• 1 In 1569, the Union of Lublin between the GDL and the Polish Kingdom was signed, creating the Polish (...)
• 2 For more on women rights in the GDL, see : Irena Valikonytė, “Ar Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystė (...)
• 3 Andrzej Karpiński, Kobieta w mieście polskim w drugiej połowie xvi i xvii wieku, Warszawa, Instytut (...)

1The social and legal life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania1 was regulated by three statutes, passed in 1529, 1566, and 1588. According to the Third Statute, valid until 1842, women did not have any political rights, could not participate in elections to the Diet or local government, could not hold administrative positions and were referred to by their husband’s occupation (for example, « the wife of the Vilnius Voivode », « the wife of the Kaunas Marshal », or « the wife of the Burgomaster »). On the other hand, women would often support men in their political activities, had the right to inherit family property and the freedom to use it according to their will. This right became the most important source of women’s freedoms in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereafter GDL) as well as the basis of their social status. In the sixteenth century, Michalo Lituanus and other theoreticians occasionally raised the issue of the excessive influence of Lithuanian women and called for their rights to be curtailed, but this was never done in practice2. Another important law was the Magdeburg Law, which accorded self-government to the towns and gave them a certain level of independence from political rulers, local aristocrats and senior churchmen. Citizens could elect their city council and other local government bodies responsible for the affairs of the city administration, treasury and court. The Magdeburg Law guaranteed citizens a certain level of protection and freedom for crafts and trade. Although this law, similarly to the Lithuanian Statutes, made no provision for the participation of women in urban government, women were able to own property and businesses and, in this way, could engage in a wide range of economic and social activities3.

• 4 Maria Bogucka, Białogłowa w dawnej Polsce. Kobieta w społeczeństwie polskim xvi–xviii wieku na tle (...)

2In addition to the legal aspects, the attitude of the Catholic Church to women in the Early Modern period was especially important. As Maria Bogucka has noted, on a theoretical level, religious doctrine accepted the principle of freedom of thought for all – including women. In the teaching of Christ, man and woman were treated equally, and both worthy of salvation. The relationship between man and woman was often equated with the relationship between Christ and the Church, while the Sacrament of Marriage was to be taken freely and signified a union of equals4. However, in real life, there were many deviations from this ideal model and patriarchal families dominated.

• 5 Jolanta Karpavičienė, Moteris Vilniuje ir Kaune XVI a. pirmojoje pusėje. Gyvenimo sumiestinimo Liet (...)

3An unmarried woman lived under the protection of her father or other male patron. According to the Lithuanian Statutes, in order to get married, women had to receive the consent of their parents or relatives (patrons). If women married against the will of the family, they would forfeit their dowry. The legal representative of the married woman was her husband. After her spouse’s death, a widow was assigned a patron until at least one of her sons was old enough to become the head of the family. In practice, however, widows often became the head of the household, took over their husband’s business, took care of the family, and managed the family property. Although in theory women had to be represented in court by a patron, in practice they often defended their interests for themselves. A legal representative could be hired to represent their interests more professionally, to save time, or for other practical reasons. A researcher who has studied the GDL towns with Magdeburg rights, Jolanta Karpavičienė, states that, to a certain extent, such practices reflected the modernization of Lithuanian court proceedings in this period5. The status of nuns was similar to that of widows. A nunnery was represented by its abbess (elder) or by a patron (monk, bishop or hired nobleman).

• 6 Maria Bogucka, Białogłowa w dawnej Polsce, op. cit., p. 103–104, 167.
• 7 Ibid., p. 106.
• 8 Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity : Pious Women and the Catholic Reformation in Pari (...)

4In the Early Modern period, women had ample opportunities for social activities relating to the Catholic Church. According to Maria Bogucka, after the Council of Trent, women were engaged in the conversion of non-Catholics, funded, built, furnished and supported churches, monasteries and altars, and indeed were more generous in this respect than men. They initiated spiritual fraternities and participated in their activities and in charity work. Women also played an important role in popular culture by spreading folk beliefs6. Nuns contributed greatly to the reformation of the convents, established monastic schools, and engaged in intellectual work7. Similarly, Barbara B. Diefendorf has shown that women were actively involved in the Catholic Reformation movement in Paris8, where they acted not only as financial supporters, but also as spiritual leaders. Women contributed to the development of spirituality, created new religious communities, invented new forms of semi-religious life, and participated actively in catechistic and charitable work.

