Die Johanniter und die weiblichen Orden in Schlesien im Mittelalter

Abstract

The Hospitallers of St. John and the female orders in Silesia in the Middle Ages

The networks of the houses of the Hospitallers and of the female monastic orders in Silesia were similar (about 14 houses of the Hospitallers and 13 monasteries of nuns). There were many differences between these groups of clergy, too. The monasteries of nuns belong to various orders (e.g., Benedictines, Cistercian Nuns, Poor Clares, Dominican sisters, Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene, and the Canons of St. Augustine). Moreover, some houses of Beguines were active in medieval Silesia, too. The number of nuns is estimated to have been about 600, as opposed to the number of Hospitallers, which is estimated to have been about 200. The nuns were enclosed, while the Hospitallers were active in the pastoral care. The relations betwee both groups were not very intense. The priests from the Order of St. John were the chaplains and confessors of the nuns, or they coudl serve as the protectors of the property of the female monesteries (e.g., the Benedictines in Strzegom and the Beguines in Głubczyce). The Hospitallers, in return, asked the nuns for intercessory prayers in the time of the crisises, especially on the Isle of Rhodes. They also had contacts with the individual nuns, who were in some cases their relatives or neighbors. These relations were a sign of the absorption the Order of St. John by the local society.