Christian Mysticism (Medieval Studies)

Introduction

This introductory survey offers an initial overview of some of the main branches of Christian mysticism in the medieval period, broadly conceived as 500–1450. Mysticism is itself a highly contested term. Some use it to denote a personal experience of God. Others apply it to the literary articulation of religious experience, and as induction into a way of life that sees its goal as the vision of God. Mystical theology has developed in different ways within the various branches of orthodox Christianity as much as that of the Latin West. It can be argued that mysticism is a fundamental characteristic of Christianity as formulated within Eastern forms of orthodoxy, going back to the founding fathers in the Greek and Syriac world. By contrast, mysticism in the Latin West has often been seen as a particular branch of spiritual discourse and experience, distinct from the analytic forms of theology that developed in the 12th century. In the later medieval period, mystical writing in the West was increasingly formulated in vernacular languages, often by women. The development of such discourse in the vernacular, frequently invoking images and concepts quite distinct from those of normal scholastic exegesis, encouraged a perspective on mysticism as a minority pursuit within a religious milieu, often challenging the perspectives of orthodoxy. Even if has been an established tradition of linking vernacular mystical writing to other forms of vernacular literature, it also needs to be situated as a response to the Latin intellectual tradition, as well as to currents of thought emanating from Antiquity. While the major focus here is on Christian mysticism, Jewish and Islamic mysticism was also important in both Spain and the Middle East. Christian mysticism was unusual, however, in being promoted between the 13th and 15th centuries by women as much as by men, often operating outside the academy. Since the 1990s, there has been a strong growth of interest in these female mystics, not just in the medieval period, but in the 16th century and later (and thus beyond the scope of the present bibliographical survey). This article confines itself to core texts relevant to Eastern and Western branches of the medieval mystical tradition and to English-language translations and discussions of major medieval mystical writings. Certain authors are identified simply by the most recent translation, with secondary literature offering an opportunity to pursue original critical editions. Within each section, authors are presented in a broadly chronological sequence.

General Overviews and Collected Surveys

There are many introductory surveys, most focusing on the Western rather than the orthodox tradition, and presenting guides to selected key figures. Underhill 2002, first published in 1911, and Knowles 1967 are classic introductions that are still worth reading, even if now superseded in scholarship. There have been a number of guides to Western mystical writing, such as Szarmach 1984, Lagorio 1986, and King 2004, but the most important overview is now the multivolume survey McGinn 1992–2007. Weeks 1993 focuses on a long-range view of German mysticism, while Borchert 1994 is concerned with mysticism in general, situating Christian writers within a broader context of mystical literature. Louth 1981 (cited under Origins) and Turner 1995 (cited under Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite) focus on traditions of negativity and the roots of the Platonic tradition as vital to understanding mystical tradition.

Borchert, Bruno. Mysticism: Its History and Challenge. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1994.
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An accessible introduction that covers major themes of Christian mysticism, within the broader context of mystical discourse in general.
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Hollywood, Amy. Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
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Analyzes the interest of 20th-century French thinkers, including Bataille, Lacan, and Irigary, in medieval mystical literature.
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King, Ursula. Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages. London: Routledge, 2004.
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Introduction to key figures in the Christian mystical tradition, with one chapter (pp. 61–138) providing short summaries of all major medieval mystics.
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Knowles, David. What Is Mysticism? London: Burns & Oates, 1967.
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Classic study of theological analysis of mysticism and contemplation.
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Lagorio, Valerie M., ed. Mysticism: Medieval and Modern. Papers presented at the 20th Congress of the International Congresses on Medieval Studies held at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 1985. Salzburg Studies in English Literature. Salzburg, Austria: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistic, 1986.
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Essays on medieval mystical literature, mainly English and German of the 13th and 14th centuries.
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McGinn, Bernard. The Presence of God. 4 vols. London: SCM, 1992–2007.
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Magistral survey of Christian mysticism, with particular reference to the West. Vol. 1, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century (1992); Vol. 2, The Growth of Mysticism (1994); Vol. 3, The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism (1200–1350) (1998); Vol. 4, The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany (1300–1500) (2007).
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Szarmach, Paul E., ed. An Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe: Fourteen Original Essays. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1984.
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Collection of essays on medieval mystical thinkers, including three chapters on women mystics and two on Jewish mysticism.
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Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2002.
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Classic study that established a spiritual agenda for considering mysticism as a shared experience, across different cultures and periods of time. Originally published in 1911.
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Weeks, Andrew. German Mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Literary and Intellectual History. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
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Overview of German mystical writing, with particular chapters on Hildegard, Eckart, Suso and Tauler, as well as on Nicholas of Cusa.
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Collections of Sources

While critical editions of a number of classic mystical texts have been produced, not all such writings are available in this way. Many mystical texts are available in translation (often quite dated) through repositories such as such as the Internet Sacred Text Archive or anthologies such as Egan 1991, Holder 2010 and (valuable for also including Jewish with Christian mystics) Cohn-Sherbok and Cohn-Sherbok 1994. The extracts in the Happold 1970 are very brief, thus making close contextual study difficult. While many Latin and Greek texts are provided with French translations in the series Sources chrétiennes (Paris: Cerf), the most widely diffused collection of English translations of mystical texts is that published by the Paulist Press. There are also useful anthologies of mystical writing edited by Bernard McGinn, such as McGinn 2006.

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan, and Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok, eds. Jewish and Christian Mysticism: An Introduction. New York: Continuum, 1994.
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Introductions to Jewish and Christian mystics from every period, with a significant collection of medieval authors.
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Egan, Harvey D., ed. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1991.
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Extracts from Christian mystics of every period, from the Fathers to the 20th century, preceded by brief introductions.
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Happold, F. Crossfield, ed. Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1970.
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A collection of brief extracts from a wide range of mystical texts, with an introduction (now quite dated) arguing for mysticism as a universally shared common experience.
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Holder, Arthur, ed. Christian Spirituality: The Classics. London: Routledge, 2010.
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Anthology of Christian mystical writers, including medieval authors from Pseudo-Dionysius to Catherine of Siena.
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McGinn, Bernard, ed. The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism. New York: Modern Library, 2006.
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Short extracts from key Christian mystical writers, from Origen to Thomas Merton, arranged thematically rather than chronologically.
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Origins

Christian mysticism in the medieval period, both in its Western and Eastern traditions, cannot be easily separated from its genesis and early evolution in the period of Late Antiquity, or indeed independently of philosophical traditions from the time of Plato to Plotinus in the 3rd century and Proclus in the 5th. In the 3rd century, Origen (b. c. 185–d. 254) played a key role in shaping Christian mystical theology in a way that brought together Platonist philosophical traditions with enthusiasm for reading the Song of Songs as a guide to the spiritual life, envisioned as a journey of the soul seeking her beloved. An excellent guide to the many permutations of this evolution is offered by Louth 1981. It can also be studied through the patristic texts assembled in Clément 1995 (cited under Early Monastic and Eastern Christian Traditions). There is also an extensive literature, not studied here, on Gnosticism as early Christian mysticism, developed in a way that did not win the approval of mainstream Christian authorities. Stroumsa 2005 relates Christian mysticism to earlier esoteric traditions. The large literature surrounding the teaching of the early Church Fathers in Latin, Byzantine, and Syriac traditions necessarily falls outside the scope of this bibliographical review. Mention should be made, however, of the importance of the ascetic teaching of Evagrius of Ponticus (b. 344–d. 399), inspired by Origen and other Greek Fathers, and in turn a major influence on John Cassian (b. c. 360–d. c. 435), who passed on this teaching to the Latin West, in particular through Benedict (b. c. 480–d. c. 547) and Gregory the Great (b. c. 540–d. 604). While Origen’s writings (sometimes preserved in the Latin translations of Rufinus rather than in their original Greek) are too extensive to be included in this survey, they shaped subsequent mystical tradition. Cassian and Gregory the Great are similarly not included, as their teaching tended to be more ascetic than mystical, although mystics drew heavily on their teaching about the process of purgation, illumination, and ultimate union with God (theiosis). In the Latin West, there was much debate as to the relative role of free will and grace in this process, and thus of the capacity of the soul to achieve union with God. Augustine (b. 354–d. 430) came to develop an increasingly pessimistic doctrine of human nature, arguing that original sin had corrupted the capacity of the will to choose good, unless transformed by divine grace. By contrast, Pelagius (b. c. 354–d. c. 420), a British monk, was concerned by the implications of Augustine’s teaching about excessive dependence on divine grace at the expense of free will. Although Augustine spoke of moments of mystical enlightenment in his Confessions, shared with a few friends or with his mother, he discounted the possibility of mystical union with God in this life, emphasizing that complete union with God was only possible through Christ in the life to come. Augustine thus introduced a Christocentric character to Christian mystical teaching in the Latin West, distinct from a theocentric model, dominant in the Eastern Church, but preserved in the Latin West through translations made of the Greek Fathers, above all of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. His writings, similarly omitted from this survey, gave a particular inflection to the Latin mystical tradition.

Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition from Plato to Denys. Oxford: Clarendon, 1981.
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Study of the transformation of Platonic philosophy in a Christian context, with particular attention to the Greek Fathers and Denys the Areopagite.
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Stroumsa, Guy G. Hidden Wisdom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 2d ed. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2005.
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Argues that Christian mystical traditions derive from esoteric Jewish traditions that were adapted by Gnostic groups, but were gradually transformed from esotericism to mysticism in the patristic period.
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Early Monastic and Eastern Christian Traditions

Theology in the Byzantine orthodox tradition is largely mystical in character, in using the term theologia to refer not to conceptual discussion of divine terms, as in the Latin West, but in a sense more closely related to theoria, or contemplation of the divine. Mysticism is thus often seen to be normative rather than an exception in relation to orthodox Christian tradition. As many scholars of Eastern orthodoxy have noted, Eastern orthodox traditions have a strong theocentric character, nurturing the goal of theosis or deification (see Lev 1978; Bolshakov 1977, which focuses on Russian orthodoxy; Clément 1995; and Arseniev 1979. While there have been some general studies of the subject, notably Lossky 1976 and McGinn, et al. 1989, Eastern orthodox traditions have generally been less closely studied than those in the West, with certain exceptions (notably that of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite). The whole area of Syriac Christianity, with its own strong mystical tradition, is itself of interest, as shown by Beggiani 1991, not least because of its relationship to early Islamic mystical thought. Only a few brief indications of key sources in translation are given here. There are many Church Fathers who shaped the mystical theology of various branches of orthodox tradition in the East (some of which differ significantly among themselves). In the period after 500, however, certain authors can be singled out as having contributed significantly to subsequent tradition, most influentially Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (identified in the 16th century as a monk, probably Monophysite, from the late 5th or early 6th century, rather than, as traditionally assumed in the medieval period, as the Dionysius converted by St. Paul on the Areopagus). His writings and those of several other Greek Fathers would be known in the Latin West, exerting a particular influence on John Scotus Eriugena (b. c. 810–d. c. 877). Also of great influence, though not known to the West, were John Climacus in the 7th century, Symeon the New Theologian (b. 949–d. 1022), and Gregory Palamas (b. 1296–d. 1359), who were important for defining the mystical character of orthodoxy in subsequent centuries. The Philokalia (Palmer, et al. 1983–1995) offers an invaluable guide to classics of the tradition.

Arseniev, Nicholas. Mysticism and the Eastern Church. Translated by Arthur Chambers. London: Mowbray. 1979.
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Reprint of 1926 translation of Ostkirche und Mystik, with introduction by Evelyn Underhill, by a great Russian scholar from pre-Communist Russia.
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Beggiani, Seely. Introduction to Eastern Christian Spirituality: The Syriac Tradition. London: Associated University Presses, 1991.
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Introduction to the key Syriac authors, from Ephrem to John Saba.
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Bolshakov, Sergius. Russian Mystics. London: Mowbray, 1977.
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Introduction to the continuity of the Russian mystical tradition, from the classic monastic saints to 20th-century masters.
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Clément, Olivier. The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Text and Commentary. New York: New City, 1995.
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Thematic introduction to mystical theology, predominantly in the orthodox tradition, focusing on transcendence of passions and contemplation.
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Lev, Gillet. Orthodox Spirituality: An Outline of the Orthodox Ascetical and Mystical Tradition. 2d ed. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1978.
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Introduction to orthodox spirituality, written by an orthodox monk.
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Lossky, Vladimir. The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1976.
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Classic study, originally published in French in 1957, surveying the mystical character of orthodox theology.
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McGinn, Bernard, and John Meyendorff, with Jean Leclercq, eds. Christian Spirituality: Origins to the Twelfth Century. London: SCM, 1989.
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Authoritative essays on the evolution of Christian mysticism within both Eastern and Western traditions.
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Palmer, G. E. H., Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, eds. and trans. The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. 3 vols. London: Faber & Faber, 1983–1995.
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A classic of orthodox spirituality, compiled in the 18th century, but drawing on a range of texts going back to the patristic period.
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Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

Pseudo-Dionysius (Denys), a figure who lived, perhaps, in a Monophysite environment in the late 5th or early 6th century (as argued by Arthur 2008 and Coakley and Stang 2009), is perhaps the most influential figure on the Christian mystical tradition. There have been numerous studies of his influence in the West. The key critical edition of the original Greek is that edited by Suchla, et al. (Pseudo-Dionysius 1990–1991), with the most complete set of English translations being that by Liubheid and Rorem (Pseudo-Dionysius 1987). Useful introductions to his thought and influence include Rorem 1993 and Turner 1995, with an interesting contextual approach developed in Arthur 2008 and Coakley and Stang 2009. Later medieval glosses and commentaries on pseudo-Dionysius include McEvoy 2003 and Harrington 2004.

Arthur, Rosemary A. Pseudo-Dionysius as Polemicist: The Development and Purpose of the Angelic Hierarchy in Sixth Century Syria. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008.
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Examines early-6th-century context of the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius, establishing the influence of Origen and Evagrius, and suggesting he might be Sergius of Reshaina, a Syrian Monophysite monk.
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Coakley, Sarah, and Charles M. Stang, eds. Re-Thinking Dionysius the Areopagite. Chichester: Wiley, 2009.
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Important collection of papers on the Syriac context and subsequent influence of Dionysius in Byzantine, Latin, and modern contexts.
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Harrington, L. Michael, ed. and trans. A Thirteenth-Century Textbook of Mystical Theology at the University of Paris: the Mystical Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite in Eriugena’s Latin Translation, with the Scholia Translated by Anastasius the Librarian, and Excerpts from Eriugena’s Periphyseon. Paris: Peeters, 2004.
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Critical edition of text and commentaries on Dionysius, as synthesized in the 13th century.
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McEvoy, James, ed. and trans. Mystical Theology: The Glosses by Thomas Gallus and the Commentary of Robert Grosseteste on De mystica theologia. Paris: Peeters, 2003.
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Critical edition and translation of the Victorine Thomas Gallus and the Franciscan Grosseteste on the classic text of Pseudo-Dionysius.
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Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Translated by Colm Liubheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist, 1987.
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Annotated translation of complete works.
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Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Corpus Dionysiacum. 3 vols. Edited by Beate Regina Suchla, Günter Heil, and Adolf Martin Ritter. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1990–1991.
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Authoritative critical edition of the Greek text, with commentary in German.
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Rorem, Paul. Pseudo-Dionysius: A Commentary on the Texts and an Introduction to Their Influence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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Authoritative study on each of the major writings of Dionysius, with commentary on the influence of each on the Latin West.
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Turner, Denys. The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511583131Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Studies transformations of apophatic thought from Dionysius the Areopagite to John of the Cross, emphasizing that it was not concerned with mystical experience or the presence of God (as argued in McGinn 1992–2007, cited under General Overviews and Collected Surveys), but with an aspect of theology concerned with the dialectics of interiority and the limitations of language.
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John Climacus

John Climacus (b. c. 579–d. c. 649), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus, and John Sinaites, was a 7th-century monk and the abbot of St. Catherine’s monastery at Mount Sinai. He is known only through his treatise, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Climacus 1982), written in Greek and of enormous influence in Byzantine tradition. His theological vision is examined in Chryssavgis 2004.

Climacus, John. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell. New York: Paulist, 1982.
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Introduction to and translation of a treatise on thirty stages of spiritual development, of enormous influence in orthodox tradition.
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Chryssavgis, John. John Climacus: From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004.
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Study of major themes in the writing of John Climacus, namely, about the body, the heart, the intellect, the gift of tears, and the ascetic struggle of the human person.
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John Scotus Eriugena

Johannes Scotus (or Scottus) Eriugena (b. c. 810–d. c. 877), one of the few scholars in the early medieval West fluent in Greek, and influenced by Greek patristic tradition (in particular by the writings of pseudo-Dionysius), established a highly original mystical theology of nature, formulated in his De divisione naturae (Periphyseon), edited and translated by Sheldon-Williams and Bieler in Eriugena 1968–1996). His exegetical writing, such as his homilies on John (Eriugena 1990) and writing on predestination (Eriugena 1998) are less well known, but they similarly reflect how, in Eriugena’s perspective, nature, suffused by divine grace, embraces both God and creation. His writing would enjoy particular favor in the 12th century, although it would be condemned as heretical in the 13th. As O’Meara 1988, Moran 1989, and Otten 1991 have shown, his thought is richly philosophical, within a Platonism derived from the Greek Fathers.

Eriugena, John Scotus. Treatise on Divine Predestination. Translated by Mary Brennan. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998.
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Eriugena’s controversial reflection on predestination, directed against Gottschalk of Orbais, interpreting Augustine’s teaching in a way that defends human freedom.
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Eriugena, John Scotus. The Voice of the Eagle: Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John. Translated by Christopher Bamford. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne, 1990.
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Translation of Eriugena’s mystical homily on the beginning of St John’s Gospel, followed by theological reflection on its major themes.
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Eriugena, John Scotus. De divisione naturae. Edited and translated by I. P. Sheldon-Williams and L. Bieler. 4 vols. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968–1996.
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Critical edition and translation of Eriugena’s most significant treatise on nature and its divine origin and manifestation.
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Moran, Dermot. The Philosophy of John Scottus Eriugena: A Study of Idealism in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139172080Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Exploration of the major philosophical influences on Eriugena’s philosophy, and of his thinking about human nature, self-knowledge, being and non-being, and nature.
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O’Meara, John J. Eriugena. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.
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Short introduction to Eriugena’s life and thought, as expressed in the Division of Nature.
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Otten, Willemien. The Anthropology of Johannes Scottus Eriugena. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1991.
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Study of Eriugena’s understanding of man as created in the image of God, and of nature in the context of his understanding of negative theology and of theophany.
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Symeon the New Theologian

Symeon (b. 949–d. 1022), a disciple of Symeon the Studite, and abbot of the monastery of St. Mammas, Constantinople, was committed to the cause of monastic reform. In his Theological Treatises, edited and translated by Darrouzes and Neyrand in Symeon the New Theologian 1966–1967, and in his Discourses ( Symeon the New Theologian 1980 Symeon the New Theologian 1995–1997), he gives strong emphasis to the experience of divine grace in the heart. His writings have been considered in the East as being of classic status, as argued by Krivocheine 1986, Turner 1990, and Keselopoulos 2001, who considers his attitude to the material world.

