The election and retention of an abbess or prioress depended to a large extent on the interaction of numerous factors including social class, networks of supporters, secular attitudes to the role and religious conventions. Also of considerable significance was the nunnery superior's relationship with the outside world. Investigations into this area demand attention to a range of data, including wills, letters, and selected documents from the royal and papal courts.

Election of the Convent Superior

The Benedictine Rule, like others of its kind, provides advice for the election of a monastic superior. The male Benedictine version states that the abbot may be chosen ‘unanimously’ by the whole community, or a minority, however small, if its counsel ‘be more wholesome’. It also requires that the nominee be selected on the basis of personal wisdom and quality of life, regardless of seniority in the monastery. Where an unsuitable candidate is selected, the local bishop and ‘neighbouring abbots of christians’ are to take action and choose another, when the situation becomes known. The ‘Northern Metrical Version’ for nuns includes a similar prescription; the only significant variation from the early form is the direction that the nuns are to elect their new superior in consultation with the whole community rather than by a select committee. Of course, the very fact that the late medieval monastery superior was appointed by vote indicates that differences of opinion were not uncommon; indeed, canon law made provision for alternative methods to cover this contingency.