Ein Beitrag zur historischen Bildwissenschaft

Inwiefern prägte die Ordenszugehörigkeit den Werthorizont mittelalterlicher Frauenkommunitäten? Diese Frage diskutiert Katharina Ulrike Mersch aus geschichtswissenschaftlicher Perspektive anhand von Zeugnissen visueller Kommunikation. Auf Basis von Luhmanns Systemtheorie entwickelt sie eine kommunikationshistorische Methode der Bildinterpretation. Diese ermöglicht, die Beziehungen der Frauenkommunitäten zur Kirche, den Orden, anderen Konventen sowie zur laikalen Bevölkerung in einer komparativen Langzeitstudie gegeneinander abzuwägen. Um einen Bei trag zur Ordensforschung zu leisten, werden die Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten behandelt, die sich dabei für die verschiedenen kanonikalen und monastischen Lebensentwürfe ergeben. In dieser Hinsicht erweisen sich fünf Themenkomplexe Wissensvermittlung, Osterkult, Eucharistiedevotion, weltliche Bildinhalte und Medien der Kontemplation als besonders aussagekräftig und werden bevorzugt behandelt. Ausgezeichnet mit dem Dissertationspreis des Arbeitskreises für historische Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung 2012

Autorentext
Dr. Katharina Ulrike Mersch studierte Mittlere und Neuere Geschichte, Religionswissenschaften und Kunstgeschichte in Göttingen. Seit 2010 ist sie wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt.

Klappentext

The study deals with visual communication in medieval women's convents. Methodologically inspired by the theory of systems, the author develops a scheme of interpretation of images and objects suitable for the needs of historical (and not arthistorical) research. This scheme is used to explore the relations between the women's convents and ecclesiastical instances, religious ordes, other religious convents and the laity. In order to estimate the quality and the development of those relations thoroughly, the book is designed as a long-term study, dealing with the time between the late tenth and the early sixteenth century. For the same purpose, different forms of women's religious life are compared. Special attention is paid to five main subjects remarkably important for the development of visual communication in women's convents: learning / eruditeness, the liturgical drama in Easter time, eucharistic devotion, profane subjects as well as contemplation

Leseprobe
The study deals with visual communication in medieval women's convents. Methodologically inspired by the theory of systems, the author develops a scheme of interpretation of images and objects suitable for the needs of historical (and not arthistorical) research. This scheme is used to explore the relations between the women's convents and ecclesiastical instances, religious ordes, other religious convents and the laity. In order to estimate the quality and the development of those relations thoroughly, the book is designed as a long-term study, dealing with the time between the late tenth and the early sixteenth century. For the same purpose, different forms of women's religious life are compared. Special attention is paid to five main subjects remarkably important for the development of visual communication in women's convents: learning / eruditeness, the liturgical drama in Easter time, eucharistic devotion, profane subjects as well as contemplation