Keselopoulos, Anestis G. Man and the Environment: A Study of St Symeon the New Theologian. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary, 2001.
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Study of Symeon’s attitude to misuse of the world and its right use and reorientation.
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Krivocheine, Basil. In the Light of Christ: Saint Symeon, the New Theologian (949–1022); Life, Spirituality, Doctrine. Translated by Anthony P. Gythiel. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1986.
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Study of major theological themes of Symeon, in five parts: “Life and Character of Symeon,” “Notably Ways of God,” “Knowledge of God,” “God with Us,” and “Toward Deification.”
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Symeon the New Theologian. Traités théologiques et éthiques. 2 vols. Edited and translated by Jean Darrouzes. Sources chrétiennes 122 and 129. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1966–1967.
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Critical edition and translation into French of major writings. See also Chapitres théologiques, gnostiques et pratiques. Sources chrétiennes 51 bis. Paris: Cerf, 1996. Other volumes in Sources chrétiennes 96, 104, 113, 156, 174, 196.
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Symeon the New Theologian. The Discourses. Translated by C. J. de Catanzaro. New York: Paulist, 1980.
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Translation of The Catechetical Discourses, rich in psychological observations of monastic life in the 10th century.
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Symeon the New Theologian. On the Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses. Translated by Alexander Golitzin. 3 vols. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1995–1997.
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Translation of writings: Vol. 1, The Church and Last Things; Vol. 2, On Virtue and the Chriistian Life; Vol. 3, Life, Times and Theology (background study).
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Turner, H. J. M. St. Symeon the New Theologian and Spiritual Fatherhood. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1990.
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Historical and theological study of writings of Symeon about being a spiritual guide.
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Gregory Palamas

Gregory (b. 1296–d. 1359) was a monk of Mt. Athos, and subsequently archbishop of Thessaloniki, who promoted the Hesychast doctrine of purification of the mind, so that it could descend into the heart, and thus experience the uncreated light or energies of God (as distinct from the divine essence, never able to be known). While this perspective, which draws on a tradition going back to Evagrius of Pontikos and the desert fathers, became canonical within orthodox tradition, it was condemned by the more scholastically trained Barlaam of Calabria as anti-intellectual. Palamas wrote his most important work, the Triads (Palamas 1973 and Palamas 1983) to defend Hesychast teaching. His 150 Chapters (Palamas 1988, analyzed in depth in Meyendorff 1998) were also written for this purpose. In addition, his Homilies (Palamas 2009) are also of interest. After the teaching of Palamas was affirmed by a patriarchal council held in Constantinople in 1341, Barlaam transferred his allegiance to the Roman church, in which there was more caution about the claims of interior experience, associated with Palamas.

Meyendorff, John. St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1998.
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Historical and theological introduction to the thought and context of Palamas, first published in 1964.
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Palamas, Gregory. Defense des saints hesychastes. 2 vols. 2d ed. Edited and translated by John Meyendorff. Spicilegium sacrum Lovaniense 30–31. Leuven, Belgium: University of Leuven, 1973.
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Critical edition and translation into French of The Triads, with introductory textual study of the major work of Palamas against Barlaam the Calabrian.
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Palamas, Gregory. The Triads. Translated by John Meyendorff. New York: Paulist, 1983.
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English translation of Gregory’s Triads, a key text about hesychasm, and the energies and essence of God.
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Palamas, Gregory. The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters. Edited and translated by Robert E. Sinkewicz. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1988.
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Critical edition and translation of the Capita, a major synthesis of the theology of Palamas.
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Palamas, Gregory. The Homilies. Translated by Christopher Veniamin. Waymart, PA: Mount Thabor, 2009.
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First complete translation into English of all the homilies of Gregory Palamas for the liturgical year.
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The 12th Century

Mystical teaching was transformed in the Latin West in part through rediscovery of the commentary of Origen on the Song of Songs. This text had a particular impact on Bernard of Clairvaux and other Cistercian writers. While Cistercian monasticism encouraged speculative mysticism inspired by reading of the Song of Songs, Hugh of St. Victor developed another school of mystical writing, influenced in part by Pseudo-Dionysius and shaped around his understanding of the sacramentality of the created world. Following the death of Hugh of St. Victor, other authors at his abbey combined a mystical theology with methods of argument shaped by the schools, most influentially Richard of St. Victor. The writings of Victorine thinkers have only recently begun to attract scholarly attention in the English language. In a different context, Hildegard of Bingen developed mystical teaching based around her visionary experiences and her awareness of the divine life force animating nature and the human body. She initiated a tradition of female mystical writing that would become much more pronounced in the 13th and 14th centuries, particular in vernacular languages (see Vernacular and Female Traditions in the Later Middle Ages).

William of St. Thierry

William of St. Thierry (b. c. 1085–d. c. 1148) was a Benedictine monk who studied at Reims and became abbot of the neighboring monastery of St. Thierry. After forming a close friendship with Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, he eventually became a Cistercian monk at Signy in 1135. He was the author of a large number of treatises about the nature of love, the human person, prayer, and contemplation, which are compiled in William of St. Thierry 1989–2007, and have been translated by various authors (see the book series William of St. Thierry (1070–1184) 1971–1981 and Carfantan 1987. He also wrote influential commentaries on the Song of Songs and St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. While Déchanet 1972 argues for the influence on William of Greek patristic authors, Bell 1984 emphasizes William’s reading of Augustine.

Bell, David N. The Image and Likeness: The Augustinian Spirituality of William of St. Thierry. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1984.
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Argues that the major source of inspiration for William of St. Thierry was not the Greek patristic tradition (as claimed by Déchanet), but St. Augustine.
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Carfantan, Jerry, trans. William, Abbot of St. Thierry: A Colloquium at the Abbey of St. Thierry. Cistercian Studies Series 94. Papers presented at the Colloque International d’Histoire Monastique, Reims-Saint-Thierry, France, 11–14, October 1987. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1987.
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Translation of an important volume of historically oriented essays relating to William of St-Thierry and his significance within 12th-century monastic thought.
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Déchanet, J. M. William of St. Thierry: The Man and His Work. Translated by Richard Strachan. Spencer, MA: Cistercian, 1972.
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Authoritative introduction by the leading French authority on William of St. Thierry.
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William of St. Thierry. Opera Omnia. 5 vols. Edited by Paul Verdeyen. Corpus Christianorum/Continuatio Mediaeualis 86–89A. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1989–2007.
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Critical editions of Latin text most of major writings of William of St. Thierry.
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William of St. Thierry (1070–1184). 8 vols. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1971–1981.
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The project of translating William’s extensive output, begun by Irish University Press, is still under way. Volumes that have appeared include Vol. 1 On Contemplating God, Prayer, Meditations, translated by Sister Penelope (Irish University Press, 1971); Vol. 2, Exposition on the Song of Songs, translated by Mother Columba Hart (Irish University Press, 1970); Vol. 3, The Mirror of Faith, translated by Thomas X. Davis (Cistercian Publications, 1979); Vol. 4, The Golden Epistle, translated by Theodore Berkeley (Cistercian Publications, 1971). Subsequent volumes, not given a volume number, include The Enigma of Faith, translated by John D. Anderson (Cistercian Publications, 1974); Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans, translated by John Baptist Hasbrouck (Cistercian Publications, 1980); The Nature and Dignity of Love, translated by Thomas X. Davis (Cistercian Publications, 1981); The Nature of the Body and the Soul, translated by Benjamin Clar, in Three Treatises on Man: A Cistercian Anthropology, Edited by Bernard McGinn (Cistercian Publications, 1977).
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Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard (b. 1090–d. 1153) was, after Augustine, perhaps the most important author to shape the Western mystical tradition. Having joined the newly established Cistercian Order at Cîteaux in 1112, he became the founding abbot of Clairvaux from 1115 until his death in 1153. As Gilson argues in his classic study (Gilson 1990, first published in 1940 and explored by many authors since), Bernard transformed mystical teaching in the Latin West through the depth and originality of his reading of the Song of Songs (Bernard of Clairvaux 1987, Bernard of Clairvaux 1971–1980), in particular through his emphasis on the soul’s experience of the Word of God. A gifted writer (see Pranger 1994), Bernard stimulated an experiential emphasis in talking about mystical theology that would be developed further by many mystics in subsequent centuries. Bernard has attracted attention both for his personality, mediated through his Letters (Bernard of Clairvaux 1998), as noted in the studies presented in McGuire 1991, and through the writing of his many admirers, studied by Bredero 1996 and Sommerfeldt 2004.

Bernard of Clairvaux. On the Song of Songs. 4 vols. Translated by Kilian Walsh, Spencer, MA: Cistercian, 1971–1980.
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Pivotal collection of sermons of Bernard of Clairvaux, encapsulating his mystical teaching.
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Bernard of Clairvaux. Selected Works. Translated by Gillian R. Evans. New York: Paulist, 1987.
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Useful compendium of various key works of Bernard in English translation, including On Loving God and selected sermons on the Song of Songs.
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Bernard of Clairvaux. The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Translated by Bruno Scott James. Stroud: Sutton, 1998.
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Reprint of the 1953 translation of all the letters of St. Bernard, with a new introduction by Beverley Mayne Kienzle.
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Bredero, Adriaan H. Bernard of Clairvaux: Between Cult and History. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 1996.
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A series of biographical essays by a scholar who emphasizes the way his disciples created hagiographical legends around Bernard.
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Gilson, Etienne. The Mystical Theology of Saint Bernard. Translated by A. H. C. Downes. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1990.
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Classic study of the St. Bernard’s theology, first written in 1934 (English translation first published 1940).
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Leclercq, Jean, C. H. Talbot, and Henry Rochais, eds. Sancti Bernardi Opera. 8 vols. Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957–1977.
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The key critical edition of the Latin text of Bernard’s complete writings, a project driven in particular by Jean Leclercq. The Latin text is reprinted alongside annotated translations into French of the complete works, Œuvres complètes, edited and translated by Yves Pierre Emery, Françoise Callerot, et al. (Paris: Cerf, 1990–; 33 vols. projected), with an important initial volume providing studies about St. Bernard.
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McGuire, Brian. The Difficult Saint: Bernard of Clairvaux and His Tradition. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1991.
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A collection of essays about St. Bernard in the context of religious life, and of his subsequent image in the Middle Ages.
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Pranger, M. B. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Shape of Monastic Thought: Broken Dreams. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994.
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Innovative analysis of the stylistic originality of Bernard’s mystical and exegetical writing, exploring Bernard’s reflection on life and the act of celebration.
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Sommerfeldt, John R. Bernard of Clairvaux on the Life of the Mind. New York: Newman, 2004.
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Reflection on themes of mysticism, humanism, and scholasticism in Bernard’s writing, matching Sommerfeldt’s study of Bernard’s teaching on social issues, Bernard of Clairvaux on the Spirituality of Relationship (New York: Newman Press, 2004).
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Hugh of St. Victor