• 9 Zigmantas Kiaupa, Kauno istorija, Vilnius, Versus aureus, 2010, vol. 1, p. 169.
• 10 Algė Jankevičienė, “Kauno gotikinės bažnyčios“, Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 2002, no. 26 : Lie (...)

6Kaunas was one of the largest GDL towns with Magdeburg rights, which had been granted in 1408. In the Early Modern era, Kaunas had approximately 7 000 inhabitants9. The first three Catholic churches in Kaunas were founded only in the fifteenth century: St. Peter and Paul’s Parish Church, the Franciscan Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the Bernadine Church of St. George. In the sixteenth century, the churches of St. Nicholas, St. Gertrude, and the Church of the Holy Cross were built, thus forming a network of Catholic churches in Kaunas and its surrounding area. The churches were built in red brick in the late-Gothic style that prevailed in the town at the time10. During the Reformation period, a German Lutheran community, which had a strong influence in the town, established its own place of worship. Kaunas residents of Ruthenian origin, although not influential, had their own Orthodox Church. There was also a strong Jewish community near Kaunas.

• 11 The letter of Kaunas Magistrate, Kaunas, 21.06.1515, The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Acade (...)
• 12 For more on the right of patronage, see : Bogumil Szady, Prawo patronatu w Rzeczypospolitej w czasa (...)
• 13 Inventarium Ecclesiae S. Crucis in suburbio ad Caunam sitae, 3 March 1772, MAB, f. 273-241, p. 15v.
• 14 A letter of the Vilnius bishop Paulus Holszański, Vilnius, 25 June 1537, MAB, f. 273-234 ; Bibliote (...)

8The importance of Kaunas women in creating the network of Catholic churches and monasteries is unquestionable. Archive evidence reveals how the women of Kaunas and their spouses contributed to the foundation of churches and monasteries in the town. For example, on 10 July 1510, the Church of the Holy Cross was founded on the initiative of Kaunas inhabitant, Dorothea Nabowa11. While seriously ill, Dorothea promised to build a church, and fulfilled the promise after her recovery, thanking the Lord for her restored health. According to Dorothea’s will, the patronage of the church12 was to be transferred to the mayors of Kaunas after her death. While alive, Dorothea took care of the appointment of pastors to this church as well as ensuring their material support. After her death, the pastor inherited the land on which the church was built, a plot near the Marva stream, and a brick house in the Great (Town Hall) Square13, a substantial legacy in material terms. The Bishop of Vilnius, Paulus Holszański, officially approved the foundation of Dorothea Nabowa’s church on 25 June 153714. Although Dorothea’s husband, Jan Nabe, was alive at the time, it is not clear why he did not participate in the foundation and handed over the initiative to his wife.

• 15 An altar was built and the maintenance of the priest taking the mass was ensured.
• 16 Jolanta Karpavičienė, Moteris Vilniuje ir Kaune, op. cit., p. 120.
• 17 Zigmantas Kiaupa, Kauno istorija, vol. 1, op. cit., p. 117.

9Another Kaunas citizen, Barbara Maciejowa-Juszkowa, the widow of the town’s mayor, Jerzy Juszka Smietanka, funded the altar of St. Trinity15 at Kaunas parish church, and donated the Šatijai manor and several brick buildings and gardens in Kaunas, in 152516. Margarita Obtuchowa, the wife of Michał Obtuch, considerably improved the material situation of the pastor of Kaunas and the canon of Vilnius, Erasmus (a son of Eustachius), by donating to him one of her three brick houses in Kaunas, in 153117. These initiatives from sixteenth-century Kaunas women strengthened considerably the material position of the Catholic Church in the town.

• 18 Will of Apolonia Jasińska-Massalska, 5 May 1643, Lithuanian Sate Historical Archives (hereafter : L (...)

10The contribution of noblewoman Apolonia Jasińska-Massalska, the wife of Kaunas County Marshal Alexander Massalski, to the foundation of the Bernardine nunnery in Kaunas, in 1618, is also worth mentioning. According to the documentary record, the nunnery’s foundation was the work of both spouses. After the death of Massalski in 1643, Apolonia Jasińska-Massalska took over the management of the nunnery. In her will, made the same year, she supported her late husband’s wish to donate their common property (including the main estate of Zapyškis) to the Bernardine nuns. This decision was undoubtedly motivated by the fact that their only surviving child, daughter Clara, was herself a Kaunas Bernardine nun18.

