Convents also provided a number of important social and economic functions.
- For example, they offered education and vocational training for women, and they often played a role in providing care for the sick and the poor. Convents also served as important cultural centers, with nuns often being skilled in a variety of arts and crafts, such as manuscript illumination and music.
Convents varied in size, from small communities of a few dozen nuns to large complexes that could house hundreds of women. They were typically located in rural areas, although some urban convents were also established.
A typical medieval convent would include the following buildings:
- a church where the nuns would pray and attend Mass
- a dormitory where the nuns would sleep
- a refectory where the nuns would eat
- a kitchen where the nuns would prepare their food
- a library where the nuns would study
- a cloister, a courtyard surrounded by covered walkways, where the nuns would walk, meditate, and pray.
Nuns in medieval convents typically came from wealthy or noble families and were motivated by religious devotion. They would undergo a period of training before taking their vows, which included instruction in prayer, the Bible, and the rules of the order. Nuns lived a simple life of manual labor, prayer, and contemplation. They would rise early in the morning to pray and attend Mass, and then spend the day working in the fields, the kitchen, or the infirmary.
Convents had a profound impact on European society in the Middle Ages. They provided women with an alternative to marriage and child-rearing and promoted female literacy and education. Convents also played an important role in the growth of Christianity and the preservation of classical learning.