Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Medieval Spirituality

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Medieval Spirituality

Post by Margaret » Wed October 29th, 2008, 11:04 pm

I've recently been discovering a bunch of interesting medieval German mystics. Hildegard of Bingen is the one most people think of, and she was quite a personality. But I've just finished reading Andrew Davidson's recently released novel The Gargoyle and discovered the women mystics at the Beguine convent of Engelthal.

The Gargoyle is a tour de force, one of the best novels I've read this year. (I've posted a review at http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Gargoyle.html.) It's about a present-day man horribly burned in a car wreck who is visited in the hospital by a woman who claims to have healed him once before, when she was a nun at Engelthal in the fourteenth century and he was a wounded soldier. The quality of Davidson's writing makes this novel a real stunner. It's hard to classify - not a time-slip novel, and it's never completely clear whether the mysterious (but not at all spooky) woman is delusional, remembering a past life, or a "wandering Jew" type figure. But the historical portions are thoroughly researched and vividly brought to life, and are integral to the novel's structure. Highly recommended.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu October 30th, 2008, 2:12 am

"The Gargoyle" sounds good- I'll have to see if I can track down a copy.

The words ’German” and “mystic” don’t immediately strike us as congruent, but in fact there is a long tradition of mysticism in Germany, as I discovered when I came across the Brethren of the Free Spirit, who flourished in Germany during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

They are just a part of a long line leading to the originals of the nineteenth century, like the fascinating Adolf Just, who were inspired as part of a spiritual re-awakening to return to nature; vegetarianism, long hair, sandals and all.

I recently read a very interesting article which posits that the Pagan in the make-up of the German nature has never been completely defeated, but has periodically re-emerged through different historical periods in different forms. The authors' theory is that the hippy movement of the twentieth century had its roots in ideas brought to the States by German immigrants who had been influenced by the German "Lebensreform" (life-reform) movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Last edited by annis on Thu October 30th, 2008, 2:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Michelle2
Scribbler
Posts: 36
Joined: August 2008

Post by Michelle2 » Thu October 30th, 2008, 2:22 am

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I got a copy from PBS this past week and hope to get to it soon!

User avatar
Volgadon
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 654
Joined: September 2008
Location: Israel
Contact:

Post by Volgadon » Thu October 30th, 2008, 7:30 am

I'm kind of leery of any sort of 'pagan' explanation. I mean the hippies were just as influenced by Alexandra Kollontai, if not more, than they were by the Lebensreform movement, but I digress.

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu October 30th, 2008, 5:16 pm

The word "pagan" has become a difficult one , fraught with emotional and negative connotations. I htink that in the context of this article it means the spirituality expressed by the sense of the numinous nature of living things which permeated all aspects of daily life amongst the ancient Germanic tribes.
This sense of awe is captured rather well in Donna Gillespie's novel "The Lightbearer", I feel.

Obviously this spiritual experience can be manifested within many different frameworks including Christianity, but is a strong part of the German heritage.

It's an interesting theory anyway, and like all theories can be manipulated to suit the appropriate argument. Alexandra Kollantai's theories regarding social and sexual relationships were clearly influential as well.

Digression is good! It always livens things up to throw more ideas into the mix :)
Last edited by annis on Thu October 30th, 2008, 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu October 30th, 2008, 7:29 pm

Another one of those remarkable medieval German nuns is Hroswitha of Gandersheim, a learned tenth century philosopher and playwright, who claimed the Roman playwright Terence as an inspiration.

There is a picture of a Dürer woodcut in this Wikipedia article of Hroswitha and Otto the Great.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrosvit

There seems to be a tradition of medieval German nuns being respected advisors to heads of State. Going back to ancient Germanic practices, is this perhaps related to the ancient Germanic tradition of paying great heed to the counsel of women?

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Thu October 30th, 2008, 11:10 pm

I'm in complete agreement about the value of digression. While it may sometimes be appropriate to move digressions to another thread, I think they almost invariably enrich the conversation.

Earlier periods of German history has been neglected ever since the horrors of the Nazi era transfixed people's attention. But Germany has an extremely rich history, which should not be treated as part of an inevitable march to Nazism.

Hildegard of Bingen is a particularly fascinating person. I have not read any fiction about her, though there are some novels about her listed at http://www.historicalnovels.info/Angevins.html#EurCont, but I highly recommend the nonfiction book by Fiona Maddocks, Hildegard of Bingen. It reads like fiction and had me mesmerized. Hildegard was walled up as an anchorite with a small group of other nuns when she was still quite young. She was essentially voiceless until the head of this group of nuns died, at which time she suddenly came into her own. She began writing down her visions and (after a period in which she might have been condemned for heresy, but was instead embraced by influential church leaders, including the pope) became a famous spiritual leader. She had enough influence to write letters chastising emperors and popes and get away with it!
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

User avatar
Volgadon
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 654
Joined: September 2008
Location: Israel
Contact:

Post by Volgadon » Thu October 30th, 2008, 11:16 pm

Germany has had a long tradition of philosophy and seemed to set up universities everywhere.

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Fri October 31st, 2008, 4:47 am

While I was checking out the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit I found yet another German mystic, a Cistercian nun of the thirteenth century who was part of the Beguinemovement which was related to the Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Cathars.
Mechtlid of Magdeburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechthild_of_Magdeburg

It seems that there was a plethora of these alternative religious movements during the medieval period, but for some reason only the Cathars have remained well known. I can think of a lot of HF featuring the Cathars, but nothing about the others.

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Fri October 31st, 2008, 9:37 pm

Yes, in fact, the fourteenth century nun in The Gargoyle was a member of a Beguine convent that had some type of connection with Mechthild. I was going to say Mechthild helped to found it, but I'm not finding the exact connection at the moment.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

Post Reply

Return to “Later Medieval”