• 19 For more information see : Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity, op. cit., p. 246.

11These three examples testify to the close involvement of women in the creation of the Catholic churches and convents in and around Kaunas. In Early Modern Kaunas, women contributed in important ways to the foundation of parish churches and convents, and to the construction of altars in specific churches. In this respect, the activities of the women of Kaunas are similar those of their counterparts in other European towns in Early Modern Europe. For example, in Paris, women also provided material support for the Catholic Church19. Although the scope of this research does not include church inventories, an investigation of this matter might offer further evidence of women’s role as donators of liturgical supplies, expensive cups, candlesticks, and hand-made textile such as chasubles and altar coverings. In this way, women helped to create the material comfort and beauty of these places of worship.

• 20 For more information on war with Russia see : Генадзь Сагановiч, Невядомая вайна, 1654–1667, Менск, (...)

12The role of women in spreading local cult traditions is also worthy of note. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the GDL experienced one of the bloodiest wars in its history. From 1655–1661, Kaunas was occupied by the Russian army. The famine and plague that followed led to the deaths of about half of the GDL’s population20. This cataclysm could be compared to the consequences of the Black Death (plague) that affected Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century. Researchers often emphasize an increased spiritual sensitivity and a greater attachment to God’s providence and protection in the subsequent period.

• 21 Juozas Vaišnora^, Marijos garbinimas Lietuvoje, Roma : Lietuvių katalikų mokslų akademija, 1958 ; Je (...)
• 22 Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity, op. cit., p. 86.
• 23 Tojana Račiūnaitė, Atvaizdo gyvastis. Švč. Mergelės Marijos stebuklingų atvaizdų patirtis Lietuvos (...)

13During this period, piety surrounding the figure of the Virgin Mary21 in the GDL and the Kingdom of Poland became widespread, in contrast to the situation in France, for example, where the Christocentric devotion to the Suffering of Christ prevailed22. Due to the lack of local saints, a tradition developed of honouring paintings famous for their miraculous powers, usually depicting the Virgin Mary and Child. The cult was influenced by the strong Byzantine tradition of icon veneration23. In Kaunas, as in other towns of the GDL, women participated actively in the dissemination of this rite. A particularly striking example is the case of the miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary which hung (and still hangs) in St. George’s Church in Kaunas’ Bernardine monastery. It should be noted that the miraculous attributes of this painting were not validated by the ecclesiastical authorities, but by the Bernardine guardian, Alexander Macyna, who took great care to promote the miracles linked to the painting. He collected testimonies, and compiled a book of miraculous stories that served as a basis for confirming the exceptional nature of the painting.

• 24 For more information see : Vaida Kamuntavičienė, “The Attempts of the Bernardines to Influence the (...)

15Magdalena Wędziagolska also claimed to have personally experienced the influence of the painting of the Virgin Mary, which had helped her recover from a terrible headache that prevented her from getting out of bed. Remembering this painting, Wędziagolska visited the Raudonė manor. However, finding several paintings hanging in the chapel, she was not sure which one was associated with the famous miracles. The answer, reportedly, came from the painting itself: Wędziagolska’s finger pointed of its own accord to the Bernardine painting. Thus, the woman started to pray, asking for a miracle from the Lord, and she left a votive offering with the painting. Soon, her headache disappeared completely. The St Casimir’s day guests seemed to enjoy the stories of the miracles associated with the painting. It was reported that merely speaking on the subject worked wonders and that all those present witnessed a new miracle. While listening to the stories about the miraculous painting, the wife of Lowrynowicz, the hostess of the feast, was cured of the horrible headache that had been tormenting her all that day24.

• 25 Andrzej Karpiński, Kobieta w mieście polskim, op. cit., p. 228.

