Chapter Ten Women as Makers of Church Decoration: Illustrated Textiles at the Monasteries of Altenberg/Lahn, Rupertsberg, and Heiningen (13th–14th c.)

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outside world. Inscriptions, representations of patrons,3 the iconographic

programs of the textiles, and the context in which these were presented

all support this thesis.

My arguments will be based on seven embroideries from female monastic communities in Germany, made in the thirteenth and the first half of

the fourteenth century. All were important, prominent elements of the

decoration of their churches, not in the cloistered areas of the nuns, but

in the convent’s “outer” church, that is, those parts of the church that were

publicly accessible at certain times.4 As part of the highly visible decoration on principal feast days, when many people, including pilgrims, visited

the church, they witness the active roles of women in representing their

cloister and in promoting the memoria of their families as well as in shaping the iconographic program of their church’s decoration.

The embroideries were made and used in the nunneries of Altenberg/

Lahn, Rupertsberg, and Heiningen. My particular focus is on a group of

five large illustrated linen embroideries (about 1,50 m to 4 m) from the

Premonstratensian nunnery of Altenberg in Hessen, which are the central objects of my current research project.5 In addition, I will discuss a

frontal from the former Benedictine nunnery at Rupertsberg and an altar

cloth from the Augustinian nunnery of Heiningen—two textiles from the

thirteenth century, which although fairly well-known, have not yet been

extensively examined in the context of women’s contributions to art.6



3 In the following I will use the term representations of patrons for depictions of worshiping men or women, regardless of which role they actually played as patrons, donors,

benefactors, or founders, and regardless of what they may have donated, whether money,

material, or continuous income from land for memorial feasts.

4 For the distinction between the inner and outer church see: Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Petra

Marx, and Susan Marti, “The Time of the Orders,” in Crown and Veil, pp. 52ff. Discussion

of changes in the accessiblity of churches is currently beginning: Gisela Muschiol, “Time

and Space: Liturgy and Rite in Female Monasteries of the Middle Ages,” in Crown and Veil,

pp. 191–96; Carola Jäggi, “Klosterkirchen und ihre Nutzer. Räumliche Partizipation im Spiegel monastischer Binnentopographien,” in Altenberg und die Baukultur im 13. Jahrhundert

(Regensburg, 2010), pp. 49–67. Based on architectural remains and written documents, I

analyse this division of spaces for the church at Altenberg in my study “Textile Bildwerke,”

as it is an important condition for the function and reception of church furnishings.

5 On the results of my project, Textile Bildwerke (sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), a monograph is forthcoming.

6 For both see the exhibition catalog Krone und Schleier: Kunst aus mittelalterlichen

Frauenklöstern, eds. Susan Marti, Helga Willinghöfer, et al. (Munich, 2005), cat. nos. 83

and 202.







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The Embroideries from the Premonstratensian Nunnery

at Altenberg/Lahn

The large number of historical sources that have survived from the time

when the community of Altenberg flourished offers unusually rich evidence regarding the role of women in the architecture of the monastery

and its church as well as in its decoration, in wall- and glass painting,

treasury art and manuscripts, altarpieces and textiles.

From this Premonstratensian abbey two cloth pieces have survived from

the thirteenth century, and three from the fourteenth.7 The linen embroideries were made for the most prominent sacral and liturgical locations in

the church: the high altar and the place of the memoria and the veneration

of St. Elizabeth (d. 1231), which was essential for Altenberg at that time, as

the saint’s daughter lived there for over sixty-eight years (1229–1297). The

embroideries from Altenberg are done in what is known today as whiteon-white technique.8 The embroideries—figural depictions, ornaments,

and inscriptions—are mostly done in colorless linen threads on a white

linen ground. However, as my recent investigations have shown, the contours of all depictions and the inscriptions were once embroidered in dark

blue or brown threads, which have lost their dye over time. It is important

to keep these lost colours in mind when we look at the textiles today. The

dark contours originally made the depictions and inscriptions visible and

thus much more easily read than they now appear.9

One of the earlier two linens, usually said to be an altar cloth, is today in

the Museum for Applied Art in Frankfurt (Fig. 1; Color Plate 12).10 However,

judging by its size (136 × 325/28 cm) and the organization of the pictorial

 

