Villingen
Community ID: 
 
2858
 
Alternate Names: 
 
S. Ursula; Bickenkloster; Bickenkloster zu Villingen; Bicken cloister
 
Town: 
 
near Freiburg
 
Dedication: 
 
S. Ursula
 
Religious Order: 
 
Franciscan (Clarissen)
 
Rule: 
 
Rule of S. Clare
 
Notable Members/Residents/Guests: 
 

The convent was reformed by a party led by Ursula Haider.

 
Population Counts: 
 

According to the convent chronicle, circa 1480 the convent had just six nuns. Of these, five left when the reformers came to the convent. Only one of the women elected to stay.

 
Relative Wealth: 
 

The convent chronicle describes the house as poor, unendowed, and small.

 
Literary Works: 
 

A chronicle and reform account survive from this community. Sisters from this community sent a work that contains poems composed by Prioress Ursula Haider (d. 1498) to the convent of S. Katharinental. A sister from this community also compiled a copy of the twenty-eight sermons delivered at the convent by Johannes Pauli (1493-94).

 
Manuscript Sources: 
 

Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS germ. quart. 1069, fols. 1-240.

 
Published Primary Sources: 
 

Die Chronik des Bickenklosters zu VillingenAuszüge aus den Urkunden des Bickenklosters in Villingen

 
Secondary Sources: 
 

Convent Chronicles: Women Writing about Women and Reform in the Late Middle Ages200 Jahre Kloster St. Ursula, VillingenVillingen: KlarissenDie Villinger Frauenklöster des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit'Die heiligen Statt Rom und Jerusalem’: Reste einer Ablaßsammlung im Bickenkloster in Villingen

 
Miscellaneous Information: 
 

The convent was reformed in 1480 along with the Observant reforms sweeping Germany at the time.