Book Section
Edmund Wareham
The Openness of the Enclosed Convent
Evidence from the Lüne Letter Collection
This article draws on the nearly 1800 letters which survive from the Benedictine convent of Lüne, near Lüneburg in northern Germany, and were written between c. 1460 and 1555. It explores the textual and visual strategies which nuns in the later Middle Ages used to negotiate their enclosed status. It suggests that the language and imagery of openness were a means for the nuns to remind those outside the convent wall of their presence and purpose in life.
Keywords: convents; nuns; enclosure; letters; reform; Reformation; Lüne
| Title |
The Openness of the Enclosed Convent
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| Subtitle |
Evidence from the Lüne Letter Collection
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| Author(s) |
Edmund Wareham
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
This article draws on the nearly 1800 letters which survive from the Benedictine convent of Lüne, near Lüneburg in northern Germany, and were written between c. 1460 and 1555. It explores the textual and visual strategies which nuns in the later Middle Ages used to negotiate their enclosed status. It suggests that the language and imagery of openness were a means for the nuns to remind those outside the convent wall of their presence and purpose in life.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
19 April 2022
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| Subject |
convents
nuns
enclosure
letters
reform
Reformation
Lüne
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
271
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| page end |
288
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| Source |
Openness in Medieval Europe, ed. by Manuele Gragnolati and Almut Suerbaum, Cultural Inquiry, 23 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 271–88
|
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Cite as:
Edmund Wareham, ‘The Openness of the Enclosed Convent: Evidence from the Lüne Letter Collection’, in Openness in Medieval Europe, ed. by Manuele Gragnolati and Almut Suerbaum, Cultural Inquiry, 23 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 271-88 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-23_14>