1 option
The literary agency of medieval women : Kunigund Niklasin and the library of St. Catherine's in Nuremberg / Sara S. Poor
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Poor, Sara S., author.
- Series:
- Oxford studies in medieval literature and culture
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Katharinenkloster (Nuremberg, Germany)--Library.
- Katharinenkloster (Nuremberg, Germany).
- Katharinenkloster (Nuremberg, Germany)--History.
- Books--History--400-1450.
- Books.
- Women authors, German--To 1500.
- Women authors, German.
- Books--History.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource : illustrations, map.
- Place of Publication:
- Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2026]
- Summary:
- What do we miss when we see women's agency only through the lens of transgression? What happens when we expand our notion of authorship to include women who were writing books but not necessarily composing 'original' texts? To answer these questions, Sara Poor explores the writing work of the prolific nun, Kunigund Niklasin, scribe and compiler of at least 31 books, and the librarian for her convent's library (close to 600 German-language manuscripts). Appointed to the office of librarian sometime after the convent underwent observant reform in 1428, Niklasin created two inventories of the convent's books, one of privately owned books, the other of the convent library. The latter was part of a unique manual designed to facilitate table reading, the reading (aloud) that took place during daily meals. The analysis of this table reading manual reveals that there is in fact a wide range of writing activity attributable to women in this period.
- Contents:
- Introduction: Complicity, agency, and religious reform
- Observant reform and the agency of submission
- The book mistress and modes of literary agency
- Managing illustration
- Telling tales of and for learned women: Kunigund Niklasin’s book of St. Catherine
- Conclusion: The wider significance of a singular case.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (Oxford Academic, viewed on February 16, 2026).
- Other Format:
- Print version: Poor, Sara S. Literary agency of medieval women.
- ISBN:
- 9780198993643
- 0198993641
- 9780198993667
- 0198993668
- OCLC:
- 1573357929
- Publisher Number:
- CIPO000352489
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.