Late Medieval Mysticism of the Low Countries

The spiritual tradition of the Low Countries, mostly written in Dutch (or Flemish, which is the same language) must rank, together with the German School, as the most important vernacular tradition in late medieval and early modern Europe. This book presents for the first time texts from this school of Netherlandish mysticism of the late medieval period in English translation. It contains extracts or full treatises from all the major representatives of this school after the death of Jan van Ruusbroec. None of these texts are available in English, and some were never published at all but were translated from late medieval manuscripts. The book contains texts of a mystical and pastoral nature, often dealing with the problem of suffering, reflecting the troubled times during which they were written. Readers will appreciate the wide variety of texts offered here. There are a number of more “traditional” mystical-theological writings that look back to the age of Ruusbroec, developing a profound spirituality of the Trinity (for instance, William Jordaens, a contemporary of Ruusbroec, but also the author of The Evangelical Pearl and the Temple of the Soul). Some of the texts focus almost exclusively on the suffering of Christ, and others anticipate some of the key-themes of the Reformation. †

Rik Van Nieuwenhove is Lecturer in Theology in Limerick, Ireland. He is the author of Jan van Ruusbroec, Mystical Theologian of the Trinity (2003) and co-author (with Declan Marmion) of An Introduction to the Trinity (Cambridge University Press, 2011). He is co-editor (with Joseph Wawrykow) of The Theology of Thomas Aquinas (2005) and is the principal editor (with collaboration from Rob Faesen and Helen Rolfson) of Late-Medieval Mysticism of the Low Countries (2008).