Pseudo-Hadewijch's Mengeldichten

ALESSIA VALLARSA

Pseudo-Hadewijch’s Mengeldichten Choosing a gender for an Italian translation

Hadewijch’s complete œuvre has come down to us in three fourteenth century manuscripts.1 The language of the manuscripts, the Middle Dutch of the fourteenth century in its Brabantine form, has led scholars to believe that she lived in a city of the old duchy of Brabant, maybe Antwerp. Some historical references in her work have led them to consider that she was active around 1250. From the examination of the collection of her transmitted Letters it emerges, most signifi cantly, that she was the leader of a little group of female friends bound to her by spiritual affi nity; perhaps she was a beguine. The corpus of her œuvre consists in fact of a collection of thirty-one Letters, a group of four- teen Visions to which an exceptional list is appended, the List of the Perfect, a unit of forty-fi ve Poems in Stanzas and another group of sixteen Mixed Poems also known as “Rhymed Letters”.2 In addition to this large and multiform corpus two of the three manuscripts, namely manuscripts B and C, have transmitted a short spiritual treatise called Tweevormich tractaetken and a group of poems, those of the so-called pseudo-Hadewijch. These poems correspond to numbers 17 to 29 of the edition of the Mengeldichten (“mixed poems”) made by J. Van Mierlo in 1952.3 They also appear as a group on their own in another fourteenth century manuscript, the so-called MS D, that does not contain any other work by Hadewijch.4 Moreover the last fi ve poems of pseudo-Hadewijch (that is to say numbers 25 to 29 in Van Mierlo’s edition), which differ in the length of the verses and the structure of rhyme and stanzas from the fi rst eight (numbers 17 to 24), are also to be found in a manuscript of the early sixteenth century, the so-called MS R, that contains other works by Hadewijch.5

1 Known as MSS A, B and C, they are respectively MSS Brussels, Royal Library, 2879-80, Brussels, Royal Library, 2877-78 and Gent, University Library, 941. The dating of these manuscripts has been studied by Erik Kwakkel. He places MS A in the fi rst half of the fourteenth century, and more precisely in the second quarter. MS B around 1380. MS C in the second half of the fourteenth century, and more precisely in the last quarter. See Kwakkel, “Ouderdom en genese”, p. 30, 32, 34. 2 J. Van Mierlo’s editions: Hadewijch, Visioenen, (1924-25). Hadewijch, Strofi sche Gedichten, (1942). Hadewijch, Brieven, (1947). Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, (1952). 3 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXVII-XXXIII, 86-142. 4 MS Brussels, Royal Library, 3093-95. Two excerpts of the Lignum vitae of Bonaventura precede and follow pseudo-Hadewijch’s group of poems. This manuscript is dated in the last quarter of the fourteenth century. See Kwakkel, Die Dietsche boeke die ons toebehoeren, p. 239. 5 MS Antwerp, Ruusbroec Society, 385 II, that transmits the fi ve poems of pseudo-Hadewijch within works of Hadewijch in this order: Poems in Stanza, Mixed Poems 1-16, pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems 25-29, the List of the Perfect. See Deschamps, Middelnederlandse handschriften, p. 84.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7733 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 74 ALESSIA VALLARSA

The author or authors of this collection of poems are anonymous. The thesis that the poems were not written by the hand of Hadewijch is generally accepted.6 They have been placed in the “school of Hadewijch” because of a series of afﬁ nities with the work of the great poetess.7 Other scholars have drawn attention to the inﬂ uence exerted by the work of the Dominican theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart visible in them.8 Still others have seen in them a relation, above all in doctrine, with Le mirouer des simples ames, the work of Marguerite Porete, a beguine very probably coming from Valenciennes, con- demned to die at the stake by the Inquisition in Paris in 1310.9

I have recently translated pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems into Italian.10 In the process of translating I felt compelled to make a choice of gender, namely to assign a gender to the anonymous author(s) of these poems and to his/her/their voice(s) in the texts. The compulsion to do this is perhaps less evident when translating into Germanic languages than Romance ones where the gender of the subject has effects on the grammatical gender of the adjectives that refer to the subject and on the endings of the verbs as in the case of the compound tenses when the verb “to be” assumes the role of auxiliary verb and the gender of the past participle must agree with the gender of the subject. This does not occur in Dutch, English or German.11 In a translation into current Dutch, the best known verses in pseudo-Hadewijch’s Mengeldichten “Alle dinghe Sijn mi te inghe Ic ben so wijt” simply appear as: “Alles is me te eng; ik ben zo wijd”,12 a sentence

