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Living La Vita Apostolica: Longevity of Nuns in Late-Medieval Holland

Zuijderduijn, Jaco LU (2025) In Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal 9(1). p.1-29
Abstract
We know little about the odds of growing old in the later Middle Ages because reconstructions of the longevity and life expectancy of populations require baptismal, marriage, and death registers, which only gradually appear after 1500. The few earlier reconstructions that are available concern males; the female experience of ageing is mostly based on small samples of elite women who lived in the Middle Ages. This paper discusses a necrology of a nunnery in late medieval Holland that provides data on the lives of religious women, from novitiate until death. It allows for a reconstruction of vital events, most notably longevity and life expectancy, and of mortality in late medieval Holland.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal
volume
9
issue
1
pages
1 - 29
ISSN
2373-5481
DOI
10.7146/ageculturehumanities.v9i1.147213
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
537a7d57-f225-468a-bb0a-7687aa6b5fd3
date added to LUP
2025-09-19 08:01:24
date last changed
2025-09-19 10:29:02
@article{537a7d57-f225-468a-bb0a-7687aa6b5fd3,
  abstract     = {{We know little about the odds of growing old in the later Middle Ages because reconstructions of the longevity and life expectancy of populations require baptismal, marriage, and death registers, which only gradually appear after 1500. The few earlier reconstructions that are available concern males; the female experience of ageing is mostly based on small samples of elite women who lived in the Middle Ages. This paper discusses a necrology of a nunnery in late medieval Holland that provides data on the lives of religious women, from novitiate until death. It allows for a reconstruction of vital events, most notably longevity and life expectancy, and of mortality in late medieval Holland.}},
  author       = {{Zuijderduijn, Jaco}},
  issn         = {{2373-5481}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{1--29}},
  series       = {{Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal}},
  title        = {{Living La Vita Apostolica: Longevity of Nuns in Late-Medieval Holland}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/ageculturehumanities.v9i1.147213}},
  doi          = {{10.7146/ageculturehumanities.v9i1.147213}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}