Birgitta and Late-Medieval English Spirituality

Chapter 10 Birgitta and Late-Medieval English Spirituality

Ann M. Hutchison

Born into a noble family in Sweden with a reputation for piety, married to an important Swedish lawman, a mother of eight, and a visionary with a strong prophetic sense, St Birgitta had a remarkable ability to capitalize on her posi- tion, but put to even greater effect was her ability to apply her natural gifts in a transformative manner. Following the death of her husband, Ulf Gudmars- son, in 1344,1 she had an important vision in which Christ called on her to be his “bride” and his “channel” (sponsa et canale), and it was particularly as the “channel,” or communicator of divine knowledge,2 that Birgitta carried out what she felt was her mission. Even before this crucial vision, however, Birgitta had recognized the need for religious reform and had begun considering possible remedies. Later, in May 1346, when King Magnus Eriksson bequeathed his palace at Vadstena for conversion to a monastery, Birgitta already had her own plans for founding an order and may even have composed the new rule.3 Birgitta’s concerns coincided with the directions that the religious life in England was taking during the 14th century, particularly in the later years of the century. Recognizing the general laxity of a number of religious houses, many felt the need for more rigorous observance. This was manifested throughout that century and into the next with the founding of a number of Carthusian houses, for Carthusians were known for their austerity and strict observance, attributes which Birgitta came to champion.4 Toward the end of the 14th century and well into the 15th, women desired to take a larger role in religious

1 This may have been in 1346; see Bridget Morris, St Birgitta of Sweden (Woodbridge: 1999), 60 and n. 85. See also the introductory chapter of the present volume, n. 9. 2 See Morris, St Birgitta of Sweden, 66, 67 and n. 10. 3 See Morris, St Birgitta of Sweden, who suggests, for example, that planning for a new order may have begun even before the death of her husband in 1344 (60 and notes 82 and 85); she also notes that the Revelaciones extravagantes include revelations appearing to be early drafts of the rule, and there are others indicating some of her apprehensions concerning the planned order (86, e.g. Extrav.: 1–25, 28–38, 40). 4 Six Charterhouses were founded in England in the 14th century: Beauvale Priory 1343, London 1370, Hull 1377, Coventry 1381, Axholme 1397, and Mount Grace Priory 1398. In the 15th century, Sheen Priory was founded in Richmond in 1414, and Perth Charterhouse in Scot- land in 1429. For further information on the English Carthusians, see E. Margaret Thompson, The Carthusian Order in England (London: 1930).

270 Hutchison life, and this is seen particularly in the production of devotional works and the increase in women’s literacy, both of which were important to Birgitta and were reflected in the rule of the order she would eventually found. In England, promotion and encouragement of women’s literacy were often dem- onstrated visually in wall paintings and illuminations of St Anne teaching the Virgin to read. Birgitta’s devotion to Mary, a major part of her vision for her new order, was also reflected in English piety—for England had long been desig- nated “dos Mariae” or “Mary’s dower (dowry)”—and during this period Marian devotion became intensified.5

1 English Contact with Birgitta

It is likely that Birgitta first became known to the English in the late 1340s as the result of a revelation concerning the Hundred Years’ War, in which she took the English side, claiming (correctly) that the pope had sided with the French. This led to correspondence in 1348 with Edward iii both on account of Birgitta’s revelation and her suggestion that the matter be resolved by means of marriage. Somewhat later, King Magnus asked for one of Edward’s daughters in marriage on behalf of his sons, thus opening up possible ties with Sweden.6 In East Anglia, perhaps on account of its proximity to the Continent and its many ports bringing visiting merchants and other travelers to England, knowledge of Birgitta, some of whose revelations were beginning to be published, began to circulate.7 Adam Easton, a native of East Anglia who had become a Benedictine in the Norwich Cathedral Priory, and who was respected from an

5 The origin of the title is not clear, although it has been traced by some to as early as 1051; by the mid-14th century it had become more widely known, as a remark in a sermon by mendi- cant preacher John Lathbury that “it is commonly said that the land of England is the Virgin’s dowry” makes clear. As the result of a letter to English bishops by Thomas Arundel in 1400 referring to England as “Mary’s dowry,” it is thought to have been current by the 15th century, and in the reign of Henry v it seems to have reached a climax—it was believed that Mary “had compassion on the people of her dower of England” before and during the battle of Ag- incourt; see, for example, Lynn Staley, “Enclosed Spaces,” in Cultural Reformations: Medieval and Renaissance in Literary History, eds. Brian Cummings and James Simpson (Oxford: 2010), 113–33, at 117; and Nigel Saul, For Honour and Fame: Chivalry in England, 1066−1500 (London: 2011), 208–9. 6 See Morris, St Birgitta of Sweden, 81–82 and notes 58–61. 7 Immediately after her death in 1373, Birgitta’s confessors had put together the Liber celes- tis revelacionum, and this soon began to circulate, though some revelations had circulated independently earlier. By the early 15th century, the Liber had been translated into seven vernaculars, one of which was English.