A Companion to Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany in the Late Middle Ages

Elizabeth Andersen (School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University) Dr Andersen's research specialism is German medieval literature, in particular mystical and visionary writing. Other interests are the intertextuality and the articulation of voices and identity in women's writing. She has published widely on Mechthild of Magdeburg; the focus of her current research is the circulation of Latin and Low German devotional texts throughout the Hanseatic region. Henrike Lähnemann (Professor of German Studies, Newcastle University) Prof. Lähnemann's research specialism is medieval and Early Modern German literature, especially manuscript transmission and visual culture. Other interests include comparative medieval literature and visual culture. Currently, she is working on a database of the manuscripts from the convent of Medingen and preparing several text editions which include material from Medingen. Anne Simon (Institute for Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London) Dr Simon’s main research interests lie in the literature, art and culture of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period; and the impact of these periods on subsequent eras, up to and including the present. She is currently working on two projects: an edition of the letters of the sixteenth-century nun Katerina Lemmel; and a study of Nuremberg’s construction of a 'brand image' during the Middle Ages and its subsequent eras.

Preface
List of Contributors
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
List of Textual Appendices to the Chapters

1 Introduction: Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany
Elizabeth Andersen, Henrike Lähnemann and Anne Simon

2 Liturgy and Reform: Northern German Convents in the Late Middle Ages
Jürgen Bärsch

Part One

Beginnings and Formations—Mystical Culture and the Helfta Circle

3 Hadewijch of Brabant and the Beguine Movement
Veerle Fraeters

4 Transmission and Impact: Mechthild of Magdeburg’s Das fließende Licht der Gottheit
Sara S. Poor

5 Text Production and Authorship: Gertrude of Helfta’s Legatus divinae pietatis
Balázs J. Nemes

6 Latin and the Vernacular: Mechthild of Magdeburg— Mechthild of Hackeborn—Gertrude of Helfta
Ernst Hellgardt


Part Two

Transmission, Transformation and Exchange—Devotional Culture and the Lüneburg Convents

7 Prelude: Northern Circulation of Fourteenth-Century Mystical Texts
Geert Warnar

8 An Urban Housewife as a Saint for Prussia: Dorothea of Montau and Johannes Marienwerder
Almut Suerbaum

9 Birgitta of Sweden in Northern Germany: Translation, Transmission and Reception
Elizabeth Andersen

10 The Influence of the Devotio Moderna in Northern Germany
Anne Bollmann

11 Religious Song and Devotional Culture in Northern Germany
Ulrike Hascher-Burger

12 Liturgy and Performance in Northern Germany: Two Easter Plays from Wienhausen
Tanja Mattern

13 Bilingual Devotion in Northern Germany: Prayer Books from the Lüneburg Convents
Henrike Lähnemann

14 Intellectual Horizons: Letters from a Northern German Convent
Eva Schlotheuber

Illustrations
Bibliography
Glossary
Index