Dorothea Koler (d. 1463) led a party from Nuremberg in 1455 to reform this convent. An account of Abbess Koler was composed circa 1525 by a sister from the convent of Pfullingen. This account relates how she defied Duke Sigismund of Tirol by honoring a papal interdict placed against him. Sister Maria von Wolkenstein was the leader of the resistance to the community's reform in the fifteenth century. Maria later transferred to another community rather than reform. In 1460 another nun, Christina Reyselt, climbed up the bell towers and removed the clappers from the bells to prevent the cloister's bells from being rung for services by the men of Duke Sigismund of Tirol, who had been placed under interdict. She hid the clappers to the bells so well, they could not be found later. Chistina Reyselt had been a servant in the community but had worked her way up to become a choir nun. The chronicle from Pfullingen records the history of the attempted reform at Brixen and portrays the leadership of Christina in this crisis.
In 1455 the community was placed under interdict, because the Clarissan sisters refused the reform mandate issued by Bishop Nicholas von Cusa. Duke Sigismund of Tirol evicted the observant sisters, who had upheld his interdict versus the conventuals, in 1461. The evicted sisters travelled to Pfullingen. The chronicle from Pfullingen records the history of the attempted reform at Brixen. (See published primary sources below).
Duke Sigismund of Tirol was placed under papal interdict, and he evicted the observant sisters, led by Abbess Koler from Nuremberg, who had upheld his interdict in 1461. The townspeople also became involved in this dispute between the duke and the convent. According to the account written by a nun of Pfullingen, the townspeople even threatened the sisters with being drowned. The evicted sisters travelled to Pfullingen. (See notable members above)
Convent Chronicles: Women Writing about Women and Reform in the Late Middle Ages
Nikolaus von Kues und das Brixener Klarissenkloster
Die ältesten Statuten des Klarissenklosters zu Brixen (Tirol)
Das Klarissenkloster in Brixen
Nikolaus Cusanus in Tirol : das Wirken des Philosophen und Reformators als Fürstbischof von Brixen
Brixen / Südtirol
In the fifteenth century, the community refused to reform and was visited by representatives of the city council, who came to ask the sisters to accept the reform.
More research necessary
