4 - The Daughters of Odelindis: Identity and Religious Practice

Summary

The Świdnica beguine community was founded at least as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century. The oldest of the sisters recorded in 1332, Gertrude of Świdnica, had belonged to the community for twenty-eight years (I.II), that is since around 1304. Another woman, Blind Anne, had been associated with the Świdnica beguines for two years less than Gertrude (II.V). The recorded testimonies also speak of an earlier mistress, Geza, who was succeeded later by Heilwig of Prague. It may be that she was the first mother superior of the Świdnica Hooded Sisters, whom only the oldest sisters knew personally. The Świdnica community was one of the oldest in Silesia. It was founded at the same time as, or slightly later than, the Wrocław community, with which it maintained close contact. We do not know the size of the group of women dwelling in the Świdnica house. However, it seems that the community numbered no more than a dozen women. The suit brought by John of Schwenkenfeld summoning the Świdnica moniales Capuciatae to give evidence named nine women. We may presume that during the 1332 interrogations this number was lower as a result of several younger sisters having left the community. These young women gave evidence in the first part of the trial as witnesses. They formed a separate community of women, with a mother superior, her deputy, and rules for a common life in imitation of a cloistered religious order.

The women whose life and customs came under inspection by the papal inquisitor are described as moniales Capuciatae or simply Capuciatae. In the testimony record it is written that the aim of the examination was to obtain information ‘about the life and customs of the Hooded Sisters’ (de vita et moribus Capuciatarum). Also, the term Capuciata was written after the name of each sister who stood before the inquisitor. This was not a pejorative term or a name thought up by the inquisitor for the purposes of the trial. The term moniales Capuciatae fulfilled the function of an official name for the Świdnica community, and was used by the women who belonged to the group themselves.