ANNA DLABACOVÁ Tauler, Herp and the Changing Layers of Mobility and Reception in the Low Countries (c. 1460-1560) In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Dutch mystic and observant Francis- can friar Hendrik Herp († 1477) wrote a mystical manual, the Spieghel der volcomenheit (Mirror of perfection, c. 1455-1460). His book became an imme- diate success among various circles of religious and devout men and women, reflecting the ‘multiple options’ of fifteenth-century religious life and reform.1 Today, there are still twenty-seven extant manuscripts of (parts) of the Middle Dutch Spieghel (dating c. 1460-1550) and four printed editions from the same period, of which thirty-seven copies have survived. Translations were made into Middle High German, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Herp’s well-structured and systematically arranged guide was partly inspired by the writings of fourteenth-century mystics from the Low Countries and the Rhineland. His use of works by Ruusbroec has been widely emphasized in the twentieth century.2 However, Herp also must have known, read and used ser- mons by the Dominican who (most likely) came to visit Ruusbroec in his Groenendaal monastery: Johannnes Tauler († 1361).3 Aside from the dissemi- 1 John Van Engen, ‘Multiple Options: The World of the Fifteenth-Century Church’, in: Church History, 77 (2008), p. 257-284. Anna Dlabacová, ‘Hendrik Herp: observant en mysticus. De «Spieghel der volcomenheit» (ca. 1455 /1460) in nieuw perspectief’, in: Queeste. Tijdschrift over middeleeuwse letterkunde, 15 (2008), p. 142-167. General works on Herp: Lucidius Verschueren, ‘Leven en werk van Hendrik Herp’, in: Collectanea Franciscana Neerlandica, uitgegeven bij het Eeuwfeest van de komst der Minderbroeders in Nederland en van de stichting eener eigen Pro- vincia Germaniae Inferioris 1228-1529-1929, deel II. ’s-Hertogenbosch, 1931a, p. 345-393. Lucidius Verschueren, Hendrik Herp O.F.M. Spieghel der volcomenheit. Deel I: Inleiding. Deel II: Tekst. Antwerpen, 1931b. Benjamin De Troeyer, Bio-Bibliographia franciscana Neerlandica Ante saeculum XVI. I: Pars biographica: Auctores editionum qui scripserunt ante saeculum XVI. Nieuwkoop, 1974, p. 108-123. Benjamin De Troeyer, ‘Herp, Hendrik’, in: Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon 3. Berlin, 1981, p. 1127-1135 and Léonide Mees, Archange Houbaert, Benjamin De Troeyer, ‘Herp (Henri de; Harphius)’, in: Dictionnaire de spiritualité. Tome VII, première partie. Paris, 1969, p. 346-351. 2 Kurt Ruh, Geschichte der abendländischen Mystik. Band IV. Die Niederländische Mystik des 14. bis 16. Jahrhundert. München, 1999, p. 221. Cf. L. Reypens, ‘Ruusbroec’s mystiek als bekroning der Inkeeringstheorie’, in: Ons Geestelijk Erf, 6 (1932), p. 257-281, there p. 273. 3 On Tauler’s life and work: Louise Gnädinger, Johannes Tauler. Lebenswelt und mystische Lehre. München, 1993. On the use of Tauler by Herp see Verschueren 1931b, Hendrik Herp I, p. 150. The visit by Tauler to Ruusbroec in Groenendaal is discussed in: Louise Gnädinger and Johannes G. Mayer, ‘Tauler, Johannes OP’, in: Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfas- serlexikon 9. Berlin, 1995, p. 631-657, there p. 636 and mainly Geert Warnar, ‘Tauler in Groenendaal. Mystik und Gelehrtheit in der niederländischen Literatur des 14. Jahrhunderts’, in: Angelika Lehmann-Benz, Ulrike Zellmann & Urban Küsters (red.), Schnittpunkte. Deutsch- Niederländische Literaturbeziehungen im späten Mittelalter. Münster, 2003, p. 55-66. Ons Geestelijk Erf 84(1), 120-152. doi: 10.2143/OGE.84.1.2975526 © Ons Geestelijk Erf. All rights reserved. 996240_OGE_2013/1_076240_OGE_2013/1_07 Dlabacova.inddDlabacova.indd 120120 118/04/138/04/13 009:409:40 TAULER, HERP AND THE CHANGING MOBILITY AND RECEPTION 121 nation of the actual Tauler sermons, Tauler’s spirituality (or at least parts thereof) was therefore disseminated via Herp’s Middle Dutch Spieghel and its translations into Latin and major European languages throughout fifteenth and sixteenth-century Western Europe. The link between Herp and Tauler also becomes apparent within the actual dissemination and reception of the Middle Dutch Spieghel. Two manuscripts containing (collections of) Middle Dutch Tauler sermons also accommodate a chapter from Herp’s vernacular text.4 Assuming that each manuscript tells its own unique story (whether intentional or not) with regard to its historical con- text, conception and reception, I argue that these two Tauler-Herp manuscripts constitute an excellent case study for the changing religious and intellectual circles in which the works of both authors were read within a time frame last- ing approximately one century (c. 1460-1560). To do so, I first take a closer look at the way Tauler inspired Herp and the textual