Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction -- Looking through words, numbers, images, buildings, and melodies : glimpses of childhood and marriage, investment and donation, in the nuremberg of Katerina -- Imhoff Lemmel, 1466-1516 -- Disappearing behind veils and walls with windows : Katerina's rituals and rhetoric of passage in June 1516 -- Opening windows of communication : building and business, letters from 1516 -- Sitting at the window : news of shattered promises and bad returns : letters from February through July 1517 -- Windows of opportunity : bad times, singing for saffron, sights and sounds -- Scents and tastes, of commemoration : letters from August through December 1517 -- Writing by window light, singing by candlelight : Benefactions through windows to the world outside : letters from 1518 -- Windows under scrutiny : letters from 1519 -- Some good eyeglasses : letters from 1520-1522 -- Breaking windows : violent clashes in the Peasants' War of 1525 -- Now through a glass darkly, but then face to face : Katerina's last letter last words and last will -- Conclusion: Moving forward with a glance in the rearview mirro

"Examines 58 letters written by Katerina Lemmel, a wealthy Nuremberg widow, who in 1516 entered the abbey of Maria Mai in south Germany, and rebuilt the monastery using her own resources and the donations she solicited from relatives"--Provided by publisher