Jesus the Shopkeeper
The striking vision of Christ as a cook, a pharmacist, and a merchant fits right into Blannbekin’s physical world of Vienna and spiritual world of religious instruction.
The Spiritual Athlete: Elizabeth of Spaalbeek
Elizabeth stands out, though, in the sheer physical strength and flexibility shown by her ability to hold postures such as lying down with her head and shoulders elevated for an extended time – an incredible feat of core strength!
The Evangelical Pearl: The Last Masterpiece of Medieval Female Mysticism
This paper explores the writings of the anonymous, 16th-century female author of The Evangelical Pearl. Written in the Dutch vernacular and first published in 1537, the work proved to be a popular and influential one.
The Privileging of Visio over Vox in the Mystical Experiences of Hildegard of Bingen and Joan of Arc
Even though medieval women mystics have enjoyed increased attention in recent scholarly discussion, a topic that still has not been tackled is the possible difference between seeing a vision and hearing a voice during a mystical experience and the ramifications of this difference in the context of medieval text production and in the status of mystics as authors.
A Vision of Baby Jesus from 1344
The story told by Margaretha Ebner is a fascinating one – an intimate experience with the Baby Jesus. In her own words, she describes powerful visions of being with the infant, and even breastfeeding him.
Annihilation and Authorship: Three Women Mystics of the 1290s
Mechthild of Hackeborn, Angela of Foligno, and Marguerite Porete were exact contemporaries who differed in language, social status, and modes of religious life; their books diverge no less in genre, modes of production, and posthumous destinies.
Julian of Norwich: Mystic, Theologian and Anchoress
Very little is known of her actual life, not even her real name. We do know she wrote two texts in English on her visions and their meaning
Feminine Love in the Twelfth Century – A Case Study: The Mulier in the Lost Love Letters and the Work of Female Mystics
This article compares the twelfth-century writings of the secular mulier in the Lost Love Letters with the work of religious female ‘mystics’ to draw comparisons about the way these authors chose to express love.
The influence of conflicting medieval church and social discourses on individual consciousness : dissociation in the visions of Hadewijch of Brabant
This article examines the influence of the conflicting dis- courses in the medieval church and its social context on the subconscious experiences of Hadewijch of Brabant, a 13th century Flemish visionary, mystical author, vernacular theologian and Beguine leader
INTERVIEW: A Conversation with SD Sykes about Plague Land
My interview with fiction author, SD Sykes about her fantastic medieval crime novel, Plague Land.
An outside for the inside : a psychoanalytic reading of The Book of Margery Kempe
It is evident in Margery Kempe’s visions of holy family life that Virgin and Christ dyad is an oedipal fantasy of the child who is the father of himself.
Medieval mystic Angela da Foligno is named a Saint
Pope Francis made the surprising announcement last week that Angela da Foligno, an Italian Franciscan and mystic, has been named a saint.
Vision and Revision: The Female Mystics as Writers in Late Medieval Northern Europe
When I first encountered the writings of the medieval mystics years ago, I began this study with a simple question: why has so much writing been produced about a topic considered to be ineffable, inexpressible?
The Privileging of Visio over Vox in the Mystical Experiences of Hildegard of Bingen and Joan of Arc
Even though medieval women mystics have enjoyed increased attention in recent scholarly discussion, a topic that still has not been tackled is the possible difference between seeing a vision and hearing a voice during a mystical experience
Corpus Christi Plays and the Stations of the Cross: Medieval York and Modern Sydney
The earliest surviving reference to the Corpus Christi festival in York is dated 1322, when Archbishop William Melton commended it as „the glorious feast of the most precious sacrament of the flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ‟. In 1408 the York Guild of Corpus Christi was established „as a confraternity of chaplains and lay persons, with the encouragement of the city government, probably to form the focus of the civic Corpus Christi Day procession‟.
Sisters Between: Gender and the Medieval Beguines
The origins of the Beguines can be traced to two important medieval religious reform movements: monastic mysticism and the vita apostolica, or “apostolic life.”
The Representation of Antichrist in Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias
The image thatis the subjectof this essay is one of thirty-five miniatures that once illuminated the lost Rupertsberg manuscript (Wiesbaden, Hessisches Landesbibl., MS 1, ca. 1165-75), a deluxe copy of Scivias.
Transitional Holiness in the Twelfth Century: The Social and Spiritual Identity of Domina Christina of Markyate
Visions flourish within particular domestic contexts and disciplines, and Christina enables us to glimpse a sub-culture of visionary experience in twelfth-century England, which rarely shows up in sources and is given little authority in the dominant narratives.
Abandoned to Love: The Proceso of María de Cazalla and the Mirror of Simple Souls
In comparing the trial of María de Cazalla with Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls, one of the most notable works of medieval mysticism, the present study aims to demonstrate how the main components of alumbradismo may be discerned in a single normative example of medieval mystical theology.
Rhetorics of Pain and Desire: The Writings of the Middle English Mystics
This dissertation “Rhetorics of Pain and Desire: The Writings of the Middle English Mystics,” seeks to explore the connections between desire and pain in the writings of Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe and Walter Hilton. All four writers develop a rhetoric that allows them to use pain and/or desire as a catalyst through which their writing becomes embodied.
Late-Medieval Women: Ascetic Performance and Subversive Mysticism
Christina the Astonishing (1150-1224), Mary of Oignies (1177-1213), and Margaret of Ypres (1216-1237) are examples of such lay women who used the accepted role of Female Mystic to effect and secure alternative lifestyles, and also to gain authority that equalled, and often surpassed, the male voices that made up their communities.
Devotion to the Name of Jesus in Medieval England
Denis Renevey discusses the medieval mystic tradition from the 11th century to the Reformation, the significance of the name of Jesus during this period, and its impact on religious attitudes in the Middle Ages.
Teaching the Visions: Female Mystics’ Participation in Thirteenth-Century Education
Female visionaries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries brought to their readers vivid accounts of spiritual meetings with God regarding the religious life.
Christian Mysticism as a Threat to Papal Traditions
Several aspects of the mystic Christianity in the Middle Ages challenged the traditions of the church, including the mystics’ theological interpretation of scripture, their graphic visions, and their threat to established gender roles.
Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds
Albertus Magnus’s thirteenth-century work, De animalibus, a lengthy compilation based on Aristotle and on a handful of commentators, is as close as the Middle Ages comes to a systematic natural history in our understanding of the term.