This Woman’s Work: Prioress Mechthild von Wild and the Exercise of Indirect Authority in Sixteenth Century Lüneburg
By: Robert Welch
Introduction
Therefore, honorable lord and esteemed patron, we have deemed it necessary to implore your kindness, concerning which we have the utmost confidence, that you may benevolently grant us your goodwill, so that in consideration of God and divine retribution, as well as for the safety of your soul, you would graciously resign the aforementioned parish, which you wish to exchange, to our monastery for the same reason of piety, where you have been meritoriously received without any burden of servitude.
Letter from the Prioress of the Abbey of Lüneburg to Johannes Lorber, Provost of the Convent of Ultzen.[1]
In 1506, the prioress of Lüneburg Abbey wrote to the newly elevated provost of the convent in Ultzen, both congratulating him on his appointment, and asking him to abandon that prestigious benefice and assume a similar position at her convent, instead. The letter is notable for how it couched the consequences for Lorber’s soul should he fail to accede to her request. Essentially, if he refused, he would be subjecting himself to eternal damnation.[2] Subsequent letters to and from the Abbey indicated that Lorber agreed to the request and remained provost at Kloster Lüneburg until his resignation in 1529. The significance of the prioress’s request lies in the subtle parlays of power it represents. The provost was the bishop’s delegated surrogate and was typically assigned by the bishop himself. It was not an office to be taken lightly, and certainly not one that could be refused without incurring punishment for disobedience. In other words, it was not an office that was supposed to be subject to the whims of the nuns whom the provost oversaw.
Nuns lacked the authority to assign priests to benefices, and, like other women in Early Modern Germany, were prohibited from testifying in court or exercising power in other overt ways. But they were not powerless. While lacking formal authority under ecclesiastical and civil laws, nuns in Early Modern Germany frequently wielded power in ways that sidestepped official methods of control—often by negotiating and working around, rather than within, formal authority structures.[3] Most studies of the interaction between communities of nuns and their larger urban environments concentrate on the exercise of authority through established hierarchical structures. Formal authority in both ecclesiastical and secular communities descended vertically, from leader to led. In women’s monastic communities, authority descended from the local bishop, through his designee, the provost, to the women in the convent. In the free cities of the Hansa, authority descended from the city council and the mayor through the guild leaders to the citizenry.[4] Women had to establish informal networks of influence in order to protect their interests from those of male power structures. Lacking those networks, they were essentially powerless and subject to the whims of the males in their lives.[5]
The prioress of the Lüneburg Abbey was an important member of the city of Lüneburg, and frequently prevailed in disputes with the city council and the Archdiocese of Bremen, despite lacking formal authority.[6] She did this by building and maintaining relationships with influential local families through the convent’s role of teaching the daughters of prominent Burgermeisters ’ families at the convent’s school, and by actively recruiting those girls as novices.[7] As women in positions of institutional authority within the convent, but lacking the ability to exert similar influence on those outside their communities, the prioresses of Kloster Lüneburg had to be adept at subtly manipulating powerful males into doing what they desired. By focusing narrowly on the interactions between the prioress and male authority figures from the late fifteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries, this study describes how women—an ostensibly powerless group during the pre-modern era—actually exhibited a great deal of influence without wielding enforceable authority.
Historical Background
Lüneburg sits roughly thirty-one kilometers to the south of the port city of Hamburg, and became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1158. Its primary product in this era was salt, which it exported northwards to the Baltics and Scandinavia via collateral agreements with other cities of the League. It maintained those connections until the collapse of the Baltic Herring trade in 1560.[8] Other than a brief period in the late fourteenth-century, the city was an independent entity, governed by a council of merchants. A representative from the Archdiocese of Bremen served as a voting advisor to the council.[9] Following the efforts of the Duke of Braunschweig to take control of the city in 1492, the prioress of the Convent of Lüneburg was added to the council as an advisor, although without voting rights. The honor was granted thanks to the prioress’s success in ending the siege and securing Lüneburg’s continued rights as a Freistadt. Further, it cemented the prominence of the convent as an important and powerful institution.[10]
The city of Lüneburg was under the ecclesiastical authority of the See of Bremen, whose holder was one of the titular Electors of the Holy Roman Emperor.[11] As mentioned earlier, the bishop’s representative advised the council, but had no ability to dictate policies, and could not vote. As Wietse de Boer’s 2005 paper suggests, priests assigned to bishop’s Sees were generally not involved in the sort of day-to-day pastoral duties that consumed the time of parish priests.[12] By the beginning of the sixteenth century one could argue that ordained clergy saw their roles as being pastoral, educational, or administrative.[13] It is likely that the bishop’s advisor to the Lüneburg City Council’s concerns focused more on financial and political matters than on those of doctrine or the care of the Burgermeisters’ souls.
The convent’s importance to Lüneburg and the surrounding area stemmed from the prominent role it played in the associations of local women’s religious houses. Kloster Lüne itself was one of six women’s houses in the local region. Kloster Lüne and its sister house, Kloster Ebstorf, were under Benedictine rule, while the houses of Isenhagen, Medingen, Walsrode, and Wienhausen were Cistercian foundations.[14] Kloster Lüne itself was the oldest of the six houses, founded in 1172 by a small group of noblewomen. Henrika Lahnemann and Eva Schloheuber have documented the close associations among the six local convents, and the primacy of Lüne in that association—its status obtained from its role in educating the daughters of the city’s wealthy merchants.[15] Lay literacy increased in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the spirit of humanism, daughters of merchant-class families were expected to be able to read and write both Latin and the local vernacular. Art historians Kathryn M. Rudy and Jeffrey Hamburger have published commentaries on the production and use of educational materials intended for such girls use, and examples of these texts have been well preserved.[16] The convent’s role in educating both the daughters eligible for marriage into other wealthy merchant families, and those destined to take vows and become professed nuns accentuated the prioress’s informal authority and influence.