6 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXVII. Reynaert, De beeldspraak van Hadewijch, p. 434. S. Murk Jansen has valued the numbers 17-24 as work of Hadewijch. Murk Jansen, The Measure of Mystic Thought, p. 163. Her position has not generally been accepted. See among others Ruh, Geschichte der abendländischen Mystik. II, p. 182. 7 J. Van Mierlo was the fi rst to speak of a “school of Hadewijch” in an article written in 1923 in which he intended to contest the thesis of A.C. Bouman about the infl uence of Meister Eckhart on the poems and to list their affi nities with the œuvre of Hadewijch. Van Mierlo, “Hadewijch en Eckhart”, p. 1144. See also Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXVIII especially. The “school of Hadewijch” is once again the place to localise the poems in N. De Paepe and then in J. Reynaert. De Paepe, Inleiding, p. 18-20. Reynaert, De beeldspraak van Hadewijch, p. 437. 8 Here we have to remember A.C. Bouman’s contested article. Bouman, “Die litterarische Stellung”, p. 270-279. The thesis of an infl uence of Meister Eckhart on the poems of the so-called pseudo-Hadewijch is expressed in Ruh, Geschichte der abendländischen Mystik. II, p. 188-191 and in Murk-Jansen, Hadewijch and Eckhart, p. 17-30. Murk-Jansen intended to take Bouman’s observations up again. 9 P. Verdeyen ascribed the Mengeldichten 17-24 to the “school of Marguerite Porete”. Verdeyen, Over de auteur, p. 146-155. St. Axters had already pointed out some correspondences between our poems and the work of Porete. Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid, II, p. 209-210. 10 Pseudo-Hadewijch, Poesie miste. 11 With regard to this aspect of the problem of translation see among others R. Jakobson, On linguistic Aspects of Translation, p. 116 especially. 12 Komrij, De Nederlandse poëzie, p. 87. It is a fact that most of the translations of the Mengel- dichten have only considered the poems that are judged to be by the hand of Hadewijch and so have not gone on beyond Mengeldicht 16 (See Hadewijch, Mengeldichten of Rijmbrieven, vertaling door Ortmannss-Cornet). Lucienne Stassaert has made a free rewording to current Dutch of some poems of Hadewijch and pseudo-Hadewijch (Hadewijch, Minne is wonderzoet in al haar

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7744 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 75

that can apply as well to a feminine as to a masculine speaker. In Italian for instance the translator would have to choose between vasto or vasta for the rendering of Middle Dutch wijt.

But is it necessary to assign a gender to the lyrical “I” of the poems? Would it not be better perhaps to opt for a neutral rather than a gendered term? Is the “I” expressed in the medieval texts as opposed to a gendered term an invitation to the reader to make his own choice of gender?13 If this line of thought is followed, in a translation into the Italian language the gender of the lyrical “I” must take the masculine form, which also performs the use of the neuter gender. However sensible at fi rst sight, this option is not satisfactory on second thoughts. One of the consequences would be that the “I” that emerges in the texts of the great Hadewijch should in the Italian translations have to assume the masculine form. Romana Guarnieri, in her translations of Hadewijch’s works, did not comply with this conception and chose to render explicit a feminine “I”.14 Furthermore, we have to face the fact that present-day cultural and scientifi c currents make it necessary to make a choice of gender. Amy Hollywood has already pointed out that “to elide these differences entirely through the use of masculine or neuter pronouns is clearly inadequate”,15 when talking about the problem of the gendered language for God and the soul. In this respect the neutrality of gender as a guarantee of the objectivity and the truth of thought has been claimed a false neutrality. When speaking on this subject, a “tempta- tion of the neuter” has been thematized.16 Scientifi c work has been accused of not honouring sexual difference. In my case, it would have been a quick solu- tion to use a neuter (masculine) gender for a “pseudo” author. On the contrary I believe it to be necessary to make the sexual distinction which so far has been evaded and let it speak for itself. This is surely the case when certain elements in the text orient it towards one or other of the two genders.

stormen, p. 14-19 relate to the poems of pseudo-Hadewijch). The translation into English of the works of Hadewijch made by Columba Hart also stops at Mengeldicht 16 (Hadewijch, The Com- plete Works, p. 307-358). I have not found any English translation of the corpus of poems of pseudo-Hadewijch except for some small parts. P. Dietrich translated Mengeldich 26 (Dietrich, The Wilderness of God, p. 34-35) and J. Hirshfi eld translated some stanzas of pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems (Jane Hirshfi eld, Women in Praise of the Sacred). In the case of German we fi nd a translation of the group of Mengeldichten 25-29 in the work of Plassmann, Die Werke der Hadewych, p. 66-70. W. Breuer gave an accurate paraphrase of poems 25-29 (W. Breuer, “Der minnen naerre dringhen”, p. 166-184). 13 On the theme of female authors in Middle Dutch literature and the possibility of connecting anonymous texts with feminine authors see Van der Poel, “Vrouwelijke auteurs”. On the relationship between gender and genre in medieval texts see Heene, “Vrouwelijke auteurs”. 14 Hadewijch, Poesie Visioni Lettere. 15 Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife, p. 214, note 30. 16 Tommasi, La tentazione del neutro, p. 81-103.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7755 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 76 ALESSIA VALLARSA

