DOCSLIB.ORG

The Significance of Ruusbroec's Mystical Theology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Significance of Ruusbroec's Mystical Theology 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_02 21-02-2007 09:09 Pagina 19 Louvain Studies 31 (2006) 19-41 doi: 10.2143/LS.31.1.2019377 © 2006 by Louvain Studies, all rights reserved The Significance of Ruusbroec’s Mystical Theology Bernard McGinn Abstract. — This essay seeks to evaluate the impact of the thought of Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381) in the history of Western Christian mysticism. Like all mystics, Ruusbroec was shaped by both the long mystical tradition, as well as by the historical context in which he found himself. A survey of three important aspects of this context is followed by an analysis of four essential themes of Ruusbroec’s mystical theology: the proper understanding of mystical union; the role of the Trinity; essential love; and the “common life.” The essay concludes with a brief sketch of major moments in the reception of Ruusbroec’s writings down through the seven- teenth century and some reflections on his lasting significance. The conception of mysticism as a form of private, even solipsistic, religious experience, largely of a paranormal nature and at least implic- itly in conflict with the institutional and doctrinal aspects of established religion is now mostly a thing of the past. Recent scholarship on mysti- cism in Christianity and in the world religions has shown how deeply bound the mystical element is to the other strands of religion. The mys- tical aspect of the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam emerges ever more strongly as a part of these traditions, that is, what has been handed on by generations of believers through teaching and prac- tice, both oral and written. In Christianity the special contact with the presence of God attained in mystical consciousness, while deeply per- sonal, is no less ecclesial, that is, it is mediated by the mystic’s location within the church, especially through the grace given in the liturgy and sacraments. It has its most potent effect by taking its place in the chain of tradition. Scripture and tradition are essential mediators of the mys- tical life as a process of attaining the deeper and transformative aware- ness of God that is the essence of Christian mysticism. Jan van Ruusbroec’s mystical teaching is a good illustration of the fundamentally ecclesial nature of mysticism, both in terms of its for- mation and its subsequent impact on the life of the church. While rich new mines of information about many of aspects of the Dutch canon’s 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_02 21-02-2007 09:09 Pagina 20 20 BERNARD MCGINN influence continue to be explored, ones that will doubtless enrich sub- sequent research, my purpose is somewhat different.1 I will not try to present any new research on Ruusbroec’s sources, nor will I attempt a detailed presentation of his impact on later mystical teaching. Rather, I will step back from the details, important as they are, to take a long- range view of the great Flemish mystic, not unlike the kind of “history of structure” practiced so brilliantly by Fernand Braudel. Braudel described this as the temporal plane of the “history of groups or group- ings … with slow but perceptible rhythms,” that is, the history of the “long-term realities.”2 To clarify my argument about the long-term sig- nificance of Ruusbroec, I will consider his impact under three headings: first, the context of late-medieval mysticism that helped shape his think- ing, directly and indirectly; second, the essential content of his mystical teaching; and third, some important consequences of his teaching. A brief consideration of these three areas may help us begin the address the question: What difference did Ruusbroec make in the history of the Western mystical tradition? I. Context Let us start from the fact that Ruusbroec’s teaching is found only in the vernacular. A commonplace, surely, but an instructive one, because it is only within the past few decades that investigators have begun to recognize that during the Middle Ages the intellectus fidei of theology came to expression in three large modes or families – the scholastic mode, the monastic mode, and the vernacular mode.3 For 1. The original version of this paper was prepared for the International Conference “Ruusbroec in Babel? Translation and Appropriation of Mystical Texts from the Middle Ages to the Present,” sponsored by the University of Antwerp and the Lessius Hogeschool, held in Antwerp on 22-23 September, 2006. I wish to thank the organizers of the Con- ference and the many participants, whose papers and comments have been helpful in my revisions of the original text. I especially thank Prof. Terrence Merrigan for his insightful response to the paper. Given the primarily historical nature of this essay, however, I have decided that this is not the venue to try to respond to his reflections on how aspects of Ruusbroec’s thought may be of use in contemporary theological discussion. 2. Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vols. (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) 1:16, 20-21. 