transmission that could have provided Herp with his knowledge of Tauler (1). I then return to the central question as to the relationship between Herp and Tauler concerning the transmission of their texts in Dutch manu- scripts. To see how the relationship between the two mystics was perceived and constructed, and how it developed, I discuss the two manuscripts in chrono- logical order (2). Finally, I conclude the investigation into the connection between Tauler and Herp in Dutch manuscripts with a short reflection on the aspects that shaped and subsequently changed this relationship (3). How do the changes within the transmission of texts and the way readers and book-produc- ers (potentially) connect texts to each other interrelate? 1. HOW DID HERP KNOW TAULER? There are two ways of looking at Herp’s (possible) use of Tauler’s sermons. Firstly, there is his use of passages, metaphors and quotations from the Tauler sermons. The manner in which Herp read and studied these sermons influenced his use of the material. In some cases it seems that Herp first used a passage from Tauler in one of his Latin works (Herp wrote a large number of sermons in Latin, which have survived in several collections – for example Speculum aureum de praeceptis divinae legis and De processu humani profectus – and mystical treatises such as Eden and Scala amoris novem distinta scalaribus) 4 The two manuscripts are Heverlee, Norbertijnerabdij Park: 8, and Ghent, University Library: 1351. The manuscript Cambridge, Harvard University, Houghton Library: Riant 91 (dated 1522) contains a Tauler-sermon, Vetter no. 63 (Ferdinand Vetter [ed.], Die Predigten Taulers aus Engel- berger und der Freiburger Handschrift sowie aus Schmidts Abschriften der ehemaligen Straßburger Handschriften. Berlin, 1910) and possibly a Middle Dutch translation of Herp’s first Collatio. See Christine Boot, ‘Medieval Netherlandic Manuscripts in Libraries in the State of Massachusetts’, in: Archives et Bibliothèque de Belgique/Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België, 50 (1979), p. 311-371, there p. 346 and p. 348. 996240_OGE_2013/1_076240_OGE_2013/1_07 Dlabacova.inddDlabacova.indd 121121 118/04/138/04/13 009:409:40 122 ANNA DLABACOVÁ and later ‘repeated’ the passage in the vernacular Spieghel.5 Secondly, and an issue of paramount importance to answering the first question, is to gain an idea into how he actually acquired his knowledge of Tauler– what kind of manu- script might he have consulted? Was his knowledge restricted to a selection of Tauler sermons? Or did he possibly know Tauler through other authors? Verschueren, the editor of Herp’s Spieghel, identifies passages in Herp’s Spieghel that are closely related to passages in Tauler sermons. In the introduc- tion to his edition, he writes that it is almost certain that Tauler inspired Herp. After all, Herp uses the same typical thoughts, comparisons, exempla and scrip- tural applications.6 According to Verschueren, only one obstacle stands in the way: there seems to be no actual quotation from Tauler in the entirety of the Spieghel. However, Verschueren is aware that he is comparing the Middle Dutch Spieghel to Tauler in Middle High German and sometimes in Latin.7 He pro- poses a possible solution for the absence of quotations, namely that Herp may have used a Middle Dutch translation (or adaptation) of Tauler. As Herp lived in the Low Countries and wrote in Middle Dutch (at least for the Spieghel), this suggestion would seem to hold a certain measure of credence. Furthermore, the transmission of Tauler sermons in Dutch manuscripts shows great independence from the transmission in German manuscripts: Middle Dutch collections that are structured according to the liturgical year contain different material and more of it.8 This might easily explain the absence of quotations from the Middle High German texts. Another factor for this absence is highlighted by Kurt Ruh, who reassesses Herp’s ‘compilatorship’ in general and shows his independence through his selection and self-willed interpretation of his models.9 5 Verschueren 1931b, Hendrik Herp I, p. 150, states that this happened with the pseudo-Tauler sermon Sermo II post Octavam Epiphaniae, which first inspired Herp in his Collatio III/sermo V in De processu humani profectus. This seems strange, as Verschueren regards the Tres Collatio- nes as a summary of the Spieghel: Verschueren 1931a, Leven en werken, p. 375. Cf. Kristina Freienhagen-Baumgardt, Hendrik Herps «Spieghel der volcomenheit» in Oberdeutscher Über- lieferung. Ein Beitrag zur Rezeptionsgeschichte niederländischer Mystik im oberdeutschen Raum. Leuven, 1998 (Miscellanea Neerlandica, 17), p. 12; Georgette Epiney-Burgard [ed.], Henri Herp, Trois conférences spirituelles. Genève, 1983, p. 22-26 and Georgette