The prioress was likely the most important person in the convent at Lüneburg. Indeed, the actions of one woman, Mechthild von Wild, who led the abbey from 1504-1535, were vital to the way the abbey navigated the turbulent years from 1490-1530. The prioress was the second most powerful figure in the hierarchy of cloistered nuns, after the abbess, but not all convents had an abbess. The presence of an abbess is conspicuously missing in most of the Kloster Lüne letters from this forty-year period.[17] The prioress was the head of the household of nuns. She looked after the welfare of the professed and lay sisters, oversaw the convent’s interactions with the outside world, and, in the case of Lüneburg, frequently advised both secular and ecclesiastical authorities on both financial and administrative matters.[18] She also advised the prioresses of the other five local convents, many of whose prioresses were former members of the community at Lüneburg. Lastly, in her role as head of the household, the prioress was the primary disciplinarian of the convent, and could take any necessary actions, up to expulsion of disobedient sisters.[19]
The Convent’s Ties to the Community
The convent’s source of authority lay in its ties to the community. The prioress’ ability to exercise influence depended upon the familial relations between the professed sisters and the greater community. Generations of Lüneburg families sent their daughters to the convent’s school to be educated, and many of those girls took final vows and became professed sisters themselves. The Kloster Lüne letters contain several examples of correspondence between current and former nuns discussing the possibility of family members entering the convent. In a letter written between 1511 and 1513, the prioress Mechthild reassured her childhood friend, and former Lüneburg Novice, Anna Gruvelman, that her daughter was secure and well respected in the convent. “Your dear daughter is a good one, known for grace and honor of God’s mercy,” she told Frau Gruvelmann. She continued, “…Therefore, for now, expect that your dear daughter will be cared for; let this not trouble you or cause you distress.”[20]
The convent’s school, and the schools run by the other five convents, served to bind the lives of the nuns with those of the Burghers. Even if Anna Gruvelmann’s daughter did not remain in the convent to become a fully professed sister, the girl’s time there benefited the greater community. Firstly, the convent school’s students learned to read and write both Latin and Mittelniederdeutsch.[21] For girls who were going to complete their vows, proficiency in Latin was necessary for formal participation in the liturgy. Girls who were not planning on staying in the convent found that knowledge of Latin and the vernacular made them better prepared to assist husbands, sons, and brothers in the transaction of trade between Hansa cities. Even after the Reformation began, and confessional conflicts spread through the German-speaking lands, the practice of allowing girls to be educated in convents remained popular, and facilitated the shift in those convents from Catholic to Lutheran-run houses.[22] In an era when women were not permitted to enter universities, life in the cloister provided one of the few opportunities for women to have access to books and to develop their intellect in ways comparable to those of men.
Entry into a convent did not sever a girl’s connection to the outside world. Family relations did not end with the donning of the habit, and the tragedies and conflicts of the outside world, like war, famine, and disease, frequently intruded into the contemplative lives of cloistered women.[23] Often, interaction between family members and women in the convents continued through a tradition of family visitations and occasional sabbaticals from cloistered life to assist in times of family emergencies. Professing final vows, known as “Taking the Crown,” was a reason for congratulations and celebration not just to the sisters of the new fully professed nun’s home convent, but was also celebrated by friends and family members in neighboring foundations. The coronation was literal, and preserved examples of nuns’ crowns survive to this day.[24] The crowns, marked with five ornaments, or “jewels,” symbolizing the five wounds of the crucified Christ, were treasures retained by the sisters all their lives, and the memories of the joy they felt on taking final vows seem heartfelt and sincere. A letter from a sister in a neighboring convent to a newly professed nun at Lüne recalled her exultation at being accepted as a Bride of Christ in rapturous terms, “… For the bridegroom has adorned me with a crown and has graced me with immense jewels, and truly, truly, the day of new redemption, of the restoration of eternal happiness, shone upon you…”[25] The nuns at Kloster Lüne, therefore, inhabited two communities—religious and secular—and were fully functioning members of both.
The Prioress’ Relationship with the Diocese of Bremen
In the second half of the first decade of the 16th century, a growing number of wealthier burgher families in Lüneburg responded to the convent’s reputation by requesting placement of their daughters in the cloister. This led to the need to construct additions to the novice dormitory. Accordingly, requests for funds to facilitate construction went out to members of the community who had been supportive of the convent in the past. Interestingly, the request was phrased in terms of honor to the convent’s supporters, reminding the donors that failing to provide adequate funding would reflect poorly on the provost, the person nominally charged with acting on behalf of the sisters’ needs. “Should you wish to come to our aid for the love of God, we might thus bring our needs through your assistance to a good conclusion, so that our worthy Lord, the provost, might not suffer scorn or mockery from the people who would willingly say, when we are in want.”[26] The relationship between bishops and monastic foundations in the pre-Tridentine era was complex and frequently filled with misunderstandings and animosities. Though the bishop was in theory the superior to the prioress of a convent, most monastic foundations were quasi-independent institutions, and not totally subject to the desires of the diocese.[27] In women’s houses, the office of the provost existed, ostensibly, to provide Diocesan supervision to counter the weaknesses and likelihood of women toward errors in thought or behavior. In reality, the provost served as a surrogate for the bishop and was supposed to ensure his wishes were carried out regarding the running of the convent.[28] In addition, since the nuns were theoretically prohibited from interacting with the laity, the provost also served as a go-between with the local community outside the convent walls.
Often the relationship between a strong-willed prioress and an interfering provost often led to tension and discontent inside the abbey. In WDB 314, there is an example of a prioress requesting that the provost of a nearby convent give up his position, and take up that duty at Kloster Lüne.[29] In the first months of 1506, Lüneburg’s Provost Niklaus Schomaker died suddenly. This event caused great consternation within the community. Prioress Mechthild was concerned that the bishop would appoint someone who would undermine the convent’s independence. She expressed this concern in a letter to nuns in a nearby community, stating that she had already identified Johan Lorber as a preferred candidate for the position. “And although by spreading fame we have come to know this venerable and remarkable man, adorned with a special variety of virtues,” she wrote, adding, “and we had all unanimously discussed him as a prelate in the place of the capitulum under the seal of confession among ourselves before.”[30] Mechthild seems to have been previously acquainted with Lorber, though the Wolfenbüttel letters are silent on this relationship. Regardless, she certainly trusted that he would side with her on matters involving the convent, and wrote to him in later Spring requesting that he give up his current position and instead take up the still vacant post at Lüneburg, before the bishop could appoint someone else.[31]
Lüneburg Abbey had experienced conflicts over finances with the bishop of Bremen in the past. For example, early in Mechthild’s term as prioress, the bishop had attempted to seize profits from the convent’s sale of pork from the convent swine.[32] As a woman, Mechthild was dependent upon the goodwill of male patrons to advocate on her behalf. Cultivating those patrons required subtlety and diplomatic skill. Fortunately for the nuns of Kloster Lüne, the abbey had charge of appointments to the benefices of several smaller parish churches in the area. Though lacking the ability to make direct appointments, the prioress’s network of influence could still distribute these seats as rewards for past support or ensure future support from ordained clergy. She did so via relationships with wealthy Burgermeister families whose daughters were either professed nuns at the convent, or had been lay students at the convent school.[33] The nuns of the convents associated with Lüne seem to have had equally cordial relationships with provost Lorber, and he appears to have been instrumental in continued efforts to promote outreach to neighboring convents. In 1510, the prioress of Kloster Ebstorf wrote to Lorber thanking him for his assistance in securing the exchange of teaching sisters between the two houses.[34]
The prioress of Lüneburg’s disagreements with the bishop of Bremen were no secret, and her methods of successfully winning those disputes demonstrated her ability to marshal influence and connections with prominent members of the community to her favor. In the early sixteenth century, the chair of the Church of St. John the Baptist became vacant. Joachim Moeller, who had been assigned confessor and provost to the nuns at Lüneburg, at that time, wished to assume the prebend. The Convent of Lüneburg held the right to nomination and confirmation of the chair. But, as women were unable to actually convey ecclesiastical appointments, the possibility existed that the bishop might appoint his own candidate to that vacancy. Because of this prohibition, the mayor of Lüneburg held the nun’s proxy, and they instructed him to make the appointment on their behalf. Writing to the mayor, the prioress said, “We beseech you, as fellow patrons of this claim, to take care of this matter and to uphold our old trusted servant, as he is deserving of your consideration; as long as our worthy lord (i.e., the mayor) is still in charge, we will gladly support your efforts concerning these matters with all our strength.”[35] In the letter, the prioress did not command, but instead suggested. “The aforementioned Joachim,” she stated, “has suffered and endured these wrongs, while his fellow patrons are aware of this. We wish to be helpful in these matters and assist fully within our means.”[36] Mechthild’s request, while not explicitly a command, is certainly more than a mere suggestion. The benefits of a good relationship with the abbey, whether spiritual or financial, are worth maintaining, and the implication is that should the mayor support any candidate other than the one suggested by the prioress, he might not be able to count on her support on other issues in the future. The mayor of Lüneburg understood that by holding the convent’s proxy in ecclesiastical confirmations, he was fulfilling the will of the nuns of Kloster Lüne, rather than exercising his own personal preferences.
