Caritas Pirckheimer
Caritas Pirckheimer, originally named Barbara Pirckheimer, was a notable figure in the late medieval period, born in 1467 in Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany. She entered the convent of Saint Clare at the age of twelve, rapidly gaining recognition for her intellect, particularly in Latin, which allowed her to take her vows early. Adopting the name Caritas in 1485, she became an influential abbess and played a key role in supervising the historical writings of her convent, reflecting the Humanist ideals of her time. Pirckheimer engaged in correspondence with prominent Humanists, supported by her brother Willibald, though her intellectual pursuits met resistance from her Franciscan superiors. Amid the rise of Lutheranism, she staunchly defended her Roman Catholic beliefs, resisting pressure from the Nuremberg City Council. Her memoir, "Denkwürdigkeiten," written in 1528, serves as a historical record of her experiences and challenges during the Reformation, advocating for equal rights and religious freedom. Caritas Pirckheimer's life and work exemplify the intersection of women's education, religious life, and Humanist thought in a turbulent historical context. She passed away in 1532, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneering woman in the field of Humanism.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Caritas Pirckheimer
- Born: March 21, 1467
- Birthplace: Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany
- Died: 1532
Biography
Caritas Pirckheimer was born Barbara Pirckheimer in 1467 in Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany, to a family that valued Humanism and piety. She was the first child of Johann Pirckheimer, a jurist and diplomat from a patrician family of Nuremberg, and Barbara Löffelholz Pirckheimer. At the age of twelve, Pirckheimer entered the convent of Saint Clare in Nuremberg. She impressed the vicar general with her knowledge of Latin, enabling her to make her vows after two years, even though she had not reached the required age. By 1485, she had adopted the name Caritas (Charity).
Pirckheimer’s works included transcribing sermons and supervising the nuns who created Latin and German versions of the early history of the Order of Saint Clare and the Nuremberg convent. The narrative the nuns created reflects the Humanist interest in original source materials and learning from past lessons to inspire virtuous action in the present. In addition to supervising this historical work, Pirckheimer exchanged letters in Latin with leaders of the German Humanist movement. Pirckheimer’s brother Willibald, a notable German Humanist, encouraged her learning and correspondence with Humanist men outside the convent. However, when she was elected abbess of St. Clare’s convent in 1503, one of her Franciscan superiors ordered her to end her Latin correspondence because women’s learning was only to be applied in the private sphere of a cloistered religious life.
After Lutheranism began to establish a foothold in the region, the Nuremberg City Council tried to pressure Pirckheimer and the other nuns in her convent to accept religious reforms and renounce their former vows. She resisted reforms and staunchly defended her Roman Catholic beliefs. In response to the city council’s continued harassment, she authored Denkwürdigkeiten (1528; An Heroic Abbess of Reformation Days: The Memoirs of Mother Charitas Pirckheimer, Poor Clare, of Nuremberg 1930). Its sixty-nine chapters comprised commentaries and letters written both by her and to her. Denkwürdigkeiten stands as a historical record of her dispute with the city council and as a bold statement in support of equal rights and religious freedom.
Pirckheimer’s memoirs also offer an account of the consequences of the Reformation as experienced by someone who held on to the late-medieval ideals of reformed religious life. The book is valued as an historical document which shows how Humanist studies were appropriated by a woman, how the male leaders viewed such a woman, and how such a woman viewed herself in relation to them. Pirckheimer died in 1532.