7 Leonie von Wilckens, “Hessische Leinenstickereien des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts,” in

Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1954–59), pp. 5–20; Leonie von Wilckens,

“Zwei hessische Leinenstickereien der zweiten Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts,” in Festschrift

für Peter Wilhelm Meister zum 65. Geburtstag, eds. Annaliese Ohm and Horst Reber

(Hamburg, 1975), pp. 121–26.

8 For white-on-white embroidery or opus teutonicum: Peter Barnet, “Opus Teutonicum:

A Medieval Westphalian Lectern Cover,” in Hali: Carpet, Textile and Islamic Art, 79 (1995),

pp. 98–100.

9 On the lost colors of linen embroidery see my contribution in: Birgitt Borkopp-Restle

and Stefanie Seeberg, “Farbe und Farbwirkung in der Bildstickerei des Hoch- und Spätmittelalters—Textilien im Kontext der Ausstattung sakraler Räume,” in Farbe im Mittelalter,

Materialität—Medialität—Semantik, eds. Ingrid Bennewitz and Andrea Schindler (Berlin,

2011), pp. 195–207.

10 Frankfurt, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Inv. no. 5869; Wilckens, “Hessische

Leinenstickereien,” pp. 9ff.; Wilckens, “Zwei hessische Leinenstickereien,” pp. 121–24.



Figure 1 Catafalque cover, Altenberg/Lahn, second half of the 13th c. (Photo: V. Dettmar/ Frankfurt Museum für Angewandte Kunst).

See color plate 12.



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program, it is more likely a tomb or catafalque cover. On the linen ground,

two rows of kings and queens are depicted under arcades. In the border

of all four sides, we see prophets and two holy women. The style and

fashion of the figures belong to the second half of the thirteenth century,11

while their arrangement under arcades mirrored in two directions along

the middle axis of the cloth reflects shrines and tombs of the time. Only

when draped over a catafalque does this design fall into place.

The second embroidery from the thirteenth century (now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg) shows eight scenes from the life of St. Elizabeth

(1207–1231), along with a representation of the enthroned saint (Fig. 2).12

The vita is depicted in two registers. In the upper, her life as a noble lady

is shown, ending with the embarkation of her husband Ludwig in Italy

for the Fifth Crusade shortly before his death. The lower register presents

Elizabeth’s life dedicated to Christ: taking the simple cloth of a lay sister,

working in the hospital, having her hair cut short, and performing various

acts of charity. The cycle ends with Elizabeth on a heavenly throne; two

women kneel praying at her feet (Fig. 3).13

The iconography of both embroideries is unusual, but can be explained

by the historic situation of Altenberg in the thirteenth century. The Premonstratensian monastery of Altenberg became important during the

time of its Magistra Gertrud (1227–1297), daughter of St. Elizabeth, landgravine of Thüringen.14 Immediately after her investiture as magistra in

1248, Gertrud, who at that time was twenty-one years old, started rebuilding the nunnery, including the central church and the main parts of

the enclosure.15 Her social background, and especially the events of the



11 Wilckens, “Zwei hessische Leinenstickereien,” p. 123f.

12 Inv. no. T-3728, Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. Stefanie Seeberg, “Leinenstickerei mit Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Elisabeth,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine

europäische Heilige, eds. Dieter Blume and Matthias Werner (St. Petersburg, 2007), pp.

269–72, cat. no. 175.