In other instances, the prioress had to contend directly with efforts by the Archdiocese of Bremen to meddle directly in the running of the convent. In 1505, the bishop sought to expand the choir of the church in Rade and directed then-provost Nikolaus Schomaker to use convent funds to pay for the construction without informing the prioress or her staff. When she heard of these plans, Mechthild promptly wrote to the mayor of Rade and the Archbishop, reminding them of the convent’s rights to that church. Mechthild wrote to remind them that she, as prioress, not Schomaker, had the sole right to spend the church’s money. She wrote, “The church of Rade belongs to the monastery of Lüne, and we had it in perpetual possession from the year of our Lord 1272 from the lord abbot Otto II in perpetuity.”[37] She reminded the bishop that Abbot Otto II had willed the church—and all associated profits and lands—to the convent at Lüne, not to the archdiocese or the bishop.
Ecclesiastical politics could be a full-time game for the prioress. Abbot Heinrich of Oldenstadt had been a keen player of diocesan politics, whose shifting promises of support were a challenge to Mechthild in her conflicts with the bishop. Heinrich had recently been ill, and, thinking he was on his deathbed, changed his will, providing for significant support to the community at Lüneburg, instead of leaving his fortune to the archdiocese. In late September of 1505, he recovered from his illness. Mechthild, aware of how changeable Heinrich’s intentions could be, wrote to him reminding him of his promise. In a letter congratulating him on his recovery, she acknowledged that she had been too busy to write.[38] After acknowledging his recovery, she reminded him of his promise of support, aware as she was that he might be tempted to change his will again in the future. “… so we beg you with all our heart, that we may make your perpetual memory, so that we may not be afraid, and that your extraordinary charity and greatest love for us may be made known to our posterity.”[39] As women, and as nuns, subtle reminders were the most effective tools Mechthild and her sisters could wield in the face of masculine intransigence.
Conflict between Mechthild and the Archbishop of Bremen resumed in the winter of 1512, when she became involved in a dispute over who had the right to confirm the election of Anna Rueden as prioress of the convent of Neukloster. Monastic communities enjoyed a certain amount of independence from their local dioceses. Attempts by bishops to interfere with the election of conventual superiors, or failures to approve those leaders once elevated, had often led to appeals to Rome in the past, and usually the monastic settlement prevailed.[40] At issue was whether prioress Rueden could assume office without waiting for confirmation. The Abbot of the neighboring monastery of Harsefeld wrote to the prioress of Lüne, asking her opinion of the matter. “Greetings, venerable and religious lady,” he began, explaining the dilemma,
According to the constitution of natural and inevitable law, which states that man must die once, the venerable lady of the New Cloister closed her last day on the fourth of the Ides of March, and it was entrusted to me, through our lord, the most reverend archpriest of Bremen, to assist in the direction of the election of a new lady there, which indeed took place on the Sunday of Judica. Mother Anna Roden has been elected, a well-educated religious, experienced in both spiritual and temporal matters.[41]
At issue was whether her election was invalid if the bishop had not confirmed it, something that had not been required in the past. This letter suggests that Prioress Mechthild’s reputation as an expert on such matters was held in high regard by other religious leaders, and that her opinion might hold more value than that of the bishop. The situation at Neukloster was not dissimilar to Mechthild’s own elevation to prioress. In spring of 1505, while prioress Mechthild was visiting friends at the abbey in Walsrode, the prioress, Sophia von Bodenteich, died suddenly. The sisters at Lüne held a hurried election, elevating Mechthild to the position, and worried that if Mechthild did not return soon, the bishop might force a new election and install a candidate likely to be more compliant to his wishes.[42]
Kloster Lüne’s Network of Female Influence
One measure of Lüneburg Abbey’s prestige lies in the fact that Lüneburg’s nuns often assumed leadership positions in the other five local convents nearby. This strengthened existing ties with the wealthy merchant class families and boosted the reputation of the Lüneburg house. Teaching sisters from Lüne often assumed duties at the convent in Ebstorf to teach in the convent school.[43] Letters from sisters residing at Ebstorf were often informal and filled with the desire to return to their home convent. “AO,” “KH,” “EV,” and “KV” compared their longing to return to their home convent to the longing of “the patriarch Jacob when he sought his son Joseph before he died, that his spirit might be revived.”[44] Absences like that must have been difficult to bear in a time when correspondence was dependent on manual delivery, and letters might easily be lost. Close bonds of friendship also existed between senior members of the convent hierarchies. Mechthild von Niendorf, of Kloster Ebstorf and Lüneburg Prioress Mechthild von Wild’s predecessor Sophia von Bodenteich appear to have been particularly close.[45]
Prioresses of other convents often sought assistance from both the prioress and the provost of Kloster Lüne. In 1510, Barbara von Hodenburg, then prioress of Kloster Ebstorf, wrote to Provost Johannes Lorber thanking him for advocating for their convent on a local property dispute. She praised his eloquence and the gifts he bestowed on the nuns of Ebstorf, including wine and a painting of St. Anne.[46] Such exchanges of both people, services, and goods went a long way toward maintaining the informal influence of Lüneburg’s leadership. Kloster Lüneburg had sent nuns to Ebstorf in 1508 to assist with nursing the sick when an unnamed illness struck down several beloved members of the community. Regrettably, the delegation from Lüne arrived too late and were not able to be of much assistance. The nuns of Lüne apologized for that in a letter sent later that year.[47]
A measure of Kloster Lüne’s success was the influx of novices as the sixteenth century opened. By 1505, the reputation of the convent of Lüneburg was such that there was a dramatic increase in requests for placement of daughters in the cloister from wealthier burgher families in the city. This led to the need to construct additions to the novice dormitory. Accordingly, the convent sent requests for donations directly to those who had been supportive in the past, rather than appealing to the bishop. A letter went out to wealthy families, saying, “Dear esteemed friends and great benefactors, as you are well aware, we have long been troubled and would like to obtain a dormitory, which we greatly need.”[48] The appeal was successful, as a line in WDB 98 reveals. Assistance to the sick nuns at Ebstorf had been delayed by the construction. “It is known to God that I could not come earlier due to many various occupations before my eyes,” Mechthild wrote to Ebstorf’s prioress, “ (for) we are currently occupied with the construction of the monastery…”[49] Expansion of the community at Lüneburg, then, allowed the convent to send more sisters to the neighboring convents, and increase the network of Lüneburg alumni in leadership roles in the other houses.
