Glossary of Monastic Terms
and Further Reading
Abbess / Abbatiate
The abbess is the head of a monastic community. Nominally, the abbess is elected by the community. However, in medieval and early modern Europe, external appointments through a king or an emperor were also possible. The abbess led and represented her convent internally and externally. Thus, she was responsible to maintain discipline and peace within the community as well as representing it to the external world. In the Middle Ages, some abbesses were also feudal lords. In this context, they held court, administered justice, granted fiefdoms and appointed parish priests for the communities that were subject to their monastery. Because of the great variety of duties, an abbess was usually assisted by a number of officers, e.g., a prioress and a cellarer. The office of abbess is called abbatiate.
Cellarer
The cellarer is responsible for the cellar of the monastery, as her name indicates. This means that that the cellarer was in charge of the convent’s provisions – food and drink. Often, however, this office was also connected with the overall economic management of a monastery. In those cases, the cellarer was also responsible for the administration of all goods, their buying and selling, and general book keeping. In some German monasteries the nun holding this office was called the Schaffnerin.
Sacristan
The sacristan was in charge of the convent church (and everything belonging to it). She had to ensure that the church was clean and that the altar was decorated on important liturgical occasions. She was also responsible for repairs and for keeping the church and churchyard in good condition.
Lay abbess
Especially during the early Middle Ages, not all abbesses were actual nuns. Lay abbesses were aristocratic women, often founders of a convent or relatives of the king, who governed the community but never took monastic vows. They are best understood as local royal (or otherwise aristocratic) representatives and were usufructuaries of the abbey’s income. A lay abbess was usually not in charge of spiritual leadership – this task was fulfilled by a sort of sub-abbess who actually was a nun. The practices of lay abbesses (and abbots) were common until the Investiture Controversy of the 11th and 12th centuries, at which time this practice was abandoned.
Novice mistress
The novice mistress was responsible for teaching and overlooking the novices of a convent. She was, so to speak, a teacher who taught the monastic aspirants about convent life. This included teaching the rules of the convent, but also Latin lessons.
Prioress / Priory
If a given community was not presided over by an abbess, it was usually a prioress who was in charge (for example in the Dominican order). Some monastic houses were so successful that they founded daughter-houses (priories), where smaller communities lived according to the same customs as in the mother-house (abbey). These daughter houses were subordinated to the abbey, and their leaders, the prioresses, were subject to abbatial authority.
Recluses
Recluses were early Christian hermits or cloistered monks or nuns who lived an extremely strict way of life, withdrawn from the world.
Habit
The habit is the costume worn by the monks and nuns of a religious community. Depending on their religious affiliation, the women and men living in the monastery wore different forms of habit. Often the dominant color was black, as was, and is, the case for Benedictines.
Anniversary
An anniversary is the annual commemoration of the death of a given person. On this day, certain prayers were to be said. Anniversaries were donated – that is, a person donated a sum of money or a regular revenue of goods in exchange for the community to agree to pray a certain number of prayers on the anniversary of his or her death. Usually, such arrangement were made during one’s lifetime, however, especially in the late Middle Ages, it become common to donate anniversaries also for deceased relatives. Monasteries often had so-called „yearbooks“ in which the various anniversaries were recorded.
Chapter / Chapter meeting
The convening of the convent, i.e. of those members who had voting rights, is called chapter or chapter meeting. The chapter meeting was of great importance. During those meetings, matters that concerned the community as a whole were discussed and internal conflicts solved.
Enclosure
Enclosure means life in a monastery without contact to the outside world. No one is allowed to leave the cloister, nor is anyone allowed to enter from the outside. In particularly strict cases, even communication by letter with relatives was forbidden; nominally, enclosure became mandatory for female monastic communities in 1298. However, this obligation was often ignored by many female monasteries until the 15th century.
Conversa
A conversa is a lay nun who usually primarily performed physical labor in a monastery. They were nuns who were not consecrated and who either joined the community later in their life – as widows, or who were not able to pay the required dowry and thus joined the community in the ranks of its “working force” Not being full-fledged members of the community, conversa nuns were not usually allowed to take part in the chapter and had no voting rights. (Naturally, conversi also existed in male communities).
Liturgy
In the Catholic Church, liturgy encompasses acts of worship – especially mass and the rendering of the sacraments. Women can participate in liturgical acts (sing in mass, pray, etc.), but they cannot perform liturgical acts (read mass, preach, hear confession, etc.)
