Gräfin Katharina von Württemberg und die oberschwäbischen Doppelklöster der Prämonstratenser im Mittelalter
-
Racha Kirakosian
Abstract
After Norbert of Xanten had founded the Premonstratensian order as a religious community of clerics which welcomed women to a spiritual vocation, double monasteries were established all across Western Europe in which canons and canonesses worshipped more or less together albeit in separate convents, thus practicing some sort of a cooperative spiritual programme. The maintenance of double monasteries, which were both praised and condemned by contemporaries, generally declined over the centuries. However, a few Premonstratensian double monasteries continued to exist until the High and late Middle Ages. Investigation of the Swabian houses, one of which was located in the county of Württemberg - though not necessary under the count’s direct control, reveals an array of practical solutions arranged for the topography of double monasteries. In addition to the convents Rot in Rot an der Rot, Weißenau in Ravensburg including the women’s convent Maisental (today Mariatal), and Marchtal in Obermarchtal, Adelberg deserves closer investigation. Adelberg lasted as a double monastery until the second half of the fifteenth century, when the female convent was detached from the Stift and transferred to Lauffen. The major initiator of this move was Count Ulrich V of Württemberg, whose only child born of his first marriage, Katharina of Württemberg, was a canoness affected by the splitting of the Adelberg convents. An inheritance dispute entangled with the legal procedures resulting from the canonesses’ transfer meant that Katharina fled and would never return to her old former community, even when requested to do so by Pope Innocent VIII. Katharina of Württemberg’s personal fate and various earlier accounts of Premonstratensian canonesses who exercised economic power reveal the importance of highlighting the women’s history of the Premonstratensian order in Southwest Germany.
Abstract
After Norbert of Xanten had founded the Premonstratensian order as a religious community of clerics which welcomed women to a spiritual vocation, double monasteries were established all across Western Europe in which canons and canonesses worshipped more or less together albeit in separate convents, thus practicing some sort of a cooperative spiritual programme. The maintenance of double monasteries, which were both praised and condemned by contemporaries, generally declined over the centuries. However, a few Premonstratensian double monasteries continued to exist until the High and late Middle Ages. Investigation of the Swabian houses, one of which was located in the county of Württemberg - though not necessary under the count’s direct control, reveals an array of practical solutions arranged for the topography of double monasteries. In addition to the convents Rot in Rot an der Rot, Weißenau in Ravensburg including the women’s convent Maisental (today Mariatal), and Marchtal in Obermarchtal, Adelberg deserves closer investigation. Adelberg lasted as a double monastery until the second half of the fifteenth century, when the female convent was detached from the Stift and transferred to Lauffen. The major initiator of this move was Count Ulrich V of Württemberg, whose only child born of his first marriage, Katharina of Württemberg, was a canoness affected by the splitting of the Adelberg convents. An inheritance dispute entangled with the legal procedures resulting from the canonesses’ transfer meant that Katharina fled and would never return to her old former community, even when requested to do so by Pope Innocent VIII. Katharina of Württemberg’s personal fate and various earlier accounts of Premonstratensian canonesses who exercised economic power reveal the importance of highlighting the women’s history of the Premonstratensian order in Southwest Germany.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt VII
- Vorwort IX
- Zur Einleitung 1
- Württemberg als Kulturlandschaft im späteren Mittelalter 11
- Wissen für den Hof 37
- The Orient in Württemberg 47
- Zur Buchkultur am spätmittelalterlichen württembergischen Hof 67
- Der Schwanenritter in Württemberg 111
- The literary culture of Dominican women in late medieval Germany 157
- Liturgical manuals – liturgical norms 283
- Die Edelsteine der schwäbischen Krone 313
- Gräfin Katharina von Württemberg und die oberschwäbischen Doppelklöster der Prämonstratenser im Mittelalter 345
- Konstruktionen monastischer Identitäten 385
- The ›Alexiuslegende‹ in Esslingen 457
- Württembergisches in Donaueschinger Handschriften? 487
-
Anhang
- Stammtafel 524
- Abkürzungsverzeichnis 526
- Abbildungsnachweis 527
- Handschriftenregister 528
- Register der Personen, Werke und Orte 539
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt VII
- Vorwort IX
- Zur Einleitung 1
- Württemberg als Kulturlandschaft im späteren Mittelalter 11
- Wissen für den Hof 37
- The Orient in Württemberg 47
- Zur Buchkultur am spätmittelalterlichen württembergischen Hof 67
- Der Schwanenritter in Württemberg 111
- The literary culture of Dominican women in late medieval Germany 157
- Liturgical manuals – liturgical norms 283
- Die Edelsteine der schwäbischen Krone 313
- Gräfin Katharina von Württemberg und die oberschwäbischen Doppelklöster der Prämonstratenser im Mittelalter 345
- Konstruktionen monastischer Identitäten 385
- The ›Alexiuslegende‹ in Esslingen 457
- Württembergisches in Donaueschinger Handschriften? 487
-
Anhang
- Stammtafel 524
- Abkürzungsverzeichnis 526
- Abbildungsnachweis 527
- Handschriftenregister 528
- Register der Personen, Werke und Orte 539
