from various quarters. When these attributes are incorporated into the model the result is a daunting ‘duty statement’ for a female superior. In many respects, the eulogy of the Abbess Euphemia highlights these externally-demanded features as well as modelling the more ‘spiritual’ ideals outlined in the original monastic rules adopted by nuns.