On 1 June 2023, Unerhörte Frauen. Die Netzwerke der Nonnen im Mittelalter, a new book on the networks of the nuns in the Middle Ages by Henrike Lähnemann and Eva Schlotheuber came out. It presents the world of the religious women in their own voices and art works, unlocking rich resources, particularly from late medieval Northern German convents. Order here and watch this space for a forthcoming English translation!

Remarkable Women (literally: unheard-of BUT also implying outrageous, courageous, outspoken…). The Networks of the Nuns in the Middle Ages presents a rich array of original source material which for the first time unlocks the lives of these religious women from their perspective. Based on the diary of a nun from Braunschweig and 1.800 previously unpublished letters from the Benedictine convent of Lüne. Available in German from the publisher Ullstein in the series Propyläen.

From the publisher’s website: Love, Politics and Everyday Life in Medieval Women’s Convents
Half of those who entered a monastic community in the Middle Ages were women. What were their motives? What was their cloistered life like? How did they think and how did they live? Henrike Lähnemann and Eva Schlotheuber offer a lively insight into the largely unknown life and work of religious women. Original source material shows the world of the nuns from their perspective for the first time.
HENRIKE LÄHNEMANN is the first woman to be appointed to a chair in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, where she teaches German literature of the Middle Ages and works on textual and visual evidence from the women’s convents of northern Germany.
EVA SCHLOTHEUBER is Professor of Medieval History at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, where she researches and teaches on the education and lifeworld of religious women. She was the first woman to chair the Association of Historians of Germany from 2016 to 2021.
Whole generations of educated, argumentative and enterprising nuns have been overlooked by historiography. Now, Henrike Lähnemann and Eva Schlotheuber’s account shows that nuns were an active and influential part of medieval society. They acted as role models and were in active in exchange with other convents, city representatives and church authority. They self-confidently organised their demanding daily lives, ran the convents as successful businesses and offered the girls studying in the convent school a comprehensive educational programme. In stories from previously inaccessible diaries and letters, the women themselves speak for the first time about many aspects of their lives.

The book will be presented in a number of readings and other events across Germany, with a prominent launch on 28 July 2023, 3:30pm at Kloster Lüne hosted by the newly elected Abbess Amélie Gräfin zu Dohna, the 23rd Protestant Abbess of the convent. The launch will start with a special guided tour highlighting the material culture featured in the book, including the title image of the vision of the nun Dorothea von Meding, and will conclude with Vespers on the nuns’ choir. For more information and registration cf. the events page of Kloster Lüne.

Additional material

Interview Paradiesgarten, kein Knast: Nonnen und ihre Klausur by Kirsten Dietrich with Henrike Lähnemann on enclosure, ending with praise for “228 kurzweilige Seiten” (enjoyable pages).Radio broadcast on 4 June 2pm in the Deutschlandfunk Kultur ‘Religionen’ feature on ‘Religiöse Frauenorte. Einschränkung oder Selbstbestimmung?’

Review Läuse, Lebkuchen und Liebesbezeugungen für Christus on 3 June 2023 in domradio.de by Christiane Laudage. Quelle: KNA