In this respect how has the anonymous author of Mengeldichten 17-29 been considered so far? When J. Van Mierlo, in his edition of these poems in 1952, while referring to them, spoke about the “quietistic or beghardic” character of some verses, it could seem that he was referring generically to beguines as well as to beghards.17 But this scholar referred to women, and more specifi cally to beguines, when he wrote about the process of democratization of the beguine movement18 and the devotion to the Sacred Hart to which some verses refer, a devotion that knew a lively fl owering in the “the circles of the beguine movement”.19 In 1953 St. Axters introduced the name of “pseudo-Hadewijch”, a name with a conventional function; indeed he never referred to a specifi c gender.20 In 1954 J.-B. Porion translated the whole corpus of Mengeldichten 17-29. According to him the one single author who was involved in these poems was as a woman who was baptized “Hadewijch II” by him.21 I will come back to Porion’s thesis later in this article. J. Reynaert, in his work De beeldspraak van Hadewijch, when considering pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems, never referred to a specifi c gender. With regard to their metaphorical language he referred to the “school of Hadewijch”.22 In an article claiming that the numbers 17 to 24 of these poems belong to the same minneschool as Le mirouer des simples ames of Margherita Porete, P. Verdeyen referred to an anonymous poet or poetess, pointing to the milieu of the beguines as a place to localize these poems.23 R. Lievens termed these Mengeldichten a late expression of beguine mysticism. 24 G. Epiney-Burgard estimated that the author was a beguine.25 Although there is no evidence that indicates whether the poet was male or female, S. M. Murk Jansen maintained that the author was probably a woman.26 According to K. Ruh the numbers 25 to 29 of the Mengeldichten were probably the work of nuns.27 Still on the subject of the same group of poems (25-29) W. Breuer thought that the authors were to be found in Ruusbroec’s milieu and that they were beguines.28 From all this it emerges, with regard to the question of the gender, that Mengeldichten 17-29 have so far mostly been considered to be the literal production of a woman, more specifi cally of a beguine.

How have the Mengeldichten of pseudo-Hadewijch been translated so far? As in the translations in the Germanic languages the problem of the choice of a

17 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. 111. See also p. 135. 18 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXVIII. 19 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXXII. 20 Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid,. II, p. 195-205. 21 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 9. 22 Reynaert, De beeldspraak van Hadewijch, p. 437. 23 Verdeyen, Over de auteur, p. 154. 24 Lievens, De spekulatieve Vv-gedichten, p. 75. 25 Epiney-Burgard – Zum Brunn, Femmes troubadours de Dieu, p. 163. 26 Murk Jansen, The Measure of mystic thought, p. 3. 27 Ruh, Geschichte der abendländischen Mystik. II, p. 190-191. 28 Breuer, “Der minnen naerre dringhen”, p. 188.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7766 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 77

gender for the subject is much less important, only the translations made in the Romance languages can be relevant in this respect. I have mentioned, above, the translation made in 1954 by J.-B. Porion. With regard to the gender of the anonymous author of the poems of pseudo-Hadewijch he made some considerations. As I said, according to him only one author wrote this collection of poems. Indeed he considered that the fi rst poem, Mengeldicht 17, marks a beginning and that the last expresses an envoi.29 I shall return to this thesis later on. In any case, this one author was, according to Porion, a beguine. Porion esteemed that Jan van Ruusbroec’s use of the fi rst stanza of Mengeldicht 25 was crucial. Indeed in the treatise Van den XII beginen the Brabantine mystic made the eleventh beguine speak with the words of that stanza.30 Moreover according to Porion the anonymous author of the poems was without any doubt a woman because of the tone of the speculation present in these poems and the emphasis which it develops. Such speculation is to him characterized by “a happy balance between the emotional level and the theoretical level; here a kind of practical common sense – feminine, without any doubt – accompanies the most bold speculation”.31 More specifi cally Porion recorded a “shift of emphasis” when comparing some verses of these poems with the lines from one of Meister Eckhart’s treatises. With the same vocabulary, the anonymous author of Mengeldichten 17 to 29 places the emphasis on love and allows the emotional level to stand out much more than the Dominican theologian does.32 This specifi c line of thought will not convince every medievalist who is somewhat acquainted with the mystic literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: in the complex- ity of the theme of mystic language, that directly or indirectly tends to feminize both author and audience,33 it is not easy to recognize and register accurately the “balance between the emotional and the theoretical level”. Anyhow, starting from these elements Porion made a translation assigning a feminine gender to the “I” that fi nds expression in these poems. This choice renders itself explicit in grammatical effects, as we can see in these lines: Je ne suis ni chagrinée ni troublée qu’il me faille écrire34

Plongée dans la nescience, de tout sentiment, je dois garder le silence et rester où je suis35

Comme je poursuivais l’amour, je suis demeurée en lui, absorbée dans un simple regard. 36

29 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 212. 30 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 199. 31 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 203, note 2. 32 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 202-203, notes 1 and 2. 33 On this subject see Astell, The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages, p. 136-159 especially. 34 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 157 (from Mengeldicht 17). 35 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 179 (from Mengeldicht 19). 36 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 198 (from Mengeldicht 25).