13 Seeberg, “Leinenstickerei,” p. 269.

14 Elizabeth, princess of Hungary, was married to Ludwig IV, landgrave (a high ranking count, comparable to a prince) von Thüringen. On St. Elizabeth, see Kenneth Baxter

Wolf, The Life and Afterlife of St. Elizabeth of Hungary: Testimony from Her Canonization

Hearings (Oxford, 2010). On Altenberg and Gertrud von Thüringen: Christian Schuffels,

“‘Beata Gertrudis, Filia Sancte Elyzabet,’ Gertrud, die Tochter der heiligen Elisabeth, und

das Prämonstratenserinnenstift Altenberg an der Lahn,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine

europäische Heilige, pp. 229–44.

15 In the Premonstratensian order female convents were affiliated to a male monastery.

The magistra was the head of the convent, but subordinate to the abbot of the male house.

On the architecture of Altenberg see: Schuffels, “Beata Gertrudis,” pp. 231–35 (with further

bibliography).



Figure 2 Embroidery with scenes of the life of St. Elizabeth from Altenberg/Lahn, second half of the 13th c. (Photo: Vladimir

Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets and Yuri Molodkovets/ St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum).



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Figure 3 Detail of embroidery with scenes of the life of St. Elizabeth from

Altenberg/Lahn, second half of the 13th c. (Photo: S. Seeberg).



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previous ten years, probably allowed her to develop this plan even before

she became magistra.

Gertrud had been given to the small convent of Altenberg by her mother

Elizabeth when she was still a young child. Before her birth, her parents

had promised to offer the child to God if her father Ludwig should die during the Fifth Crusade. When the landgrave died in 1227 in Otranto, even

before the crusade had actually begun, Elizabeth, then just twenty years

old, decided that she also would give up her former life and follow Christ.16

She left the court at Eisenach, founded a hospital in Marburg, and placed

her baby Gertrud in the monastery of Altenberg, some seventy kilometers

away. Elizabeth died in 1231. Just four years later, in 1235, she was canonized, and in 1236 her relics were translated in an impressive ceremony in

which the emperor Frederick II crowned her separated head.17 Elizabeth’s

young children—the nine-year old Gertrud, her older sister Sophia (1224–

1275), and her brother Hermann (1222–1241)—were probably present for

this spectacle.18 They were, in any case, informed about and involved in

it, and it must have been a central and extremely emotionally impressive

event for them.

In 1248, both sisters came into leading positions. In that year Sophia

was widowed. Her husband, Heinrich II, duke of Niederlothringen and

Brabant, had been one of the most powerful princes of the empire.19 Now,

at the age of twenty-four, Sophia had to act as regent for her son, who

was just four years old.20 Half a year later, Gertrud became magistra of

Altenberg. For her part, Sophia chose Marburg, not far from Altenberg,

as her main residence. Here she had more influence and presence in the

political struggles of Thüringen and Hessen, and here she was close to

the tomb and relics of her holy mother in Marburg.21 During the political

16 Stefan Tebruck, “Militia Christi—Imitatio Christi, Kreuzzugsidee und Armutsideal

am thüringischen Landgrafenhof zur Zeit der Heiligen Elisabeth,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige, pp. 137–152.

17 Viola Belghaus, Der erzählte Körper. Die Inszenierung der Reliquien Karls des Grossen

und Elisabeths von Thüringen (Berlin, 2005), p. 131 (with further bibliography).

18 However, no document survives in which the family members present at this

ceremony were named. Jürgen Petersohn, “Die Ludowinger. Selbstverständnis und

Memoria eines hochmittelalterlichen Reichsfürstengeschlechts,” Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte, 129 (1993), p. 30.

19 On Heinrich II, see Heinrich Neu, “Heinrich II., Herzog von Brabant,” in Neue Deutsche Biographie (Berlin, 1969), vol. 8, p. 348.

20 Karl E. Demandt, Geschichte des Landes Hessen (Kassel, 1972), p. 179f.

21 For the grave and relics of St. Elizabeth in Marburg: Andreas Köstler, Die Ausstattung der Marburger Elisabethkirche. Zur Ästhetisierung des Kultraums im Mittelalter (Berlin,

1995).







