To what extent did religious affiliation shape the horizon of values ​​of medieval women's communities? Katharina Ulrike Mersch discusses this question from a historical perspective based on evidence of visual communication. Based on Luhmann's system theory, she developed a communication-historical method of image interpretation. This enables the relationships of the women's communities to the church, the order, other convents and the lay population to be weighed against each other in a comparative long-term study. In order to contribute to research on religious orders, the differences and similarities are dealt with that result for the various canonical and monastic life plans. In this regard, five thematic complexes - imparting knowledge, Easter cult, Eucharist devotion, secular image content and media of contemplation - prove to be particularly meaningful and are given preferential treatment. Awarded the dissertation prize of the Working Group for Historical Women and Gender Studies 2012