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7777 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 78 ALESSIA VALLARSA

This also was the choice of G. Epiney-Burgard.37 We ﬁ nd the whole collection of the Mengeldichten in a Spanish translation.38 According to the translator, María Tabuyo, one or more beguines were involved in the composition of these poems. She therefore assigned to the “I” a feminine gender with all its grammatical consequences: Todo me es angosto ¡me siento tan inmensa! Quise captar eternamente una Realidad increada.39 As we can see, all the translators in the Romance languages that I quoted above decided, on the basis of various hypotheses and arguments, to assign a feminine gender to the “I” of these poems. With regard to my translation, it is in this tradition that I have placed myself. Indeed I have rejected the idea of a translation using the “I” as general identiﬁ cation, that is to say using a neutral (masculine) term. Although we have no idea of the identity of the author of these poems a range of considerations have led me to prefer a translation that assigns a feminine gender to both the author(s) of these poems and her/their audience(s).

The ﬁ rst element that I considered signiﬁ cant, in the examination of the manuscript tradition, was the association of the poems to Hadewijch’s œuvre. Two of the three manuscripts in which the works of the great writer survive, namely MSS B and C, transmit both these poems and the anonymous treatise entitled Tweevormich tractaetken. If these extra documents follow, in MS B, the œuvre of Hadewijch, in MS C they end up inserted in her works.40 The transmission of pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems near and in Hadewijch’s work is not in itself a conclusive argument although we know that a manuscript tradition has a value. Ruusbroec seems not to have made a difference with regard to these collections of works. Indeed he quoted from both Hadewijch and pseudo-Hadewijch. The association of the poems to Hadewijch’s work can probably tell us something of the milieu in which these poems and their tradition originated. If Hadewijch was, as we have already said, really a beguine, then the insertion of poems 17-29 with Hadewijch’s works indicates that maybe we have to look for pseudo- Hadewijch in a similar milieu or in a common tradition to Hadewijch. H. Veke- man termed codices B and C “women’s codices”: he also valued the anonymous author of the treatise Tweevormich tractaetken to be a woman, perhaps a beguine blessed with literary talent.41

37 Epiney-Burgard – Zum Brunn, Femmes troubadours de Dieu, p. 166-167. 38 Hadewijch de Amberes, El lenguaje del deseo. 39 Hadewijch de Amberes, El lenguaje del deseo, p. 132. 40 The order in MS C is in fact different from the one in MSS A and B. The corpus in MS C begins with the Visions, to which the Letters and the Poems in Stanzas have been added. We then ﬁ nd the anonymous Tweevormich tractaetken, the Mixed poems ascribed to Hadewijch and then the group of poems of the so-called pseudo-Hadewijch. 41 Vekeman, Eerherstel voor een mystieke amazone, p. 64.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7788 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2113:46:21 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 79

As it has already emerged, pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems can be divided into two groups: poems 17 to 24 and poems 25 to 29. The ﬁ rst group contains a total of 169 stanzas built in short verses with two accents, arranged according to the rhyme scheme aabccb. This rhyme structure has mostly characterized Middle Dutch proverbs and emerges as typical of a didactic and sapiential literature.42 The second unit of poems contains stanzas of different lengths with long verses organized in a single rhyme. On the basis of these elements it can be claimed that the poems could have been the work of two authors. It has been observed that Mengeldicht 17 marks, with the declaration by the author of the beginning of a new task, a start, and that Mengeldicht 29, the last poem, seems to be a conclusion and a poem of thanks.43 But in addition to this observation it can be said that the last verses of Mengeldicht 24 also seems to mark an end, and so to conclude the ﬁ rst unit (poems 17 to 24).44

The author opens the fi rst group of poems by saying that (s)he is neither tor- mented nor troubled by having to write, since He, who lives near us, gives his gifts.45 As D. van der Poel has remarked women have had a problematic relationship with writing, above all with regard to the authority of their message. This diffi cult and not automatic relationship with writing can be traced in various declarations present in texts written by women, in which they communi- cate their feeling of inadequacy in writing.46 It seems to me that the opening verses of Mengeldicht 17 could be considered as one of these typical female phrases. In this fi rst unit of poems (17-24) we fi nd interesting expressions such as sonder waeromme, sonder middel, and the very curious jn verre bi.47 Concern- ing them St. Axters has noticed a link with Le mirouer des simples ames by Marguerite Porete.48 The expression sonder waeromme appears several times in the work of Porete in the formula nul pourquoy, sans nul pourquoy. We fi nd this expression for the fi rst time in the treatise Seven manieren van minne by Beatrice of Nazareth († 1268), a Cistercian nun whose life has always been linked with the beguine movement.49 It also appears in the works of Ruusbroec († 1381) and of Meister Eckhart († 1327) who have welcomed and elaborated in their writings the texts of the typical spirituality of the beguines.50 The