Lüneburg Confronts the Reformation
As Charlotte Woodford pointed out in her 2002 monograph, Nuns as Historians in Early Modern Germany, copying typically led to discussion, including the discussion of dissenting and reforming ideas.[50] The century leading up to Luther’s break from the Roman Church was a tumultuous one for many religious orders, and both the Dominicans and Benedictines made major changes in their Rules in order to counter accusations of corruption and decay in the cloisters.[51] Martin Luther’s publication of his 95 Theses in 1517 was the culmination of centuries of disagreement over Church Doctrine, disagreement which the nuns of Lüneburg had been party to, as both willing and unwilling participants in the dialogue. Robert Bireley identifies five fundamental changes that mark the cultural shift from the medieval to the early-modern world: (1) the formation of the absolutist nation-state; (2) demographic and economic expansion into cities; (3) oceangoing trade with Asia, Africa, and the Americas; (4) the rediscovery and translation of classical texts following the fall of Constantinople; and (5) the invention of the printing press; and (6) the Protestant Reformation.[52] Though not invalid, this analysis is incomplete. It misses the fact that, because monastic communities were centers of book copying and production, they were on the front lines of reform movements throughout the Middle Ages.
The Abbey of Lüneburg also underwent reform in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The prioress Margarete Puffen oversaw the rewriting of the convent’s charter in 1490, and was memorialized for her efforts.[53] By 1518, letters between nuns at Lüneburg and their family members often contained fierce debates regarding orthodox and reformed theology. That year, in a letter to her brother, the nun TO comes perilously close to admitting to Lutheran ideas regarding salvation theology, accepting in response to her brother’s assertion “… through our own strength, work, or obedience, we cannot be justified or saved before God…” TO agreed with her brother on this point, and responded “… dear brother, that is true, and I am also aware of it, for I could not confess otherwise, except alone in Jesus Christ…” She did not completely commit to Lutheran doctrine at this point, however, and added a qualifier that alluded to the efficacy of Catholic sacramentalism:
My dearest N, since we are here, we are all like pilgrims, so we must confess before God that we have lived with many trials and are worthless in the sight of God, yet we praise the holy scriptures as Saint John says in Revelation: “Their works follow them,” and this is also affirmed by Saint Paul in his epistle: “Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor”; therefore, we firmly wish to honor the words of the holy apostle and will not hesitate. We hold the forms of good Christian people and the teachings of the holy doctors, for they are grounded in the holy gospel, and let us steadfastly rely on the hard foundation Christ Jesus, through whom we hope for salvation.[54]
WDB 407’s author demonstrates the sophisticated understanding of emergent Reformation theology that one would expect of a teaching nun in a convent known for its high level of philosophical acumen.
Following Luther’s 1517 declarations, the convents also became involved with the confessional feuds of the nobility. In 1519, a dispute arose between the Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim and the Welf duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, which resulted in the sisters having to flee the convent for a brief time to take refuge among the city’s laity. This disruption was one of many that occurred over the next century, as the Catholic vs. Protestant conflict went from being fought with rhetoric from the pulpit to battles with guns and swords. Upon returning to the convent, the nuns at Lüne attempted to return to life as normal, though letters from this time reflect the anxiety and uncertainty that the women must have felt. “I wish to inform you out of charity, that this has not yet happened, but we have had such great pity and tribulations from the enemy, that we must also leave our monastery and must go out, so much so that we were so terrified that we could not give ourselves peace again and thus for a long time we have had all our things within Lüneburg, that we consequently could not come,” one sister wrote, who had to delay her profession of final vows while away from the convent.[55]
Ultimately, the Abbey at Lüneburg and the five associated houses accepted the tenets of the Protestant Reformation. Prioress Mechthild von Wild died in 1535, and the next prioress accepted the authority of the local nobility. Provost Lorber resigned in 1529, replaced by a Lutheran administrator.[56] One of Mechthild’s last actions was to utilize her influence with the Mayor of Lüneburg to have her candidate Johann Weren appointed to the Vicarage of St. Elizabeth’s Church in the city.[57] “Following the notification of a foundation now forthcoming, for the nomination and the most senior mayor for the presentation, we have decided to nominate the Reverend Mr. Johan Weren,” she wrote, “and kindly ask your reverence to appoint Mr. Johan to the vacant vicarage.” In return, she promised that the nuns would continue to pray for the souls of the council.[58]
Conclusion
The years 1506-1508 were highly productive for Mechthild, and her influence grew throughout her term as prioress. 1506 had been so successful for Kloster Lüne and its community that an additional feast was planned during the week of Pentecost to honor one of their deacons, Johan Custer, for his service.[59] By the time of her death, in 1535, the reputation of all six convents in the local group remained solid, and even as the Reformation erupted, sowing confessional chaos, those Catholic foundations continued to boast large numbers of entrants, and increasing numbers of students attending the convents’ schools. Many of the women educated by the nuns at Lüneburg would go on to direct women’s organizations in the Reformed Church, and one may convincingly argue that the tradition of female lay literacy fostered by convent schools contributed to the rise of the female humanists in Northern Europe in the following century.
Kloster Lüne did not survive as a Catholic institution for long after prioress Mechthild’s death. The entire purpose of the monastic institution, prayer for the souls of those in Purgatory, and pleas for divine intercession in the affairs of the living, was negated by the central tenet of salvation by faith alone espoused by Lutheran theology.[60] Despite opposition from the prioresses and the bishops of Bremen, local authorities appointed a Lutheran preacher to the provost’s office in 1542, and in 1562 the Convent elected its first Protestant prioress. Lüneburg Abbey, as a Benedictine Convent, was no more. Despite the passing of the institution, prioress Mechthild von Wild, and her predecessors at the convent, all demonstrated that women were not powerless, despite official proscriptions and statutory restrictions on their exercise of authority. Instead of wielding hard, authoritative power, the prioresses of Kloster Lüne exerted influence on local and ecclesiastical events by using their personal relationships with the powerful male members of the community, and by forging relationships with other important secular women through education and friendship. Prioress Mechthild von Wild utilized alliances based upon personal integrity and associations with powerful local families, because of the convent’s role as the major provider of education for girls from wealthy families. Since early modern women lacked enforceable authority, they instead relied on informal networks and alliances to encourage male holders of power to act in ways that women desired. These informal methods of coercion were as effective as formal expressions of power, but often required more effort on the part of women to achieve the same effect a man might by simply commanding. Despite common claims that early modern women were powerless, they were not. They exercised power and influence in ways unique to them.
