21. Concerning Enoch, Elijah, and the last brothers/preachers, see IV 27 and Book IV, note 55 above.
22. For literature on the traditions of God as a mirror, see Schmidt, note 19, p. 349.
23. According to medieval thought, the human soul is what is created in the "image and likeness" of God. Cf. Gn 1:26.
24. The soul of Christ, in saying "he," is referring to the "human" Christ.
25. That is, by becoming human, Christ ennobled human nature.
26. The image of the cross of Christ as the key opening the gates of heaven has a long tradition. See note to VI 16, 44 f.; N 11123.
27. The Lux div. begins this chapter with: "The Lord says:..."
28. Neumann (note to VI 21, 1 f.; N II 125) does not consider the bracketed words to be authentic.
29. That is, the clergy.
30. This probably refers to the higher clergy.
31. See IV 27; VI 15; and Book IV, note 55 above. See also note to VI 21, 2; N 11 125-26.
32. The reigns of the popes around this time were Innocent IV (1243-54), Alexander IV (1254-61), Urban IV (1261-64), Clement IV (1265-68), Gregory X (1271-76), Innocent V (1276), Hadrian V (1276), John XXI (1276-77), and Nicholas III (1277-80). Hence this chapter may have been written during the reign of Nicholas III.
33. This chapter is the same as VII 45. I have followed Neumann in placing it there.
34. This sentence is confusing. The Lux div. renders it thus: "Why, Lord, did you have to suffer such huge torments since in your pure prayer [in the garden of Gethsemane] the precious drops running down to the ground would have been sufficient to make reparation for the whole world." Implication: there was really no need for Christ to suffer more after that.
35. In calling those who do not love "schemers against love" (varer der minne), Mechthild is using the vocabulary of courtly-love poetry. Varerare those at court who are jealous of the happiness the lovers enjoy in loving and who do what they can to make their love public and thus destroy it.
36. This last sentence, taken from Luke 23:46, is in Latin in the text: in manes tuas commendo spiritism meum.
37. Cf. Mt 25:41.
38. The sense seems to be: If God were to give me the necessary virtue, I would gladly perform the good work connected with it.
39. See I 44 above, in a speech of the soul toward the close of the chapter.
40. And on earth and in purgatory these two things-suffering and bliss-are both continuously present together.
41. For some secondary literature on God as a circle, see Neumann (notes on umbezil and unbegriffenlich to VI 31; N 11 132-33) and Schmidt (note 267, pp. 393-94).
42. That is, in battle against the desires of the flesh.
43. Chapter, as used here, is a regularly held meeting of a religious community, during which part of the rule is usually read and, among other things, matters of religious discipline settled.
44. I have followed the text in keeping the person holding strict chapter with himself masculine to this point. With the introduction of a she, Mechthild most likely wishes to reveal that she has been speaking of herself throughout.
45. Cf. the Song of Solomon, especially 2:10 and 13.
46. This chapter is a response to criticisms against Mechthild: that the experience she describes in 11 4 above is theologically untenable and, by implication, not an authentic experience because she describes John the Baptist, who was never ordained a priest, celebrating mass.
47. Cf.Jn 1:29-34.
48. The words from the gospel of John (1:29 and 36) are in Latin in the text: Ecce agnus dei.
49. This final phrase Burch dine here name dri (for the sake of your three glorious names) bears striking resemblance, especially because of the similarities in unusual word order, to a line in Walther von der Vogelweide's Palastinalied: "durch die sine namen dri" (for the sake of his three names). The purpose of Walther's song is to recruit crusaders to go and free Jerusalem from the infidel. Given the similarity of Mechthild's sentiments, she may well be trying to recall Walther's song to the minds of her audience.
50. The last words are in Latin in the text: Requiescant in pace. Amen.
51. Neumann (note to VI 37, 63; N II 139) comments that, if this chapter was written before Mechthild entered the Cistercian convent at Helfta, "companions" (gaden) refers to the beguines with whom she lived.
