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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road. Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR 77-10,591 RYAN, Catherine Bernard!, 1941- CHARITAS PIRCKHEIMER: A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THE CLARINE TRADITION IN THE PROCESS OF REFORMATION IN NUREMBERG, 15 25. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1976 History, general Xerox University Microfilms,Ann Arbor, Michigan 40106 © Copyright toy Catherine Bernardi Ryan 1976 CHARITAS PIRCKHEIMER: A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THE CLARINE TRADITION IN THE PROCESS OF REFORMATION IN NUREMBERG, 1525 DISSERTATION Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Catherine Bernardi Ryan, B. A., M. A. ***** The Ohio State University 1976 Reading Committee: Approved By ' Harold J. Grimm Franklin J. Pegues R. Clayton Roberts HistoryDepartmen ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible, in part, by a travel grant from The Ohio State University for which I am grate­ ful. It enabled me, during a one-year stay at Friedrich- Karl University, Heidelberg, Germany, to collect materials in the libraries and archives there and in Nuremberg. I greatly appreciate the help and advice given me at these institutions. Among the others to whom I owe sincere thanks are the members of the faculty of The Ohio State University within both the History and Fine Arts Departments with whom I have studied and by whom I have been examined. To my aunt, Mrs. Joseph Manfredi, who has been my patient typist, I am greatly indebted for sharing the fury of the final days of preparation. My adviser, Professor Harold J. Grimm, has had an especially, profound influence on my education and my life, since it was he who aroused my interest in the study of the cloister of St. Clare in Nuremberg. His conscientious guidance, patience, tolerance, and understanding while I struggled to fulfill the roles of wife, mother, and student will always be remembered and deeply appreciated. ii Finally, the encouragement from my husband, John, in the last six years to complete my graduate education is beyond description. His assistance in the care of our two sons, his inspiration, his criticisms of style, and our discussions of the subjects involved made possible the completion of this dissertation. In dedicating this dissertation to him I wish in some small way to say "thank VITA January 20, 19^1........ Born - Syracuse, New York 1 9 6 5..................... B.A. State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, New York 1 9 6 7..................... M.A. The University of Rochester, Rochester New York 1 9 6 8 -1 9 6 9 ............... Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1972..................... Instructor, Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, New York I9 7 2 ..................... Lecturer, State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, New York FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Renaissanee-Reformation History Medieval Europe. Professor Franklin Pegues Renaissance-Reforrnation. Professor Harold J. Grimm Tudor-Stuart England. Professor R. Clayton Roberts Italian Renaissance Art. Professor Anthony Melnikas TABLE OP CONTENTS pag0 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i i VITA ..................................... iv INTRODUCTION ................................... 1 Chapter I. THE FEMININE FRANCISCAN TRADITION. .. 9 II. THE POOR CLARES IN NUREMBERG........... 41 III. CHARITAS PIRCKHEIMERi NUREMBERG POOR CLARE AND ABBESS..................... 94 IV. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NUREMBERG CLARES AND THE CITY COUNCIL........ 123 V. CONCLUSION.............................. 166 BIBLIOGRAFHY ................................... 188 INTRODUCTION At the end of the fifteenth century the imperial free city of Nuremberg proudly boasted of Its religious Institutions. In addition to two large parish churches, the city housed six monasteries and two convents. The council, the governing structure of the city, was ruled by wealthy patricians who considered It their duty to help provide salvation to all members of the community. As a result, the religious played an Important role in the fulfillment of this goal and in the life of the corp­ oration. Therefore, when disciplinary and administrative questions created disorder within a religious establishment, the council deemed it their responsibility to settle the Issues as quickly as possible for the benefit of the common good. By 1500 the city fathers of Nuremberg governed every aspect of life within their territory; their political system regarded nothing as Irrelevant so that over several centuries they gained control over every institution. In time, they assumed autonomy In matters of church administration over their ecclesiastical overlord, the bishop of Bamberg. Papal favors and bulls, purchased at considerable cost, also gave the councillors full right of patronage over the two parish churches in the city, the right to determine who would enter the convents and the monasteries, and the permission to ap­ point a non-clerical guardian (.pfleger) to oversee, at first, the economic and later, the' internal affairs of religious communities. These privileges helped to sever Nuremberg’s ties with its bishop. The bishops offered very firm op­ position but it was not sufficient to stem the tide of lay control over local Institutions. Usually the papacy sided with the city, thus increasing the council's freedom to act alone on vital questions of church management. With the continued absence of ecclesiastical authority, the city was relatively free, in 1525* to elect or reject Lutheranism. On March 21, 1525* the last Roman Mass was celebrated in the imperial city of Nuremberg in the convent of St. Clare. This historic event, decreed by the council after a twelve-day public disputation over controversial religious issues between the city's Lutheran and Catholic preachers, ironically fell on the birth date of Charitas Pirckheimer, abbess of the convent. The council's vote in favor of ac­ cepting the new faith as the religion of the city initiated not only the cessation of the Latin Mass but the cancella­ tion of feast days, the destruction of relics, the expulsion of the most vocal pro-catholic supporters, and the dissolu­ tion of the monasteries and the convents. 3 The Reformation was of grave significance to the two female cloisters in the city. Staunch resistance to secular­ ization came from the Dominican convent of St. Catherine and, in particular, from the Franciscan cloister of St. Clare. The vociferous opposition from St. Clare was due mainly to the resourceful actions of its abbess, Charitas Pirckheimer. Charitas left an excellent account, in her memoirs and let­ ters, of what happened during those trying days. Often sub­ jected to numerous indignities and ridicule, the women stood firm against the dissolution of their community. St. Cath­ erine’s eventually capitulated to external pressures, but St. Clare’s persevered to the end. To understand what motivated Charitas to oppose the city council of Nuremberg, it is crucial to know something about the foundress of the Poor Clares, St. Clare of Assisi, and the establishment of the Second Order of St. Francis and its traditions. Therefore, this dissertation begins with a study of these two fourteenth-century saints and the founding of the Poor Clares, Just as St. Clare believed in her voca­ tion, in the organization of her order, and in saving her sis­ ter, Agnes, from the treachery of relatives, so too did Charitas. This German nun viewed her role in the conflict of 1525 in the same light as St. Clare’s struggle to per­ petuate her way of life. Given the model she had to follow, Charitas could do no less than the foundress of the order. 4 She too would he the instrument of God through which her community would be saved. Chapter two deals with the history of the Poor Clares in Nuremberg and the council's attempt to gain control over the convent. In the fifteenth century the disagreements between the Clares and the council were over the reform and Jurisdiction of the community.