[1] WDB314. Nonne im Kloster an einen Pfründeninhaber nach 1506. “Bitte um Pfründenrückgabe.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 22, fol. 12r. “Sitque dominus Deus omnipotens vobiscum et dirigat omnia opera vestra, ut sitis vere in cunctis prospere agens etc. Hinc est, honorabilis domine et fautor preamande, quod vestram benivolentiam, de qua maximam habemus fiduciam, duximus esse deprecandam, ut tam Dei et divine retributionis intuitu ac pro anime vestre salute prefatam parrochiam, quam permutare vultis, monasterio nostro eodem pietatis intuitu resignare dignemini, quo vobis etiam sine ullo servitutis meritam est prestita.” Note: All translations from Latin and Mittelniederdeutsch are my own, and all errors are mine.
[2] WDB 314. As quoted above.
[3] Martha Howell. “The Problem of Women’s Agency in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe.” Women and Gender in the Early Modern Low Countries, 1500-1750. (Ed. Sarah Joan Moran and Amanda Pipkin). Leiden: Brill, 2019. 22-24. Howell describes how women in pre-modern Europe circumvented formal power structures by working within circles of social influence.
[4] Richard Ernst Schroeder. The Hanseatic League. Ohio: Kent State University. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, 1964. 14.
[5] Sheiglagh Ogilvie. “How Does Social Capital Affect Women? Guilds and Communities in Early Modern Germany.” The American Historical Review, Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2004), pp. 325-359. 332.
[6] Henrika Lahnemann, and Eva Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns: Love, Politics, and Religion in Medieval German Convents. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2024. Lahneman and Schlotheuber’s work is a major boon to those wishing to explore the lives of nuns in Later Medieval Germany. The monograph is based on close reading of the over 300 letters from Kloster Lüneburg preserved by Bibliothek Wölfenbeuttel.
[7] WDB 70. Die Nonnen AO, KH, EV und KV, wahrscheinlich im Kloster Ebstorf, an die Ebstorfer Subpriorin Mechtild von Ingersleven, wahrscheinlich im Kloster Lüne um 1507. “Bitte um rasche Rückkehr oder Nachricht.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 7, fol. 2v. This letter, from two nuns from Lüneburg, temporarily dispatched to the convent in Ebstorf as teaching sisters, demonstrates both the close connection between women in the local convents, and the respect accorded the members of the community at Lüneburg. For another example of the interconnections between current and former members of the Lüneburg Kloster, see letter WDB 120. Priorin Mechtild von Ingersleve im Kloster Ebstorf an Anna Gruvelmann zwischen 1511 und 1513. “Nachricht zur kommenden Einkleidung.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 11, fol. 17r. where wealthy community Matron Anna Gruvelmann inquired of Prioress Mechthild about the possibility of accepting her daughter into the community as a student and possibly a Novice.
[8] Richard Ernst Schroeder. The Hanseatic League. Ohio: Kent State University. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, 1964, 58.
[9] Helen Zimmern. The Hansa Towns. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907, 173.
[10] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 20.
[11] Schroeder. The Hanseatic League. 28.
[12] Wietse de Boer. “Professionalization and Clerical Identity: Notes on the Early Modern Catholic Priest.” Nederlands archief voor kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History , 2005, Vol. 85 (2005), 375.
[13] Luise Schorn-Schütte. “The Christian Clergy in the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire: A Comparative Social Study.” Central European History , 2000, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2000). 10
[14] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 196.
[15] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 54.
[16] Kathryn M. Rudy. “An Illustrated Mid-Fifteenth-Century Primer for a Flemish Girl: British Library, Harley MS 3828.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 2006, Vol. 69 (2006), 63 is an example of a page from the primer. Jeffrey Hamburger also provides examples in “”In gebeden vnd in bilden geschriben”: Prints as Exemplars of Piety and the Culture of the Copy in Fifteenth-Century Germany.” Studies in the History of Art, 2009, Vol. 75, Symposium Papers LII: “The Woodcut in Fifteenth-Century Europe (2009),” pp. 154-189.
[17] For the importance of the prioress in women’s cloistered communities, see Amy Leonard. Nails in the Wall: Catholic Nuns in Reformation Germany. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2005, 21-22. For the role of the prioresses of Kloster Lüneburg in particular, Lahnemann and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 82.
[18] See, for example, Mechthild’s letter to provost Johann Lorber, WDB 48. Priorin Mechtild Wilde im Kloster Lüne an Propst Johann Lorber 17. März 1511 Zahlung eines ewigen Lichtes. Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 5, fol. 16v. in which she instructs him to pay the amount of 400 Florins for candles for the perpetual prayers for the soul of Lord Theodoric Scapers. “Venerationes in Christo devotas licet minus dignas debita cum obedientia ac humili subiectione in filiali dilectione antelatas, reverende in Christo pater et dominea michi utique preamande! Vestre notum fore cupio paternitati, dat ik cum nostris matribus et sororibus hebbe gheredet de debito ad luminare perpetuum solvendo ex parte domini Theoderici Scapers, quondam hic prepositi in Christo pie defuncti. Et ex quo tantam pecunie summam solvendam minime repperimus apud nos repositam, so synt wy des sampt thovreden, quod paternitatis vestre discretio summam IIIIC fl a venerabili viro domino preposito sanctimonialium in Wynussen recipiat sub anno, censu solvendam a monasterio nostro etc…”
[19] Leonard, Nails in the Wall, 92.
[20] WDB 120. “Unde dar gy my van ghescreven hebbet, dar scolle gy juw nicht mede bekummeren; juwe leve dochter iß en gud, fram kynt unde eer steyt van der gnade Godes nich to wytende, wan hir nü erst werdet kyndere inghecleydet, dar schal juwe leve dochter mede syn; dar maket juw anders nene bekummernisse van unde weset dar upp wol tofrede.”
[21] On literacy education in Early modern German Convents in general, see Charlotte Woodford. Nuns as Historians in Early Modern Germany. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002. 15-17. On the specific curriculum at Kloster Lüneburg, see Lahnemann and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 51.
[22] Leonard. Nails in the Wall, 91, on the permission granted by the Reformed City Council of Strasbourg to the Dominican Convents to continue operating schools for girls.
[23] Frank P. Lane. “”Not for Time but for Eternity”: Family, Friendship, and Fidelity in the Poor Clare Monastery of Reformation Nürnberg.” Franciscan Studies, 2006, Vol. 64, “Vita Evangelica. Essays in Honor of Margaret Carney, O.S.F.” (2006), 265 provides an example where members of the Community of Poor Clares in Nürnburg became involved with civic authorities regarding unrest surrounding Confessional crises.
[24] Lahnemann and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 62.
[25] WDB 141. Konvent an eine Nonne in einem anderen Kloster wahrscheinlich kurz nach dem 17. Mai 1509 “Glückwunsch zur Nonnenkrönung.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 12, fol. 23v. “… Quia sponsa decoravit me corona et ornavit me immensis monilibusc et vere, vere illuxit vobis dies redemptionis nove, reperationis antique felicitatis eterne…”
[26] WDB 47. Konvent im Kloster Lüne an einen weltlichen Gönner 10. Juli, vor 1508 “Bitte um Baumaterial.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 5, fol. 14v. “wolde gy umme de leve Godes unse bede twiden unde uns hirmede to hulpe komen, so dat wy unse anghehaven buw moghen vormidddest juwer hulpe to enen guden ende bringhen, upp dat unse werdighe here, de provest, nenen hon effte spot dorve lyden van den luden, de den villichte wol wolden segghen, wan wy steyns gebreck hedden…”
[27] Shelley Wolbrink’s work, Noble Pursuits: Family, Power, and Gender in the Premonstratensian Monasteries of Northwestern Germany, 1120-1250. The University of Cincinnati: Unpublished PhD Dissertation, 1998, has a good description of the tytpical conflicts that existed between Episcopal Sees and nominally subject monastic institutions in the high middle ages.
