Agency of religious women in the German-speaking areas in the southwestern part of the medieval Empire 1350-1550

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sigrid Hirbodian
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 355170725

The proposed project examines the possibilities for action (agency) of religious women, focusing on the example of the late medieval community of Poor Clares in Strasbourg. Moving out from an exceptional collection of archival sources from this community (1411-1413), the study examines the women`s management of the aftermath of a sexual assault, a case that was widely known in the city and in the region. The sources allow for an in-depth analysis - a micro-study - that reveals the coping strategies of individual women, of various sub-groups within the community, and of the community as a whole. In addition to revealing an array of concrete strategies for action pursued both by individual women and by groups, these texts offer insight into the subjective reality that the women experienced; we see the interests that guided their actions, their impulses (honor, piety, emotions), and the institutional and social frameworks for those actions (Order, city, family). The results of this micro-study will contribute to the current body of research in the field of religious women in the German-speaking parts in the southwestern area of the medieval Empire, as well as to the general discourse on female agency in the late Middle Ages.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants