God, the devil, and the nun. Visions as mystical experiences among religious women in contemplative conventual orders in Spain and the Spanish Netherlands, 1560-1700

In the decades after 1560, female conventuals in Catholic Europe
experienced a sharp increase in the number of visions with a divine
or diabolic content. The increase was partly due to renewed attention
to medieval mysticism and to new contemplative methods. In the
eyes of many theologians, visions soon became an exclusive and
dangerous feature of female spirituality. Some of them led to
exorcism or even accusations of witchcraft. However, most have
escaped the attention of historians because they did not result in
prosecution.
This project studies the religious visions of Discalced Carmelite nuns
in the order’s convents in Spain and the Spanish Netherlands
between 1560 and 1700. It will analyze and classify the content of
the visions, relate them to the circumstances in which they
manifested themselves, and trace models in written and iconographic
sources. It will further historicize by studying the visions’ roles in the
lives of these women, particularly the gendered role in the
confrontation between the nuns and their male superiors, as religious
authorities increasingly sought to control their spirituality by imposing
on the seers the official, male-authored discourse of the Church.
This project’s key innovation is in its bottom-up approach that puts
the nuns and their writings at the center of the research and
examines how they described and experienced their visions, giving
meaning to their experiences before their male superiors did so in
their role as church official.