User:Zoetropo/Muriel the Poetess

Muriel the Poetess Muriel the Poetess was a nun at Wilton Abbey in the 11th century. She "was particularly honoured by her burial next to the relics of the Venerable Bede at Wilton". A "pre-1095 poem addressed to her by Baudri de Bourgeuil" described her "as a beautiful young noblewoman who eschewed marriage and wealth to devote herself to virginity in the convent". The monk poet Serlo "wrote to her praising her choice and explaining the conundrum that a lady in 'society' could not be both elegant and virtuous since, in a world where marriages of convenience ruled, a woman who did not take a lover would be looked down on as ill-bred or provincial".