ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that although loneliness was not a word in the early modern lexicon, the emotion was keenly felt by exiled English nuns who not only left kin and homeland for the convent but were actively encouraged to eschew human companionship to foster an intense relationship with God. Many women were successful in employing the techniques of ‘structural loneliness’ for this monastic endeavour, forming satisfying mystical connections with Christ. Others suffered mental and physical anguish, which they sought to alleviate through correspondence, tangible objects, humour and proscribed friendships. Yet nostalgia for past lives, identities and relationships encouraged political, sociable and mystical action in cloisters, revealing the positive and transformative capacity of this emotion.
