»Gelehrte Bräute Christi«

The lifeworld and culture of medieval convents constitute a comparatively young field of research. With the exception of outstanding figures such as Hildegard von Bingen or the great mystic Mechthild von Magdeburg, neither the education, theological foundations nor the religious or artistic expression of such women have been taken into consideration at all. As a consequence, the input of no less than half of the religious has been regarded as immaterial to cultural and societal development in pre-modern times. The research work of Eva Schlotheuber contained in this volume owes its new perspective on the lifeworld and cultural expression of the nuns to views from within. They illuminate in a lively and striking fashion the everyday life of the cloister women, which was highly demanding in its theological, intellectual, social, but also economic terms.