ABSTRACT

At the height of German medieval mysticism in the 13th and 14th centuries, many German nuns in Dominican convents reported religious visions through which they had personal contact with God. Whereas the first major wave of female mysticism from the 11th through the 13th centuries, which produced such famous mystical writers as Hildegard of Bingen, Elisabeth of Schönau, Mechthild von Magdeburg, and Gertrud the Great, affected mostly northern and central Germany, during the early 14th century south German women convents also began to participate in this spiritual and literary movement. Dominicans were especially well-known for their interest in book production, either by copying religious texts or by writing their own accounts. These Dominican mystics, including Anna von Munzingen, Christine Ebner, Margareta Ebner (not related), Elsbeth von Oye, and Elisabeth Stagel, created, on the one hand, so-called sisterbooks (Vitae sororum) in which the mystical visions of many convent women, initially written down in individual documents, were compiled and repeatedly edited in a collective effort. On the other hand, they wrote autobiographical mystical reports reflecting upon their personal visions and experiences.