The Burdens of Sister Margaret is based on thousands of pages of documents, but the most important were undoubtedly the letters written by the nuns of Bethlehem during the official visitations of 1628 and 1633. Such visitations, supposedly routine, focused on the conditions of life inside the convent and thus were an ideal opportunity for nuns to express their opinions to ecclesiastical superiors--in this case, the representatives of the Archbishop of Mechelen. It is these letters which are featured here, in translation from seventeenth-century Dutch (one of the visitor's summaries of his interviews with the nuns is included as well). The originals may be found in the Archive of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels (Belgium), Fonds Kloosters, Grijze Zusters Leuven. Ellipses (...) indicate tears in the page, illegible words, or incomprehensible fragments--in every case, the missing passage is short, less than a line. Since Margaret and other nuns punctuated most erratically, I have added punctuation where I thought it necessary. Physical breaks between pages and paragraphs match those made by the nuns themselves. Underlining of certain passages in the document, and marginal notations, were most likely made by Peter van der Wiel, the Archbishop's Vicar-General, who led the official visitations of 1628 and 1633 and who used these highlights to help him compile his own summaries of the letters. As is usual in editing such documents, passages between brackets [ ] have been added for the sake of clarity, while passages between parentheses ( ) are original. All translations are by Craig Harline.

Page Sample of Margaret's Letter

BOOK EXCERPTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS	PREFACE
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS	PROLOGUE