Congratulations to Simone Wagner on winning the Schöpflin prize

Simone Wagner has won the Johann Daniel Schöpflin Prize for her dissertation “Gender and Urbanity. The authority of abbesses and provosts in south-western collegiate churches”. In her dissertation she has analysed how the authority of abbesses and provosts in collegiate churches was constructed and to what extent gender and urbanity influenced their authority. In the 15th and 16^th centuries, various actors negotiated the office of a religious superior. Like provosts, abbesses derived their authority from their office. They did not suffer from a gendered problem with their legitimacy. Nevertheless, gendered expectations influenced how abbesses and provosts acted and were able to exercise their office. Gendered expectations related to maternity, sexuality and enclosure as well as physical violence. Especially in conflicts about enclosure the social categories of gender and urbanity intersected. These conflicts affected the movement of canonesses in the cities and the relationship of the collegiate churches to urban space.

Simone Wagner holds an MA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from the University of Freiburg. She wrote her dissertation during her time in Erfurt as a member of the KFG “Religion and Urbanity. Mutual Formations. Since April 2023 she has been a research associate at the University of Potsdam.

The Johann Daniel Schöpflin Prize will be awarded to outstanding master’s theses, theses for admission to state examinations and dissertations in the field of history and historical auxiliary sciences that have been written using sources from the Karlsruhe General State Archives. The award ceremony with a presentation by the prizewinner took place during the annual general meeting of the Friends’ Association in spring 2024 (on 07 May 2024). The prize money amounts to 2000 euros. The statutes of the Johann Daniel Schöpflin Prize and a list of all prizewinners can be found on the homepage of the association. https://foerderverein-glak.de/schoepflin-preis/

Simone Wagner vergleicht die Grundlagen der Autorität von Äbtissinnen und Pröpsten südwestdeutscher Stifte im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Während dieser Zeit häuften sich Konflikte um die stiftischen Vorsteher⁄innen, in denen ihr Amt ausgehandelt wurde. Wie die Pröpste leiteten auch die Äbtissinnen ihre Autorität aus ihrem Amt ab und litten nicht unter einem geschlechtsspezifischen Legitimationsdefizit. Dennoch beeinflussten geschlechtsspezifische Verhaltenserwartungen die Amtsführung von Äbtissinnen und Pröpsten. Diese Erwartungen betrafen die Bereiche ideelle und biologische Mutterschaft, Sexualität und körperliche Gewalt.

Simone Wagner studierte Mittelalter- und Renaissancestudien an der Universität Freiburg. Ihre Dissertation entstand im Kontext des DFG-Projekts “Religion and Urbanity. Reciprocal Formations” am Max-Weber-Kolleg der Universität Erfurt. Seit April 2023 ist sie an der Universität Potsdam als Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin beschäftigt.

https://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/de/aktuelles/termine/76607

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