The 1332 records of the interrogation of the Hooded Sisters of Świdnica constitute a unique source which offers an insight into the functioning of a small community of laywomen who sought their own way to God independently and outside the control of the clergy. This community was established at the end of the thirteenth century, and its organizational structure and piety were shaped in the process of fundamental transformation occurring among the German beguines. The sisters of Świdnica belonged to a larger network covering groups of beguines across Silesia, Bohemia, Saxony, and the Rhineland. They referred to themselves as a ‘congregation of the poor’ or a ‘union of the daughters of Odelind’.

The statements of the women recorded in the notarial document dated September 1332 provide a multi-faceted picture of the piety and organization of the moniales Capuciatae. There are three perspectives that need to be considered. On the one hand, there is the perspective of former members of the community, generally junior sisters who recalled their stay among the Hooded Nuns as a period of mental and physical anguish. They expressed their resentment and anger towards the older sisters who resorted to violent methods to acclimatize them to life in their community. Embittered and disillusioned with their past experience, they spoke openly and willingly about their suffering and humiliation. Yet, their statements often relied upon hearsay and second-hand information. In particular, the testimonies of Adelheid and Margaret the Painter – these are the most detailed ones – contain numerous colourful stories and anecdotes about the lives of the beguines and beghards, some of which had no direct bearing on the activities of the Hooded Sisters of Świdnica. It is not hard to get the impression that regardless of the rules of the interrogatorium, the two women, on their own initiative, spoke about anything that seemed to be dubious and might cast a shadow of suspicion on the activities of the Świdnica community. Their dismal picture of the sisters as a group of psychopathic deviants and religious hypocrites should be regarded as the opinion of women hungry for revenge.

The second-hand account of the promiscuity of the senior sisters and their wanton behaviour towards the beghards cannot be looked upon as credible.