History Main / LockedAwayInAMonastery

* A variant in''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In "The Archbishop", [[SecretHistory King Richard IV]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally doesn't have the Archbishop of Canterbury assassinated]] and then appoints Prince Edmund (second in line to the throne and TheUnfavorite) to replace him, the idea being to ensure that the Church does what Richard wants as well as getting Edmund out of court. [[spoiler:Edmund manages to get himself expelled from the priesthood and excommunicated by the end of the episode.]]

* Subversion: [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Louis VII]] was sent to a monastery for safekeeping until the intended heir died, and he had to brought back.
* Was popular in Russia during multiple coups, mostly as a way to dispose queens.

* Henry Benedict Stuart, the younger brother of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (who would have been the heir to the Jacobite claim on the throne of Britain and Ireland, as Charlie had no legitimate children) monasticised himself as an official declaration that he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knew when to fold em]]. Henry went on to become an extremely high-ranking and influential Vatican official, and to this day remains one of - if not the longest serving Cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church.
* In a slight variation, Richard I of England forced his illegitimate half-brother Geoffrey [[note]] Not to be confused with his other, legitimate, and by this stage dead brother also called Geoffrey. [[/note]] to become Archbishop of York in order to remove him as a potential rival. He then appointed a number of Geoffrey's personal enemies to important posts in the Diocese of York, thus making it impossible for the Archbishop to get anything done without having a major fight on his hands. Chroniclers at the time were divided as to whether this was a calculated political move or just Richard being a spiteful jerk (although a bastard, Geoffrey was the only one of Henry II's sons to be present at his death bed, and remained loyal to him while Richard sided with Philip II of France).

* An intentional case: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor abdicated and retired to a monastery, leaving half of his empire to his son Philip and the other half to his brother Ferdinand.
* A now-debunked UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory claimed that Russian President UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin did this to his former wife Lyudmila while they were estranged, used to explain the lack of attention to her by the Russian media. (Seeing as it's rare for ''any'' Russian First Ladies to appear in public, this was likely just a fallacy started by one of his detractors.)

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series, Asari with the Ardat-Yakshi genetic defect are given a choice between isolation in a monastery or execution. The Ardat-Yakshi are effectively [[HornyDevils succubi]] and their condition causes them to [[OutWithABang kill people by mating with them]]; the rationale is that because the effects are addictive, they cannot be trusted to naturally abstain from sex/murder if allowed amongst the general populace. We meet three full-fledged Ardat-Yakshi during the course of the game (codex entries suggest that there is actually a "spectrum"). The first one fled when presented with the option of going to the monastery and has become an opportunistic, sociopathic SerialKiller and a walking argument for their seclusion. The other two agreed to the monastic seclusion are perfectly normal, moral people. There are references to some of the Ardat-Yakshi imprisoned alongside them being allowed supervised reintegration into asari society because they proved during their isolation that they have both the desire and the willpower to do so.

'''Father Ted''': Yes,, he is.

* UsefulNotes/JulieDAubigny had an affair with a young woman whose parents responded to the scandal by sending their daughter to a convent. Julie, in one of her most famous stunts, responded to this by sneaking in to see the girl, and then [[FakingTheDead putting the body of a dead nun in the girl's bed]], sneaking out, and ''[[RefugeInAudacity burning the place down]]'' to cover their tracks.

* Creator/JulieDAubigny had an affair with a young woman whose parents responded to the scandal by sending their daughter to a convent. Julie, in one of her most famous stunts, responded to this by sneaking in to see the girl, and then [[FakingTheDead putting the body of a dead nun in the girl's bed]], sneaking out, and ''[[RefugeInAudacity burning the place down]]'' to cover their tracks.

->'''Father Ted Crilly''': That would be quite common you know. The favourite son would become a doctor and then the idiot brother would be sent off to the priesthood.
->'''Father Dougal Maguire''': Your brother's a doctor, isn't he?
->'''Father Ted''': Yes he is.
-->-- '''Series/FatherTed'''

* The ''Series/{{Cadfael}}'' series uses this at least once or twice.

* A now-debunked ConspiracyTheory claimed that Russian President UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin did this to his former wife Lyudmila while they were estranged, used to explain the lack of attention to her by the Russian media. (Seeing as it's rare for ''any'' Russian First Ladies to appear in public, this was likely just a fallacy started by one of his detractors.)

