History & Area Studies / World History / Ancient & Medieval History

How Medieval Nuns Built a Secret Financial Empire That Ruled the Mediterranean

Clarisas y dominicas: Modelos de implantación, filiación, promoción y devoción en la Península Ibérica, Cerdeña, Nápoles y Sicilia

Blanca Garí de Aguilera

Think medieval nuns were just helpless women locked away in convents? Think again. This video unpacks a groundbreaking academic study, 'Clarisas y dominicas: Modelos de implantación, filiación, promoción y devoción en la Península Ibérica, Cerdeña, Nápoles y Sicilia,' by researchers at the University of Barcelona. Using cutting-edge GIS mapping, the authors reveal how cloistered nuns in Spain, Italy, and Sardinia—led by figures like St. Clare of Assisi and Queen Maria of Hungary—built a hidden network that controlled trade routes, amassed vast wealth, and even financed city defenses. From smuggling heretics to erasing husbands from tombstones, discover how these women turned convents into powerhouses of economic and political influence. Author: Blanca Garí de Aguilera and team. This is the untold story of female power in the Middle Ages.