[28] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns,75, for a description of the function of the provost at Lüneburg.
[29] WDB 314, which opens this study.
[30] WDB 44. Nonne im Kloster Lüne an eine Priorin in einem anderen Kloster 12. Mai 1506. “Dank für Kondolenzbrief nach dem Tod des Propstes.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 5, fol. 9r. “Et quamquam divulgante fama venerabilem et spectabiliem viremc istum, virtutum varietati specialis ornatum, cognoverimus, et ipsum in prelatum eligendum omnes unanimiter in loco capitulari sub sigillo confessionis inter nos ante pertractaveramus.”
[31] WDB 314. “Et petimus valde obnixem, honorabilitas vester hanc nostram petitionem benivole dignetur exaudire, quatenus in celo singulare gaudium et perhenne premium preascriptum possidere possitis in evum. Cum his valeat honorabilitas vester in resurgenti Christo, cui cuncta elementa favent gaudiis, qui nos insimul perducat, ubi sollempnitas paschalis in evum durat. Amen.” (And we earnestly request that you graciously deign to heed our petition, so that in heaven you may possess the singular joy and eternal reward prescribed for you. May your honor thrive in the resurrected Christ, to whom all elements respond with joy, who may lead us together to where the Paschal solemnity endures forever. Amen.)
[32] WDB 21. Priorin Mechtild von Niendorf im Kloster Ebstorf an Priorin Sophia von Bodenteich im Kloster Lüne, 18. Juni 1493. “Kondolenzbrief zum Tod des Propstes, Hinweis für die Beerdigung und Ankündigungen.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 3, fol. 10v. “Alze gy my hadden beden laten pro reverendo domino abbate de Oldenstadt, dar hebbe ik omnem diligenciam by dan, ipsum attentissime flagitando. Unde he heft my ok enboden, he wille tho my komen, alze byn ik syner wachtende omni hora, so wil ik diligentiam meam gherne vordan don. Latet en jo beghan in omnibus na der wyse alze gy vindet in collectario impresso, dat gy hebbet cum summa reverentia. Wy willet iuxtum vestrum desiderium ene hir ok beghan myd vigilien unde missen unde alze gy ok hebbet beden laten, dat venerabilis dominus noster noviter electus dar komen scolde, dat wil ik libenter an ene werven, ift he jummer tho huß kumpt, sed presenti non est domi.” (If you had asked me concerning the Reverend Lord Abbot of Oldenstadt, I have given all diligence to it, most attentively entreating him. And he has promised me that he wants to come to me; as I am waiting for him at every hour, so I want to gladly do my diligence further. Let one begin in everything according to the way as you find in the scriptures, that you have with utmost reverence. We want to begin our work here also, according to your desire, with vigils and masses, and as you have also asked, that our venerable Lord newly elected should come there, I will gladly arrange it for one, if he ever comes home, but presently he is not at home.)
[33] WDB 5. Der Konvent im Kloster Lüne an den Rat der Stadt Lüneburg Zwischen 1505 und 1529. “Bitte um Rechtsbeistand.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 1, fol. 3r. “So denne wy jn affwesendes unses werdighenc heren provestes hir in dessen unvorstendighen dinghen nichtes tobringhen moghe iß unße demodighe bede to juw, gy wolden so alze medepatronen dessulfften lenes juw in dessen saken bekummeren unde densulfften Joachim, unßen olden truwen dener, by rechte beholden, wor he des van juwer erßamheyt iß begherende; so langhe unse werdighe here sick wedder ummevoghet, wille wy denne myd eme, he myd unß, juwer hir in dessen dinghen unsen olden dener tom besten myd allem vlite behulplichd wesen etc” (Thus, our worthy provosts here should not be left uninformed about these unworthy occurrences. We beseech you, as fellow patrons of this claim, to take care of this matter and to uphold our old and trusted servant, as he is deserving of your consideration; as long as our worthy lord is still in charge, we will gladly support your efforts concerning these matters with all our strength, etc.)
[34] WDB 34. Priorin Barbara von Hodenberg im Kloster Ebstorf an Propst Johann Lorber im Kloster Lüne 18. Juni 1510. “Dankesbrief.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 4, fol. 14r. Cui reverendam vestram dominationem commendo in utriusque homine fovendam, et roborandam, et conservandam sanam et incolumen per tempora longiora peto perattente, quatenus venerandam dominam vestram dignemini favorabiliter salutare causa mee parvitatis in unione divini amoris. Et commendo me simul cum omnibus mihi immerite commissis vestris devotis orationibus; nosque pro modulo nostro libenter vices rependemus exorando. (To your reverend lordship, I commend the fostering, strengthening, and preserving of both persons, and I attentively pray for the health and well-being for a long time, so that you might graciously greet your venerable lady on account of my smallness in the union of divine love. And I commend myself together with all those committed to you, undeserving ones, to your devout prayers; and we will willingly repay our part by praying as well.)
[35] WDB 5. “So denne wy jn affwesendes unses werdighenc heren provestes hir in dessen unvorstendighen dinghen nichtes tobringhen moghe iß unße demodighe bede to juw, gy wolden so alze medepatronen dessulfften lenes juw in dessen saken bekummeren unde densulfften Joachim, unßen olden truwen dener, by rechte beholden, wor he des van juwer erßamheyt iß begherende; so langhe unse werdighe here sick wedder ummevoghet, wille wy denne myd eme, he myd unß, juwer hir in dessen dinghen unsen olden dener tom besten myd allem vlite behulplichd wesen etc”, cited above.
[36] WDB 5. “heft uns de vorbenomede Joachim besent und eyn sodanen molestacien in claghen, so synen medepatronen vorstan laten, byddende, wy mochten unde wolden eme behulpeleck wesen in dessen dinghen unde by rechte beholden helpen.”
[37] WDB 63. Mechthilde. Nach1505. “Notiz zum Besitz an der Kirche in Rade — Note about ownership.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 6, fol. 13r. “Ecclesiaa Rade pertinet in monasterium Lüne, et habuimus de anno Domini Mo CCo LXXIIo a domino abbate Ottoni in Rastede perpetuo possidendum.”