* The brother of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (who would have been the heir to the Jacobite claim) monasticised himself as an official declaration that he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knew when to fold em]]. Said brother - Henry Benedict Stuart - went on to be an extremely influential and high-ranking Vatican official, and to this day remains one of - if not the longest serving Cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church.

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series, Asari with the Ardat-Yakshi genetic defect are given a choice between isolation in a monastery or execution. The Ardat-Yakshi are effectively [[HornyDevils succubi]] and their condition causes them to [[DeathBySex kill people by mating with them]]; the rationale is that because the effects are addictive, they cannot be trusted to naturally abstain from sex/murder if allowed amongst the general populace. We meet three full-fledged Ardat-Yakshi during the course of the game (codex entries suggest that there is actually a "spectrum"). The first one fled when presented with the option of going to the monastery and has become an opportunistic, sociopathic SerialKiller and a walking argument for their seclusion. The other two agreed to the monastic seclusion are perfectly normal, moral people. There are references to some of the Ardat-Yakshi imprisoned alongside them being allowed supervised reintegration into asari society because they proved during their isolation that they have both the desire and the willpower to do so.

* Angelina Dorma is sent to a nunnery in the end of ''Literature/ShadowOfTheLion''.

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series, Asari with the Ardat-Yakshi genetic defect are given a choice between isolation in a monastery or execution. The Ardat-Yakshi are effectively [[HornyDevils succubi]] and their condition causes them to [[DeathBySex kill people by mating with them]]; the rationale is that because the effects are addictive, they cannot be trusted to naturally abstain from sex/murder if allowed amongst the general populace. We meet three full-fledged Ardat-Yakshi during the course of the game (codex entries suggest that there is actually a "spectrum"). The first one fled when presented with the option of going to the monastery and has become an opportunistic, sociopathic SerialKiller and a walking argument for their seclusion. The other two agreed to the monastic seclusion are perfectly normal, moral people.

* There are multiple subversions from Japanese history (most notably in the years 1086 to 1185) where emperors abdicated to join a (Buddhist) monastery. This was a political machination generally intended to keep power for ''themselves'', acting behind the scenes.

** Aemon Targaryen does this twice over, first by joining the Maesters who give up all claim to their family name (at the time, he was far down the line of succession), then being assigned to the Night's Watch.

* The [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Carolingian Pepin the Short]], upon seizing the throne of the Frankish Empire, promptly sent his Merovingian predecessor Childeric III and his son Theuderic to a monastery, to get rid of any potential rival claimants. The fact that the supposedly less-civilized Franks used this expedient--rather than the aforementioned Byzantine (and supposedly more Christian) eye-removal--to get rid of rivals to the throne has not been lost on historians.

* The [[LEtatCestMoi Carolingian Pepin the Short]], upon seizing the throne of the Frankish Empire, promptly sent his Merovingian predecessor Childeric III and his son Theuderic to a monastery, to get rid of any potential rival claimants. The fact that the supposedly less-civilized Franks used this expedient--rather than the aforementioned Byzantine (and supposedly more Christian) eye-removal--to get rid of rivals to the throne has not been lost on historians.

->'''Father Ted Crilly''': ''That would be quite common you know. The favourite son would become a doctor and then the idiot brother would be sent off to the priesthood.''
->'''Father Dougal Maguire''': ''Your brother's a doctor, isn't he?''
->'''Father Ted''': ''Yes he is.''

* In ''Literature/TheElenium'' this was the punishment of Arissa, the ''very'' wanton sister of the previous king. She was sent to a convent because she couldn't be executed, and made life miserable for everyone there. This ended up backfiring on the main characters. The convent was lightly defended and the nuns were massacred when Arissa's accomplices sprung her.

* In the ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' two-parter "Accidents Will Happen," Manny (a Filipino-American) is terrified of telling her parents about her pregnancy, because she doesn't want to end up like her cousin back in the Philippines who got sent to a convent.

* This is how [[spoiler: Fernanda Buendia del Carpio]] deals with [[spoiler: her daughter Meme]] in OneHundredYearsOfSolitude, after [[spoiler: she has Meme's secret boyfriend Mauricio gunned down when he was sneaking into their home.]]

* Angelina Dorma is sent to a nunnery in the end of ''[[HeirsOfAlexandria Shadow of the Lion]]''.