52. Another example of Mechthild using "greeting" (gruos) to refer to ecstatic experience. Cf., for example, I 2 above.
53. This you is in the plural (ir).
54. The bracketed words are not considered authentic by Neumann. See note to VI 41, 7: N II 141.
55. These final two chapters are not listed in the table of contents and were probably added later.
56. This chapter, which is not included in the Lux div., is generally considered to have been added by an editor.
57. The final phrase is in Latin in the text: Deo gratias.
Book VII
1. Cf. Rv 14:4. This chapter draws heavily on images from the Book of Revelation.
2. Neumann (note to VII 1, 93; N 11 143) refers to Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, q. 35, a. 1 and 2, in connection with Mechthild's calling the humanity of Christ an "intelligible image (begriffenlich bilde) of his eternal Godhead."
3. See Book VI, note 22 above.
4. That is, the blessed.
5. This "he" is confusing. One expects "they," i.e., Father and Son.
6. Ps. 112:1. In Latin in the text: Laudate pueri dominum.
7. I have followed Neumann's punctuation here. Schmidt (p. 273) changes the punctuation and the meaning of the ambiguous iht and comes up with a rendering that is at least equally plausible. Her translation translated: "Alas, wretched ones, as long as we storm around in anger, there is nothing (iht) good about us. We must then return again and again to our heart."
8. A reference to Mechthild'sjoining the Cistercian sisters at the convent in Helfta. There is general agreement that this happened in about 1270 or 1271.
9. In Latin in the text: Te deum laudamus.
10. The chapter room in a religious house (cf. Book VI, note 43 above) is here being used by Mechthild as a symbol for the activities of the conscience.
11. From here through "Glory be to the Father and the Son" the text is in Latin: Adiutorium nostrum in nomine domini. Laudate dominum omnes gentes. Gloriatur etfilius. Regnum mundi. Eructavit cor. Quem vidi. Gloria patri etfilio. These are all responses in the Divine Office sung on various feast days.
12. Mt 5:3. In Latin in the text: Beati pauperes spiritu.
13. This sentence is not contained in the main manuscript tradition. However, Neumann (note to VII 13, 17; N 11 148-49) does not exclude the possibility that it is authentic, especially since it serves nicely as a bridge between what immediately precedes and follows it.
14. That is, the mirror.
15. That is, the hours at which members of a religious community assembled to sing the Divine Office.
16. The first five lines, excluding "Lord Jesus Christ," also introduce V 20 above.
17. That is, before receiving holy communion.
18. This you is in the plural and is no doubt addressed to the sisters of the Cistercian community of Helfta, which Mechthild had joined. Helfta was known for the high level of learning among its members.
19. Cf. 1 Cor 2:9.
20. In Latin in the text: Gloria tibi trinitas!
21. In Latin in the text: Salve regina!
22. The antecedent of "She" is most likely the world. The noun world is feminine in German. Also, Lady World (frouwe welt) occurs frequently in medieval art and literature as a temptress poisoning the soul.
23. Schmidt (note 292, p. 397) sees King Gustav Adolf of Nassau's military campaigns in Saxony and Thuringia as being the historical events prompting this chapter. These campaigns took place in 1294. This would mean that Mechthild died after 1294. Neumann (1964, 197-99) makes a case for earlier military activities being Mechthild's point of reference and puts Mechthild'
s death in about 1282.
24. That is, the positive results of war.
25. Neumann (note to VII 33, 11; N II 154) is convinced that the numbering of the spices became confused in transmission. He thinks that Mechthild wished to enumerate five spices that would allude mystically to the five wounds of Christ. The five spices would be: willing suf fering, patient suffering, holy intimacy, perseverance in suffering, and joy in suffering.
26. That is, the seven penitential psalms.
27. Ps 6:1. In Latin in the text: Domine ne in furore.
28. Ps 32:1. In Latin in the text: Beati quorum remissa.
29. Ps 38:1. In Latin in the text: Domine ne in furore.
30. Ps 51:1. In Latin in the text: Miserere mei dens.
31. Ps 102:1. In Latin in the text: Domine, exaudi orationem meam et clamor.
32. Ps 130:1. In Latin in the text: De profundis clamo.
33. It was often the custom in the Middle Ages for a bride to receive a gift from her new husband on the morning after the wedding night. In the Nibelungenlied, for example, Siegfried gives the Nibelungen treasure to Kriemhild as her "morning gift."
