The ladies of Zamora /

Here is a story of medieval high drama. The nuns of Zamora, Spain, established in 1264 with a charter that placed them under the conflicting jurisdictions of the local bishop and the Dominican Order, eventually became divided between the two, the prioress remaining allied to the bishop while a wayward group of nuns sided (and became sexually involved) with some local Dominican friars, Brother Munio a ringleader among them. In 1279 the local bishop took depositions from the nuns (see the appendix), and in that same year the wayward nuns established themselves elsewhere. In 1281 the prioress wrote a letter to Rome imploring protection against future incursions by the friars. The story might have ended here, except that Brother Munio was, in 1285, elected Master General of the Dominican Order. His removal in 1292 at the insistence of a Franciscan pope, rehabilitation by the king of Spain, and subsequent fate make a good if complicated story, on which the author throws light from many directions. Well done. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate; faculty. A. Rabil, Jr.; SUNY College at Old Westbury