3. For more on vernacular theology, see Bernard McGinn, “Introduction,” in Mei- ster: Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics, ed. Bernard McGinn (New York: Continuum, 1994) 1-17. Other recent considerations of vernacular theology include Nicholas Wat- son, “Visions of Inclusion: Universal Salvation and Vernacular Theology in Pre-Refor- mation England,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 27 (1997) 145-187; and 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_02 21-02-2007 09:09 Pagina 21 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RUUSBROEC’S MYSTICAL THEOLOGY 21 about a century (ca. 1840-1940) the investigation of medieval theology recognized only one form of “real” theology, the scholastic. In the mid- dle of the past century the pioneering work of Etienne Gilson, his stu- dent Jean Leclercq, and others revealed the distinctive character of monastic theology. The notion of a vernacular theology of the Middle Ages, hinted at by a few early investigators, such as Christopher Daw- son,4 has recently emerged as the third major mode of theology during the medieval period. Vernacular theology differs from the scholastic and the monastic modes, not only in its linguistic expression in the devel- oping vernacular literatures of late medieval Europe, but also in terms of the educational background of its practitioners and the genres employed. It is also the first form of theology in which women were able to find their own theological voice. Aside from a few pioneering figures in the twelfth century, vernacular theology came into its own in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Much of this vernacular theological writing concentrated on mysticism, but moral theology, cos- mology, and eschatology also appeared. In terms of achievement, one may well say that the fourteenth century saw the apogee of vernacular theology. In England, this was the “Golden Age” of English mysticism, as well as of that great vernacular theological poem, “Piers Plowman.” In Germany, the first three decades of the century witnessed Meister Eckhart’s preaching, and the last seven saw a flood of mystical teaching and preaching in the vernacular, both among Eckhart’s followers and in other traditions. Italy was graced with the towering figure of Catherine of Siena. In the Low Countries the fourteenth century was the age of Ruusbroec and his followers, both in the Groenendaal community and in the early stages of the devotio moderna. During the fourteenth century the major output of mystical litera- ture shifted away from Latin to the vernacular. Ruusbroec’s contemporary Richard Rolle, who probably received an equivalent education, was one of the last mystics to write equally in both Latin and the vernacular. By the late fourteenth century, the English clerics Walter Hilton and the author of the Cloud of Unknowing, both perfectly capable of composing in Latin (Hilton did at times), had switched to English. In Germany, the scholastically-trained John Tauler never wrote in Latin; Henry Suso, a gifted stylist in both Latin and Middle High German, composed only Barbara Newman, God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003) 294-304. 4. Christopher Dawson, Religion and the Rise of Western Culture (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1957) 219. This book was based upon the Gifford Lectures that Dawson gave in 1948-49. 9770-07_LouvainStud_06-1_02 21-02-2007 09:09 Pagina 22 22 BERNARD MCGINN one Latin treatise, a revised version of a vernacular work. Although this text, the Horologium Sapientiae, was a bestseller among late medieval mys- tical works (second in number of manuscripts and translations only to the De imitatione Christi), Suso’s preference for the vernacular was significant. The triumph of vernacular theology was doubtless tied to the emergence of a wide audience, both in the upper and middle classes, avid for spiri- tual reading, but there were other factors at work too. The three modes of mediaeval theology had complex interrelation- ships, mutual conversations, that put the lie to any simple oppositional model. Bernard of Clairvaux opposed Peter Abelard, but he was also a correspondent and admirer of other early scholastic masters, such as Peter Lombard. Many of the thirteenth-century female vernacular theologians, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg, were aided by learned Dominicans in setting down and disseminating their message. The conversation between men and women that characterized vernacular theology is also evident in the case of Ruusbroec, who composed four texts for the Poor Clare of Brussels, Margriet van Meerbeke. There was also a conversation between the Latin of the international clerical class and the developing vernacu- lars. This conversation began in the late twelfth century when Bernard’s Sermones super Cantica were translated into French.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gendered Interpretations of the Spanish Laity's
    Spiritual Motherhood: Gendered Interpretations of the Spanish Laity’s Religious Authority (1580–1730) By © 2018 Adam Allen Newhard Submitted to the graduate degree program in The Department of History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. __________________. Chair: Luis Corteguera __________________. Marta Vicente __________________. Rob Schwaller __________________. Chris Forth __________________. Santa Arias Date Defended: 30 April 2018 Acceptance Page The dissertation committee for Adam Allen Newhard certifies this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Spiritual Motherhood: Gendered Interpretations of the Spanish Laity’s Religious Authority (1580–1730) _______________. Chair: Luis Corteguera Date Defended: 30 April 2018 “Spiritual Motherhood: Gendered Interpretations of the Spanish Laity’s Religious Authority (1580–1730)”: ii Abstract This research project delves into the question of the role of women in cities and towns across Spain and its empire in the early modern period. It focuses on women who gained prominence as visionaries and thus became targets of inquisitorial scrutiny, because Inquisition documents are the traditional source base for historians to reach these otherwise (typically) voiceless individuals and communities. The field has traditionally argued that the power, number, and presence of these visionary women slowly declined throughout the early modern period owing to the pressures of the Counter-Reformation. Catholic reformers at the Council of Trent (1545–1563) specifically identified female lay and religious visionaries—who had grown rampant after Catherine of Siena became a famous visionary and religious leader in the fourteenth century— as threats to the Catholic canon.
