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 KU Leuven
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 ...