Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 11219
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Ehrenschwendtner , Marie-Luise.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: A Library Collected by and for the Use of Nuns: St. Catherine's Convent, Nuremberg [by the end of the fifteenth century the library had between 500 and 600 books, mostly in German, consisting of spritual literature and texts supporting the reformed Dominican life].
  • Source: Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence.  Edited by Lesley Smith and Jane H.M. Taylor.  British Library and University of Toronto Press, 1997.  Pages 123 - 132.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Dominican Order Illumination of Manuscripts Libraries, Medieval Manuscripts Monasticism Nuns Nuremberg, Bayern, Germany- Katharinenkloster, a Dominican House for Women Readers Scribes and Scriptoria
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources: "Her [Ehrenschwendtner] study explores the formation of a new library as a result of the reform of the Dominican order in 1428. This includes, among other things, several book lists of the sisters' private collection, and of the convent library's books and their content. There were selections compiled for table readings while the nuns dined, lists of books appropriate for private reading, and collections of spiritual writings with commentary written by the nuns themselves. The nuns of Nuremberg were devoted collectors of books, gathering together "a great variety of the most diverse works of spiritual literature" aimed to the specific needs of the reformed Dominican life (129). There are few illuminated texts in the library, although the name of one illuminator is documented, Barbara Gewichtmacherin. It was a great disappointment to me that one of her miniatures was not reproduced in this text. Ms. Ehrenschwendtner seems to have fallen prey to the dismissal of other scholars of these images by writing "she was not a particularly gifted painter (though) she seems to have been very influential" finding followers at other religious houses of Nuremberg (129). I, for one, would appreciate having access to the illustrations in order to assess their merit within the larger context of a cultural and historical approach." From the review written by Laura Dufresne of "Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence," "Medieval Review" (TMR ID: 96.12.11). [Reproduced by permission of the "Medieval Review."].
  • Author's Affiliation:
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1997.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0802042163