ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the circumstances of thirty-six nun musicians from sixteen different female monasteries in Castilla la Vieja during the late sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, each of whom received some form of financial compensation in exchange for her musical services. The costs associated with entering a monastery varied from one house to another, depending upon the monastery's relative prestige. At the Monasterio de Santa Clara in Madrid, profesión agreements show a gradual increase in the amount of compensation for dowry waivers granted during the seventeenth century to nuns who played the bajón. The situados nun musicians received in exchange for their services as players and teachers also varied from house to house, ranging from as little as one or two ducados per year to as much as twenty. The existence of financial compensation in the form of dowry waivers and situados for nun musicians has occasioned speculation about society's valuation of nuns' music.
