The power of books and the practice of mysticism in the fourteenth century: Heinrich of Nordlingen and Margaret Ebner on Mechthild's Flowing Light of the Godhead

Church History, March, 2007 by Patricia Zimmerman Beckman

Above all, Heinrich reserved his most flowery prose and highest praise for Mechthild of Magdeburg's text. He never named the author, but only refers to her as a "true friend of God" or a person "drawn up in the spirit." Recall his use of Mechthild in the letter cited at length at the opening of this article and his suggestion of her book's sacramental power. Heinrich placed special emphasis on this book among the many he introduces in his letters because he felt that Mechthild's book itself can produce the mystical experiences vital for the fourteenth-century piety he and other friends of God cultivated. Heinrich prodded and encouraged Margaret to tell of her mystical experiences. He offered Mechthild's book as a catalyst. (63)

The pattern of introduction to the verbatim citations, and the directions for use, show that Heinrich believed in the exemplary power of both Margaret's own mystical experiences and the text of Mechthild's experiences. He set the passages into a framework that called for replication and performance. To that end, he interspersed Latin titles, lines from the mass, and ritual directions. He suggested that she try Mechthild's flights and then implored her to write down the results and send them back to him. That is, Heinrich clearly set out the experiences of the exemplar Mechthild, and his contemporary mystic Margaret, as definitive activities for practicing techniques to propel the soul out of the flesh into the contemplation of God. The result was a spiritual ascent, likened to the Virgin Mary's own assumption, and culminating in the drunken joy of bliss in the Godhead.

Mystical authority, as outlined by Heinrich in these letters relied on (1) the spiritual experience of being drawn into God, into a rapturous inner working of the spirit that bound all the friends together, and serves all of Christendom and (2) the ability to formulate a language of inner ecstasy in a poetic manner. The experience without the literary rubric for directing others was not sufficient. These characteristics marked those he considered leaders in the circle of Friends of God. As a popular preacher and mystical go-between, Heinrich was known by the upper-class circles in the Basel region. A growing group of lay practitioners experienced increased economic wealth, leisure time, and spiritual desire. This combination creates a market for religious art and texts and a broadening of genres and locations for the spiritual life. In this world, books mattered. Poetry mattered. The inner life of the spirit mattered. Most essentially, the ability to communicate and exchange all of these things as an incentive for one another mattered. Into this mix, Heinrich inserted Mechthild's text as model. To ascertain whether a text was valuable, the litmus test was not whether the author was a learned master of the church or a priest in charge of sacraments. He reserved his lyric praise for passages from Mechthild's book. He modeled his own prose and vocabulary on hers--with frequent references to flowing and playing. He hinted at the same joy in meeting or awaiting Tauler's personal presence. These were relationships of dynamic spiritual exchange, based on the ability to communicate the fruits of the spirit and encouragement in meditation.