Female rules: The construction of identities and their durability throughout historical discourse A comparative study of the monastic rules of Caesarius of Arles

The aim of the following article is to explore the origins of the first western female monastic foundation. The survival of the two monastic rules laid down by bishop Caesarius of Arles has provided us a most valuable opportunity to carry out this comparative study which, together with the application of analytical tools provided by feminist research methodologies, has generated new data that contributes to both enriching the view that we have of early western female monasticism and, at the same time, underlines the need to revise and reinterpret old historical discourse on the subject.