Childless Donors, Remembrance, and Women Given to the Birgittine Order in 15th-Century Sweden

The two Birgittine monasteries in medieval Sweden, Vadstena and Nådendal, were targets of many pious donations and represented a new element in the monastic landscape of the kingdom. This article delves into the personal bonds that were created and negotiated by the benefactors and heads of the monasteries, typically the abbesses. These bonds are studied through three case studies from the fifteenth century where childless donors gave women, who were not their daughters or sisters, to the Birgittines, along with requests to receive individual remembrance and for commemoration of their families to be maintained by the communities. These donations were part of the lived culture of remembrance shared by benefactors and monasteries. They represented both personal and familial strategies of spiritual remedy, as well as the institutional aid of souls provided by the Birgittines.