Hugh (b. 1096–d. 1141) was a canon regular, who around 1115 came to the newly founded abbey of St. Victor, Paris, where he became its leading theologian until his death. Although primarily a systematic theologian and exegete of scripture, his theological vision was influenced by his reading of Pseudo-Dionysius, and he was a major influence on Richard of St. Victor. Only a few of his writings are noted here. Hugh combined an encyclopedic approach to learning with a mystical vision of the universe as underpinned by divine wisdom. His major intellectual synthesis, the De sacramentis (Hugh of St. Victor 2008, Hugh of St. Victor 1951), relates more to theology than mystical teaching, covered in various smaller treatises, like the De archa Noe and spiritual texts, (see Hugh of St. Victor 1969 and Hugh of St. Victor 2001. These writings, including his Didascalicon, an educational manual (Taylor 1991), have been attracting new interest for the way they bring together intellectual and mystical approaches to medieval learning (see Chase 2003, Rorem 2009, Rudolph 2004, and Coolman 2010).

Chase, Stephen. Contemplation and Compassion: The Victorine Tradition. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2003.
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Emphasizes the integration of action and contemplation in the Victorine masters of the 12th century.
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Coolman, Boyd Taylor. The Theology of Hugh of St. Victor: An Interpretation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Significant interpretative study of themes of the theology of Hugh of St. Victor, focusing on themes of formation in wisdom, reformation in wisdom, and its implementation in the Christian life, with its goal in contemplation.
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Hugh of St. Victor. On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1951.
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Translation of Hugh’s major work of systematic theology.
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Hugh of St. Victor. Six opuscules spirituels. Edited and translated by Roger Baron. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1969.
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Latin text with French translation of small mystical texts.
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Hugh of St. Victor. De archa Noe, Libellus de formatione arche. Edited by P. Sicard. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis 176. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001.
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Brepols is publishing the critical editions of the writings of Hugh of St. Victor, with De archa Noe, Libellus de formatione arche the first to be published. The second was De tribus diebus (Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis 177, 2002).
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Hugh of St. Victor. Hugonis de Sancto Victore de Sacramentis Christiane fidei. Edited by Reiner Berndt. Corpus Victorinum I. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 2008.
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Edition of Hugh’s influential work of systematic theology, based on an early manuscript from St. Victor.
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Rorem, Paul. Hugh of Saint Victor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195384369.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Accessible introduction to the thought of Hugh of St. Victor, thematically organized.
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Rudolph, Conrad. “First, I Find the Center Point”: Reading the Text of Hugh of Saint Victor’s The Mystic Ark. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004.
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Interpretative study of Hugh’s mystical theology.
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Taylor, Jerome, trans. The Didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor: a Medieval Guide to the Arts. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
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Survey of the place of secular and sacred reading, within a mystical vision of wisdom.
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Richard of St. Victor

Richard (d. 1173) was an Englishman who spent most of his life at the abbey of St. Victor in Paris. Influenced by Hugh of St. Victor, he developed a mystical theology based around ascent from the visible to the invisible, combining an allegorical approach to scripture with sophisticated scholastic discussion of the doctrine of God as a Trinity of persons, emanating from divine love. A prolific author, whose contemplative teaching is studied in Coulter 2006, his key theological synthesis is the De Trinitate (edited by Jean Ribaillier in Richard of St. Victor 1958, and translated in part in Richard of St. Victor 1979, and in complete form in Coolman and Coulter 2011).

Coolman, Boyd Taylor, and Dale M. Coulter, eds. and trans. Trinity and Creation. Victorine Texts in Translation: Exegesis, Theology and Spirituality from the Abbey of St. Victor. New York: New York City Press, 2011.
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Contains a complete English translation of Richard of St. Victor’s De trinitate, as well as Hugh of St. Victor’s De tribus diebus and Sententie de divinitate, with sequences of Adam of St. Victor.
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Coulter, Dale M. Per Visibilia ad Invisibilia: Theological Method in Richard of St. Victor (d. 1173). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006.
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Introduction to the Victorine inspiration of Richard’s theological writing.
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Richard of St. Victor. De Trinitate. Edited by Jean Ribaillier. Paris: Vrin, 1958.
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Critical edition of Latin texts of Richard of St. Victor’s major synthesis of mystical Trinitarian theology.
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Richard of St. Victor. The Twelve Patriarchs; The Mystical Ark; Book Three of The Trinity. Translated by Grover A. Zinn. New York: Paulist, 1979.
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Translation of two major treatises of Richard of St. Victor and part of his De Trinitate.
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Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard (b. 1098–d. 1179), influenced in part by the mystical approach to scripture developed by Rupert of Deutz in the early 12th century, produced a remarkably original series of works after a profound mystical experience that she reported took place in her forty-third year. She had been raised alongside a male monastic community in the abbey of Rupertsberg, under the supervision of Jutta, who died in 1136. Whereas Jutta’s life had been dominated by self-mortification, Hildegard developed a mystical approach that involved strong awareness of the Holy Spirit as a divine life force in the created world, working within nature as well as within the human person. While her first visionary synthesis, Scivias (Hildegard of Bingen 1978, Hildegard of Bingen 1990), focused on Ecclesia, she created late in life a new synthesis of her understanding of creation in the Liber Divinorum Operum, or “Book of Divine Works” (Hildegard of Bingen 1996). For an introduction to the vast flowering of interest in her writing, in German as much as in English, see the studies of Flanagan 1998, Newman 1987, and Newman 1998. Silvas 1999 serves as a guide to the biographical sources.

Flanagan, Sabina. Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life. 2d ed. London: Routledge, 1998.
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Historically informed biography.
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Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. 2 vols. Edited by Adelgundis Führkotter and Angela Carlevaris. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis, 43–43A. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1978.
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Critical edition of Hildegard’s first major visionary treatise (Know the Ways), outlining her vision of the progress of Ecclesia.
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Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. Translated by Columba Hart and Jane Bishop. New York: Paulist, 1990.
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Complete translation of Scivias, with introduction by Barbara J. Newman.
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Hildegard of Bingen. Liber Divinorum Operum. Edited by Albert Derolez and Peter Dronke. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis 92. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1996.
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Critical edition of Hildegard’s most mature visionary synthesis, focusing on creation and the nature of the human person.
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Newman, Barbara. Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
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Study of feminine themes in Hildegard’s theology.
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Newman, Barbara, ed. Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
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Essays examining different aspect of Hildegard’s persona and achievement.
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Silvas, Anna, trans. Jutta and Hildegard: the Biographical Sources. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999.
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Translation of all biographical sources, including The Life of Hildegard, which incorporates significant autobiographical testimony by Hildegard.
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Joachim of Fiore

After a spiritual crisis, Joachim (b. c. 1135–d. 1201/1202) became a lay brother at a Cistercian monastery in Calabria, before being appointed abbot at Corazzo. He subsequently spent time at the Cistercian abbey of Casamiri, until he left to become a hermit and then founder of an abbey at Fiore, also in Calabria. Through his commentaries on the Apocalypse and the spiritual meaning of the Bible as a whole (examined in McGinn 1985 and Wessley 1990), Joachim was a monk particularly interested in allegorical interpretation of scripture, but opposed the scholastic Trinitarian theology of Peter Lombard. As Reeves 1969 and Reeves 1976 show (see also the essays inWest 1975), 13th-century disciples of Joachim extended his allegorical approach as justifying a forthcoming “Age of the Holy Spirit,” which would purify the church of corruption. See Joachim of Fiore 1986, Joachim of Fiore 1983, and Joachim of Fiore 2009 for critical editions of Joachim’s writings, and McGinn 1979 for translations.