Memoria
Memoria (from the Latin word for remembrance) is a practice to commemorate the dead. In the Middle Ages, it was customary to make preparations for one’s commemoration during one’s lifetime (see below). Prayer memorial was often secured through donations, alms and gifts to a monastery. In return, the nuns agreed to pray for the benefactor on the anniversary of his death. Especially during the early Middle Ages, aristocratic families sometimes founded and endowed an entire monastery and requested that the community continuously prayed for their salvation.
Monstrance
A monstrance is a vessel used to display an object of piety. They are used in worship and processions to display the consecrated Eucharist.
Necrology
Since the Middle Ages, monasteries have kept registers of the dead and the date of their deaths in order to keep track of the anniversary prayers. These registers are called necrologies.
Profession
The monastic vow that binds a new nun (or monk) to their community is called profession. Following a probationary period, the novitiate, the profession was part of the consecration ceremony. During this ceremony, the aspirant swore to follow the rules of community and to obey their superiors.
Presence money
In some convents, – especially in Germany – canonesses, canons, and priests sometimes were paid for attending or performing a religious service. In a monastery, for example, a feast day could be instituted (or an anniversary) at which only the nuns or monks present received dues – this payment is called presence or presence money (German: Präsentsgeld).
Prebend/Benefice
Also called beneficium. The word is derived from the Middle Latin praebenda, meaning maintenance. A prebend could consist of money, wine, food and the like and is best understood as a sort of allowance to provide for a member of a monastic community or a priest.
Salvation
In the convent, nuns prayed for the salvation of souls – those of their families and of benefactors. Salvation means that a person’s soul is alleviated of sins and that the time it has to spend in purgatory is shortened.
Pastoral care
Pastoral care includes various tasks of a priest – including hearing confession and granting absolution. As women are not allowed to perform liturgical and sacramental acts, nunneries employed confessors who ministered to the nuns.
Mendicant Order
The mendicant orders, also called mendicants, emerged in the rising medieval cities of the 12th and 13th centuries. As a result of a reform movement that sought to have monastics embrace complete poverty, mendicants swore off owning any property. The mendicant orders include the Dominicans, Franciscans and the Poor Clares.
Exemtion
Exemption comes from the Latin eximere – meaning to exclude/to take out. Individual monasteries, clerics, and even entire monastic orders could be exempt from the subordination of the local bishop. Rather than under the authority of a bishop, they were only responsible to the pope. The convent of Las Huelgas and the Order of Fontevraud were both exempt from episcopal and secular authority and only subject to the Holy See.
Feudalism/feudal society
The term refers to the medieval economic and social system in Europe based on feudalism and manorialism, in which the aristocratic upper class, that owned land, exercised political, judicial and military functions of power over those people working the land.
Manorialism
The term primarily refers to the rule over people who reside on the land of a lord, mistress or monastery. Manorialism is regarded as a core element of feudal rule and the medieval social order.
Interdict
In the Middle Ages, the interdict was a severe sanction of the church. During an interdict, priests were not allowed to hear confession and grant absolution from sins. Also, all worship (mass) and all other sacraments (including administering the last rites) were forbidden. For the religious living (and dying) under an interdict meant that they died without being able to receive absolution from their sins. The interdict was a powerful religious sanction and weapon forcing dukes and even kings and emperors to bow to the power of the pope.
Jus patronatus
The patronage right, in Latin: jus patronatus, refers to the right of nominating priests for parish churches which were owned (and thus under the jurisdiction) of a monastery or a bishopric.
Minting / Coinage rights
The right to mint coins that were the legal and accepted form of payment in a certain region or a town. This right bel0nged to the so-called regalia, i.e., regal rights that only certain people or institutions possessed.
Observance/observant reform
The observant reform movement was a monastic reform movement of the 14th and 15th centuries. The objective of this movement was to reintroduce strict obedience (observance) of monastic discipline. Bones of contention were the general observance of monastic poverty and asceticism. For women’s monasteries, the observant reforms brought the practice of strict enclosure (see above). Especially in rich and aristocratic monasteries, which had always enjoyed special rights, attempts of observant reform were often met with fierce and sometimes even violent resistance.
Palatinate
In the early and high Middle Ages, a palatinate was the place of residence of a ruler. From the 14th century onwards, this term was also used for an administrative or judicial building.
Primogeniture
The sole right of inheritance of the eldest son, both among members of nobility (the first-born succeeds the father) and all other ranks of society (the eldest son takes over the farm).
Infant / Infanta
Since the 13th century, children of royal blood had the title infant (m) or infanta (f) in Spain and Portugal.