    [Show full text]
  • “This Translation—The First Into English—Of the Life of Jesus Christ By
    “This translation—the first into English—of The Life of Jesus Christ by Ludolph of Saxony will be welcomed both by scholars in various fields and by practicing Christians. It is at the same time an encyclopedia of biblical, patristic, and medieval learning and a compendium of late medieval spirituality, stressing the importance of meditation in the life of individual believers. It draws on an astonishing number of sources and sheds light on many aspects of the doctrinal and institutional history of the Church down to the fourteenth century.” — Giles Constable Professor Emeritus Princeton University “Milton T. Walsh has taken on a Herculean task of translating The Life of Christ by the fourteenth-century Carthusian, Ludolph of Saxony. He has more than risen to the challenge! Ludolph’s text was one of the most widely spread and influential treatments of the theme in the later Middle Ages and has, until now, been available only in an insufficient late nineteenth-century edition (Rigollot). The manuscript tradition of The Life of Christ (Vita Christi) is extremely complex, and Walsh, while basing his translation on the edition, has gone beyond in providing critical apparatus that will be of significant use to scholars, as well as making the text available for students and all interested in the theology, spirituality, and religious life of the later Middle Ages. His introduction expertly places Ludolph’s work in the textual tradition and is itself a contribution to scholarship. Simply put, this is an amazing achievement!” — Eric Leland Saak Professor of History Indiana University “Walsh has done pioneering work unearthing the huge range of patristic, scholastic, and contemporary sources that Ludolph drew upon, enabling us to re-evaluate the Vita as an encyclopedic compilation, skillfully collating a range of interpretations of the gospel scenes to meditational ends.
    [Show full text]
  • Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745
    Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745 By Timothy Cotton Wright A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jonathan Sheehan, chair Professor Ethan Shagan Professor Niklaus Largier Summer 2018 Abstract Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745 By Timothy Cotton Wright Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Jonathan Sheehan, Chair This dissertation explores a unique religious awakening among early modern Protestants whose primary feature was a revival of ascetic, monastic practices a century after the early Reformers condemned such practices. By the early seventeenth-century, a widespread dissatisfaction can be discerned among many awakened Protestants at the suppression of the monastic life and a new interest in reintroducing ascetic practices like celibacy, poverty, and solitary withdrawal to Protestant devotion. The introduction and chapter one explain how the absence of monasticism as an institutionally sanctioned means to express intensified holiness posed a problem to many Protestants. Large numbers of dissenters fled the mainstream Protestant religions—along with what they viewed as an increasingly materialistic, urbanized world—to seek new ways to experience God through lives of seclusion and ascetic self-deprival. In the following chapters, I show how this ascetic impulse drove the formation of new religious communities, transatlantic migration, and gave birth to new attitudes and practices toward sexuality and gender among Protestants. The study consists of four case studies, each examining a different non-conformist community that experimented with ascetic ritual and monasticism.
