Caritas Pirckheimer, Denkwürdigkeiten (Memorabilia), Nuremberg 1524–1528 (Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, Rst. Nürnberg, St. Klarakloster Akten und Bände 5A)

The “Memorabilia” by Caritas Pirckheimer (1467–1532) are a collection of letters and manuscripts concerning the events in Nuremberg’s Clarisse convent between 1524 and 1528. Under Pirckheimer’s leadership, the monastery persistently resisted attempts by the Nuremberg Council to introduce the Reformation.

The letters describe how the Franciscans were replaced as confessors of the Clarisse order by a follower of Protestantism, Johannes Poliander (1487–1541). The mothers of nuns who came from the Nuremberg patriciate tried to remove their daughters from the monastery but they failed for a long time. The letters convey an impression of the conflicts between the convent and the Nuremberg Council, represented by the administrator.

The council asked the abbess to release the nuns from their vows; their parents should be allowed to fetch them. In addition, the property of the monastery had to be inventoried. The nuns suffered from their being cut off from the sacraments. Finally, their mothers moved Margaret Tetzel, Katharina Ebner and Klara Nützel from the convent (p. 76).

Although the Nuremberg reformer Andreas Osiander (1498–1552) served as a preacher in the Clarisse convent and Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) visited it, Caritas Pirckheimer remained steadfastly faithful to the Catholic faith until her death. Indeed, she managed to prevent the dissolution of the Clarisse convent. The institution continued to exist until 1596.

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