St Agnes Convent, Arnhem
St Agnes Convent was a religious house of the Sisters of the Common Life in the city of Arnhem, in the Duchy of Guelders (now in the Netherlands), in the 15th and 16th centuries.
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At some point in the 15th century the community adopted the Third Rule of St Francis, later shifting to the Rule of St Augustine.[1] It was a large community, and a major centre for the production of mystical literature.[2][3] Reinalda van Eymeren, who has been suggested as the author of the influential spiritual text Die Evangelische Peerle (The Pearl of the Gospel), was a member of the community.[4]
In 1581, during the Dutch Revolt, the city forbade new entrants to the convent.[1] The last four sisters to survive dissolved the community in 1634.[1]
The buildings passed to St Catherine's Hospital in 1636.[5] In 1751 the former convent chapel became the Walloon church in Arnhem.[6] This was damaged during the Second World War and restored in 1950-1952; it is now protected heritage as Rijksmonument 8310.[7]
References
- Ineke Cornet, The Arnhem Mystical Sermons (Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2018), pp. 34-37.
- Ineke Cornet and Kees Schepers, "The Arnhem Mystical Sermons and sixteenth-century mystical culture", Mystical Anthropology: Authors from the Low Countries, edited by John Arblaster and Rob Faesen (London and New York, Routledge, 2017), pp. 134-136.
- Kees Schepers, "A Web of Texts: Sixteenth Century Mystical Culture and the Arnhem Sint-Agnes Convent", in Nuns' Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Kansas City Dialogue (Turnhout, Brepols, 2015), pp. 269-285.
- Paul Begheyn, Biografisch woordenboek Gelderland, edited by J. A. E. Kuys, R.M. Kemperinck, E. Pelzers and P. W. van Wissing, vol. 2 (Hilversum, Uitgeverij Verloren, 2000), pp. 28-30.
- Gerda B. Leppink, with R. C. M. Wientjes, Het Sint Catharinae Gasthuis in Arnhem (Hilversum, Verloren, 1996), pp. 104-107.
- "Arnhemse kloosters, 1400-1580". mijngelderland.nl. Erfgoed Gelderland.
- "Monumentnummer: 8310, Gasthuisstraat 1 6811 DZ te Arnhem". Monumentenregister. Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed.