Research

I am a historian of late medieval and early modern convents and nuns.  In addition to my monograph, my work has appeared in Renaissance Quarterly, Sixteenth Century Journal, Archive for Reformation History, and other publications.  My research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Historical Association. 

In May 2022 my article “Ruling Sexuality: the Political Legitimacy of Isabel of Castile,” was named to a short list of the 35 most influential articles published by Renaissance Quarterly in the last 75 years: https://www.rsa.org/general/custom.asp?page=RQAnniversaryNominations

A full cv is available here:

Lehfeldt-cv-fall 2021Download

My profile at Women Also Know History is here.

I have given numerous invited presentations and am available to speak on these topics and my current research.

Recently published:

“Enclosed Choices,” The Sundial (a digital publication of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), December 9, 2021.


“Why Nuns Aren’t Funny,” Sixteenth Century Journal vol. 50, no 1 (spring 2019): 69-75.

Current projects:

  • A re-evaluation of the meaning and enforcement of female monastic enclosure from Periculoso (1298) to Trent (1563)
  • An analysis of the cura monialium in late medieval and early sixteenth century England and Spain
  • An analysis of accounting practices and the literacy and numeracy skills of nuns in late medieval and early modern convents
2017-07-17 11.18.33

My publications include:

  • Religious Women in Golden-Age Spain: the Permeable Cloister (Ashgate, 2005).
  • “Uneven Conversions: How Did Laywomen Become Nuns in the Early Modern World?,” in Conversions: Gender and Religious Change in Early Modern Europe, ed. Simon Ditchfield and Helen Smith (Manchester University Press, 2017): 127-143.
  • “Baby Jesus in a Box: Commerce and Enclosure in an Early Modern Convent,” in Mapping Gendered Routes and Spaces in the Early Modern World, ed. Merry Wiesner-Hanks (Ashgate, 2015): 203-211.
  • “Gender, the State, and Episcopal Authority: the Case of Bishops Talavera and Fox,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, vol. 42, no. 3 (spring 2012): 615-34.
  • More information about my publications is available from my cv.