Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 3423
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Küsters , Urban.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Second Blossoming of a Text: The "Spieghel der Maechden" and the Modern Devotion
  • Source: Listen, Daughter: The "Speculum virginum" and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages.  Edited by Constant J. Mews.  The New Middle Ages Series. Palgrave, 2001.  Pages 245 - 261.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Devotio Moderna, Spiritual Movement Dutch Literature Ecclesiastical Reform Handbooks Influences Lay Piety Pastoral Care- Nuns Sisters of the Common Life Speculum Virginum, Latin Handbook for Nuns Spieghel der Maechden [Maidens' Mirror], Dutch Translation
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Low Countries
  • Century: 14- 15
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  • Table:
  • Abstract: This chapter explores a new vogue of influence of the "Speculum virginum" in the fifteenth century through a widely copied translation into Middle Dutch. It traces the early diffusion of manuscripts of the Middle Dutch translation to dependencies of the Utrecht chapter of the sisters of the common life, in particular to the influence of Wermbold of Buscoep, who became known as " the common Father of devout women in Holland." Women inspired by the ideals of the Modern Devotion occupied a precarious position in canon law, as they were not formally attached to a religious order. The "Speculum virginum" provided them with a sanctioned way of life, obedient to the instruction of a male spiritual adviser. The translated version offered practical guidance to women in communities that in the fifteenth century were increasingly taking on the characteristics of an institutionalized religious order. [Reproduced by permission of Palgrave].
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  • Author's Affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2001.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0312240082