Mayor (Meier)
A mayor (German: Meier) is an official who administers the land on behalf of a manorial lord and represents him or her in all administrative matters.
Ministeriales
Ministeriales were originally unfree nobles. This group developed from among unfree men in the service of king, monastery and nobility and who served them as administrators and soldiers. The majority of medieval knights came from this background.
Imperial Prince / Imperial Princess
An imperial prince or princess had the right to sit and vote at the great assemblies of princes in the empire, which advised the king or emperor on important political decisions.
Señora (Las Huelgas)
A type of office granted in the convent of Las Huelgas to Spanish or Portuguese infantas entering the convent. This office existed alongside the abbess and had, as it were, an intermediary role between the royal house and the convent itself.
Estate (social class)
In the Middle Ages, there were three estates: clergy (1st estate), nobility (2nd estate) and the third estate (all others). The threefold division of society was rooted in the medieval idea of the different functions of the estates: warfare (nobility), pastoral care (clergy), trade, commerce and, above all, agriculture (third estate). Membership of the nobility and clergy was associated with legal, political and financial privileges. By far the largest part of the population belonged to the 3rd estate.
Vassal
A vassal is a person who is in a feudal relationship with a feudal lord. The vassal assured service and obedience and the lord in turn promised protection and support, which was guaranteed by a specific fief, often in the form of land.
Bailiff
The bailiff was a noble official. In a given territory (bailiwick) the bailiff was the representative of a sovereign and had to preside over the district court there.
- Andermann, U. (1996) Die unsittlichen und disziplinlosen Kanonissen. Ein Topos und seine Hintergründe, aufgezeigt an Beispielen sächsischer Frauenstifte (11.-13. Jh.) IN Westfälische Zeitschrift, Bd. 146, Paderborn, pp. 39-63.
- Backmund, N. (1973), Die Kollegiat- und Kanonissenstifte in Bayern, Windberg.
- Baumgartner, F. J. (1986), Change and Continuity in the French Episcopate. The Bishop and the Wars of Religion, 1547-1610, Durham.
- Beach, A., (2000), ‘Claustration and Collaboration between the Sexes in the Twelfth-Century Scriptorium’ IN Monks & nuns, saints & outcasts: religion in medieval society: essays in honor of Lester K. Little, Ithaca, pp. 57-75.
- Beach, A., (ed.) (2007), Manuscripts and Monastic Culture: Reform and Renewal in Twelfth-Century Germany, Turnhout.
- Beach, A., (2017), The Trauma of Monastic Reform: Community and Conflict in Twelfth-Century Germany, Cambridge.
- Bennett, J. (2006), History Matters. Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism, Philadelphia.
- Boetticher, A. (2005), Chorfrauen und evangelische Damenstifte IN Orden und Klöster im Zeitalter von Reformation und katholischer Reform 1500-1700, Bd. 1, ed. by Jürgensmeier, F. / Schwerdtfeger R. E., Münster, pp. 217-242.
- Bynum, C. (1987), Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, Berkeley.
- Ead. (1992), “…And Woman His Humanity”: Female Imagery in the Religious Writing of the Later Middle Ages IN Fragmentation and Redemption. Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion, New York, pp. 151-179.
- Constable, G. (2017), Medieval Monasticism, London.
- Crusius, I. (2001). Sanctimoniales quae se canonicas vocant. Das Kanonissenstift als Forschungsproblem IN Studien zum Kanonissenstift, ed. Ead., Göttingen.
- Ead., (2008), Im Dienst der Königsherrschaft. Königinnen, Königswitwen und Prinzessinnen als Stifterinnen und Äbtissinnen von Frauenstiften und –klöstern, IN Nonnen, Kanonissen und Mystikerinnen. Religiöse Frauengemeinschaften in Süddeutschland, ed. by Eva Schlotheuber, Helmut Flachenecker, Ingrid Gardill, Göttingen S. 59-77.
- DeMaris, S. G. (Hg.) (2015), Johannes Meyer: Das Amptbuch.
- Duby, G. (1962), L’économie rural et la vie des campagnes dans l’Occident medieval, Paris.
- Ead., (1978), Les trois orders ou l’imaginare du féodalisme, Paris.
- Ead. (1995), Women and Power IN Cultures of Power. Lordship, Status and Process in Twelth-Century Europe, ed. by Bisson T. N., Philadelphia, pp. 69-85.
- Elliott, D. (2004), Proving Women. Female Spirituality and Inquisitional Culture in the Later Middle Ages, Princeton.