34. Ps 143:1. In Latin in the text: Domine, exaudi orationem meam auribus percipe.
35. Schmidt (note 298, p. 400) notes that allegorical use of the convent is frequent in medieval spiritual writing, but that Mechthild's is the first to occur in German and that a clear relationship to a source has not been demonstrated.
36. It is not really clear in the course of the next several lines just what these "four things" are. Also, the noun to which "it(s)" refers in the following three lines is not clear from the original text.
37. CE Rv 14:4.
38. Possible alternate rendering: "That they are here fills me with joy."
39. Schmidt (note 300, p. 400) refers to Psalm 51:5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" and to the problem of unknowingly becoming involved in guilt, as it is treated by Wolfram of Eschenbach in Parzival and Willehalm. Another medieval line of thought that might provide the background for Mechthild's statement is the Augustinian doctrine of original sin, which often documented its claim of human sinfulness before birth by referring to this psalm verse. For more on this and its consequences for an influential medieval view on human sexuality, see, for example, John T.Noonan, Jr., Contraception. A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1965).
40. That is, to where a person with a pure soul lies dying.
41. The devils bested by the soul respond to their master Satan.
42. Satan's growling and gnashing are his angry response to what his minions have just reported to him.
43. Mechthild is here drawing on medieval secular love poetry, which frequently expressed similar ideas in similar form. One of the best-known such poems in German is:
Translated from Poets of the Minnesang, ed. Olive Sayce (Oxford, 1967), p. 2.
44. Schmidt (note 303, p. 400) sees this mention of forty years as evidence for the view that Mechthild died after 1290, since it is generally agreed that Mechthild started writing in 1250 and her writings are what made her known. Those favoring the time around 1282 as the time of her death could counter that Mechthild knew this clergyman for some time before she began writing and that the harm he caused Mechthild, mentioned later in this chapter, could have come after they have been acquainted for several years. Also, a mere five chapters before this one, at the beginning of VII 36 above, Mechthild says she has been writing for thirty years.
45. That is, if I could still have productive sorrow for my failings, as one can before death but not here in purgatory.
46. This chapter appears twice in ms E, once as VI 22 and here. Cf. Book VI, note 33 above.
47. For these three lines I have adopted Schmidt's (p. 316) punctuation. Neumann (VII 45, 15-17; N 1 291) has no punctuation after the first them, which turns the lines into an anacoluthon.
48. Neumann (note to VII 45, 22; N 11 159) considers this line to be a later addition, and not by Mechthild.
49. Cf.Jn 14:23.
50. Given the problems faced by Mechthild in defending her book against charges that it contained heretical statements, it is not surprising to see her in her later years taking a very clear stand on the question of unorthodox teachings. Here she distances herself from those who claim that the soul can become so holy that it may, as it were, enter the Trinity. (It would be possible to bring such a charge against Mechthild herself, given the vision she describes in 111 9!) According to Neumann (note to VII 47, 18; N 11 160) the final sentence of this chapter takes a position against teachings such as those of the homines perfecti treated by Herbert Grundmann in Religiose Bewegungen im Mittelalter, 2 ed. (Darmstadt, 1961), pp. 402-38 and 524-38.
51. I have translated ane pine as "except suffering," taking Mechthild to be saying here something similar to what she says in VII 46 above about spiritual poverty. Schmidt (p. 318) takes Mechthild to be saying that nothing in this world can console or cheer her without, at the same time, causing her to suffer.
52. Neumann (note to VII 48, 26; N II 160) takes book to mean the already complete ms of Books I-VI. More specifically the reference is to I 3 above.
53. In calling Love of God, her dialogue partner, "dear maiden," Mechthild is responding to her partner's words spoken above-that she wanted to be Mechthild's lady-in-waiting.
54. 1 Jn 4:16. In Latin in the text: Deus caritas est.
55. A troubling sentence. Possible meaning: Mechthild was not able to provide him with the necessary sigh because it was at that very moment being given him by someone else. Cf. Schmidt p. 323, lines 12-13.
56. Cf. Mt 26:39; Mk 14:36; and Lk 22:42.
57. This you is plural.
58. Mechthild places Enoch and Elijah here to await the last days when they shall return to earth. See IV 27 and VI 15 above.