Joachim of Fiore. Liber de concordia Noui ac Veteris Testamenti. Edited by Daniel E. Randolph. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983.
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Critical edition of a smaller but significant key writing of Joachim.
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Joachim of Fiore. Enchiridion super Apocalypsim. Edited by Edward Kilian Burger. Toronto, ON: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1986.
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Critical edition of Joachim’s influential commentary on the Apocalypse.
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Joachim of Fiore. Psalterium decem cordarum. Edited by Kurt-Victor Selge. Monumenta Germaniae historica, Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 20. Hannover, Germany: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2009.
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Critical edition of Joachim’s theological reflection on the Trinity and history.
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McGinn, Bernard, ed. and trans. Apocalyptic Spirituality: Treatises and Letters of Lactantius, Adso of Montier-en-Der, Joachim of Fiore, the Franciscan Spirituals, Savonarola. New York: Paulist, 1979.
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Translation of various medieval apocalyptic texts, including two letters of Joachim, with excerpts from the Book of Concordance and the Book of Figures.
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McGinn, Bernard. The Calabrian Abbot: Joachim of Fiore in the History of Western Thought. New York: Macmillan, 1985.
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Historically grounded exploration of major theological themes in Joachim’s writing.
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Reeves, Marjorie. The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969.
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Seminal study of how spiritual Franciscans invoked Joachite ideals to protest against corruption in the church.
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Reeves, Marjorie. Joachim of Fiore and the Prophetic Future: A Medieval Study in Historical Thinking. London: SPCK, 1976.
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Explores Joachim’s vision of historical development.
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Wessley, Stephen E. Joachim of Fiore and Monastic Reform. New York: P. Lang, 1990.
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Explores the monastic context of Joachim’s writing, with particular reference to his debt and response to Cistercian tradition, and the evolution of his new reformed order at Fiore.
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West, Delno C., ed. Joachim of Fiore in Christian Thought: Essays on the Influence of the Calabrian Prophet. 2 vols. New York: Burt Franklin, 1975.
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Collection of influential essays by leading scholars on Joachim’s writing and influence.
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Vernacular and Female Traditions in the Later Middle Ages

Between the 13th and 15th centuries, there was a great flowering of mystical writing in Christian Europe, just as there was in Jewish communities across Europe and in the regions of Islamic influence. This was also a period in which vernacular traditions of mystical writing developed alongside those of Latin scholarship. More critical attention has been given to mystical writing in vernacular languages, especially by women, than to mystical writing in Latin. There are numerous anthologies devoted to women mystics in particular, such as Dickens 2009. What follows here is an introduction to major authors who have attracted scholarly attention, without any claims to completeness. In both the Franciscan and Dominican tradition, it is difficult to distinguish mystical theology from other forms of theology. Vernacular writers on the spiritual life are often called mystics, although their teaching is sometimes described as vernacular theology, on the model of monastic and scholastic theology, as exemplified by the works of McGinn and Watson. Figures like Meister Eckhart, who wrote both in Latin for a scholastically trained audience and in German for a lay audience, both male and female, demonstrate how difficult it is to make arbitrary classifications. Female mystics started to assert themselves in the 12th century, notably with Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), who established a precedent of women authors establishing their authority through claims to having been inspired by the Holy Spirit. Since the 1990s, there has been a great flowering of studies of women mystics and of the relationship of mystical women to male clerical and religious authority. The discovery of the lives and writings of these women has generated the production of a large number of essay collections (e.g., Petroff 1994 and Mulder-Bakker 2004). Jantzen 1995 offers a feminist perspective on mysticism in general, commenting in detail on Julian of Norwich, while Newman 1995 and Voaden 1999 explore how various other women used mystical language to offer original teaching, and were perceived as transgressing social norms. There is much debate about the extent to which male writings about spiritual women reflect a desire for control, as postulated by Elliott 2004, or respect for their originality, as maintained by Coakley 2006. Minnis and Voaden 2010, an edited volume, offers a near complete overview of the writings and lives of all major medieval religious women. Mystical writing was not confined to women, however. During the second half of the 14th century, vernacular spiritual writing came to offer not just strategies for personal transformation, but—most vividly in the case of Birgitta of Sweden and Catherine of Siena—apocalyptic visions, calling for reform for the church as a whole.

Coakley, John W. Women, Men, and Spiritual Power: Female Saints and Their Male Collaborators. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
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Argues that there was important, mutually beneficial collaboration between female mystics and their male confessors and biographers.
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Dickens, Andrea-Janelle. The Female Mystic: Great Women Thinkers of the Middle Ages. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009.
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Introductions to all the major medieval women mystics, focusing on their provision of experiential alternatives to academic theology.
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Elliott, Dyan. Proving Woman: Female Spirituality and Inquisitional Culture in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
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Explores how the lives of female saints were shaped by a masculine culture determined to hunt out heresy in the later Middle Ages.
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Jantzen, Grace. Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
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Influential monograph that invokes feminist concerns about power and gender to critique classical theories of mysticism, while engaging in a more detailed study of Julian of Norwich.
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Minnis, Alastair, and Rosalynn Voaden, eds. Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition c. 1100–c. 1500. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2010.
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Authoritative collection of studies surveying medieval holy women, many celebrated as mystics and visionaries.
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Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B., ed. Seeing and Knowing: Women and Learning in Medieval Europe, 1200–1550. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
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A collection of papers arguing that women, particularly mystics and visionaries, developed alternative modes of perception from those educated in a male clerical milieu.
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Newman, Barbara. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
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Republished essays touching on women and religion, with particular emphasis on the 12th and 13th centuries.
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Petroff, Elizabeth Alvida. Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Explores the emergence of a distinct spirituality by religious women in the medieval period in terms of their using visionary experience and mastery of the body to develop an alternative model of authority within society.
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Voaden, Rosalynn. God’s Words, Women’s Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of Late-Medieval Women Visionaries. Suffolk, UK, and Rochester, NY: York Medieval Press, 1999.
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Explores the ways in which women mystics were perceived, with particular attention to Birgitta of Sweden and Margery Kempe.
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The 13th Century

Mystical writing in the 13th century was produced in Latin, within the context of the schools, in particular within Victorine and Franciscan traditions, as exemplified in McEvoy 2003 and Harrington 2004 (both cited under Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite). The foundational study Grundmann 1995 explores the close connection between heretical groups and the renewal that led to new religious movements. Francis of Assisi (b. 1181/1182–d. 1226) was widely revered as having achieved the ultimate goal of mystical union with Christ, manifest in his sharing the wounds of Christ’s passion. The precedent he set inspired a flood of Christocentric mystical writing, perhaps most powerfully articulated by Bonaventure and his many imitators. The 13th century also witnessed the beginnings of a mystical literature in vernacular tongues—notably in Dutch by Hadewijch, in German by Mechtild of Magdeburg, and in French by Margaret Porete. Beer 1992 explores how women developed new ways of describing mystical experience. There were close connections, as well as significant differences, between male mystics like Meister Eckhart and his female contemporaries, as explored in McGinn 1994 and Hollywood 1995. These figures precipitated a flood of spiritual writing by both women and men, as seen in Clark 1970 and Davies 1988. Hamburger 1990 considers the original visual culture generated in female communities. This section offers an introduction to major mystical authors of the period, with particular attention to those available in modern English translations. It begins with Bonaventure, then considers Dutch and German mystics, before dealing with mystical writing in French.

Beer, Frances. Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1992.
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A comparative study of three women mystics: Hildegard of Bingen, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Julian of Norwich.
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Clark, James M. The Great German Mystics: Eckhart, Tauler and Suso. New York: Russell and Russell, 1970.
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Introduction to Eckhart, Tauler, and Suso, first published in 1949.
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Davies, Oliver. God Within: The Mystical Tradition of Northern Europe. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1988.
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Includes useful introductions to the life and thought of Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, and Ruusbroec. Revised edition published in 2006.
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Grundmann, Herbert. Religious Movements in the Middle Ages: The Historical Links between Heresy, the Mendicant Orders, and the Women’s Religious Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, with the Historical Foundations of German Mysticism. Translated by Stephen Rowan. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.
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Classic study, first published 1935 (2d ed., Darmstadt, 1961), of the complex relationship between mendicant orders, female piety, and heresy in the 13th century.
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Hamburger, Jeffrey F. The Rothschild Canticles: Art and Mysticism in Flanders and the Rhineland circa 1300. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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Significant exploration of illuminated manuscripts interpreted within the light of contemporary mysticism.
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Hollywood, Amy. The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.
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Argues that gender plays a significant role in differentiating the mystical thought of Eckhart from that of Mechthild and Marguerite Porete.
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McGinn, Bernard, ed. Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete. New York: Continuum, 1994.
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Collected essays exploring the relationship between Eckhart and various female mystics of the 13th century.
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Bonaventure

The Victorine spiritual tradition of the 12th century continued to exert a strong influence on Franciscan mysticism, which developed in many directions in the late 13th and 14th centuries, particularly through the spiritual Franciscan movement. Robert Grosseteste was a significant philosophy and theologian who was also a major commentator on Pseudo-Dionysius (see McEvoy 2003 and Harrington 2004, cited under Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite). The most significant influence on Franciscan mysticism, however was Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (b. 1221–d. 1274), who joined the Franciscan Order in 1243, becoming a master of theology in Paris by 1253, and then Master General of the Order from 1257 until his death. His theological writing, critically edited by Franciscan scholars in S.Bonaventurae Opera Omnia (Bonaventure 1882–1902), and translated more recently in various editions (Bonaventure 1978, Bonaventure 1999, Bonaventure 2002, by Bonaventure 2005, Cousins 1978) has a profound mystical cast, influenced by his reading of Augustine and Richard of St. Victor, among others. Cullen 2006 is one of several introductions to his thought.

Bonaventure. S.Bonaventurae Opera omnia. 10 vols. Edited by Patrum Collegii S. Bonaventurae. Ad claras Aquas (Quaracchi), Italy: Ex typographia Collegii S. Bonaventurae, 1882–1902.
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Critical editions of the mystical writings of Bonaventure occur in Volume 8: Opuscula varia ad theologiam mysticam et res Ordinis Fratrum minorum spectantia, revised as Decem opuscula ad theologia mysticam spectantia. 4th ed. Ad Claras Aquas (Quaracchi): Ex Typographia eiusdem Collegii, 1949.
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Bonaventure. Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey into God; The Tree of Life; The Life of St. Francis. Translated by Ewert Cousins. Classics of Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist, 1978.
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English translations of three widely diffused mystical treatises of Bonaventure.
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Bonaventure. Bonaventure: Mystical Writings. Translated by Zachary Hayes. New York: Crossroad, 1999.
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Latin text with translation of Bonaventure’s influential exposition of the Franciscan view of the spiritual life.
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Bonaventure. Itinerarium mentis in Deum. Edited and translated by Zachary Hayes and Philotheus Boehner. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 2002.
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Perhaps the most celebrated summary of Bonaventure’s mystical teaching.
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Bonaventure. Breviloquium. Translated by Dominic V. Monti. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 2005.
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Translation of Bonaventure’s Breviloquium, offering his theological vision of how all things descend from God.
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Cousins, Ewert H. Bonaventure and the Coincidence of Opposites. Chicago: Franciscan Herald, 1978.
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Exploration of the mystical theology of Bonaventure.
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Cullen, Christopher M. Bonaventure. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149258.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Introduction to the key philosophical and theological teachings of Bonaventure.
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Hadewijch

Hadewijch lived in the Low Countries in the mid-13th century. Little is known about her life, but she produced some of the earliest writing surviving in Dutch, namely, her letters (Hadewijch 1990) and poems (Hadewijch 1982). Hadewijch 1980 is an edition of most of her known works. Millhaven 1993 introduces her writing as offering an alternative way of perceiving the world.

