Plural of 'conversus'; in medieval religious communities, lay members or converts who took monastic vows but had different status than ordained monks.
From Latin 'conversus' meaning 'converted' or 'turned around,' used in medieval ecclesiastical Latin to describe religious converts. The '-i' is the Latin masculine plural ending.
Medieval monasteries weren't just monks—'conversi' were lay converts who did much of the manual labor and farming, creating a whole social hierarchy within monastery walls that most people never learn about in school.
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