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struggles over their father’s lands in the following years, both sisters

sought to strengthen the position of their family and to promote the veneration and popularity of their sainted mother. Both signed documents as

“daughter of Saint Elizabeth.”22

Architecture and art were important instruments in their efforts to

demonstrate power and presence. Sophia, especially, must have been

aware of the great importance of art, as she had spent part of her childhood at the Thuringian court in Eisenach, where she seems to have stayed

even after her mother’s death.23 The Thuringian court of her parents and

grandparents had been one of the most flourishing centers of art in the

Middle Ages.24 We can assume that Sophia exploited the possibilities of

art and architecture in her residence in Marburg as well, but her role there

is rarely mentioned and has not yet been examined by historians or art

historians.25 Evidence of her use of art for propaganda and as a manifestation of her power is provided by the seals and coins of her regency, in

which she is shown, befitting her rank, as an elegant falconer on a noble

horse, or together with her son flanking her mother St. Elizabeth.26 In

contrast to Sophia, Gertrud’s involvement in architecture and art is better documented and has left many traces in Altenberg. We can conclude

from historical sources in Altenberg, however, that the sisters cooperated in their efforts to strengthen the power of their family, the veneration of their mother Elizabeth, and the memoria of their father. A look at

22 On Sophia von Thüringen, see Werner Goez, Gestalten des Hochmittelalters, Personengeschichtliche Essays im allgemeinhistorischen Kontext (Darmstadt, 1983), pp. 378ff.;

Ulrich Hussong, “Sophie (Sophia) von Brabant,” in Neue Deutsche Biographie, ed. Hans

Günther Hockerts (Berlin, 2010), vol. 24, pp. 586–88. On Gertrud, see Thomas Doepner, Das

Prämonstratenserinnenkloster Altenbger im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter. Sozial- und

Frömmigkeitsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Marburg, 1999), pp. 56–60; Schuffels, “Beata

Gertrudis,” pp. 229–44.

23 Hussong, “Sophie,” p. 587.

24 Especially under her grandparents Hermann I (1155–1217) and Sophia v. Wittelsbach

(1170–1238) under whom examples of famous poetry, or richly illuminated gospel books

as the “Landgrafen-” and “Elisabethpsalter” were made. See Harald Wolter-von dem Kneesebeck, “Zur Materiellen und künstlerischen Seite der Hofkultur der Stauferzeit, insbesondere am Landgrafenhof in Thüringen,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische

Heilige, pp. 59ff.; Jens Haustein, “Deutsche Literatur am Landgrafenhof und in Thüringen

unter Herman I,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige, pp. 60ff.

25 She is mentioned as responsible for unspecified constructions on the castle of Marburg by Gerd Strickhausen, Burgen der Ludowinger in Thüringen, Hessen und dem Rheinland. Studien zu Architektur und Landesherrschaft im Hochmittelalter (Darmstadt/Marburg,

1998), p. 132.

26 Matthias Kälble, “Reitersiegel der Herzogin Sophie von Brabant” and “Elisabethsiegel

der Herzogin Sophie von Brabant,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige,

cat. nos. 179 and 180.



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Altenberg can thus also offer insights into the as yet unknown and unnoticed role of Sophia in the history of art.