42 See Van Anrooij – Mertens, “Een cort jolijt”. 43 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 212 and Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid, II, p. 195. 44 Ghelovet moet sijn / Die godheyt ﬁ jn / Emmermeer. Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. 132. 45 Mengeldicht 17,1-6. 46 Van der Poel, “Vrouwelijke auteurs”, p. 215; see also p. 208. 47 They appear respectively in Mengeldicht 18,161; 19,13 (in 24,8-12 we ﬁ nd a similar concept of overcoming of mediation); 17,36. 48 Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid, II, p. 210. 49 Beatrijs van Nazareth, Seven manieren van minne, inleiding en hertaling door R. Faesen, p. 52. 50 Porion has pointed out that this expression has been preserved within a beguine or beghardic oriented spirituality. Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 174-175, note 6.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 7799 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 80 ALESSIA VALLARSA

expression sonder middel occurs several times in Porete’s Mirouer des simples ames in the formula sans moyen. It has been seen as indicative of a speculative orientation of mystical literature.51 It also belongs to the technical vocabulary of Ruusbroec and Eckhart. The expression of pseudo-Hadewijch verre bi has already caught the attention of more than one author.52 Present in MS B as in verre, in bi it has been seen as the equivalent in Middle Dutch of the Middle- French loingprés that appears in Porete’s work. With this term built on an oxymoron, Porete seems to want to express her experience of God, at the same time distant and close by.53 Although the expressions sonder waeromme and sonder middel are to be found in the works of Meister Eckhart and Ruusbroec, their origin seems to lie in the tradition of beguine spirituality.54 Still with regard to the group 17 to 24 of these poems we have already noticed that J. Van Mierlo judged the few verses referring to the wounds of Christ as a reminder of the devotion of the Holy Hart that beguine circles adopted enthusiastically.55 On the other hand some images in this fi rst unit of poems might seem more masculine than feminine. The image of the fool in Mengeldicht 18, 235-240 is a case in point. One should appear to be a fool, on earth, in order to become really wise: Maer ghi moet scinen I sot / Ende heten I spot / In eertrike, / Eer ghi hebt prijs / Ocht wert wijs / Ghewaerlike. A care- ful study of the sources however recognizes a reference to a page of Saint Paul. Together with the foregoing stanza the message is built on the opposition between wisdom and foolishness. The courtly rule and general norm of life and prudence that required one always to act wisely in order to be praised at court, is reversed with the Paulinian doctrine of the stultitia crucis.56 As a matter of fact, the image and the role of the fool are not linked to a specifi c gender, but appear to be a quotation from Saint Paul. The reference in these poems to the taverne held by minne could also be seen as a masculine theme.57 This is however an image that in mystic literature has existed a long time.58 It is not linked to a gender specifi cation, as we can see in Van den XII beghinen, Ruusbroec’s last treatise in which two beguines, the

51 Despite this we want to avoid thinking of two distinct mysticisms, affective mysticism and speculative mysticism; this stereotypical division often occurs in scholarship and is frequently associated with the mystic’s gender (affective – female, speculative – male), as Amy Hollywood also remarks. Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife, p. 16. 52 Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid, II, p. 210. Colledge – Marler, Poverty of the Will, p. 39-40. 53 In the work of the French beguine the expression appears for the ﬁ rst time in chapter 58. In the Prologue, the story of a damsel’s love for the far away king Alexander seems to be a key to understanding the meaning of this particular term. 54 Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques, p. 174-175. Ruh, Verbum et Signum, II, p. 387. Verdeyen, Over de auteur, p. 154. 55 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. XXXII. 56 1 Corinthians 1,18-25. 57 Mengeldicht 24,61-96. 58 It is recognised as an Arabic-Persian theme. Guarnieri, Il movimento del libero spirito, p. 370. See references in DS, VII, col. 2312-2337 (“Ivresse spirituelle”) and DS, XVI, col. 753-757 (“Vigne, vin”).

