Cornelia Peka, MA

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Cornelia Peka was born in Vienna in 1989. She studied German and Latin (Teaching Subjects) and graduated with distinction. Inspired by an excursion to the monastery library of Klosterneuburg, she started a doctorate in History at the University of Vienna in 2015. Her research concerns the former community of he Augustinian Canonesses Regular of Klosterneuburg in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period and is supervised by Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Christina Lutter and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Müller. Since the beginning of her studies she has been working in museum educational service and marketing of Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. 

Research interests: Medieval and early modern cultural and gender history, Monastic cultures in Central Europe, Monastic rules and constitutions, Medieval sermons, Didactic and devotional literature, Translations and adaptations of latin texts to the German vernacular.

Current research project: Forms of monastic life in the Late Middle Ages: The double monastery of the Augustinian Canonesses and Canons Regular in Klosterneuburg.“ (Working title); in German: „Formen klösterlichen Zusammenlebens im Spätmittelalter: Das Doppelkloster der Augustiner Chorfrauen und Chorherren in Klosterneuburg“ (Arbeitstitel)
My current research project explores the religious communities of men and women in Klosterneuburg monastery during the Late Medieval and the Early Modern period. The subordinated women’s canonry – temporarily there were even two of them – as a starting point provides insights into the workings of a double monastery. Accordingly, I am concerned with questions of rule and practice of monastic life, the scope of action, resources and educational background of the canons and canonesses, as well as their ties to their families and other institutions. One important aspect of my research is the closure of the women’s canonry after the death of the last canoness in 1568, as it allows putting into context the actions of the individuals involved with an event that was quite common in Central Europe during the turmoil of the Reformation. The project draws on a wide range of sources, ranging from account books and personal correspondence in the monastery archive to liturgical manuscripts, monastic constitutions, sermons and devotional literature in the library. At a theoretical level, I am interested in the concept of gender as a multi-relational category and entangled urban, monastic and courtly spaces.

Publications:

  • Die antiken Exempla in Hans Vintlers "Pluemen der Tugent". Wien: Praesens Verlag 2016.
  • With Agnes Unterbrunner: The short Collection of Remedies in Klosterneuburg, CCl 1107. Das kleine Rezeptar in der Klosterneuburger Handschrift 1107. In: ZfdA 149/2 (2020), S. 210-233.