Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

A group of four nuns stand while singing from a liturgical book. The choir mistress or Sängerin, points to the words of the litany to keep everyone together. Above the letter, the image is labelled der Sengerin in red. This illustrated initial comes from a text written by Johannes Meyer (1422-1485), a Dominican reformer of the Observant Movement, who adapted Humbert of Romans' 13th century Liber de instructione officialium into the vernacular language Ämterbuch or Book of Offices. This new text was intended for Dominican nuns who wanted to reform their houses and keep the original rule of the order. The book spelled out the roles and responsibilities for the different offices within women's monasteries. The choir mistress needed to make sure that the monastery had the books required for the liturgy, that they had been well written and corrected, that the bindings were cared for, and that anyone who damaged a book was punished in Chapter, the regular meetings that the community held for business and for reflection.

Choir nuns made an important contribution to the celebration of the Divine Office. Eight times per day, from the pre-dawn hours to the late evening, they sang the psalms and other texts that reflected the liturgical seasons throughout the year. Dominican reformers of the Observant movement, like Johannes Meyer, put an emphasis on nuns' responsibilities in participating in the liturgy, as well as in memorial masses for the dead. Ehrenschwendtner estimates that nuns spent around eight hours per day in chapel performing liturgical duties. The lay communities surrounding women's monasteries also valued the singing for its beauty and guarantee of prayers ascending to God. These duties could be onerous, especially for lesser endowed houses that needed to earn money through weaving or other cloth work. Reform measures often pushed less devout nuns and their dowries to other houses, leaving Observant monasteries with fewer sisters and resources to support a fully elaborated liturgical schedule while earning money for the community's upkeep. Winston-Allen reports on a prioress at Preetz, Anna von Buchwald, who feared in 1484 for her nuns' health due to overwork. She asked the bishop if two of the daily services could be consolidated along with some other liturgical time saving measures. Though her request was initially denied, the bishop and head of her order granted the changes the following day.

Choir nuns in these houses demonstrate a degree of Latin literacy, as well as musical knowledge, in their daily performances of the changing liturgical texts. Undoubtedly there was a wide range of literacies from the ability to simply decode sounds up to a full reading and writing comprehension. With surviving choir books from Paradies bei Soest written by nuns, in fluid and accurate hands, Schlotheuber argues for advanced levels of Latin fluency among the scribes.