- Elm, K. (ed.) (1989), Reformbemühungen und Observanzbestrebungen im spätmittelalterlichen Ordenswesen, Berlin.
- Ennen, E. (1987), Frauen im Mittelalter, München.
- Farmer S./ Rosenwein, B.H. (eds.) (2000), Monks and Nuns, Saints and Outcasts: Religion in Medieval Society, Ithaca.
- Felten, F.J. (1980), (2001), Wie adelig waren Kanonissenstifte im Mittelalter? IN Crusius, I. (ed.), Studien zum Kanonissenstift, Göttingen, pp. 39-128.
- Fontette, M. de (1967), Les religisieuses à l’âge classique au droit canon. Recherches sur les structures juridique des branches féminines des orders, Paris.
- Fößel, A. (2012), Frauen und Macht im Mittelalter IN Unikate: Bericht aus Forschung und Lehre / Universität Duisburg-Essen, Bd. 41, Essen, pp. 78-99.
- Fraeters/ Veerle/ De Gier, Imke(eds), (2014), Mulieres Religiosae: Shaping Female Spiritual Authority in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, Turnhout.
- Fürstenberg, M. (1995), “Ordinaria loci” oder ‘Monstrum Westpahliae”? Zur kirchlichen Rechtsstellung der Äbtissin von Herford im europäischen Vergleich, Paderborn.
- Gerchow, J. (2005), Die Frühen Klöster und Stifte, 500-1200. Einführung in die Ausstellung, IN Krone und Schleier. Kunst aus Mittelaltlerlichen Frauenklöstern. Ausstellungskatalog, München, pp.156-162
- Gilchrist, R. (1994), Gender and Material Culture. The Archaeology of Religious Women, London, New York, 1994.
- Ead. (2005), Cuidando a los muertos: las mujeres medievales en las pampa fúnebres familiars IN Treballs d’Arqueologie, 11. pp. 51-72.
- Griffiths, F. (2004), “Men’s duty to provide for women’s needs’: Abelard, Heloise and their negotiation of the cura monialium”; Journal of Medieval History, 30, pp.1-24
- Hamburger, J. (1998), The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany, New York.
- Hartmann, W. (2003), Die Eigenkirche: Grundelement der Kirchenstruktur bei den Alemannen? IN Scholkmann, B. / Lorenz, S.: Die Alemannen und das Christentum. Zeugnisse eines kulturellen Umbruchs, Leinfelden 2003, pp. 1–11.
- Henriet, P./ Legras, A.-M. (eds) (2000), Au cloître et dans le monde. Femmes, hommes et sociétés (IXe-XVe siècle). Mélanges en l’honneur de Paulette L’Hermite-Leclercq, Paris.
- Hirbodian, S. (2001), Geistliche Frauen und städtische Welt. Kanonissen – Nonnen – Beginen und ihre Umwelt am Beispiel der Stadt Straßburg im Spätmittelalter (1250-1525) (Habilitationsschrift), Mainz.
- Ead. (2015), Weibliche Herrschaft zwischen Kirche und Welt. Geistliche Fürstinnen im 11.-14. Jahrhundert IN Zey, C., Mächtige Frauen? Königinnen und Fürstinnen im Europäischen Mittelalter (11.-14.Jahrhundert), Zürich, pp. 411-436.
- Hollywood, A. (2004), Gender, Agency, and the Divine in Religious Historiographie IN The Journal of Religion 84.4, Chicago, pp. 514-528.
- Klapp, S. (2014), Das Äbtissinnenamt in den unterelsässischen Frauenstiften vom 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert. Umkämpft, verhandelt, normiert, Berlin.
- Kleinjung, C. (2008), Frauenklöster als Kommunikationszentren und soziale Räume. Das Beispiel Worms vom 13. bis zum Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts (Studien und Texte zur Geistes- und Sozialgeschichte des Mittelalters 1), Korb a. Neckar.
- Lawrence, C.H. (1984), Medieval Monasticism. Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, Harlow.
- LeGall, J.-M. (2004), Les moines aux temps de la réforme, Paris.
- Leonard, A. (2005), Nails in the Wall: Catholic Nuns in Reformation Germany, Chicago / London.
- Lewis, G. J. (1996), By Women, for Women, about Women: The Sister Books of Fourteenth-Century Germany, Toronto.
- L’Hermite-Leclercq, P. (1989), Le monachisme féminin dans la société de son temps. Le monastère de La Celle (XIe-début du XVIe siècle), Paris.
