Women and the Counter-Reformation in Early Modern Münster

241 Pages·2015·1.02 MB·English

WOMEN AND THE
COUNTER-REFORMATION IN EARLY
MODERN MÜNSTER
OXFORD HISTORICAL MONOGRAPHS
The Oxford Historical Monographs series publishes some of the best
Oxford University doctoral theses on historical topics, especially
those likely to engage the interest of a broad academic readership.
Editors
p. clavin j. darwin l. goldman
j. innes d. parrott s. smith
b. ward-perkins j. l. watts
Laqua-ODonnell190813OUK.indb 2 2/25/2014 6:39:46 PM
Women and the
Counter-Reformation
in Early Modern
Münster
SIMONE LAqUA-O’DONNELL
1
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
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© Simone Laqua-O’Donnell 2014
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First Edition published in 2014
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Für meine Eltern

Acknowledgements
This book has been a long journey. Along the way it has provided me with
the opportunity to work with many inspirational people, and I would like
to express my gratitude to my colleagues, friends, and family.
My first thanks go to Lyndal Roper, who has been the best Doktormutter
one could have wished for: her unfailing support and enthusiasm for this
project were what made it all possible. To observe her way of doing history
and to work with a historian of such great subtlety, sincerity, and wisdom
have been a privilege. I am also grateful to Olwen Hufton and to Ulinka
Rublack for taking my thoughts about this project seriously from day one,
for their insightful and challenging comments on the doctoral thesis dur-
ing my viva, and for looking out for me ever since. Ronnie Po-chia Hsia
and Joanna Innes read the thesis and kindly recommended it for pub-
lication. Mary Laven has provided me with valuable advice on various
chapters, suggested reading material that has shaped many of my ideas,
and generally cheered me along with humour and warm words. Judith
Pollmann and Melissa Calaresu have been inspirational teachers who
made me think and think again. Natalia Mora Sitja, Alexandra Bamji,
and Silvio Cruschina have been friends and comrades along the way. To
all of you, I would like to say ‘thank you’ for your generosity and timely
encouragement.
Jonathan Waterlow has read every word of this book and I want to
thank him for the great care he took reading and correcting my work.
Stephanie Ireland and Cathryn Steele at OUP have remained supportive
throughout the publication process, although I tested their patience in the
final months before submitting the manuscript.
I am indebted to Mike Franklin and Hughes Hall Cambridge for believ-
ing in my abilities right from the start. Balliol College Oxford provided me
with a stimulating work environment and Downing College Cambridge
was a quiet haven in which to finish my doctoral research. Being a member
of the Downing fellowship was truly wonderful and I often think back to
my time at this welcoming place of learning.
My colleagues at the School of History and Cultures at the University
of Birmingham have taken a keen interest in my research and given me
plenty of good writing advice, which helped me to have the courage to
finish this book. I would like to thank Elaine Fulton in particular for her
continued guidance.
viii Acknowledgements
Several institutions made this research possible through their fund-
ing: the Faculty of History at Oxford; the Arts and Humanities Research
Council; the Institute of Historical Research in London; the University
of Oxford; the Institute of European History in Mainz; the German
Historical Institute; the Royal Historical Society; and the German History
Society. Without their very generous financial support, researching and
writing this book would have remained an unfulfilled ambition.
Parts of the book have been presented at conferences and to research
seminars in the UK; back home in Germany; Europe; Canada; and in the
USA. The feedback I received on those occasions has been invaluable in
improving the contents of this book. I am indebted to Thomas A. Brady,
Robin Briggs, Susanna Burghartz, Anne Conrad, Nicholas Davidson,
Barbara Diefendorf, Silvia Evangelisti, Barry Everitt, Antje Flüchter,
Alexandra Gajda, Kaspar von Greyerz, Bridget Heal, Geert Janssen, David
Lederer, David Luebke, Charles McCurdy, Erik Midelfort, Paul Millett,
Monika Mommertz, Claudia Opitz-Belakhal, William O’Reilly, Andrew
Pettegree, Beth Plummer, David Pratt, Andreas Rutz, Regina Schulte,
Anne Jacobson Schutte, Kim Siebenhüner, Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger,
and Xenia von Tippelskirch, for their thoughts and comments.
In Münster, I  have been fortunate to receive the support of
Barbara Steinberg, Beate Fleck, and Peter Löffler at the Bistums- und
Diözesanarchiv, and Hannes Lambacher, Anke Wollenweber, Roswitha
Link, and Irmgard Pelster at the Stadtarchiv, as well as the archivists at
the Staatsarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen. Sister Maria Ancilla Ernstberger of
the Michelskloster in Paderborn and Sister Maria Dorothea Kuld of the
Convent of the Congregatio Beatae Mariae Virginis in Essen generously
went through some of the archival holdings at their houses to find more
material for me.
Outside the archives I was made to feel welcome by Ingeborg and Ulrich
Dorow, and Christa Schütte: they introduced me to the many delights of
the beautiful city of Münster: winter walks and summer cycling tours,
local proverbs, and Reibekuchen at the Wednesday market; but, above all,
they offered friendship and a home from home.
I am most grateful for this opportunity to thank my family, Karl,
Ingeborg, and Susanne Laqua, and also Anne and John O’Donnell for
everything they have done for me, and to finally be able to tell them: It
is done!
My husband, Tom O’Donnell, ensured that writing this book wasn’t
the solitary endeavour it could easily have been, but was instead a col-
laborative adventure. My final thanks belong to him and to our daughter
Leonora, girl of the twenty-first century, for sharing my world.
Aerial view of Münster, 1636; etching by Everhard Alerdinck. Westfälisches
Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, © Vermessungs- und
Katasteramt Münster.