    [Show full text]
  • 702 and It Is Disheartening That the Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu
    702 Book Reviews and it is disheartening that the Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu cannot ensure for its readers (and its authors) a higher standard of comprehensibil- ity in an English-language publication. German is the original language of the work (in the form of a habilitation thesis) and a perfectly respectable interna- tional academic language. Sobiech should have left Jesuit Prison Ministry in it. All of this adds up to a study that is solidly researched and encyclopedically helpful, but also frustratingly hard to read. Scholars will most profitably turn to it as an overview of particular topics and a finder’s guide for source material related to their own research. The best future work on early modern carceral pastoral care, the life of Friedrich Spee, and his Cautio criminalis will undoubt- edly be built on foundations Sobiech lays here. Spee deserves a study on a par with Machielsen’s on Delrio; thanks to Sobiech, we are one step closer. David J. Collins, S.J. Georgetown University, Washington, DC, usa [email protected] doi:10.1163/22141332-00704008-16 Ralph Dekoninck, Agnès Guiderdoni, and Clément Duyck, eds. Maximilianus Sandæus, un jésuite entre mystique et symbolique. Études suivies de l’édition par Mariel Mazzocco des annotations d’Angelus Silesius à la Pro theologia mystica clavis. Mystica 13. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2019. Pp. 398. Pb, €55.00. The Jesuit Maximilianus Sandaeus (Max van der Sandt, 1578–1656), who was born in Amsterdam but worked primarily in German-speaking lands, teaching theology and exegesis, and who represented his province at the Eighth General Congregation that elected Vincenzo Carafa as general superior in 1646, wrote an impressive oeuvre.
    [Show full text]
  • E-Catalogue 12
    ♦ MUSINSKY RARE BOOKS ♦ E-Catalogue 12 I. Mystical Allegory IV. Art & Design V. World II. Sammelbände Chroniclers III. Pillars of the VI. The Reading Church Journal of a Russian Countess No. 4 telephone: 212 579-2099 email: [email protected] www.musinskyrarebooks.com I. MYSTICAL ALLEGORY A carpet of “medieval textuality” 1) BONAVENTURA, pseudo- [i.e., HENRICUS DE BALMA and JACOBUS MEDIOLANENSIS]. Libro intitulato Stimulo de amore. Composto per el seraphico doctore sancto Bonauentura. Venice: Antonio di Zanchi da Bergamo, 2 October 1501. 4to (209 x 152 mm). [86] leaves. Gothic types in two sizes, double column, white on black woodcut initials. Title with chipped corner and staining from erased inscriptions, a single wormhole decreasing through the first half of text block, a few other small filled wormholes at beginning, occasional faint marginal dampstaining. Later (18th-century?) carta rustica. Provenance: two early deleted Italian ownership inscriptions on title-page; William O’Brien (1832-1899), 20th-century booklabel; bequeathed to the Jesuits at Milltown Park. $2950 First complete edition in Italian, and the first to be printed in Italy, of an important Franciscan mystical text which circulated widely in manuscript and print for nearly three centuries. Known in approximately 500 Latin manuscripts, far more than Bonaventura’s Meditationes vitae Christi, this was an extremely popular devotional work, with translations appearing in Middle High German, Middle Low German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, and English. Although most manuscripts attributed it to Bonaventura, the original Stimulus Amoris was the work of the thirteenth-century Franciscan friar Giacomo da Milano. His text is a series of spiritual exercises for meditation, leading to a progressive emotional engagement with the Passion, the goal being a mystical identification with Christ (DBI).
    [Show full text]
  • Mysticism.Pdf
    MYSTICISM A STUDY IN THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS EVELYN UNDERHILL IN HONOREM OMNIUM ANIMARUM MYSTICARUM Lume è lassù, che visibile face lo Creatore a quella creatura che solo in lui vedere ha la sua pace. PAR. xxx. 100 “When love has carried us above all things . we receive in peace the Incomprehensible Light, enfolding us and penetrating us. What is this Light, if it be not a contemplation of the Infinite, and an intuition of Eternity? We behold that which we are, and we are that which we behold; because our being, without losing anything of its own personality, is united with the Divine Truth.” RUYSBROECK “Man is the meeting-point of various stages of Reality.” RUDOLPH EUCKEN 1 CONTENTS Preface to the Twelfth Edition ................................................................................................... 3 Preface to the First Edition........................................................................................................ 6 Part One: The Mystic Fact......................................................................................................... 9 I. The Point of Departure ...................................................................................................................................10 II. Mysticism and Vitalism.................................................................................................................................26 III. Mysticism and Psychology ..........................................................................................................................39
    [Show full text]
  • Mystical Stages and Personality Development
    MYSTICAL STAGES The Theory of Positive Disintegration by Kazimierz Dabrowski. Laurence Nixon Religion Department Dawson College E-Mail 1 E-Mail 2 MYSTICAL STAGES AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT Laurence Nixon Religion Department Brandon University In what follows I want to illustrate the similarities in patterns of development found in the personal documents of mystics and the growth of personality described by the clinical psychologist, Kazimierz Dabrowski. Dabrowski has also discussed the functions of various mystical practices, such as asceticism and meditation, and of mystical experiences, in the development of personality and I will provide some concrete examples of these. Dabrowski's concept of multilevel disintegration Dabrowski (Dabrowski & Piechowski, 1977) has articulated a five-stage model of personality development. In the first stage persons are integrated around their physiological needs; in the fifth and final stage persons are integrated around an ultimate and transcendent ideal. The three intermediate stages are three levels of personality disintegration. The first of these (level II) is called unilevel disintegration, a stage characterized by ambivalence and susceptibility to pressure from others. Unilevel disintegration is followed by a process of multilevel disintegration. The shift from unilevel to spontaneous multilevel disintegration (i.e., from level II to level III) is indicated by the presence of an intrinsic hierarchy of values. Conflict takes place between satisfying biological drives and pressure from others on the one hand, and altruistic and transcendental concerns on the other. Failure to live in a manner consistent with the hierarchy of values results in self-criticism. The values hierarchy also provides a means of critically evaluating, and resisting, the expectations of others.