[38] WDB 24. Priorin Mechtild Wilde im Kloster Lüne an Propst Nikolaus Schomaker in Lüneburg
6. Oktober 1505. “Genesungsschreiben und Bitte um Aufnahme ins Testament.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 3, fol. 15r. “wente wy hebben ene nyge frolike bodeschopp van deme ersamen hern Jacob Schomaker borghermestere ghehord, dat juwe werdicheyt de gratia Dei beteringhe vornympt, unde wo grotentrost und vroude wy bedroveden kyndere darvan hebben entfanghen, iß us unmoghelick to scrivende”
[39] WDB 24, contd, “… so beghere wy ok ex omni corde unde byddet unanimiter, dat gy hir jo willen vestram perpetuam memoriam maken, uti non diffidimus, uppe dat illa eximia caritas et maxima dilectio vestra erga nos ock moge openbaͤr werden…”
[40] Harrison. Thousands and Thousands of Lovers, for the role of the diocese in choosing the leader of a convent. Also, for the events surrounding a contested election, see Leonard. Nails in the Wall, 34.
[41] WDB 78. Abt Heinrich Dudenrath im Kloster Harsefeld an Priorin Mechtild Wilde im Kloster Lüne 15. März 1513. “Frage zur Wahl einer Priorin.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 8, fol. 1r. “Salutem dicit, venerabilis ac religiosa domina! Cum iuxta naturalis et inevitabilis legis constitutionem, qua constitutum est homini semel mori, venerabilis domina Novi Claustri quarto nonas Martii diem clauserit extremum, parvitati mee comissum fuit per dominum nostrum, reverendissimum archipresulem Bremensem, interessem pro directione electioni nove domine ibidem, quod et factum fuit dominica Judica elapsa. Et est electa mater Anna Roden, bene docta religiosa, in spiritualibus et temporalibus experta.”
[42] WDB 313. Konvent im Kloster Lüne an die Priorin im Kloster Walsrode 30. März 1505. “Bitte um Empfangsbestätigung und Fürbitte.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 22, fol. 11r “Regem immortalem cum nobili pompaa ab inferis regressum pro salute! Venerabilis et religiosa domina michi in Christo semper dilecta et multum veneranda; nostre sorores dilecte scriptis querulosis notificaverunt vestre reverentie obitum venerabilis domine et pie matris nostre Sophia von Bodenteich felicis recordationis, que debitum carnis heu solvit in festa Purificationis beate Marie transacto anno, et humiliter rogaverunt debitum fraternitatis pro ea quantotius fieri, unde dar hebbe wy nullum responsum upp entfanghen unde kont nicht weten, mer reverentia vestra illam litteram ock kregen heft edder wer he vorbistert is; digneminic hoc propter Deum nobis insinuare, wo id darumme is, unde ift gy prefatam litteram nicht hedden recipiert, so ik nichten hope, so bidde ik noch attente pro amore Jesu Christi, ut digneminid quantotius debitum fraternitatis dare eedem venerabili domine nostre defuncte, ut cum omnibus electis possideat lucidas et quietas mansiones.” (The immortal king has returned from the underworld with noble pomp for our salvation! Revered and religious lady, ever beloved and greatly esteemed in Christ; our dear sisters have notified us through sorrowful writings of the death of your reverence, the venerable lady and pious mother of ours, Sophia von Bodenteich of happy memory, who, alas, has paid the debt of the flesh on the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary in the past year, and they humbly requested that the debt of brotherhood be fulfilled for her as soon as possible, from whence we have received no response, and we do not know what has happened, but may your reverence inform us about this for the sake of God, so that if you have not received the aforementioned letter, I have no hope, yet I still beseech you for the love of Jesus Christ, that you may grant as soon as possible the debt of brotherhood to the same venerable lady of ours who has passed away, so that she may possess bright and peaceful dwellings with all the elect.)
[43] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 52, on the reputation of Kloster Lüne’s nuns as teachers.
[44] WDB 70. Die Nonnen AO, KH, EV und KV, wahrscheinlich im Kloster Ebstorf, an die Ebstorfer Subpriorin Mechtild von Ingersleven, wahrscheinlich im Kloster Lüne um 1507. “Bitte um rasche Rückkehr oder Nachricht.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 7, fol. 2v. “my vorlanghet so ser alze den patriarchen Jacob, do he begherde tho synde filium suum Yoseph priusquam moreretur, ut reviviscetur spiritus eius…”
[45] WBD 21 refers to Mechthild’s visit to Ebstorf, while WBD 313 is a letter to Mechthild informing of Sophia’s illness and death while serving as acting prioress at Lüne.
[46] WDB 34. Priorin Barbara von Hodenberg im Kloster Ebstorf an Propst Johann Lorber im Kloster Lüne 18. Juni 1510. “Dankesbrief.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 4, fol. 14r. “Pariterque grates eximias refero vestre benivolentie pro benigna hospitalitate qua nos collegistis pro speciosissima effigie egregie matrone, incliteque vie Jesu Christi, et pro vino et speciebus apotecalibus, ac universis virtuosis exhibitionibus, tam verborum quam factorume.” (I also express exceptional thanks for your benevolence and kind hospitality with which you welcomed us for the most splendid image of the illustrious matron and renowned grandmother of Jesus Christ, and for the wine and spices, and all virtuous exhibitions, both of words and deeds.)
[47] WDB 98. Nonne im Kloster Lüne an Priorin Barbara von Hodenberg im Kloster Ebstorf
nach 6. August 1508. “Antwort zu Unterkunftsmöglichkeiten.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 9, fol. 8r.
[48] WDB 47. “Erßamen leven heren unde groten vrunde, so juwer erßamheyt wol bewust iß, dat wy langhe tyd hebbet bekummert wesen, dat wy noch eyn dormitorium mochten krighen, des wy ser bederff hebben.”
[49] WDB 98, referring to a request from prioress Barbara von Hodenburg for assistance in time of illness. “darumme mote gy in syne werdicheyt sulven scriven, et peto ne egre feratis de tarditate responsi; Deo constat, dat ik dar nicht eer to komen konde ex variis multis occupationibus, de my under oghen stad; wy synt ad presens ser occupert in edificio monasterii…”
[50] Woodford. Nuns as Historians in Early Modern Germany. 17.
[51] Leonard. Nails in the Wall, 29.
[52] Robert Bireley. “Early-Modern Catholicism as a Response to the Changing World of the Long Sixteenth Century.” The Catholic Historical Review , Apr., 2009, Vol. 95, No. 2 (Apr., 2009), 221.
[53] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 83.
[54] WDB 407. Nonne TO im Kloster Lüne an ihren Bruder “Reformationszeit Theologisches Schreiben.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 34, fol. 4r. I include the entire letter here, because it is germane. “ fratria, usterlike leve tovoren!
Myn alderleveste broder, dynen breff an my ghescreven hebbe ik entfanghen, woruth ik vorstaͤ, dat du dar bekummernisse van hefst, dat ik dy nicht hebbe wedderscreven upp de lasten scrifft unde my darinne vordenkest, dat ik des untofrede sy, dat du my de warde screven hefst; des hebbe ik nicht ghedan.
