This article argues for literacy as a form of memorialisation in female religious organisations in late medieval Italy. Using freshly discovered archival materials from the Archivio di Stato in Milan, focus is placed on organisation and memorialisation in one particular community, the women of Santa Marta during the period 1405–1454. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, new communities formed who wished to organise according to their own principles. Some of these communities eventually adopted an official rule, such as the Rule of Saint Augustine, and obtained papal approval for their specific way of living when they did not follow the rule absolutely. This article argues that access to reading and writing were fundamental aspects in these communities, and enabled women to empower themselves in ways that had not been possible. I focus on the writing of a semi-religious nun, Margherita Lambertenghi, and the other narratives relating to the convent of Santa Marta in Milan during the early fifteenth century, as a case-study to show the central role that literacy played in the development of the community. Since the extant writing of the convent reveals interesting practices of copying and memorialisation, sometimes mediated by men, the article also discusses these issues.

中文翻译：

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中世纪晚期宗教社区中的妇女扫盲：1405-1454 年在米兰圣玛尔塔的组织和纪念活动

本文主张识字是中世纪晚期意大利女性宗教组织的一种纪念形式。使用来自米兰 Archivio di Stato 的新发现的档案材料，重点放在一个特定社区的组织和纪念上，即 1405-1454 年期间的圣玛尔塔妇女。在 13 和 14 世纪，新的社区形成，他们希望按照自己的原则进行组织。其中一些社区最终采用了官方规则，例如圣奥古斯丁规则，并在他们没有绝对遵守规则的情况下获得了教皇对他们特定生活方式的批准。本文认为，阅读和写作是这些社区的基本方面，并使女性能够以前所未有的方式赋予自己权力。我专注于半宗教修女玛格丽塔·兰贝腾吉 (Margherita Lambertenghi) 的写作，以及与 15 世纪初米兰圣玛尔塔修道院有关的其他叙述，作为案例研究，以展示识字在发展中发挥的核心作用社区的。由于修道院现存的文字揭示了复制和纪念的有趣做法，有时由男性进行调解，因此本文也讨论了这些问题。