- Makowski, E. M. (2005) « A Pernicious Sort of Woman » : quasi-religious Women and Canon Lawyers in the later Middle Ages, Washington D. C.
- McNamara, J.A.K. (1996), Sisters in Arms. Catholic Nuns Through Two Millenia, Cambridge, Ma.
- Melville, G. (2012), Die Welt der mittelalterlichen Klöster: Geschichte und Lebensform, München.
- Monson, C. (1992), The Crannied Wall: Women, Religion and the Arts in Early Modern Europe, Ann Arbor.
- Moraw, P. (1980), Über Typologie, Chronologie und Geographie der Stiftskirche im deutschen Mittelalter IN Untersuchung zu Kloster und Stift, Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte (68), Göttingen, pp. 9-37.
- Müller, A., From the Cloister to the State. Fontevraud and the Making of Bourbon France (1642-1100), London 2021.
- Muschiol G. (2000), Das „gebrechliche Geschlecht“ und der Gottesdienst. Zum religiösen Alltag in Frauengemeinschaften des Mittelalters IN Herrschaft, Bildung und Gebet. Gründung und Anfänge des Frauenstifts Essen, ed. by Berghaus, G. / Schilp, T. / Schlagheck, M., Essen, pp. 19-27.
- Parisse, M. (1979), Remarques sur les fondations monastiques à Metz au Moyen-Âges, IN Annales de l’Est 5, 31, pp. 193-223.
- Pancer, N. (2001), Sans peur et sans vergogne. De l’honneur et des femmes aux premiers temps mérovingiens, Paris.
- Petke, W. (1992), Von der klösterlichen Eigenkirche zur Inkorporation in Lothringen und Nordfrankreich im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert, IN Revue d’ histoire ecclésiastique 87 (1992), pp. 34–72, 375–404.
- Power, E. E. (1922), Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535, Cambridge.
- Reden-Dohna, A. (2001), Reichsklöster in Ostschwaben. Stand, Probleme und Aufgaben der Forschung, IN Suevia Sacra: Zur Geschichte der ostschwäbischen Reichsstifte im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit, Sigmaringen.
- Remensnyder, A. (1995), Remembering Kings Past. Monastic Foundation Legends in Medieval Southern France. Ithaca.
- Schlotheuber, E. (ed.) (2008), Nonnen, Kanonissen und Mystikerinnen. Religiöse Frauengemeinschaften in Süddeutschland: Beträge zur interdisziplinären Tagung vom 21. bis 23. September in Frauenchiemsee, Göttingen.
- Schmidt, H.-J. (1999), Kirch, Staat, Nation. Raumgliederung der Kirche im mittelalterlichen Europa, Weimar.
- Schormann, A. (2020), Identitäten und Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Kanonissen im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin.
- Schröder-Stapper, T. (2015), Fürstäbtissinnen. Frühneuzeitliche Stiftsherrschaften zwischen Verwandtschaft, Lokalgewalten und Reichsverband (Symbolische Kommunikation in der Vormoderne. Studien zur Geschichte, Literatur und Kunst), Köln/Weimar/Wien.
- Strocchia, S. (2009), Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence, Baltimore.
- Stutz, U./Feine, H. (19954) Geschichte des kirchlichen Benefizialwesens von seinen Anfängen bis auf die Zeit Alexanders III., Aalen.
- Sutter, Claudia (2016), Das Konventsbuch als Quelle für Wirtschafts- und Regionalgeschichte IN Willing, Antje (ed.): Das ‚Konventsbuch‘ und das ‚Schwesternbuch‘ aus St. Katharina in St. Gallen. Kritische Edition und Kommentar, Berlin 2016, S. 43-73
- Uffmann, H. (2008), Wie in einem Rosengarten: monastische Reformen des späten Mittelalters in den Vorstellungen von Klosterfrauen, Bielefeld.
- Van Houts, E. (1999), Memory and Gender in Medieval Europe 900-1200, London.
- Venarde, B. (1997), Women’s Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215, Ithaca.
- Walker, R. (2001), ‘Images of royal and aristocratic burial in Northern Spain, c. 950-1250’, IN Medieval Memories. Men, women and the past, 700-1300, ed. by Elisabeth Van Houts, Harlow.
- Wehlt, H.P. (1970), Reichsabtei und König, Fulda.
- Wemple, S. F. (1981), Women in Frankish Society. Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900, Philadelphia.
- Winston-Allen, A. (2004), Convent Chronicles. Women Writing about Women and Reform in the Late Middle Ages, Philadelphia.