16This episode shows the role of women in spreading piety concerning the Virgin Mary, expressed through the veneration of the painting of the Mother of God. This confirms researchers’ claims with regard to the role of women in creating local traditions. However, the data testifying to private religious practice and local pilgrimages is very scarce25. Wędziagolska’s trip to Raudonė manor to see the miraculous painting could be seen as an example of a local pilgrimage with all of its characteristic attributes (prayer, votive offering, manifestation of God’s grace, and healing), confirming the healing effects attributed to pilgrimages.

• 26 Laima Šinkūnaitė, Rima Valinčiūtė-Varnė, Vaida Kamuntavičienė, Nijolė Lukšionytė-Tolvaišienė, Kauno (...)

17In fact, another miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy hangs in the Kaunas parish church of St. Peter and Paul26, indicating that the Bernardines’ painting of the Mother of God was not the only one associated with healing properties. However, far less information has survived about this second miraculous painting. Without any miracle records, it is difficult to establish how far women were involved in disseminating this cult. To this day, this surviving picture is adorned with votive offerings, a testimony to its continuing importance for the local community.

• 27 On French spiritual practices see : Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity, op. cit., p.  (...)

18Homage to the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy reveals that even the suffering of Christ was viewed from the perspective of Mary holding her tormented son in her hands. The need for Mary’s mediation in seeking intercession with the Lord was one of the cornerstones of Lithuanian piety. It is worth emphasizing that strict or penitential asceticism, mortification of the body or more internalized mortifications of the spirit typical in France did not manifest themselves in Lithuania27, The prevailing cult of Mary and the related veneration of the paintings considered as miraculous emphasized motherhood as a key feature of spiritual life.

• 28 Amy E. Leonard, “Female Religious orders”, A Companion to the Reformation World, ed. R. Po-chia Hsi (...)
• 29 Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity, op. cit., p. 145.

19Another important group of Kaunas women were the nuns of the town’s two nunneries – the Bernardines and the Benedictines. Although they lived in a cloister, physically separated from the urban community, their influence cannot be ignored. Researchers emphasize that the strict cloister rules envisaged by the Council of Trent were difficult to implement in many European convents28, Kaunas being no exception. The requirement to live in cloistered seclusion was intended to protect women from the influences of Protestantism, as well as to help them to respect the requirement of chastity. However, as Barbara B. Diefendorf points out, the cloister had other advantages: it helped the nuns to separate themselves from their families and to avoid frequent visits from parents and relatives, which, it was felt, would distract the nuns and remind them of family affairs or worries of secular life, thus hindering their spiritual vocation29, The main goal of every nun as a bride of Christ was to cut herself off from the affairs of the world and to serve Christ. In many convents, however, cloister rules depended more on local traditions, the attitudes of local bishops, and the orders of monks to which certain convents were subject. Although the Kaunas Benedictines were under the authority of the Bishop of Vilnius, and the Kaunas Bernardines under the authority of the town’s Bernardine monks, a practically identical approach to the cloister was observed in both nunneries. Thus, compliance with this requirement was determined not by regulations and subordination, but by local tradition.

• 30 The will of Elisabeth Massalska-Pacowa-Stankiewiczowa, 29 August 1687, AProw Bern, M 14, p. 105–118 (...)

21Women tired of family life or despotic husbands would also sometimes find shelter in the convent. For example, Elisabeth Massalska, a widow of GDL commander (obożny) Bonifacy Pac (with whom she had two daughters, Marianna and Anna), subsequently married the administrator of Ariogala, Stephan Stankiewicz. However, apparently, family life with her second husband was less than harmonious, and Elisabeth Massalska and her daughters settled with the Kaunas Bernardines. As the woman’s health was deteriorating, on 29 August 1687, she made a will according to which she requested to be buried in a nun’s habit in the crypt of the Church of the Holy Trinity. As a token of gratitude for the care she had received, she donated 5 000 gold coins from the estate of Vidžiai, inherited from her mother Marcybella Massalska, the wife of Stanislaus Massalski, the boundary judge (podkomorzy) of Grodno. It was stipulated that the donation was to be used for the restoration of the Holy Trinity Church and the maintenance of the nunnery. The daughters were left in the care of Adamus Eperyasz and his wife Anna Pacowna-Eperyaszowa, and their care was to be supervised by the Samogitian bishop, Kazimierz Pac, and the elder of Batakiai, Jan Krzysztof Pac, both relatives of Elisabeth’s first husband, Bonifacy Pac. She forgave her second husband all the wrongs she had suffered, blessed the daughters, and asked the nuns to pray for her soul30. This last will shows that the nuns provided assistance to women who suffered both spiritually and physically. Clearly, admittance was not open to all women. The Massalski family had a special position as a rich family and founders of the convent. Thus, the evidence shows that the Kaunas nuns made an important contribution to the educational and charitable life of the local community. Below, attention will be directed to how the nuns’ activities took them outside the cloister, in order to protect their material possessions and interact with Kaunas’ non-Catholic community.

