The Abbess Exposes Herself by Mistaking a Priest’s Breeches for a Headdress

The Abbess Exposes Herself by Mistaking a Priest’s Breeches for a Headdress is the comic reversal at the center of a convent scandal: a group of nuns moves to catch Isabetta with her lover, only for their abbess, Madam Usimbalda, to arrive wearing the breeches of her own hidden priest. The misplaced garment makes private conduct visible, turning an attempted disciplinary hearing into a public exposure of hypocrisy. The episode belongs to a tale told by Dioneo and derives its force from the abrupt collapse of the distinction between accuser and accused.

The convent and its surveillance

The story begins in Lombardy, in a convent reputed for sanctity and religious observance. Isabetta, a young woman of noble birth and great beauty, falls in love with a handsome young man who comes to the convent with one of her kinsmen. He returns her affection, and the two carry on a secret relationship. Their meetings are repeated, not a single lapse: the young man finds a way to visit Isabetta, and she receives him in her cell, to the contentment of both.

One night, a nun sees him taking leave of Isabetta. She shares what she has witnessed with other nuns. At first they consider reporting Isabetta to Madam Usimbalda, who is regarded by the convent and by those who know her as a good and pious woman. They instead decide that the abbess should discover the lovers herself, so that Isabetta will have no chance to deny the accusation. The nuns keep the matter secret and take turns watching for an opportunity to catch the pair together.

The planned discovery

When Isabetta, unaware of the watch, brings her lover to her cell one night, the observers act after much of the night has passed. They split into two groups: one waits at the cell door, while the other goes to the abbess’s chamber and wakes her with the news that Isabetta has a young man with her. The report is meant to place the abbess in the role of judge and Isabetta in that of exposed offender.

But Madam Usimbalda is herself in her chamber with a priest, whom she often lets visit her in a chest. Alarmed by the nuns’ knocking and afraid they may force the door, she rises and dresses hastily in the dark. She means to put on the plaited veils worn by nuns, called a psalter, but takes up the priest’s breeches instead and throws them over her head. She then locks the chamber door and hurries out to join the search. The garment she has mistaken for proper religious dress travels with her into the very scene where she intends to condemn another woman’s sexual conduct.

The accusation turns back

The nuns break into Isabetta’s cell and find her and her lover in bed, clasped in each other’s arms. They seize Isabetta and, at the abbess’s command, take her to the chapter-house. Her lover dresses and waits nearby, prepared to intervene if Isabetta is harmed and to carry her away. In the chapter-house, Madam Usimbalda berates Isabetta for behavior that, if it became known beyond the convent walls, would stain the institution’s sanctity, honor, and reputation. She adds grave threats. Isabetta, ashamed and afraid, says nothing; her silence moves the other nuns to pity.

The reversal begins when Isabetta looks up and sees the breeches hanging on either side of the abbess’s head. Recognizing what the garment means, she regains her composure and tells Madam Usimbalda to tie up her coif before continuing her reprimand. The abbess fails at first to understand the allusion and rebukes Isabetta for making a joke of a serious matter. Isabetta repeats the warning. The other nuns then look at the abbess’s head, and Madam Usimbalda touches it herself, discovering what she has put on. The object that had seemed, in the darkness, a substitute for her veil now makes her own secret conduct legible to the assembled convent.

Reversal and consequence

Once her predicament is visible to everyone, Madam Usimbalda changes her position. Instead of continuing to denounce Isabetta, she argues that the urges of the flesh cannot be resisted and concludes that each nun may secretly enjoy herself when she can, just as, she says, has been done until then. Isabetta is released. The abbess returns to her priest, and Isabetta resumes receiving her lover despite the envy of some of the nuns; those without lovers pursue their own chances in secret.

The episode’s comedy comes from the mismatch between the abbess’s solemn language and the breeches on her head, but the reversal also exposes the weakness of her authority. She attempts to make Isabetta’s conduct a public offense against the convent, while her own secret arrangement has left her vulnerable to the same charge. Once caught, she does not defend the standard she had invoked; she replaces it with a permissive rule that allows the convent’s hidden practices to continue. The outcome is not a general reform but a change in what may be said openly: the lovers remain, and the convent’s discipline gives way to tacit accommodation.