- Zarri, G./ Baranda Leturio, N.(eds.). (2011), Memoria e Comunità Femminili. Spagna e Italia, sec. XV-XVII. Memoria y comunidades femeninas. España e Italia, siglos XV-XVII, Firenze/Madrid.
- Melville, G., Die Welt der mittelalterlichen Klöster, München 2012.
- Campus Galli, Klosterplan, url: https://www.campus-galli.de/klosterplan/ (letzter Zugriff am 5 Aug. 2021).
- Shepherd, W. R., Historical Atlas, New York City 1911, url: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/monastery_st.gall_swiss.jpg, (letzter Zugriff am 5 Aug. 2021).
- Wild, D., Zürichs Münsterhof – ein städtischer Platz des 13. Jahrhunderts? Überlegungen zum Thema „Stadtgestalt und Öffentlichkeit“ im mittelalterlichen Zürich, in: Fund-Stücke – Spuren-Suche, S. 327-352.
- DeMaris, S.G. (Hg.), Johannes Meyer: Das Amptbuch, Rom 2015.
- Klapp, S., Das Äbtissinnenamt in den unterelsässischen Frauenstiften vom 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert. Umkämpft, Verhandelt, Normiert, Berlin/Boston 2012.
- Schlotheuber, E., Klostereintritt und Übergangsriten. Die Bedeutung der Jungfräulichkeit für das Selbstverständnis der Nonnen der alten Orden, in: Frauen – Kloster – Kunst…, Turnhout 2007, S. 43-58.
- Halinger OSB, K., Consuetudo. Begriff, Formen, Foschungsgeschichte, Inhalt, in: Untersuchungen zu Kloster und Stift, Göttingen 1980, S. 140-160.
- Holzherrm G., Die Benediktsregel: Eine Anleitung zu christlichem Leben; Der vollständige Text der Regel, Fribourg 2007.
- Parisse, M., Art. Kanonissen, in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, Tl. 5, München/Zürich 1991, Sp. 907f.
- Schormann, A., Identitäten und Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Kanonissen im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin 2020.
- Müller, A., Nonnen im Mittelalter – Ein geregeltes Leben fernab der Welt?, in: Nonnen. Starke Frauen im Mittelalter, Zürich 2020.
- Winston-Allen, A., The Observant Reform versus the Reformation: Women’s Scriptoria, Books and the Resistance, in: Konfrontation, Kontinuität und Wandel, Ostfildern 2022, S. 39-55.
- Feldmann, C., Hildegard von Bingen. Nonne und Genie, Freiburg i. Br. 1995.
- Mengis, S., Schreibende Frauen um 1500. Scriptorium und Bibliothek des Dominikanerinnenklosters St. Katharina St. Gallen, Berlin 2013.
- Schlotheuber, E., Klostereintritt und Bildung. Die Lebenswelt der Nonnen im späten Mittelalter…, Tübingen 2004.
- Constable, G., The Ceremonies and Symbolism of Entering Religious Life and Taking the Monastic Habit, from the Fourth to the Twelfth Century, in: Culture and Spirituality in Medieval Europe, Aldershot 1996, S. VII: 771-834.
- Kuhns, E., The Habit. A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns, New York 2003.
- Schlotheuber, E., Best Clothes and Everyday Attire of Late Medieval Nuns, in: Fashion and Clothing in Late Medieval Europe, Basel 2010, S. 139-154.
- Holzherrm G., Die Benediktsregel: Eine Anleitung zu christlichem Leben; Der vollständige Text der Regel, Fribourg 2007.
- Melville, G./ Staub, M., Enzyklopädie des Mittelalters.
- Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
- Duby, G., Die drei Ordnungen. Das Weltbild des Feudalismus, 1993.
- Reynolds, S., Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted, 1994.
- Hanawalt, B., The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London, 2007.
- Ennen, E., Frauen im Mittelalter, 1993.
- Schubert, E., Alltag im Mittelalter. Natürliches Lebensumfeld und menschliches Miteinander, 2002.
- AdA H 1506, fol. 33 r.v.
- C. A. Berman, “Later Monastic Economies”, in: The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, Vol. II, 2020, S. 831-847.
- H. Röckelein, “Monastic Landscapes”, in: The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, Vol. II, 2020, 816-830.
- Schmitt [Hirbodian], S., Die Herrschaft der geistlichen Fürstin. Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Äbtissinnen im Spätmittelalter, in: Fürstin und Fürst…, Stuttgart 2014, S. 187-202.
- Regesten 819 – 1500, bearb. von Seigel, R./Stemmler, E./Theil, B., Stuttgart 2009.