Hadewijch. The Complete Works. Translated by Columba Hart. New York: Paulist, 1980.
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English translation of most of the known writings of Hadewijch.
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Hadewijch. Van liefde en minne: De Strofische gedichten. Edited by M. Ortmanns. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo, 1982.
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Critical edition of the poems of Hadewijch, celebrating divine love.
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Hadewijch. De brieven van Hadewijch. Edited by Paul Mommaers. Averbode, Belgium: Altiora, 1990.
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Critical edition of the letters of spiritual exhortation by Hadewijch.
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Milhaven, John Giles. Hadewijch and Her Sisters: Other Ways of Loving and Knowing. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
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Examines the writing of Hadewijch as offering an alternative epistemology to that of scholastic thought.
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Beatrice of Nazareth

Beatrice (b. 1200–d. 1268) was a Beguine who subsequently joined a Cistercian community at Nazareth in Brabant. Her Seven Manieren van Heilige Minnen (Beatrice of Nazareth 1965; translated in de Ganck 1991) constitutes one of the earliest known examples of Dutch prose.

Beatrice of Nazareth. Seven Manieren van Heilige Minnen, in Mediaeval Netherlands religious literature. Translated by E. Colledge. Leiden, The Netherlands: Sythoff, 1965.
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Vernacular treatise on the seven stages of loving God.
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de Ganck, Roger, ed. and trans. Beatrice of Nazareth. 3 vols. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1991.
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Three-volume set of translations and studies relating to Beatrice: Vol. 1, The Life of Beatrice of Nazareth; Vol. 2, Beatrice of Nazareth in Her Context; Vol. 3, Towards Unification with God (translation of her Seven Manners of Loving). The Life of Beatrice incorporates a Latin version of her own teaching, originally delivered in Dutch.
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Mechtild of Magdeburg

Mechthild (b. c. 1207–d. c. 1282) was of noble background, but became a Beguine living under Dominican supervision from around 1230 to 1270, when she attached herself to the Benedicine abbey at Helfta, itself a significant center of learning and spirituality. Her Flowing Light of the Godhead (Mechtild of Magdeburg 1990, Mechtild of Magdeburg 1998) is a masterpiece of mystical theology, based on notions of personal transformation (Wiethaus 1996). It survives in a great many editions that reflect subsequent efforts to reformulate her ideas in different environments, as argued in Poor 2004.

Mechtild of Magdeburg. Das fliessende Licht der Gottheit: Nach der Einsiedler Handschrift in kritischem Vergleich mit der gesamten Überlieferung. Edited by Hans Neumann. Munich: Artemis, 1990.
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Critical edition of Mechthild’s Middle High German text.
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Mechtild of Magdeburg. The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Translated by Frank Tobin. New York: Paulist, 1998.
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Translation of her major synthesis of mystical theology.
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Poor, Sara S. Mechthild of Magdeburg and Her Book: Gender and the Making of Textual Authority. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
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Explores the reception of the writing of Mechthild of Magdeburg, both in her own day and in subsequent centuries.
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Wiethaus, Ulrike. Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of Mechthild of Magdeburg. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
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Relates the therapeutic context of the writing of Mechtild of Magdeburg.
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Gertrude the Great

Gertrude (b. 1256–d. c. 1302) studied at the Benedictine monastery at Helfta before experiencing a religious conversion there in 1281. The first book of her Legatus divinae pietatis (Gertrude the Great 1967–1986; translated in Gertrude the Great 1993) contains an account of her life, while the second book contains her own writing. Finnegan 1991 offers the main current overview of the nuns at Helfta.

Finnegan, Mary Jeremy. The Women of Helfta: Scholarship and Mystics. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991.
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Substantially revised and updated version of Scholars and Mystics (1962), focusing in particular on the teachings of Gertrude of Helfta.
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Gertrude the Great. Oeuvres spirituelles. Edited and translated by Jacques Hourlier, et al. Sources chrétiennes 127, 139, 143, 255, 331. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1967–1986.
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A multivolume set, containing her Spiritualia Exercitia and Legatus divinae pietatis, in the original Latin text and French translation.
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Gertrude the Great. The Herald of Divine Love. Edited and translated by Margaret Winkworth. New York: Paulist, 1993.
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This translation covers just Books 1–2 and part of Book 3 of the Legatus divinae pietatis, containing the Life of Gertude (Book 1), her own text (Book 2), and the beginning of a shortened version, composed by a sister of the community.
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Angela of Foligno

Angela (b. c. 1248–d. 1309) was a married woman of Foligno who experienced a spiritual conversion in 1285, inspired by Francis of Assisi, after which she recorded her experiences to a Franciscan confessor and became, in 1291, a Franciscan tertiary. Her writings were taken down in the vernacular but preserved through the version translated into Latin (Angela of Foligno 1985, Mazzoni and Cirignano 1999).

Angela of Foligno. Il libro della Beata Angela da Foligno: Edizione critica. Edited by Ludger Their and Abele Calufetti. Grottaferrata, Romae: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Quas, 1985.
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Collection of various writings by Angela, edited by her disciples.
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Mazzoni, Cristina, and John Cirignano, eds. and trans. Angela of Foligno’s Memorial. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1999.
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Edition and translation of Angela of Foligno’s Memorial, an important record of feminine Franciscan piety in the later 13th century.
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Marguerite Porete

Little is known about Marguerite (d. 1310), except that her Mirror of Simple Souls (Porete 1986, Porete 1993) was initially identified as containing heresy by the bishop of Valenciennes, and was the cause of her eventual execution for heresy in Paris in 1310. While there had been an established tradition in the 13th century of mystical writing in Dutch, this was the first major such treatise to be written in French. Robinson 2001 and Kocher 2008 reflect on how her fascination with annihilation of the soul transforms traditional categories of gender.

Kocher, Suzanne (Zann). Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2008.
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Explores themes of transformation of gender and the spiritual ideal of love in Porete’s writing.
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Porete, Marguerite. Speculum simplicium animarum/Le mirouer des simples âmes. Edited by Romana Guarnieri and Paul Verdeyen. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis 69. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1986.
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Middle French text (revised from the lost Old French version) edited by Romana Guarnieri, on facing pages with the medieval Latin text, edited by Paul Verdeyen from the four Continental Latin manuscripts.
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Porete, Marguerite. The Mirror of Simple Souls. Introduction and translation by Ellen Babinsky. New York: Paulist, 1993.
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Modern English translation from the Middle French version of the lost original.
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Robinson, Joanne Maguire. Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls. SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001.
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Explores themes of nobility and annihilation from the perspective of contemporary mystical literature.
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The Continent in the 14th and 15th Centuries

Vernacular mystical writing continued to develop in the 14th and 15th centuries, just as many aspects of institutional religion were coming under increasing scrutiny. In part this was provoked by the move of the papacy to Avignon for much of the 14th century, and by a desire by a number of mystical authors to see it return to Rome in a radically purified guise. There was an increasing tension between those mystics viewed as heretical for their commitment to the “free spirit” and those recognized as orthodox by the authorities (Lerner 1972). There was often, however, no clear distinction between the great range of mystical writers, some of whom focused on affective devotional themes, such as Julian of Norwich, while others, like the male author of The Cloud of Unknowing, were more intellectual in their approach (the latter influenced by the Mystical Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius). Women mystics on the continent (most famously Birgitta of Sweden and Catherine of Siena) also developed strong political interests in the later 14th century, urging the popes to return to Rome and reform the church (Blumenfeld-Kosinski 2006). English-language scholarship has given particular attention to the development of mystical literature in Middle English in the 14th and early 15th centuries (Hirsh 1996). There was a comparable explosion of mystical writing in other parts of Europe, with an extensive bibliography in various continental languages, too large to be reported here. The writings of a selection of distinguished mystics are cited in this section, grouped according to linguistic category (Dutch and German, and then those based in Italy) in a roughly chronological sequence. Many more could, however, have been included. The literature on Dante and the mystical tradition alone is a field in itself.

Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate. Poets, Saints, and Visionaries of the Great Schism, 1378–1417. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
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Exploration of the way women visionaries became particularly important in calling for reform of the church during the papal schism.
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Hirsh, John C. The Boundaries of Faith: The Development and Transmission of Medieval Spirituality. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1996.
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Examines the communication of religious belief in the later Middle Ages, with particular reference to England and Margery Kempe.
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Lerner, Robert E. The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
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Classic study of heretical versions of mysticism, particularly as they developed in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
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Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart (b. c. 1260–d. 1327/1328) joined the Order of Preachers in Erfurt, rising quickly to become prior at Erfurt and then provincial of Thuringia. He spent the years 1300–1303 lecturing in Paris and becoming provincial of Saxony, before being sent back to Paris in 1311. He was a prolific author of works in both Latin and German (See Eckhart 1936–2006, Schürmann 1978, Colledge and McGinn 1981, McGinn, et al. 1986, Davies 1991). He subsequently surfaces in Cologne, where he faced accusations of heresy that came to a head shortly before his death in 1327/1328. Pope John XXII issued a bull in 1329 that condemned his teachings. His writings have attracted wide critical attention, sometimes from a personal perspective (Schürmann 1978, Forman 1991, Kelley 1977). Other works explore the relationship between the Latin and the German writings (Tobin 1986, Davies 1991, McGinn 2001).