    [Show full text]
  • In Ecclesia Nostra: the Collatiehuis in Gouda and Its Lieux De Savoir." Le Foucaldien 7, No
    In Ecclesia Nostra: The Collatiehuis in Gouda and Its Lieux de Savoir RESEARCH PIETER H. BOONSTRA ABSTRACT CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Pieter H. Boonstra This article will show how the concept of lieux de savoir as theorized by Christian Jacob University of Groningen, NL provides an intriguing framework from which to examine the interactions between [email protected] laypeople and religious professionals and the transmission of knowledge in the late medieval city, by applying it to the Collatiehuis in Gouda. Here, religious knowledge was shaped and communicated in the interaction between the Brothers of the Common KEYWORDS: Life and visiting laypeople. The separate rooms in which these interactions took spatiality; communication of place, as well as the location of the house within the city, influenced the circulation knowledge; collatio; lieux de of knowledge. Aside from this spatial approach, the article will also propose that the savoir texts used during these meetings can be considered their own lieux de savoir as they played an important role in shaping and communicating religious knowledge between TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: the lay and religious participants of the collatio. Boonstra, Pieter H. "In Ecclesia Nostra: The Collatiehuis in Gouda and Its Lieux de Savoir." Le foucaldien 7, no. 1 (2021): 5, 1–13. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.16995/lefou.93 1. INTRODUCTION Boonstra 2 Le foucaldien In the year 1445, a small community of Brothers of the Common Life took up residence in DOI: 10.16995/lefou.93 the Dutch city of Gouda, in a house located in the Spieringstraat. This community represented an urban branch of the Devotio moderna or Modern Devotion, the most renowned religious movement in the late medieval Low Countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Mystics,Ursula King.Pdf
    CHRISTIAN MYSTICS Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages URSULA KING LONDON AND NEW YORK CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: Background and Themes 5 Chapter Two: Early Christian Mystics 12 Chapter Three: Medieval Mystics 30 Chapter Four: Mystics of the Early Modern Period 69 Chapter Five: Eastern Orthodox Mystics 95 Chapter Six: Mystics of Our Time 109 Conclusion 121 Bibliography 124 Index 126 Acknowledgments 134 INTRODUCTION A mystic is a person who is deeply aware of the powerful pesence of the divine Spirit: someone who seeks, above all, the knowledge and love of God and who experiences to an extraordinary degree the profoundly personal encounter with the energy of divine life. Mystics often perceive the presence of God throughout the world of nature and in all that is alive, leading to a transfiguration of the ordinary all around them. However, the touch of God is most strongly felt deep within their own hearts. There are many different kinds of mystics in all religions, and we have in recent years become increasingly aware of their existence and heritage. Many people today are drawn to mystics for inspiration and transformation. They offer a message of wholeness and healing, of harmony, peace, and joy—also of immense struggles fought and won. During the twentieth century we have witnessed destructive events not thought possible in earlier times. We have observed the breakdown of old values, the questioning of traditional ways of life, as well as of the teachings of religion. There is much doubt and searching, as well as an immense spiritual hunger, especially among the young.
