ABSTRACT
The number of laywomen living a life of religious devotion and piety in the later Middle Ages blurred the distinction between the lay and religious worlds. The charity practised by nuns, beguines, penitents and saints overlapped with that of the housewife living in village or town. Religious precepts formed an integral part of a woman’s upbringing, and from an early age girls were taught that love of one’s neighbour, as epitomised in active help, complemented love of God which was expressed in worship and prayer. Whether girls married or entered the religious life, their early education made for similar attitudes towards the poor and meant that laywomen’s activities had strong similarities to those of the religious.