Colledge, Edmund, and Bernard McGinn, eds. and trans. Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense. New York: Paulist, 1981.
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Translated selections from commentaries on John and from various German sermons and treatises.
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Davies, Oliver. Meister Eckhart: Mystical Theologian. London: SPCK, 1991.
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Accessible introduction to Eckhart’s background, thought, and influence.
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Eckhart, Meister. Meister Eckhart: Die deutschen und lateinischen Werke. 11 vols. Herausgegeben im Auftrage der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1936–2006.
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Critical edition of Latin and German works of Eckhart, initiated in 1936, but reestablished in 1966.
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Forman, Robert K. C. Meister Eckhart: The Mystic as Theologian. Rockport, MA: Element, 1991.
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Analysis of Eckhart’s mysticism, with a particular focus on the experience of personal transformation.
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Kelley, C. F. Meister Eckhart on Divine Knowledge. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977.
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Focuses on Eckhart not so much for his mysticism, as for his teaching about Divine Knowledge as the goal of understanding.
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McGinn, Bernard. The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing. New York: Crossroad, 2001.
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Definitive guide to Eckhart’s teaching both in Latin and German, focusing on the core themes of the eternal birth of the Word in the soul, the metaphysics of flow, and his sense of a return to the ground of all being.
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McGinn, Bernard, Frank Tobin, and Elvira Borgstadt, eds. and trans. Meister Eckhart, Teacher and Preacher. New York: Paulist, 1986.
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Contains translated selections from commentaries on Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus and John, with six Latin sermons and twenty-four selected German sermons.
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Schürmann, Reiner. Meister Eckhart, Mystic and Philosopher: Translations with Commentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
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Extended translations and commentary on specific sermons of Eckhart.
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Tobin, Frank. Meister Eckhart: Thought and Language. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.
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Introduction to Eckhart’s thought, with particular emphasis on his debt to scholastic tradition as well as his originality as a thinker in medieval German.
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Henry Suso

A Dominican who entered the order in Constance, Suso (b. c. 1300–d. 1366) studied under Meister Eckhart in Cologne, then taught at Constance and Ulm. Suso was actively involved in promoting renewal in women’s religious communities in southern Germany. His Horologium (Suso 1989, Suso 1994) was of enormous influence, including on later medieval visual imagery, as shown in Hamburger 1998.

Hamburger, Jeffrey F. The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany. New York: Zone, 1998.
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Considers the writings of Suso within the visual context of late medieval mysticism.
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Suso, Henry. The Exemplar, with Two German Sermons. Translated by Frank Tobin. New York: Paulist, 1989.
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A complete translation of Suso’s Exemplar, incorporating The Life of the Servant (Suso’s autobiography), The Little Book of Wisdom, The Little Book of Truth, and The Little Book of Letters.
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Suso, Henry. Wisdom’s Watch upon the Hours. Translated by Edmund Colledge. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1994.
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Translation of Suso’s Horologium Sapientiae, one of the most widely diffused devotional treatises of the later Middle Ages, focused around Christ’s passion and the pursuit of eternal wisdom.
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Johannes von Tauler and His Circle

Tauler (b. c. 1300–d. 1361) was a Dominican, taught by Eckhart in Strasburg. He spent much of his life delivering sermons in that city (Tauler 1910, Tauler 1985), and corresponding with other mystically inclined individuals, like Margarita Ebner. He was a key influence on the devotional life of the Dominican nuns at Engelthal (Hindsley 1998).

Hindsley, Leonard P. The Mystics of Engelthal: Writings from a Medieval Monastery. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998.
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Explores writings of various women in the Dominican convent of Engelthal, near Nuremberg, influenced in part by Tauler.
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Tauler, Johannes von. Die Predigten Taulers: Aus der Engelberger und der Freiburger Handschrift sowie aus Schmidts Abschriften der ehemaligen Straßburger Handschriften. Edited by Ferdinand Vetter. Berlin: Weidmann, 1910.
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Critical edition of writings of Tauler.
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Tauler, Johannes von. Sermons. Translated by Maria Shrady. New York: Paulist, 1985.
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Translation of a selection of Tauler’s widely read sermons for the liturgical year.
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Jan van Ruusbroec

A priest active in Brussels and (after 1343) in Groenendaal, van Ruysbroek (b. 1293–d. 1381) came into debate with mystics of a more radical character, sometimes known as the Brethren of the Free Spirit. He was a prolific author in medieval Dutch, and his writings are edited and studied in detail in Mommaers 1975, Mommaers and de Paepe 1984, and Mommaers 2009 The works are translated in van Ruusbroec 1985 and Verdeyen 1994). He combines mysticism with a strong Trinitarian theology, as shown by Dupré 1984 and Van Nieuwenhove 2003.

Dupré, Louis. The Common Life: Origins of Trinitarian Mysticism and Its Development by Jan Ruusbroec. New York: Crossroad, 1984.
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A slim introduction to the theme of Trinitarian doctrine in Christian mystical tradition, with particular reference to Ruusbroec.
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Mommaers, Paul. The Land Within: The Process of Possessing and Being Possessed by God According to the Mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck. Translated from the Dutch by David N. Smith. Chicago: Franciscan Herald, 1975.
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Study of Ruusbroec’s mysticism.
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Mommaers, Paul. Jan van Ruusbroec: Mystical Union with God. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2009.
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Introduction to Ruusbroec in terms of the broader theory of mysticism as about union with God.
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Mommaers, Paul, and N. de Paepe, eds. Jan van Ruusbroec: The Sources, Content and Sequels of his Mysticism. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1984.
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Collected essays on Ruusbroec’s relationship to Eckhart and other beguines, as well as on his influence.
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Van Nieuwenhove, Rik. Jan van Ruusbroec: Mystical Theologian of the Trinity. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003.
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Detailed exploration of Trinitarian themes within the writing of Ruusbroec.
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van Ruusbroec, Jan. The Spiritual Espousals and Other Works. Translated by James A. Wiseman. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1985.
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Translation of Ruysbroec’s Spiritual Espousals (about the active and contemplative life), as well as three shorter treatises: The Sparkling Stone, A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, and The Little Book of Clarification, all concerned with the goal of union with God.
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Verdeyen, Paul. Ruusbroec and His Mysticism. Collegeville, MI: Liturgical, 1994.
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Accessible introduction to Ruusbroec in his contemporary context, with the second part devoted to translated extracts from his writings.
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Birgitta of Sweden

Born to an aristocratic family, Birgitta (b. 1302/1303–d. 1373) devoted herself to religious life after the death of her husband in 1344, founding a religious order at Vadstena in Sweden. She lived in Rome from around 1350 until her death, becoming famous for her revelations that called for the popes to return from Avignon and to reform the church. Her Revelations (Birgitta of Sweden 1990, Birgitta of Sweden 1997) are characterized by keen awareness of corruption in the church. Morris 1999 portrays her prophetic character, which provided a precedent for the preaching of Catherine of Siena.

Birgitta of Sweden. Life and Selected Revelations. Edited by Marguerite Tjader Harris. Translated by Albert Rye Kezel. New York: Paulist, 1990.
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Translation of the 14th-century Life of Birgitta by her two confessors, Peter of Alvastra (d. 1390) and Peter, a secular master of theology (d. 1378), and of the fifth and seventh books of her Revelations, in which she presents theological questions, with answers by Christ.
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Birgitta of Sweden. Saint Bride and Her Book: Birgitta of Sweden’s Revelations. Translated by Julia Bolton Holloway. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
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Modern English version of Middle English version of Birgitta’s Revelations, such as might have been known to Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.
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Morris, Bridget. St. Birgitta of Sweden. Rochester, NY: Boydell, 1999.
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Biographical study of Birgitta and her writings.
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Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena (b. 1347–d. 1380) was a Dominican tertiary who wrote a prolific body of letters to a wide circle within a relatively brief period between 1370 and 1380 (Noffke 2000–2008) as well as a treatise on divine providence (Catherine of Siena 1980, Catherine of Siena 2006,). She identified herself strongly with the cause of returning the papacy to Rome. Her cult was strongly promoted by Raymond of Capua, who deposed his predecessor, Raymundus Elias, as Master General of the Order of Preachers in 1380, following his support for the Avignonese papacy. While some scholars in the past have questioned her claims to miraculous literacy, Noffke 1996 and, more fully, Tylus 2009 argue that she gave important literate expression in the dialect of Siena to her own ideas.

Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue. Translated by Suzanne Noffke. New York: Paulist, 1980.
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English translation of Catherine’s one theological treatise.
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Catherine of Siena. Il dialogo della divina provvidenza. Edited by Angiolo Pucetti and Tito Cenci. Siena: Cantagalli, 2006.
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Critical edition of Catherine’s one theological treatise on divine providence.
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Noffke, Suzanne. Catherine of Siena: Vision through a Distant Eye. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1996.
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Focuses on major theological themes in Catherine’s writing.
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Noffke, Suzanne, trans. The Letters of Catherine of Siena. 4 vols. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000–2008.
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Definitive English translation, with extensive commentary and discussion of dating of Catherine’s complete epistolary corpus, completing Noffke’s introduction to and translation of Catherine’s Dialogue (Catherine of Siena 1980).
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Tylus, Jane. Reclaiming Catherine of Siena: Literacy, Literature, and the Signs of Others. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
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Situates Catherine’s writing with emerging literacy in 14th-century Italy.
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England in the 14th and 15th Centuries

Fourteenth-century England produced a significant number of mystical writers, both male and female, comparable to those active on the continent during this period. There are numerous anthologies of their writing (e.g., Colledge 1962, Armstrong 1991). Their writings have attracted a significant body of scholarship, some of which explores connections to Latin mystical writing in England, such as Knowles 1961, Riehle 1981, Windeatt 1994 and Pollard and Boenig 1997. The interconnection of various English mystical writers is examined in Glasscoe 1993 and, with an interest in theorizing spatiality, Davis 2008. There are many studies of individual authors in the series of conference proceedings edited by Marion Glasscoe, including Glasscoe 1980.

