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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Hardlind

Date of birth unknown; d. circa 745, Maaseik, Belgium

The sisters Harlind (Harlinde, Herlind) and Reinhild (Relind, Relinde) received an excellent “feminine” education and excelled in the arts of embroidery and manuscript illumination. With the help of their parents, they established a convent in the Flemish village of Maaseik. They passed on their skills to the nuns of the convent, who produced ecclesiastical items such as altar cloths, curtains, and tapestries, as well as ornately illustrated, gilded, and bejeweled manuscripts. Harlind died before Reinhild, who then assumed the post of abbess. The sisters were later canonized by the Catholic Church.