PIRCKHEIMER, Caritas

(1467-1532)

Caritas Pirckheimer, abbess of the Convent of St. Clare in Nuremberg, was noted by her contemporaries for her leadership, learning, and virtue and was recognized by German humanists as a female patron of German learning. Ed­ucated at the Convent of St. Clare from the age of twelve, Pirckheimer received training from literate nuns and from Franciscan preachers and confessors affil­iated with the convent. She edited a Chronicle of the history of the Order of St. Clare in Europe and in Nuremberg that included many excerpts from original source material. Pirckheimer also benefited from her family's close ties to the humanist movement in Germany. Her brother, Willibald Pirckheimer,* corre­sponded with many northern European humanists and helped establish Caritas's reputation as a scholarly woman. His efforts, along with her own correspondence with humanists such as Sixtus Tucher, Conrad Celtis, and Christopher Schuerl, led to numerous dedicatory epistles and odes honoring Pirckheimer's erudition. Her convent also recognized her superior skills; she became abbess in 1503.

As abbess, Pirckheimer successfully resisted Lutheran efforts to close the Convent of St. Clare in Nuremberg. She used her knowledge of theology, along with her political connections, to preserve the convent as a community of aca­demic study and spiritual retreat for women. Among those she persuaded were her brother Willibald, originally opposed to monastic life, and Philip Melanch-thon.* Melanchthon convinced the Council of Nuremberg to maintain all of the convents in the district, although none were allowed to accept novitiates. Pirck-heimer recorded her efforts by constructing a final chapter for her Chronicle that documented her letters and her opponents' responses.

Bibliography

P.S.D. Barker, "Caritas Pirckheimer: A Female Humanist Confronts the Reformation," Sixteenth Century Journal 26, no. 2 (1995): 259-72.

Karen Nelson