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8800 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 81

eighth and tenth of the introductory poem, speak about the taverne and the noble wine of Jesus minne.59

In the second group of poems a phrase also seems to outline an image more masculine than feminine. In Mengeldicht 27 we read this sentence: Wilde derre philosophien Sijn meester (‘If you want to be master of this philosophy’).60 The word meester, the most gendered term in Mengeldichten 17-29, in a speciﬁ c sense is to be understood as master of philosophy, magister, praeceptor, which is without doubt a masculine role. But in an extended sense the Middle Dutch expression meester sijn refers to the condition of being experienced in a skill61 and is thus not necessarily linked to a speciﬁ c gender. In any case the required conditions we read in the succeeding verses are different from those of a rational master of philosophy. Indeed we witness a dialectical reversal from the masculine position of meester as master of philosophy towards the position of spiritual nakedness, with the command of not paying attention to anything and to renounce and deny everything (noch niets achten, maer alles vertien).

Still concerning the second group of poems (25-29), it is to be noted that the introductory poem of the treatise Van den XII beghinen, referred to above, in which Ruusbroec gives the word to twelve beguines, contains explicit references to Hadewijch’s works but also to pseudo-Hadewijch. The eleventh beguine speaks the following verses:

Begheric yet, dats my ontcont, Want in onwetene sonder gront Hebbic my selven verloren. Ic ben verswolghen in sinen mont, In een abys al sonder gront, Ic en machs niet weder comen.62 This is the ﬁ rst stanza of pseudo-Hadewijch’s Mengeldicht 25.63 This quotation not only proves that Ruusbroec64 knew these poems, but the fact that he put

59 I do not recognize, in the case of the verses of the tenth beguine, a quotation from pseudo- Hadewijch’s corpus, although the sentence Hy schinct my den edelen wijn altoes uut vollen tappen can echo the scinket van vollen of Mengeldicht 24,75. In the case of the next beguine, the twelfth, the borrowing from pseudo-Hadewijch is clear. 60 Mengeldicht 27,34-35. 61 Verwijs – Verdam, Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, IV, p. 1315. 62 “If I desire something, I know not what it is; for in bottomless unknowing I have lost my self. I have been swallowed up in His mouth in a fathomless abyss, I cannot return from it.” Transla- tion from Jan van Ruusbroec, Vanden XII beghinen, p. 12. 63 We also recognise paraphrases and reminiscences from the second and fourth stanzas of Mengeldicht 25. 64 This work has long been considered to have been written by Ruusbroec’s fellow-Augustinians, shortly before or after his death. The recent edition of the work in the CCCM contests this thesis: the work would have been written by Ruusbroec himself, but possibly gathered in one composed text by his fellow-brothers. Jan van Ruusbroec, Vanden XII beghinen, p. 16-17.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8811 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 82 ALESSIA VALLARSA

these verses in the mouth of a beguine invites us, more fully, to take beguine circles into consideration as the milieu to which this second group of pseudo- Hadewijch’s Mengeldichten may also belong.

As said Germanic languages do not make any visible distinction between a male or female “I”. The distinction is made however in the third persons, namely in the difference between the personal pronouns hi and si. Do these pronouns reveal anything about the gender of those for whom the poems were intended? The masculine personal pronoun hi, except for the numerous cases in which it refers to God, appears in such constructions as “die…hi” as well as “hi…die” and “wie…hi” (he who… – the one who…). Some examples: Maer en rout hem niet / Sijn langhe verdriet / Die daer toe comt / Dat hi mach ghewinnen / Een smaken uwer minnen / In enegher stont65

Want wie haers dervet / Hi blivet ontervet66

Maer die vorwert gheet / Hi ontfeet / Dat edele hebben67

Hi blivet ghepijnt / Die dit gherijnt / Om onderwinden68

Ay, mi deus, wat es hem ghesciet, / Die dat en horet noch en siet / Dattenne jaghet ende daer hi vore vliet69 All these sentences deal with examples of general truths.70 Their didactic register is fully in accordance with the rhyme schema aabccb that characterizes the ﬁ rst group of pseudo-Hadewijch’s poems (Mengeldichten 17-24) and has been recognized, as we have already said, as characteristic of Middle Dutch didactic, proverbial and sapiential texts. The third person feminine pronoun si appears many times always referring to an antecedent like minne, herte, gedachte, mare and eenvoudicheit. In Mengeldicht 23 we can read the following verses: Te diere collacien En mach nieman sijn

Dan ghi Ende si Allene vri In enecheit. Si verliest te diere ure Beelde ende ﬁ guere Ende ondersceit71

65 Mengeldicht 18,139-144. 66 Mengeldicht 18,250-251. 67 Mengeldicht 18,331-333. 68 Mengeldicht 23,61-63. 69 Mengeldicht 25,25-27. 70 The structure “die/wie…hi” is also to be found in Hadewijch’s Poems in Stanzas. It very often occurs at the beginning, as a general statement following the usual temporal reference. 71 Mengeldicht 23,19-24.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8822 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 83

(“… In this spiritual colloquy nobody is allowed except you [= referring to God, the Beloved] and them/her, alone and free, in unity. Then she loses image, form and distinction”). If the ﬁ rst si (ghi ende si) can also refer, as plural personal pronoun, to the “contemplatives” and “speculatives” (die contempleren ende speculeren) mentioned in the second stanza of this poem, with the second si (si verliest te diere ure…), pseudo-Hadewijch refers to a feminine singular “other”. We do not know to whom this pronoun refers. J. Van Mierlo suggested that both pronouns should be read instead of “soul”.72 In any case this remains an interpretation: a feminine presence may possibly glimmer through in these verses.