    [Show full text]
  • The Project Gutenberg Ebook of a History of the Reformation (Vol. 1 of 2) by Thomas M
    The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of the Reformation (Vol. 1 of 2) by Thomas M. Lindsay This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: A History of the Reformation (Vol. 1 of 2) Author: Thomas M. Lindsay Release Date: August 29, 2012 [Ebook 40615] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION (VOL. 1 OF 2)*** International Theological Library A History of The Reformation By Thomas M. Lindsay, M.A., D.D. Principal, The United Free Church College, Glasgow In Two Volumes Volume I The Reformation in Germany From Its Beginning to the Religious Peace of Augsburg Edinburgh T. & T. Clark 1906 Contents Series Advertisement. 2 Dedication. 6 Preface. 7 Book I. On The Eve Of The Reformation. 11 Chapter I. The Papacy. 11 § 1. Claim to Universal Supremacy. 11 § 2. The Temporal Supremacy. 16 § 3. The Spiritual Supremacy. 18 Chapter II. The Political Situation. 29 § 1. The small extent of Christendom. 29 § 2. Consolidation. 30 § 3. England. 31 § 4. France. 33 § 5. Spain. 37 § 6. Germany and Italy. 41 § 7. Italy. 43 § 8. Germany. 46 Chapter III. The Renaissance. 53 § 1. The Transition from the Mediæval to the Modern World. 53 § 2. The Revival of Literature and Art. 56 § 3. Its earlier relation to Christianity. 59 § 4. The Brethren of the Common Lot.
    [Show full text]
  • Conventions and Institutions
    1 Conventions and Institutions Benedictine Rule Monastic orders existed in Ireland and Wales in the fifth century, first arrived in England in the sixth and seventh centuries, and in the eighth century the Rule of St. Benedict (480–ca. 550), Benedict’s set of codes for behavior, also came to be known in the British Isles. Receiving additional impetus after 1066 and then again with the arrival of orders of canons and friars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monastic orders had their maximum numbers at the beginning of the fourteenth century, declined with the pestilence later in the century, then recovered significantly. From their inception many monastic houses received large endowments, were powerful landholding institutions, and were deeply and directly involved in the economic, legal, and social lives of all of society’s strata in both imme- diate and extended geographical areas. William Caxton (ca. 1422–92) began his career as a merchant. In the 1440s he went to Bruges, Cologne, and Ghent where he began his career as a printer and translator. He returned to England in 1476 with movable type and proceeded to publish over one hundred titles in the remaining sixteen years of this life, including several of Chaucer’s, Gower’s, Lydgate’s, and Malory’s works as well as his own translations. Six English translations of the Benedictine rule survive from the eleventh century to 1516. None of the translations is dependent on each other, nor is any direct French or Latin source known. Caxton’s edition from about 1490 also contains Heinrich Suso’s Horologium sapientiae and other texts, and it, like several manuscript versions, is addressed to both men and women.
    [Show full text]
  • New Readings of Heinrich Suso's Horologium Sapientiae
    New Readings of Heinrich Suso’s Horologium sapientiae Jon Øygarden Flæten Dissertation submitted for the degree of philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, 2013 © Jon Øygarden Flæten, 2013 Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Theology,University of Oslo No. 46 ISSN 1502-010X All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. Cover: Inger Sandved Anfinsen. Printed in Norway: AIT Oslo AS, 2013. Produced in co-operation with Akademika publishing. The thesis is produced by Akademika publishing merely in connection with the thesis defence. Kindly direct all inquiries regarding the thesis to the copyright holder or the unit which grants the doctorate. Akademika publishing is owned by The University Foundation for Student Life (SiO) 1 Acknowledgements This work has been made possible by a scholarship from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. I am grateful to the factuly for this opportunity and for additional funding, which has enabled me to participate on various conferences. Professor Tarald Rasmussen has been my supervisor for several years, and I am deeply grateful for steady guidance, encouragement and for many inspiring con- versations, as well as fruitful cooperation on various projects. Among many good colleauges at the faculty I especially want to thank Eivor Oftestad, Kristin B. Aavitsland, Sivert Angel, Bjørn Ole Hovda, Helge Årsheim, Halvard Johannesen, and Vemund Blomkvist. I also want to express my thanks to the Theological Library for their services, and to Professor Dag Thorkildsen. This study is dedicated to my parents, Helga Øygarden and Ole Jacob Flæten.
    [Show full text]