Gertrud, supported by her sister Sophia, established Altenberg as an

important memorial place for their family.27 Members of their family were

represented through figures, inscriptions, and coats of arms in the windows.28 The commissioning of the windows was the result of a cooperation between different families, especially the counts of Nassau and the

landgraves. However, Gertrud’s leading role is clearly visible: images of

her father and grandparents appear in the windows, as does a scene showing the leave-taking of her father.29 This departure was a central subject

for Gertrud, as I will show later. We know from a document that Gertrud

and Sophia made a donation in 1268 for the memoria of their family. We

have no details about this memoria, but as we know from other examples

that it must have included liturgy and the decoration of the church. As

there was no tomb at Altenberg, we can hypothesize that on memorial

days a catafalque was installed in the church.30

As I indicated above, there are strong reasons to suggest that the large

linen embroidery, today in Frankfurt, was actually conceived and made

for this catafalque, probably by Gertrud, and possibly in cooperation with

her sister Sophia (see Fig. 1; Color Plate 12).31 The twenty-two standing

figures of men and women are crowned and nimbed. So far there has

been no convincing reading of whom these figures were meant to represent.32 But they would perfectly reflect the view held by the landgraves

of Thüringen who saw themselves as members of the beata stirps of

St. Elizabeth and proclaimed this heritage to legitimate and strengthen



27 For elaboration of this point, see my article “Monument in Linen: A ThirteenthCentury Embroidered Catafalque Cover for the Members of the Beata Stirps of Saint

Elizabeth of Hungary,” in Dressing the Part: Textiles as Propaganda in the Middle Ages, eds.

Kate Dimitrova and Margaret Goehring (Oostkamp, forthcoming 2012).

28 These windows did not survive, although we have a description of them from the

seventeenth century. On the windows, see Daniel Parello, “Die Mittelalterlichen Glasmalereien in Marburg und Nordhessen,” in Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Deutschland, vol. 3,

part 3: Marburg und Nordhessen (Berlin, 2008), pp. 77ff.

29 Parello, “Mittelalterlichen Glasmalereien,” p. 78.

30 In the Middle Ages it was common to decorate tombs or catafalques on memorial days with rich textiles. Renate Kroos, “Grabbräuche—Grabbilder,” in Memoria. Der

geschichtliche Zeugniswert des liturgischen Gedenkens im Mittelalter, ed. Karl Schmid

(Munich, 1984), pp. 299–304; Paul Binski, Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation (London, 1996), p. 190; Seeberg, “Monument in Linen.”

31 Seeberg, “Monument in Linen.”

32 Leonie Wilckens saw them first as saints and in her later essay as royal couples of the

Old Testament. Wilckens, “Hessische Leinenstickereien,” p. 10; Wilckens, “Zwei hessische

Leinenstickereien,” p. 123.







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their political position.33 The embroidery demonstrates this claim in a

very self-confident way, one that is not at all common, as there are no

such representations of ancestors with crowns and halos known in tomb

sculpture.34 An impermanent decoration like embroidery offered perhaps

a better possibility for such daring representations than a permanent

monument would have done.

The embroidery with scenes from the life of St. Elizabeth has to be seen

in the context of Gertrud’s efforts to create in Altenberg a center for her

mother’s veneration (see Fig. 2).35 As we have seen, the cycle includes

eight key moments of the life, and one representation of the saint seated

on a throne. In contrast to the illustration of Elizabeth’s life in the stainedglass windows (ca. 1240) and on the shrine (between 1235/36 and 1249),

both in her church in Marburg, the embroidery from Altenberg includes

several aspects of great personal importance for Gertrud and her convent.36 Unique for cycles of Elizabeth is the representation of the cutting

of her hair while she takes the cloth of a hospital sister. The cutting of hair

is an important part of the ritual for young women who become members

of a convent.37 The departure of her father for the Fifth Crusade was a

central subject for Gertrud as this event was fateful for her own life in

that it led to her dedication as an unborn child to monastic life. Unusually, the embroidery tells this story in two scenes. The first shows Ludwig

and Elizabeth embracing for the last time, and in the second scene Ludwig, leaving on his horse, makes a gesture of farewell to his beloved wife.