Myn alderleveste broder, dyne scrifte vormelden, dat wy dorch unse eghen kreffte, wercke edder horsam etc. vor Gade nicht moghen gherecht edder salich werden; leve broder, dat iß in der warde unde ik hebbe mik ok van des, dat ik gud unde arch bekennen konde, anders nerghen upp vorlaten ane allene upp Jesum Christum, unde spreken myd sunte Pawel: „Nichil arbitratus sum me scire inter vos, nisi Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum.“Unde de Jesum rechteb wed, de weth alle dingh, wente „in eme synt beslaten alle de schatte der wysheyt unde wetenheyt.“Christus Jesus, unse salichmakere, de iß uns vareghan unde heft uns lert den wech der othmodicheyt, do he sede „Discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde“unde darmede mote wy uppstighen to dem hemmele alze ok alle de leven hilgen dan hebben. De bose geist, de homodighe Lucifer, de sick vorhoghede, de iß daruth vorstad; wol syn wy ok dor dat lydent Christi reynighet unde ghewasken van alle usen sunden, jodoch konne wy nummermer seker wesen de wyle, de wy in dessem levende synt, „quia nescit homo an odio an amore domini dignus sit“, alze de grote doctor sunte Jeronimus ok secht: „Nemo sit securus nisi sit in celo“; unde darumme hebben alle rechtverdighe frame hilge lude vruchtet, wan se vor Godes anghesichte komen scolden, „quia horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis“, dar den alle use dancken, worde unde wercke schollen apenbar werden unde rechtverdigen gerichtet.
Myn alderleveste N, dewyle dat wy hir synt, syn wy alze ded pelegrimen, dede to huß ylet, deshalven mote wy uns in othmodicheyt vor Gode bekennen, dat wy unße levent hebben ovel thoghebrocht unde synt vor Godes oghen altes nicht torekende, jodoch love wy der hilgen scrift alze sunte Johannes secht in apocalipsi: „Opera illorum sequntur illos“, unde dat betughet ok sanctus Paulus in epistula: „Unusquisque propriam mercedem accipiet, secundum suum laborem“; den worden des hilghen apostels wil wy vaste loven unde willen dar nicht inne twivelen. Wy holden de formen guder kristliker lude unde de ansettinghe der hilghen doctorum, dede uth dem hilghen ewangelio ghegrundet synt unde vorlatet uns vaste vast upp den harden vlinthsteyn Christum Jesum, dat wy dorch ene hopen salich to werdende.
Myn leve N, it iß nicht van noden, dat du dy so hoghe myd mik bekummerst unde byn ok wol tofrede, dat du my nicht enscrift, wente ik kan dy alle tyd nicht wedderscriven unde late de scriffte unde disputacien den wysen tho, ik neme mynes arbeydes war; sunder wan du upp my denkest, so sprick I pater noster vor mik, dat ik so leven mote, dat ik Gode mote behaghen; alzo wil ik wedder vor dy doͤn, dat wy tosamde moten froliken komen to enem schappstalle, dar Christus Jesus de rechte herde iß. Des behelpp uns desulve, unse God Christus Jesus. Amen. (Dear brother, in sisterlike affection! I have received your letter, which I understand contains your concerns, especially since I have not yet written back regarding the burdens you mentioned, and I regret that I have not done so.
My dearest brother, your letter states that through our own strength, work, or obedience, we cannot be justified or saved before God; dear brother, that is true, and I am also aware of it, for I could not confess otherwise, except alone in Jesus Christ, and I speak with Saint Paul: “For I determined not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” And concerning Jesus, the truth is that “in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Christ Jesus, our Savior, who is our true shepherd and has taught us the way of humility, for He said, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,” and thereby we must rise to heaven just as all the holy lives have done. The evil spirit, the proud Lucifer, who exalts himself, is through that fallen; may we also be like the suffering Christ, cleansed from all our sins, yet we can never be secure as long as we are in this life, “for no man knows whether he is worthy of the love or hatred of the Lord,” as the great doctor Saint Jerome also said: “No one is secure unless he is in heaven”; and therefore all righteous souls have borne fruit, for they shall come before God’s face trembling, “for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” so let all our thanks, words, and deeds be revealed and rightly judged.
My dearest N, since we are here, we are all like pilgrims, so we must confess before God that we have lived with many trials and are worthless in the sight of God, yet we praise the holy scriptures as Saint John says in Revelation: “Their works follow them,” and this is also affirmed by Saint Paul in his epistle: “Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor”; therefore, we firmly wish to honor the words of the holy apostle and will not hesitate. We hold the forms of good Christian people and the teachings of the holy doctors, for they are grounded in the holy gospel, and let us steadfastly rely on the hard foundation Christ Jesus, through whom we hope for salvation.
My dear N, it is not necessary for you to be so troubled with me, and I am well content that you do not write to me, for I cannot respond to you at every moment and let the letters and disputes be directed to the wise; I take care of my own labor. But because you think of me, I pray the Our Father for you, that I may live in a way that pleases God; likewise, I want to do the same for you, so that together we may joyfully come to one fellowship, where Christ Jesus is the true shepherd. May God Christ Jesus help us in this. Amen.)
[55] WDB 315. CSC im Kloster Lüne an ihre Tante 1. Januar 1520. “Bericht über verschobeneEinkleidung. “Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 22, fol. 12v. “So do ik juw caritative to weten, dat dat noch nicht ghescheen, sunder wy hebben so avermaten grote jamer unde tribulationes had van der feynde wegen,dat wy ock unse monasterium musten vorlaten unde musten dar alle uthgaͤn, dar wy so seer van vorschrecket worden, dat wy uns nicht konden wedder tovrede geven unde wy hebben noch aldus lange alle unse tuch bynnen Lüneborg ghehat, dat wy derhalven leyder nergento kamen konden.”
[56] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 158.
[57] WDB 6. Priorin Mechtild Wilde im Kloster Lüne an Bürgermeister Hartwig Stöterogge in Lüneburg 4. August 1529. “Besetzungsvorschlag für eine Vikarie.” Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 1, fol. 4r.
[58] WDB 6. “Nadem uns na meldinghe ener fundatien nu thokommet ius nominandi unde dem oldesten burgermester dat ius presentandi, demna hebben wy dussen jeghenwardighen hern Johan Werem nommet und bydden myd flite gutliken juw erßamheyde willen densulven hern Johan tho der benompten vicarie presenteren unde eneb dar mede besorghen; jn wedderstadinghe willet dat lon van.”
[59] WDB 62. Konvent im Kloster Lüne vielleicht an einen Patronatsherren 27. Dezember 1506 Terminankündigung für Primizfeier. Kloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 6, fol. 11r “So juwe erßamheyt sulvest wol weth, dat upp densulven dach vele stadvolkes unde lantvolkes to Rade sik vorsammelde, iß, dar sik unse denere upp sulken dach ere primicien donde mer fromen synt, aff vorhopende, juwe erßamheyt mochte uns hirmede voghen unde condescenderen, vordene wy myd unsem ynnighen bede umme juwe erßamheyt alle tyd willichliken gerne, unde wes juwe erßamheyt desses wil gheneghet syn, beghere wy juwe gudlike antwort myd dem alderersten umme de leve Godes.”
[60] Lahnemann, and Schlotheuber. The Life of Nuns, 156.