Armstrong, Karen, ed. The English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century. London: Kyle Cathie, 1991.
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Extracts in modern English from Richard Rolle, The Cloud of Unknowing, Walter Hilton, and Julian of Norwich.
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Colledge, Eric, ed. The Medieval Mystics of England. New York: Scribners, 1962.
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Anthology with extended introduction of major 14th-century English mystics.
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Davis, Carmel Bendon. Mysticism and Space: Space and Spatiality in the Works of Richard Rolle, The Cloud of Unknowing Author, and Julian of Norwich. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
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Original discussion of spatiality as a hermeneutic tool within various English mystical authors.
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Glasscoe, Marion. English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith. London and New York: Longman, 1993.
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Close textual study of the writings of five major English mystics of the 14th and early 15th centuries.
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Glasscoe, Marion, ed. The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England: Papers Read at the Exeter Symposium, July 1980. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 1980.
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First of a regular series of collected essays on English mystical writing; followed by publication of papers from the Exeter Symposium II–V, edited by Glasscoe and published by D. S. Brewer (1984, 1987, 1992), and VI, 2004, edited by E. A. Jones.
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Knowles, David. The English Mystical Tradition. London: Burns & Oates, 1961.
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Elegantly written essays on the major 14th-century English mystics.
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Pollard, William F., and Robert Boenig, eds. Mysticism and Spirituality in Medieval England. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
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Literary studies of mystical writings in England, some Latin, but most in English, written in the 14th and early 15th centuries.
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Riehle, Wolfgang. The Middle English Mystics. Translated by Bernard Standring. London: Routledge, 1981.
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A monograph that focuses on the various kinds of metaphors invoked in medieval English mystical writing.
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Windeatt, Barry, ed. English Mystics of the Middle Ages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511518812Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Essays on 14th-century English mystical writers, with particular attention to their debt to the traditions of St. Anselm and the Cistercians, as well as to Denys the Areopagite.
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Richard Rolle

A hermit and spiritual advisor to religious women from the north of England, Richard Rolle (d. 1349) developed a strongly devotional style of mystical writing, with strong awareness of the sweetness of the reception of divine grace. His writings are prolific, ranging across commentary on scripture, original mystical treatises, and poetic compositions (see Perry 1974 [first published in 1921] and Allen 1931). As shown by Nicholas Watson (in Watson 1991 and Rolle 1995), his writings were influential in promoting Rolle as an authority on the religious life.

Allen, Hope Emily, ed. English Writings of Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole. Oxford: Clarendon, 1931.
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Critical edition of commentaries, treatises, and verse by Rolle.
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Perry, G. G., ed. English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle de Hampole. 2d ed. Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1974.
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Edited collection of various prose writings and some verse by Rolle, originally published in 1921.
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Rolle, Richard. Emendatio vitae: Orationes ad honorem nominis Ihesu. Edited by Nicholas Watson. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1995.
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Critical editions of lesser-known writings of Richard Rolle.
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Watson, Nicholas. Richard Rolle and the Invention of Authority. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511597565Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Critical analysis of Rolle’s writing in terms of the construction of authority.
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Julian of Norwich

Julian (b. 1342/1343–d. c. 1416) was an English anchoress, attached to a church in Norwich, who wrote and subsequently revised and extended an account of visions that she experienced in 1373, when she was about thirty. Her Showings survives in both a shorter and a longer version (Colledge and Walsh 1978, Watson and Jenkins 2006). It has attracted wide critical attention, from a range of perspectives (many of which are brought together in McAvoy 2008). Opinions vary about the date of the shorter version. Some are consciously theological in approach (Abbott 1999), while others explore literary strategies (Dutton 2008), attitudes to the body (McAvoy 2004), and subsequent reception (Salih and Baker 2009).

Abbott, Christopher. Julian of Norwich: Autobiography and Theology. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1999.
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Interweaves theological analysis with reflections on Julian as an autobiographical writer.
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Colledge, Edmund, and James Walsh, eds. A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich. 2 vols. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1978.
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Critical edition of both shorter and longer versions of the Showings.
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Dutton, Elisabeth. Julian of Norwich: The Influence of Late-Medieval Devotional Compilations. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2008.
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Reads the Showings as shaped by Julian’s exposure to compilations of devotional writings from the later medieval period.
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McAvoy, Liz Herbert. Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2004.
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Examines themes of motherhood, prostitution, and the wise woman in the writings of Julian and Margery Kempe.
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McAvoy, Liz Herbert, ed. A Companion to Julian of Norwich. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2008.
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Important collection of studies relating to Julian, by different authors.
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Salih, Sarah, and Denise N. Baker, eds. Julian of Norwich’s Legacy: Medieval Mysticism and Post-Medieval Reception. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230101623Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Explores the reception of Julian’s writing in subsequent centuries.
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Watson, Nicholas, and Jacqueline Jenkins, eds. The Writings of Julian of Norwich: A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and A Revelation of Love. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
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New critical edition with close attention to significant manuscript variants.
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The Cloud of Unknowing

The Cloud of Unknowing is a mystical writing of unknown authorship, from the second half of the 14th century, that was heavily influenced by the negative theology of Pseudo-Dionysius. Hodgson 1982 (originally published 1958) is a critical edition and the basis for more modern versions (Walsh 1981; Walsh 1988; Spearing 2001). The Cloud offers a sophisticated theological framework about the purification of the soul (Johnston 1975).

Hodgson, Phyllis, ed. The Cloud of Unknowing and Related Treatises on Contemplative Prayer. Salzburg, Austria: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 1982.
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Updated version of Hodgeson’s critical editions of The Cloud (originally published Oxford 1958) and of five other treatises by the same author (modern English version: Walsh 1988).
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Johnston, William. The Mysticism of The Cloud of Unknowing: A Modern Interpretation. St. Meinrad, IN: Abbey, 1975.
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Exploration of major themes (knowledge, love, purification, union) in The Cloud of Unknowing by an authority on the theory of mysticism.
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Spearing, A. C., ed. The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works. London: Penguin, 2001.
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Modern English version of The Cloud and other treatises.
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Walsh, James, ed. The Cloud of Unknowing. London: SPCK, 1981.
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Annotated modern English version, with theologically oriented introduction.
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Walsh, James, ed. The Pursuit of Wisdom and Other Works by the Author of The Cloud of Unknowing. New York: Paulist, 1988.
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Modern version of six treatises by the author of The Cloud: The Pursuit of Wisdom (a reworking of Richard of St Victor’s Benjamin Maior), Denis’s Hidden Theology, The Discernment of Spirits, The Assessment of Inward Stirrings, A Letter on Prayer, and A Letter of Private Direction.
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Walter Hilton

Walter Hilton (d. 1396) was thought to be an Augustinian canon, whose Scale of Perfection (Hilton 1991) is addressed to an anchoress, and was much influenced by the thought of St. Augustine. Additions have been made to the text, as noted by Bestul in Hilton 2000, but a full critical edition has not yet been produced. The work is recognized as widely influential, though it has attracted only limited critical attention (Milosh 1966 and, focusing more on devotional context, Bryan 2008).

Bryan, Jennifer. Looking Inward: Devotional Reading and the Private Self in Late Medieval England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
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Situates Hilton’s writing among other devotional texts of the period, as providing new opportunities to redefine subjectivity.
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Hilton, Walter. The Scale of Perfection. Translated by John P. H. Clark and Rosemary Dorward. New York: Paulist, 1991.
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Modern version of Walter’s major composition.
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Hilton, Walter. The Scale of Perfection. Edited by Thomas Bestul. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute, 2000.
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Edition based on two manuscripts (Lambeth Palace Library 472, and Cambridge University Library MS Additional 6686).
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Milosh, Joseph E. The Scale of Perfection and the English Mystical Tradition. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.
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Presentation of Hilton’s Scale of Perfection as a classic work of 14th-century spiritual writing.
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Margery Kempe

Margery Kempe (b. c. 1373–d. c. 1440) was a married woman of King’s Lynn, in Norfolk, who wrote an autobiography (only identified as such in 1934; see Staley 1996, Staley 2001, Windeatt 2004) detailing her visions and spiritual quest. Although not as intellectually sophisticated a writer as Julian, Kempe provides rich insights into popular religious practice and visionary culture in the period, attracting attention for her spiritual ambition (Atkinson 1983, Hirsch 1989). Beckwith 1993 situates her writing firmly within a larger devotional context.

Atkinson, Clarissa W. Mystic and Pilgrim: the Book and the World of Margery Kempe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.
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Sympathetic introduction to Margery as a mystically inclined traveler.
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Beckwith, Sarah. Christ’s Body: Identity, Culture and Society in Late Medieval Writings. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
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Stimulating study of the effect of the iconography of Corpus Christi as an image of the body social on devotional and mystical writing, with particular attention to Margery Kempe.
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Hirsch, John C. The Revelations of Margery Kempe: Paramystical Practices in Late Medieval England. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1989.
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Exploration of the significance of paranormal devotional practices as attested by Margery Kempe.
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Staley, Lynn, ed. The Book of Margery Kempe. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1996.
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A new, annotated critical edition.
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Staley, Lynn, ed. The Book of Margery Kempe: A New Translation, Contexts, and Criticism. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 2001.
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Modern English translation and commentary of Kempe’s autobiography.
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Windeatt, Barry, ed. The Book of Margery Kempe. Annotated ed. Woodbridge, UK: Brewer, 2004.
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Modern English annotated translation.
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