The author of Mengeldichten 17-29 remains anonymous. In the work of translating these poems diverging from the usage of employing the masculine gender as neuter gender when people doubt the identity of the author, a range of considerations has oriented me to prefer the choice of the feminine gender for the lyrical “I” that emerges in these poems. I have thus estimated them to be the work of a woman, maybe a beguine or possibly more than one, and I believe that she would have written for other beguines. Thus, in Italian, pseudo-Hadewijch’s most known verses sound now as follows:

Tutte le cose Mi sono troppo strette: Sono così vasta!73

SUMMARY

This article deals with the group of the Mengeldichten 17-29 of the so-called pseudo- Hadewijch and with the process of translating these poems into Italian. With regard to the anonymous author of these poems the translator has been compelled to make a choice of gender, a compulsion that is maybe more evident and more crucial in Romance languages because of the grammatical effects that the gender of the “I” produces. The article examines how, during the studies, the author(s) of Mengeldichten 17-29 has been seen and how the poems have been translated. A range of considerations have led the translator to prefer the feminine gender for both the author(s) of these poems and her/ their audience(s).

Adres van de auteur: Università degli Studi di Padova – Universiteit Gent, Diparti- mento di Storia, Via del Vescovado, 30 – 35141 Padova

72 Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, p. 124. 73 Pseudo-Hadewijch, Poesie miste, p. 55.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8833 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 84 ALESSIA VALLARSA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Astell, A. W., The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1990. Axters, St., Geschiedenis van de vroomheid in de Nederlanden. II. De eeuw van Ruus- broec, Antwerpen, De Sikkel, 1953. Beatrijs van Nazareth, Seven manieren van minne, Middelnederlandse tekst met een inleiding en hertaling door R. Faesen, Kapellen, Pelckmans, 1999. Bouman, A.C., “Die litterarische Stellung der Dichterin Hadewijch”, Neophilologus, 8 (1923), p. 270-279. Breuer, W., “Der minnen naerre dringhen. “Hadewijchs” Mengeldichten 25-29 als Zyklus”, Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 113 (1994), p. 159-189. Colledge, E., – Marler, J. C., Poverty of the Will: Ruusbroec, Eckhart and the “Mirror of Simple Souls”, in P. Mommaers – N. De Paepe (ed.), Jan van Ruusbroec. The Sources, Content and Sequels of his Mysticism, Leuven, Leuven Univerity Press, 1984, p. 14-47. De Paepe, N., Inleiding, in Hadewijch, Strofi sche Gedichten, Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff, 1983, p. 7- 52. Deschamps, J., Middelnederlandse handschriften uit Europese en Amerikaanse bibliotheken, Leiden, Brill, 1972. Dietrich, P.A., The Wilderness of God in Hadewijch II and Meister Eckhart and His Circle, in B. McGinn (ed.), Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics. Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, New York, Continuum, 1997, p. 34-35. DS: Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, Ascétique et Mystique, Paris: Bauchesne, 1933-1995. Epiney-Burgard, G., L’infl uence des béguines sur Ruusbroec, in P. Mommaers – N. De Paepe (ed.), Jan van Ruusbroec. The Sources, Content and Sequels of his Mysti- cism, Leuven, Leuven Univerity Press, 1984, p. 68-85. Epiney-Burgard, G. – Zum Brunn, E., Femmes troubadours de Dieu, Turnhout, Brepols, 1988. Guarnieri, R., “Il movimento del libero spirito dalle origini al secolo XVI”, Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà, IV (1965), p. 353-499. Hadewijch, Mengeldichten, opnieuw uitgegeven door Dr. J. Van Mierlo, Leuvense Studiën en Tekstuitgaven, Antwerpen-Brussel-Gent-Leuven, N.V. Standaard- Boekhandel, 1952. Hadewijch, The Complete Works, translation and introduction by mother Columba Hart, London, SPCK, 1981. Hadewijch, Mengeldichten of Rijmbrieven, vertaling door Ortmanns-Cornet, Brugge, Tabor, 1988. Hadewijch, Poesie Visioni Lettere, scelte e tradotte da Romana Guarnieri, Genova, Marietti, 2000. Hadewijch, Minne is wonderzoet in al haar stormen, een keuze uit de Mengeldichten en Strofi sche Gedichten van Hadewijch, hertaling L. Stassaert, Leuven, Uit- geverij P, 2002. Hadewijch d’Anvers, Écrits mystiques des Béguines, traduits du moyen-néerlandais par Fr. J.-B. M. P., Paris, Seuil, 1994; fi rst ed.: Poèmes des Béguines, Paris, Seuil, 1954. Hadewijch de Amberes, El lenguaje del deseo. Poemas de Hadewijch de Amberes, Edición y traducción de María Tabuyo, Madrid, Trotta, 1999. Heene, K., “Vrouwelijke auteurs in de middeleeuwen. De complexe relatie tussen gender, genre en (literatuur)geschiedenis”, Queeste, 13 (2006), p. 109-129.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8844 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22 PSEUDO-HADEWIJCH’S MENGELDICHTEN 85