This second episode was also depicted in one of the windows of the nuns’

choir, as well as in a manuscript that belonged to Gertrud personally.38



33 On the importance of being a member of the family of the saint, Doepner, Das Prämonstratenserinnenkloster, p. 57.

34 No examples in the region of Altenberg, Brabant, or France survive from the end of

the thirteenth century. For comparison, see the tombs in the volume by Morganstern and

the tombs of the landgraves in the south apse of the Elisabethkirche in Marburg. Anne

McGee Morganstern, Gothic Tombs of Kinship in France, the Low Countries and England

(University Park, 2000); Joan Holladay, The Tombs of the Hessian Landgraves in the Church

of St. Elizabeth at Marburg (Ann Arbor, 1982).

35 Seeberg, “Leinenstickerei.”

36 On the cycles in Marburg, see Anette Kindler, “Reliquienschrein der Heiligen Elisabeth,” in Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige, cat. no. 130; Belghaus, Der

erzählte Körper.

37 Seeberg, “Leinenstickerei,” p. 269. On the ritual, see Eva Schlotheuber, “Klostereintritt und Übergangsriten. Die Bedeutung der Jungfräulichkeit für das Selbstverständnis der

Nonnen der alten Orden,” in Krone und Schleier, pp. 43–61, esp. pp. 51ff.

38 Psalterium, Darmstadt, Hess. Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Hs. 2230, fol. 8v;

Christian Schuffels, “Elisabeths Abschied von Landgraf Ludwig IV. von Thüringen,” in



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Even more remarkable, however, is the last depiction of the embroidery, which shows Elizabeth enthroned and blessing (see Fig. 3). With

the words on the banderole in her hand, she addresses the viewers and

reminds them of her vision of Christ: ecce q° ocoupivi: ixe vide° (see what

I reached: I see Christ). The blessing gesture may refer to the main relic of

the saint in Altenberg: an arm bone preserved in a reliquary in the shape

of her right arm.39 On each side of the throne kneels a woman: a secular

figure with typical bound head-dress on the saint’s left, and a veiled nun

to her right. As is well known, placement on the right was privileged and

generally accorded greater prestige. These women may be portrayals of

Elizabeth’s daughters, Sophia and Gertrud, as patrons of the embroidery

under the protection of their mother. However, since the figures are not

identified by coats of arms or names, they may as well symbolize lay and

religious women in general, as Elizabeth was considered a patron and

ideal for both groups. Perhaps there is even an intended ambiguity, allowing both interpretations.

With this pictorial cycle Gertrud made the life of her mother present

and vivid for the nuns and visitors to the church in a visual medium that

reinforced the need for both memoria and veneration. The combination

of the scenes demonstrated the personal relationship of the saint to her

daughter and her monastery, as well as showing Elizabeth as example and

patron of the nuns, who—like Elizabeth—had started their life in aristocratic families, taken the veil, and devoted their life to Christ. As depicted

on a textile, this cycle could be presented at different places within the

monastery—in the choir of the nuns, as a backdrop for the arm reliquary

on feast days in the outer church, or as a wall hanging in the refectory.40

Here, as with the catafalque cover, a close relationship between secular

and sacral society is expressed, which corresponds to Gertrud’s self-image.

Despite her life of enclosure, she identified herself strongly as a daughter

of the landgraves of Thüringen, as we can repeatedly see in written

documents.41



Elisabeth von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige, cat. no. 167; Seeberg, “Leinenstickerei,”

p. 272.

39 On the reliquary: Stefanie Seeberg, “Armreliquiar der heiligen Elisabeth,” in Elisabeth

von Thüringen—Eine europäische Heilige, pp. 247–49. On the presence of saints in their

relics in general and with a focus on arm reliquaries: Cynthia Hahn, “The Voices of Saints:

Speaking Reliquaries,” Gesta, 36/1 (1997), pp. 20–31.

40 About 50 years later one of the two refectories got a wall painting of the life of St.

Elizabeth with again eight scenes; Seeberg, Textile Bildwerke.

41 Petersohn, “Die Ludowinger,” pp. 38ff.