During my stay in Wolfenbüttel I am researching two projects. In the first I am investigating the storming of the monasteries and convents during the German Peasants’ War of 1524-6. Some 350 monastic institutions were pillaged, desecrated, and even burned to the ground during the revolt and my research explores how this came about and what such a traumatic event meant for monks and nuns. In addition, I am developing a wider project on the importance of vows and oaths during the later medieval and Reformation periods. I am interested in the importance of vows and oaths for the development of Catholic and Protestant identities and above all what they meant for the social identities, life choices, and everyday realities of men and women, young and old, religious and lay.

https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/edmund-wareham-wanitzek