• 31 Protest against the behavior of the citizens, 29 May 1638, MAB, f. 38-3, p. 53–54.

22In comparison to other convents, the Benedictines of Kaunas stand out for their active participation in legal disputes. This had begun with the foundation of the nunnery and concerned in particular disputes over land boundaries. The founder of the nunnery, Andrzey Skorulski, had not clearly defined the borders of its lands in the founding act of 1624, thus the nuns became involved in endless disputes with their neighbours, mostly the citizens of Kaunas. For example, in 1638, the Benedictine abbess, Anna Eufemia Skorulska, sued the mayors of Kaunas, Jacobus Forschont and Andreus Hofmann, as well as other city councillors and officials who, being of « heretical » Lutheran faith, had purportedly made a secret agreement with the Kaunas Germans and even some Lithuanians to persecute the town’s Catholic community. Both mayors were accused of invading the Benedictine manor of Vidra (Rekučiai), which stood on the bank of the Neris river on the outskirts of Kaunas, in an attempt to seize it by force, thus demonstrating a hatred for the Catholic convent. To stop this, the abbess sent a representative, a Samogitian nobleman named Krzysztof Narkowski, who was charged with defending the rights of the convent and proving that its lands had been donated to the Benedictine nuns31. In this case, the struggles over land were intensified by religious disagreements and the presence of different denominations.

• 32 Zigmantas Kiaupa, Kauno istorija, op. cit., p. 334.

23As mentioned earlier, Kaunas was a multi-faith town. The Lutherans had a fixed number of positions on the Kaunas magistrature (for example, six positions in 1655), which meant that they occupied a quarter of the places32. During the Catholic Reformation, the Lutherans retained important political influence in local government. Catholics could not affect this legal reality, but used any available pretext to call it into question, blaming the Lutherans for all manner of things. This approach was also adopted by the Kaunas Benedictines.

• 33 Janusz Tazbir, Państwo bez stosów. Szkice z dziejów tolerancji w Polsce w xvi i xvii w., Warszawa : (...)
• 34 Benjamin J. Kaplan, Divided by Faith. Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Mo (...)

24Although relations between the Catholics and the Protestants were often strained, they were mostly limited to legal protests and disputes, though there were, on occasion, minor clashes on the city’s streets. However, these never escalated into serious confrontations as in other countries, such as France. Janusz Tazbir argues that religious tolerance in Poland was influenced by the fact that the Orthodox community had lived in the country since the conquests of Casimir the Great. Even before the Reformation, Poland had more than one religious community33. In Lithuania, such tolerance had even deeper traditions. King Mindaugas of Lithuania had been baptized in 1251, however, after his death in 1263, paganism returned. The pagan rulers of Lithuania conquered large territories settled by people of the Orthodox faith (present-day Belarus). The Orthodox faith did not disappear after the baptism of Lithuania in 1387 and the country’s Catholic ruling elite had to look for ways to coexist with the Orthodox Church. The GDL had thus never been a homogeneous country in terms of faith. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, Poland and Lithuania became one state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1573, the declaration adopted at the Warsaw Confederation stated that the choice of faith was one of the nobility’s freedoms. However, during the Catholic Reformation, the Catholics only reluctantly tolerated the non-Catholics whose rights were protected by state law. The tolerance of those times should be viewed as something qualitatively distinct from modern conceptions: as a limited, pragmatic toleration that made coexistence in multi-faith societies possible34. In fact, the freedoms of the non-Catholics were gradually curtailed. For example, in 1658, the Sejm passed a resolution banning the Arian faith. At every opportunity, the Catholics sought to convert non-believers to the « only true and righteous » faith. Similar coexistence of traditions can be observed in Early Modern Kaunas. The nuns would defend the rights of the Catholics, and make various accusations against the non-Catholics. In this way, they contributed to strengthening the position of the Catholic Church in Kaunas.