- Müller, A., From the Cloister to the State. Fontevraud and the Making of Bourbon France (1642-1100), London 2021.
- Signori, G., Wanderer zwischen den ‚Welten‘ — Besucher, Briefe, Vermächtnisse und Geschenke als Kommunikationsmedien im Austausch zwischen Kloster und Welt, in: Krone und Schleier. … München 2005, S. 131-141.
- Kleinjung, C., Geistliche Töchter — abgeschoben oder unterstützt? Überlegungen zum Verhältnis hochadeliger Nonnen zu ihren Familien im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert, in: Familienbeziehungen… Stuttgart 2004, S. 21-4
- Theil, B., Das Bistum Konstanz. 4: Das (freiweltliche) Damenstift Buchau am Federsee, Berlin/New York 1994.
- Wyss, G. von, Geschichte der Abtei Zürich. Beilagen; Urkunden nebst Siegeltafeln, Zürich 1851/58.
- Edwards, J., Superior Women. Medieval Female Authority in Poitiers’ Abbey of Sainte-Ctroix, 2019, S. 236-242.
- Signori, G., Memoria im Frauenkloster, in: Nonnen. Starke Frauen im Mittelalter, 2020, S. 31-36.
- Vischer, L./Schenker, L./Dellsperger, R. (Hg), Ökumenische Kirchengeschichte der Schweiz, Freiburg 1994.
- Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
Soissons
- Histoire de l’Abbaye Royale de Notre Dame de Soisson (1675), https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10006538_00007.html (letzter Zugriff am 19 Aug. 2020).
- Germain, Histoire de l’abbaye Royale de Notre-Dame de Soissons, Paris 1675.
- Cartuaire de Notre-Dame de Soissons, Archives départementales de l’Aisne H 1506.
Buchau
- Baur, W. (1971), Stift Buchau und Herrschaft Straßberg IN Schwäbische Heimat, pp. 87-90.
- Klaiber, H. (1929), Stift und Stiftskirche zu Buchau, Augsburg.
- Klapp, S. (2016), Geistliche Frauen – mächtige Frauen? Die Äbtissinnen von Buchau im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit IN Landeskundig. Tübinger Vorträge zur Landesgeschichte, Bd. 1Frauen in Württemberg, ed. by Hirbodian, S./ Klapp, S./ Wegner, T., Ostfildern,pp. 81-106.
- Bernhard Theil, Das Bistum Konstanz. 4: Das (freiweltliche) Damenstift Buchau am Federsee, Berlin/New York 1994.
- Regesten 819 – 1500, bearb. von Rudolf Seigel/Eugen Stemmler/Bernhard Theil, Stuttgart 2009.
Tüchle, H. (1971), Buchau, Stift und Stadt IN Schwäbische Heimat, Bd. 22, Stuttgart, pp. 62-71.
Fraumünster
- Abegg, R./ Wiener, C. B. (2000), Das Fraumünster in Zürich, Bern.
- Köppel, C. (1991), Von der Äbtissin zu den gnädigen Herren. Untersuchungen zu Wirtschaft und Verwaltung der Fraumünsterabtei und des Fraumünsteramtes in Zürich 1418-1549, Zürich.
- Niederhäuser, P. / Dölf, W. (ed.) (2012), Das Fraumünster in Zürich. Von der Königsabteir zur Stadtkirche, Zürich.
- Steiner, H. (2012), Die Fraumünsterstiftung von 853 im Kontext der frühen Kirchengeschichte Zürichs, IN Das Fraumünster in Zürich, von der Königsabtei zur Stadtkirche, Zürich.
- J. Steinmann, Die Benediktinerinnenabtei zum Fraumünster und ihr Verhältnis zur Stadt Zürich 853-1524, St. Ottilien 1980.
Fontevraud
- Bienvenu, J.-M., L’étonnant fondateur de Fontevraud Robert d’Arbrissel, Paris 1981.
- Müller, A., From the Cloister to the State. Fontevraud and the Making of Bourbon France (1642-1100), London 2022.
Las Huelgas
- Bianchini, J. (2020), “At the command of the Infantas”: Royal Women at Las Huelgas in the Thirteenth Century IN The sword and the cross. Castile-León in the era of Fernando III, pp. 165-192.
- Connor, E. (1988), The Royal Abbey of Las Huelgas and the Jurisdiction of its Abbesses IN Cistercian studies, S. 128-155.
- Escrivá, J., La Abadesa de las Hulegas, Ed. crític-hístoria, Balaguer 2016.
