Die Buchreihe Frühe Neuzeit - begründet 1987 von Jörg Jochen Berns, Gotthard Frühsorge, Klaus Garber, Wilhelm Kühlmann und Jan-Dirk Müller - dient der Grundlagenforschung in Editionen, Monographien und Sammelbänden. Dabei strebt sie nicht die großräumige Überschau an, die vorschnelle Synthese oder prätentiöse Konstruktion, sondern nimmt den Umweg über die Arbeit am Detail und die Erkundung verschütteter Traditionszusammenhänge.

Rutger Sycamber from Vernay (1456-1514?) joined the Windesheim congregation at the age of 20. But instead of remaining at his chosen monastery (Höningen in central Germany) he elected to divide his time between a considerable number of monasteries in his own chapter over a period of more than 10 years. In 1494 he took to writing, completing close on 200 books in the further course of his life. In the 36 of them that have come down to us, he gives us a precise and frequently surprising account of life in the monasteries of the day. This edition of his autobiography includes a German translation.