# Alice Henley

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{{Short description|English abbess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

'''Alice Henley''' (died 1470) was an English [abbess](/source/abbess) at the [Benedictine](/source/Benedictines) Godstow Nunnery, [Godstow](/source/Godstow), [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire).<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB |last=Orme |first=Nicholas |date=3 January 2008 |orig-date=23 September 2004 |title=Henley, Alice (d. 1470), abbess of Godstow |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-54450 |access-date=2025-01-08 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/54450}}</ref>

== Life ==
Henley was a senior nun of Godstow Nunnery in 1445. She was elected abbess in 1446 and ruled until she died in 1470.<ref name=":0" /> During her rule, a royal confirmation of Godstow's foundation charters was obtained in 1462.<ref name=":0" />

Her tenure as abbess was during a time when religious women's lack of education in [Latin](/source/Latin) was beginning to cause administrative developments to meet their needs.<ref name=":0" /> She commissioned a summarised [English](/source/English_language) translation of her abbey's Latin charters<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orme |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mzTVODUjB0C&dq=alice+henley+godstow&pg=PA276 |title=Medieval Schools: From Roman Britain to Renaissance England |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11102-6 |pages=276 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Power |first=Eileen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDDjpi81RrQC&dq=alice+henley+godstow&pg=PA253 |title=Medieval English Nunneries: C.1275 to 1535 |date=2010-10-31 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01714-5 |pages=252–253 |language=en}}</ref> by a "poor brother and admirer" of Henley and her convert.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Eckenstein |first=Lina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74fyozRh8B8C&dq=alice+henley&pg=PA488 |title=Woman Under Monasticism: Chapters on Saint-lore and Convent Life Between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500 |date=1896 |publisher=University Press |isbn=978-0-7905-4226-3 |pages=359–360 |language=en}}</ref> He created the "[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AHA2738.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext English Register]"<ref name=":1" /> which allowed the nuns to better understand their [muniment](/source/muniment)s and instruct their servants without having to consult an outsider.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliva |first=Marilyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIvErg226iYC&dq=alice+henley+godstow&pg=PA75 |title=The Convent and the Community in Late Medieval England: Female Monasteries in the Diocese of Norwich, 1350-1540 |date=1998 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-0-85115-576-0 |pages=75 |language=en}}</ref> According to medieval historian Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, the [cartulary](/source/cartulary) is the only one that has survived intact and is also more extensive and covers a longer time period than other cartularies of the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bugyis |first=Katie Ann-Marie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiiPDwAAQBAJ |title=The Care of Nuns: The Ministries of Benedictine Women in England during the Central Middle Ages |date=2019-04-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-085130-9 |pages=242 |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Henley Alice}}
Category:1470 deaths
Category:15th-century English nuns
Category:Benedictine abbesses
Category:Medieval abbesses
Category:15th-century abbesses

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alice Henley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Henley) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Henley?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.