Converting Nuns: Religious Diversity in Convent Congregations during the Long Seventeenth Century

Abstract Conversions of professed nuns certainly jeopardized the fragile agreements in convent congregations and territories forged during the sixteenth century and the formal parity agreements in the late seventeenth century. In the more rigid post-Westphalian confessional landscape, the formal and public conversion or reconversion of even a single nun, like her departure, in a multiconfessional convent became an active concern for congregations and rulers alike. This essay will explore the rhetorical, spiritual, pragmatic and community dynamics in convent conversions and reconversions and argue for the inclusion of these flexible forms in conversion studies.