Hirshﬁ eld, J., Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, New York, HarperCollins, 1994. Hollywood, A., The Soul as Virgin Wife, Notre Dame and London, University of Notre Dame Press, 1995. Jakobson, R., On linguistic Aspects of Translation, in L. Venuti (ed.), The Translation Studies Reader, London & NewYork, Routledge, 2000, p. 113-118. Jan van Ruusbroec, Vanden XII beghinen, (CCCM 107 A), Turnhout, Brepols, 2000. Komrij, G., De Nederlandse poëzie van de twaalfde tot en met de zestiende eeuw in duizend en enige bladzijden, Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 1994. Kwakkel, E., “Ouderdom en genese van de veertiende-eeuwse Hadewijch-handschriften”, Queeste, 6 (1999), p. 23-40. Kwakkel, E., Die Dietsche boeke die ons toebehoeren. De kartuizers van Herne en de productie van Middelnederlandse handschriften in de regio Brussel (1350-1400), Leuven, Peeters, 2002. Lievens, R., De spekulatieve Vv-gedichten, in Cockx-Indestege, E. – Hendrickx, F. (ed.), Miscellanea Neerlandica. Opstellen voor Dr. Jan Deschamps ter gele- genheid van zijn zeventigste verjaardag, II, Leuven, Peeters, 1987, p. 71-97. Murk Jansen, S. M., The Measure of Mystic Thought. A Study of Hadewijch’s Mengel- dichten, Göppingen, Kümmerle Verlag, 1991. Murk-Jansen, S., Hadewijch and Eckhart. Amor intellegere est, in B. McGinn (ed.), Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics. Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, New York, Continuum, 1997, p. 17-30. Plassmann, J. O., Die Werke der Hadewych, Hagen, Folkwang, 1923. Pseudo-Hadewijch, Poesie miste, testo brabantino a fronte, tradotte da A. Vallarsa con la collaborazione di J. Reynaert, Genova-Milano, Marietti, 2007. Reynaert, J., De beeldspraak van Hadewijch, Tielt-Bussum, Lannoo, 1981. Reynaert, J., “Ruusbroec en Hadewijch”, Ons geestelijk erf, 55 (1981), p. 193-232. Ruh, K., “Le Miroir des simples âmes” der Marguerite Porete, in H. Fromm – W. Harms – U. Ruberg (ed.), Verbum et Signum. II, München, Fink Verlag, 1975, p. 365-387. Ruh, K., Geschichte der abendländischen Mystik. II. Frauenmystik und Franziskanische Mystik der Frühzeit, München, Beck, 1993. Tommasi, W., La tentazione del neutro, in Diotima, Il pensiero della differenza sessu- ale, Milano, La Tartaruga, 20033, p. 81-103. Van Anrooij, W. – Mertens, Th. “Een cort jolijt”. Middelnederlandse spreukstrofen met het rijmschema aabccb, in F. Willaert e.a., Een zoet akkoord. Middeleeuwse lyriek in de Lage Landen, Amsterdam, Prometheus, 1992, p. 219-233. Van der Poel, D., “Vrouwelijke auteurs in de Middelnederlandse letterkunde. Een ver- kenning”, Nederlandse Letterkunde, 2 (1997), p. 208-227. Van Mierlo, J., “Hadewijch en Eckhart”, Dietsche Warande en Belfort, 23 (1923), p. 1138-1155. Vekeman, H.W.J., Eerherstel voor een mystieke amazone, Averbode, Kok-Kampen, 1996. Verdeyen, P., Over de auteur van de Mengeldichten 17 tot 24, in J.D. Janssens (ed.), Hoofsheid en devotie in de middeleeuwse maatschappij: de Nederlanden van de 12e tot de 15e eeuw, Handelingen van het wetenschappelijk colloquium te Brussel 21-24 oktober 1981, Brussel, Janssens, 1982, p. 146-155. Verwijs, E. – Verdam, J., Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, IV, ‘s-Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1899.

22395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa395-09_OGE_09-2_01_Vallarsa 8855 110-12-20090-12-2009 13:46:2213:46:22