- Gayoso, A. (2000), The Lasy of Las Huelgas. A Royal Abbey and its Patronage IN Citeaux, pp. 91-115.
Klingental
- Degler-Spengler und Christ, D. A. Basel, Klingental HS, Abt. 4, Bd. 5 Teil 2, S. 530-583.
- Gilmon-Schenkel und Degler-Spengler, Basel, Klingental, Helvetia Sacra, Abt. 4, Bd. 2, S. 61-72.
- Müller, A. Totgesagte leben länger. Das Kloster Klingental als Verwaltungseinheit in der Alten Eidgenossenschaft, in: Hirbodian/ Scheible/ Schormann (Hg.) Konfrontation, Kontinuität und Wandel […], Ostfildern 2021.
- Schwinn-Schürmann, D. / Jaggi, B. (1990), Das Kloster Klingental in Basel, Bern.
- Schwinn-Schürmann, D. (2001), Die Nonnen und Laien des Klosters Klingental in Basel (1274-1529): Zeugnisse aus Archiven zur Lebensweise, zum Privatbesitz und dessen Vererbung IN Jahresbericht. Freunde des Klingentalmuseums, Basel, pp. 21-26.
- Steinmann, J., Die Benediktinerinnenabtei zum Fraumünster und ihr Verhältnis zur Stadt Zürich 853-1524, St. Ottilien 1980.
- Wild, D., Zürichs Münsterhof – ein städtischer Platz des 13. Jahrhunderts? Überlegungen zum Thema «Stadtgestalt und Öffentlichkeit» im mittelalterlichen Zürich, Zürich 2011.
Christ-von Wedel, C., Die Äbtissin, der Söldnerführer und ihre Töchter. Katharina von Zimmern im politischen Spannungsfeld der Reformationszeit, Zürich 2019.
Gysel, I., Zürichs letzte Äbtissin Katharina von Zimmern: 1478 – 1547, Zürich 2011.
- Bernhard Theil, Das Bistum Konstanz. 4: Das (freiweltliche) Damenstift Buchau am Federsee, Berlin/New York 1994.
- Regesten 819 – 1500, bearb. von Rudolf Seigel/Eugen Stemmler/Bernhard Theil, Stuttgart 2009.
- Müller, A.: From the Cloister to the State. Fontevraud and the Making of Bourbon France (1642-1100), London: Routledge, 2021.
- Germain, M., Histoire de l’Abbaye Royale de Notre-Dame de Soissons, Paris 1675.
- Grand Cartulaire de Notre-Dame de Soissons, Archives départementales de l’Aisne, H 1508, 15.-18. Jh.
- Bienvenu, J.-M., “Le conflit entre Ulger, évêque d’Angers, et Pétronille de Chemillé, abbesse de Fontevrault.” Revue Mabillon LVIII (1972).
- D’Emilio, J., The Royal Convent of Las Huelgas: Dynastic Politics, Religious Reform and Artistic Change in Medieval Castile, in: Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture, Kalamazoo 2005, S. 191-282.
Wyss, G. von, Geschichte der Abtei Zürich. Beilagen; Urkunden nebst Siegeltafeln, Zürich 1851/58.
Weibel, A., „Hagenbuch, Judenta von“, in: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 05.02.2004. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/012664/2004-02-05/, zuletzt Aufgerufen am 03.08.2021.
Escrivá, J. M., La abadesa de las Huelgas, Madrid 1944.
Reglero de la Fuente, C. M., Las „Señoras“ de las Huelgas de Burgos: infantas, monjas y encomenderas, 2016, URL: http://journals.openedition.org/e-spania/25542, zuletzt Aufgerufen am 16.08.2021.
- Meyer, A., Klingen, Fides von, IN: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 20.08.2007, URL: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/012737/2007-08-20/ (Zuletzt aufgerufen am 28.09.2021).
- Schormann, A., Gott zu lob und den seelen die ir almusen her geben habenndt zu trost unnd hilf […] Stiftisches Leben in Oberschwaben, in: Zwischen Mittelalter und Reformation. Religiöses Leben in Oberschwaben um 1500, S. 15-27.
Gilomen-Schenkel, E., „Zu Rhein, Clara“, in: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 24.02.2014. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/026595/2014-02-24/, zuletzt Aufgerufen am 13.08.2021.
Weis-Müller, R., Die Reform des Klosters Klingental und ihr Personenkreis, Basel 1956.
- Rodriguez López, A., El Real Monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos y el Hospital del Rey, Burgos 1907.