Henrike Lähnemann has been fascinated by the culture of the North German convents since her childhood in Lüneburg. She started working on the manuscripts and material culture of the nuns when writing on the Wichmannsburger Antependium, encouraged by the research of the late Nigel Palmer, during a year as Humboldt scholar at Oxford 2001/2. In 2007, the exhibition at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek ‘Von Frauenhand’, coorganised with Hans-Walter Stork, brought together for the first time Medingen manuscripts from different libraries across Germany. This formed the basis for the first online catalogue, hosted at Newcastle University and set up with the help of Andres Laubinger. In 2013, she published with the late Ulrike Hascher-Burger the Handbook of the Medingen Provost. When moving to Oxford in 2015 as Professor of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics, her inaugural lecture featured a newly acquired Oxford Medingen Psalter. The manuscript catalogue moved with her to St Edmund Hall which hosts this blog. Henrike Lähnemann also edits with Eva Schlotheuber the letterbooks of the Lüne nuns which provide insight into the network of the North German convents. Currently, she is working on an edition of the Hildesheim Medingen Easter prayerbook written by the nun Winheid in 1478.
Carolin Gluchowski is a DPhil student in Medieval and Modern Languages (German) at the University of Oxford. Carolin’s DPhil project, entitled ‘Revising Private Prayerbooks‘, focuses on the reworkings of Latin/Low-German prayerbooks from the Cistercian convent of Medingen in the context of late medieval church reforms, with a particular interest in the role of women as female reformers. Carolin began working on the manuscripts from the Cistercian convent of Medingen while still a M.A. student at the University of Freiburg, where she studied Art History (M.A.) and Medieval and Renaissance Studies (M.A.). In her master’s thesis, Carolin investigated the Medingen Easter prayerbook Ms GKS 3452-8° in the Royal Library of Copenhagen, completed by Cecilia de Monte in 1408. Carolin has published her findings in a blog article, entitled ‘Medingen Manuscript Production in the Age of Monastic Reform (1479) and Lutheran Reformation (1524-1544)‘. Currently, Carolin is preparing an edition of Cecilia’s Easter prayerbook, together with a translation of the Latin text into formal English. Carolin’s research interests include Manuscript Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and religious practices and devotion in late medieval and early modern Europe.
Marlene Schilling is a DPhil student in Medieval and Modern Languages (German) at the University of Oxford since the start of the academic year 2022/23, after graduating with a M.St. in Modern Languages (German) from the University of Oxford and an M.A. in German Literature from the University of Tübingen. Her DPhil project, entitled ‘Personification as Devotional Strategy in Middle Low German Literature’, is supervised by Prof. Henrike Lähnemann. She has been working on the literary aspects of the Medingen prayer books for the last two years and has written two Master dissertations and several blogposts about them. The selfie is from ‘Blind Date with a Manuscript’.
Anja Peters is an M.A. student in Art History at the University of Hamburg. In her studies, Anja combines her expertise on medieval art and codicology. While working as a research assistant with the special collections at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg (since 2018), Anja learned about the manuscripts from the Cistercian convent of Medingen. In 2022, Anja wrote an essay and an online catalogue description for an exhibition that will be held in the SUB Hamburg later in 2023 about the Medingen psalter Cod. in scrin. 149 (HH8) (to be published soon). Anja is particularly interested in the reworkings of the psalter in the context of late-medieval church reform. At the moment, Anja is a research intern with Prof. Henrike Lähnemann at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford. Anja is curious to find out more about the Medingen manuscripts, and will continue working on the topic in the future.
Lucian Shepherd is a BA student in Modern Languages (French and German) at the University of Oxford. He was first introduced to the Medingen manuscripts during his time as an intern at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. Lucian is interested in how the whole life cycle of the manuscripts, from creation, to reworking and recycling, can be further illuminated with help of digital humanities. He is also engaged in the practical underpinnings of digital editions, namely the establishment of best practices and standardised forms beyond institutional boundaries. Together with Carolin Gluchowski, Lucian is preparing a digital edition of the Wolfenbüttel Medingen Liber horarum (Cod. Guelf. 307.1 Extrav.).