Spiritual Literature in the Late Medieval Low Countries

This volume brings together fifteen seminal essays by Thom Mertens, a professor at the Ruusbroec Institute (Ruusbroecgenootschap) at Antwerp University since 1985, and a pioneer in the study of the late medieval spiritual literature of the Low Countries, a genre previously been neglected in favour of the study of belle lettres. This volume is therefore also a celebration of the paradigm shift that Mertens led, as he demonstrated that most of the late medieval texts produced in the Low Countries actually qualify as spiritual literature, and that these understudied literary works are of prime importance within late medieval textual culture.

Of the essays gathered here, nine have been translated into English for the first time, while six have been re-edited, forming a collection that bears witness to the importance of Dutch literature as a broader part of the vernacular literatures of Western Europe, and of the societies that gave rise to these works. It is in large part thanks to Mertens’ efforts that serious scholarly engagement with these spiritual texts, their characteristics, and their function has become a field of research in its own right that continues to flourish.

Preface: Pioneering Middle Dutch Spiritual Literature

Publications by Thom Mertens

Thom Mertens. A Tribute by John Van Engen

I. Spiritual Literature in the Late Medieval Low Countries: An Overview

Books for Eternity
Mystical Culture and Literature in the Late Middle Ages
The Monastery as a Literary Institution in the Low Countries (13th–16th Century)

II. Middle Dutch Sermons

The Middle Dutch Sermon: A Premature Synthesis
Collatio and Codex in the Context of the Devotio Moderna
Ghostwriting Sisters: The Preservation of Dutch Sermons of Father Confessors in the Fifteenth and the Early Sixteenth Century
The Sermons of Johannes Brugman OFM
“Private Revelation and Public Relevance in the Middle Dutch Sermon Cycle Jhesus collacien

III. Aspects of Genre in Middle Dutch Spiritual Literature

Reading with a Pen: Developments in Late Medieval Spiritual Prose
Consolation in Late Medieval Dutch Literature
Spiritual Testaments in the Late Medieval Low Countries. An Exploration of the Genre
Die gheestelicke melody. A Program for the Spiritual Life in a Middle Dutch Song Cycle
Voices without Words. Hendrik Mande’s Spiritual Love Complaint as a Mystical Dialogue
Hendrik Mande’s Apocalypse

Bibliogpraphy

Index