English Convents in Catholic Europe, c.1600–1800

'Many contemporaries regarded enclosed convents as major spiritual, intellectual and even ideological statements about the nature of true religion. In the context of the changes of religion in England from the mid-sixteenth century onwards, the setting up of English convents in exile was a serious public intervention in the post-Reformation Church. This book draws on an impressive array of archival sources about these convents, and comprehensively and authoritatively reinstates them in the modern-day historiography of the British and European Reformation and Counter-Reformation.' Michael Questier, Research Chair, University of Vanderbilt, Nashville
'This important contribution to the study of the Early Modern English Catholic diaspora, shows how the English convents established on the continent were not inward-looking institutions, but were fully engaged with the latest Counter-Reformation ideas and practices. The book gives a wide-ranging account of the convents in their first two centuries by focusing on how the nuns created a collective identity in exile.' Christopher Highley, Ohio State University
'Here is a work that reads the English convents as they understood themselves. That is as all-female communities at the heart of European Catholic reformation, as nuns on mission for England and for the world. Their rich world of cloisters, kin, song, prayer, money, and networking is beautifully reconstructed and interrogated in this essential and original volume.' John McCafferty, University College Dublin
'This broad-ranging study testifies to its author's in-depth knowledge of conventual archives … Its treatment of complex issues allies nuance and clarity, and those qualities contribute to making this monograph a great read.' Laurence Lux-Sterritt, British Catholic History
'Kelly is to be congratulated for restoring the religious dimension to the discussion.' Thomas M. McCoog, Journal of Jesuit Studies
'… Kelly's book is an outstanding and well-researched analysis which has finally shed light on a world which has not been properly understood and examined. One of the many merits of this book is to have described the rich array of details on the entrant nuns, their family background, the organization of the journey to mainland Europe, and their life inside the convent.' Matteo Binasco, Studi irlandesi
'Kelly has convincingly demonstrated the need to situate English Catholic convents firmly within their wider European context and recognise them as particularly vigorous expressions of Tridentine Catholicism. His book will therefore be of great interest not only to scholars of early modern English Catholicism, but also to historians of the European Counter-Reformation more broadly …' Frederick E. Smith, English Historical Review
'English Convents in Catholic Europe is a landmark monograph in several ways. Impeccably written and deeply researched, this magisterial work will set the standard for a dynamic field that is still largely in its infancy.' Jaime Goodrich, Early Modern Women
'… Kelly offers a meaningful contribution to the study of the early modern English convents and their relationship to the Catholic Reformation-one that will guide and sustain future research into these communities and the nuns who entered them.' Jenna Lay, Church History
'… it is essential that academia be reminded periodically that social activism or national sentiment does not explain why they abandoned so much for the cloister. Convents were more than a haven for more confessionally mobile English Catholics. Kelly is to be congratulated for restoring the religious dimension to the discussion.' Thomas M. McCoog, Journal of Jesuit Studies
'[Kelly] is an engaging writer and uses a wide array of sources, including letters, obituary books, accounts, and spiritual treatises, to powerfully evoke the quotidian experiences of these women.' Colleen M. Seguin, American Historical Review
'… This is an excellent survey based on close reading of the recent literature, which opens up new questions about the lives of these resilient and redoubtable women who contributed significantly to post-Reformation English and European Catholicism.' William Sheils, Journal of Ecclesiastical History
'… an impressive study … The book provides a fascinating window into the collective experience of nearly four thousand English nuns in the period of the Catholic Reformation … [it] provides an important answer to anyone wondering what happened to the long tradition of English monasticism, and especially of convents, after the Dissolution.' Genelle Gertz, Renaissance Quarterly