Book Series Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, vol. 33

The Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House, Deventer

The Lives and Spirituality of the Sisters, c. 1390–c. 1460

G. H. Gerrits

  • Pages: approx. 352 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Illustrations:1 b/w, 3 col.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2024


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  • € 105,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60249-3
  • Hardback
  • Forthcoming (Dec/24)

Forthcoming
  • € 105,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE


A study and translation of the Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House, from a late medieval community of religious women in Deventer.

The book shows the significance of this work in the Devotio Moderna and late medieval female religiosity, while the accompanying translation introduces this important source to an English audience.

BIO

G. H. Gerrits: The author-translator’s leading contributions to the study of the Modern Devotion are studies of the thought of Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen (1367–1398) and Johan Brinckerinck (1359–1419). A second field of research and publication is the Dutch-Canadian community in the Maritime provinces of Canada. He taught Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation history at Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for nearly thirty years.

Summary

The Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House contains the lives of sixty-four Sisters of the Common Life who died between 1398 and 1456. Founded as an alms-house for destitute women in 1374, by the end of the fourteenth century Master Geert’s House had become a home for women desiring to live a life of humility and penitence, as well as in community of goods without vows. The Sisterbook was likely written sometime between 1460 and 1470, at a time when the religious fervour that had characterized the earlier Sisters had begun to wane. It was to incite the readers and hearers of the Sisterbook, which would have been read in the refectory during mealtimes, to imitate the earlier Sisters who are portrayed as outstanding examples of godliness and Sisters of the Common Life. The opening sentence of the Sisterbook succinctly sums up the author’s reason for writing it: ‘Here begin some edifying points about our earlier Sisters whose lives it behoves us to have before our eyes at all times, for in their ways they were truly like a candle on a candlestick’, and who, by implication, could still illumine the way for her own generation of Sisters. The first foundation of Sisters of the Common Life, Master Geert’s House became the ‘mother’ house of numerous other houses in the Low Countries and Germany directly as well as indirectly and served as an inspiration for others.

This book provides a study of the Sisterbook and its significance in the Devotio Moderna and late medieval female religiosity, while the accompanying translation introduces this important source to an English audience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

  • The Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House, One of a ‘Family’ of Five
  • The Sister Community in Master Geert’s House and Its Daily Routine
  • The History of the House of Master Geert
  • The Sisters. A Prosopographical Overview
  • The Mistress, and Other Offices
  • The Founding of New Sister Houses and the Reformation of Others
  • Profectus virtutum (Progress in the Virtues), the Guiding Principle in the Sisters’ Lives and Spirituality
  • The Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House: Its Composition and Sources
  • The Sisterbook: Genre and Resemblance to Other Sisterbooks
  • The Bible and Christian Authors Cited in the Sisterbook
  • Dirk de Man’s Edition of the Sisterbook and the Present Translation

The Sisterbook of Master Geert’s House

  • Table of Contents of the Sisterbook: The Lives of the Sisters
  • The Text of the Sisterbook: ‘Here Begin Some Edifying Points About Our Old Sisters’
Appendix 1. List of Mothers and Priest – Rectors of Master Geert’s House

Appendix 2. Index of Names other than those of Sisters with a vita

Bibliography

Biblical Index

General Index