• 35 Protest against the behaviour of Senkiewicz, 5 December 1639, MAB, f. 38-3, p. 57.
• 36 Document register, MAB, f. 38-10, p. 39v–40v.
• 37 Letter of Elisabeth Illuminata Skorulska, 1647, National Museum of Lithuania (hereafter : LNM), R 1 (...)

25With respect to legal issues, the Kaunas Benedictines complained not only of the violation of the boundaries of their estates, but also of the illegal collection of taxes from the townspeople who lived on their lands. In 1639, the Benedictine abbess Anna Eufemia Skorulska accused the Kaunas mayor Michał Sienkiewicz of forcible tax collection from the residents of the houses belonging to the nunnery. He was said to have taken 1 sexagena from the carpenter Jan and the baker Andrzey35. In 1646, in similar fashion, the Benedictine nuns sued the Kaunas Magistrate for the illegal collection of taxes from persons living under the jurisdiction of the nunnery, as well as for various cases of damage and other wrongs36. Such litigation continued for decades. The city blamed the nuns for settling on town lands. Specific examples would be cited of how the convent’s gardens were planted on city land or fences erected in unauthorized places. In turn, the Benedictines claimed that these were their lands, acquired legally by foundational act37.

• 38 Letter of Elisabeth Illuminata Skorulska, 1648, LNM, R 11584-5 ; Dokument register, MAB, f. 38-10, (...)

26Such conflicts could lead to violence and there are attested cases of armed attacks. For example, during the night of 23 January 1648, the townspeople attacked the house of the nuns’ peasant, Maciej Skliarzewicz. Unable to find him, they frightened his wife Anastasia Woiciechowa and her children. On the following night of January 24, the townspeople returned to the peasant’s house and, still unable to find the master of the house, beat his wife, children and neighbours, destroyed the house, smashed all the doors, stole a horse worth 40 gold coins and other items, and threatened to burn down the whole household38. In such cases, the Benedictines sent their representatives to the courts in an effort to protect the interests of the nuns and their subordinates.

• 39 Court messenger’s (General’s) report, 1 March 1725, LNM, R 11661-8 ; Letter of August II, 1 July 17 (...)

27There were also disagreements with the Catholic clergy. This once again testifies to the fact that the conflicts in which the Kaunas nuns were involved were mostly of a material nature. In 1725, Kaunas Benedictine abbess, Elisabeth Illuminata Siesicka, accused Alexander Stanislaw Pukień, a curate of Kaunas parish church, of sending his people to attack the convent’s estates. An organist Dominicus Modzielewski, a musician Jan Swiderski, a sacristan Joseph Mickiewicz, a trumpet player Kazimierz Mankowski and other servants of the church took part in the attack. The robbers penetrated a building belonging to the nuns, fired over their heads, and pointed a loaded pistol at the chest of nun, Placida Dowmontówna. A servant of the sacristy tore a picture out of its frame and shattered the latter, swept a crucifix from a table (breaking both of Jesus’ hands in the process), and stamped on some books. The dramatic complaint of the nuns to the court describes how these scoundrels, forgetting the fear of God, threatened the nuns and caused a lot of screaming and noise39. In these cases, Kaunas’ Benedictine nuns actively defended their interests, regardless of faith, monastic class and gender. Sometimes they had legal representatives, but when needed they defended themselves in court and settled conflicts and disputes with neighbours on their own, disregarding the cloister requirement.

• 40 Protocols of Kaunas magistrate meeting, 1775, LVIA, SA 19587, p. 379, 393.

28The nuns of another Kaunas convent, the Bernardines, had significantly fewer legal problems. Apparently, their foundation had not left any outstanding legal ambiguities. They also had fewer lands than the Benedictines. The only conflict of a material nature that arose was at the end of the eighteenth century, and it was settled locally without the need for litigation. In 1775, the Bernardines had built a new fence to enclose their property. However, at the city meeting, the mayor of Kaunas and his councillors alleged that some of the lands belonging to the city had been expropriated and illegally fenced. After an unsuccessful negotiation with the nuns, they decided to tear down the fence at night and leave its fence-posts leaning against the wall of the convent40. In this way, the nuns where physically prevented from building the fence and had to follow the law.