59. Cf. VI 15 above.
60. That is, the souls in purgatory.
61. Mechthild has cast this chapter in the form of a Botenlied or messenger's song, a conventional form in courtly-love poetry in which the speaker addresses a messenger concerning the object of his or her love and asks him to bear the message of love to the beloved one. Mechthild also employs several expressions and/or images of such poetry, such as "sick with love," "recover," "physician" of love, "wounds" of love, etc.
62. In Latin in the text: Inpresepio.
63. Cf. Dt 6:5 and Lk 10:25-28.
1. Critical Edition:
Das flief3ende Licht der Gottheit. Nach der Einsiedler Handschrift in kritischem Vergleich mit der gesamten Uberlieferung. Ed. Hans Neumann. Volume 1: Text, arranged by Gisela Vollmann-Profe. Munich: Artemis, 1990. Volume 2: Untersuchungen, supplemented and prepared for printing by Vollmann-Profe. Munich: Artemis, 1993.
II. Translation into Modern German:
Mechthild von Magdeburg. Das flief3ende Licht der Gottheit. Second, revised translation with an introduction and commentary by Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1995.
III. Secondary Literature:
Ancelet-Hustache, Jeanne. Mechtilde de Madgebourg: Etude de psychologie religieuse. Paris: Champion, 1926.
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. "Mechthilds kirchlicher Auftrag." In Das flief3ende Licht der Gottheit. Translated, with an introduction by Margot Schmidt. Einsiedeln/Zurich/Cologne: Benzinger, 1955, pp. 19-45.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. "Women Mystics in the Thirteenth Century: The case of the Nuns of Helfta." In her Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982, pp. 170-262.
Franklin, James C.Mystical Transformations: The Imagery of Liquids in the Work of Mechthild von Magdeburg. London: Associated University Presses, 1978.
Grundmann, Herbert. Religious Movements in the Middle Ages. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.
Hollywood, Amy. The Soul as Virgin Wife. Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Mei
ster Eckhart. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.
Lifers, Grete. Die Sprache der deutschen Mystik des Mittelalters im Werke der Mechthild von Magdeburg. Munich: Ernst Reinhardt, 1926.
Mohr, Wolfgang. "Darbietungsformen der Mystik bei Mechthild von Magdeburg." Marchen, Mythos, Dichtung: Festschrift zum 90. Geburtstag Friedrich von der Leyens. Ed. Hugo Kuhn and Kurt Schier. Munich: Beck, 1963, pp. 375-99.
Neumann, Hans. "Beitrage zur Textgeschichte des `FlieBenden Lichts der Gottheit' and zur Lebensgeschichte Mechthilds von Magdeburg." Altdeutsche and altniederlandische Mystik. Ed. Kurt Ruh. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964, pp. 175 - 239.
Newman, Barbara. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. See especially Chapter 5: "La mystique courtoise," pp. 137 - 67.
Schmidt, Margot. "Elemente der Schau bei Mechthild von Magdeburg and Mechthild von Hackeborn: Zur Bedeutung der geistlichen Sinne." Frauenmystik im Mittelalter. Ed. Peter Dinzelbacher and Dieter R.Bauer. Ostfildern bei Stuttgart, 1986, pp. 178-200.
Tax, Petrus. "Die groBe Himmelsschau Mechthilds von Magde burg and ihre Hollenvision." Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertum and deutsche Literatur 109 (1979), pp. 112-37.
Tobin, Frank. "Mechthild von Magdeburg and Meister Eckhart: Points of Coincidence." Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics: Explorations in Vernacular Theology. Ed. Bernard McGinn. New York: Continuum, 1994, pp. 44-61.
Mechthild von Magdeburg. A Medieval Mystic in Modern Eyes. Columbia, South Carolina: Camden House, 1995.
Wiethaus, Ulrike. Ecstatic Transformation. Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of Mechthild von Magdeburg. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
(References in boldface are to Introduction)
Julian of Norwich • SHOWINGS
Jacob Boehme • THE WAY TO CHRIST
Nahman of Bratslav • THE TALES
Gregory of Nyssa • THE LIFE OF MOSES
Bonaventure • THE SOUL'S JOURNEY INTO GOD, THE TREE OF LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
The Flowing Light of the Godhead Page 32