Margareta Porete

Margareta Porete, Mirror of Simple Souls , opening poem in the Chantilly manuscript , Musée Condé , F XIV 26, fol. 6r (15th / 16th century)

Margareta Porete (French Marguerite Porète or Porrette ; * around 1250/1260 in Hainaut , † June 1, 1310 in Paris ) was a French-speaking theological writer. She belonged to the religious movement of the Beguines . She caused a sensation as the author of Le mirouer des simples ames (“Mirror of Simple Souls”). The theme of the “mirror” is the step-by-step liberation of the soul from all dependencies that keep it in bondage. Because of the independent theological doctrine that is proclaimed in the "Spiegel", Porete came into conflict with the church teaching office , which she denied the authority to assess her theology . The Bishop of Cambrai in charge of their place of residence ordered the public burning of the book, which had been classified as heretical , and forbade the dissemination of the views expressed in it.

Since Porete continued to stand up for her convictions, she was summoned for interrogation by the Inquisition . When she refused to obey the subpoena, she was arrested. In the subsequent inquisition proceedings in Paris, she refused to comment on the matter and showed no remorse. As a result, after serving a year and a half in prison, she was sentenced to death and publicly executed at the stake . Your writing remained in circulation, but was from then on distributed anonymously or pseudonymously.

Life

Little is known about the life of Porete. In addition to autobiographical indications in her “Mirror of the Simple Souls”, the incomplete records of the inquisition process are the main source. There are also mentions in chronicles.

Origin and education

Porete's origins in Hainaut are certain . "Porete" is probably a nickname, not a family name. She probably came from the city of Valenciennes or its surroundings, because she apparently lived there. Her excellent education shows that she came from the upper class. Because of her theological knowledge, which was unusual for a woman at the time, she is referred to in late medieval French chronicles as clergesse ("scholar", literally " cleric ") and en clergrie mult suffissant ("very well versed in spiritual knowledge"). The term “cleric” is used in medieval sources not only for clergy in the sense of the class order, but also generally for educated people. It is unclear how Porete acquired her knowledge, because the educational institutions were not open to women. She probably received private tuition.

The Beginism

Begin in a print from Lübeck from 1489 ( dance of death )

At an unknown point in time, Porete joined the Beguine movement. Their affiliation with the Beguines has been well documented; doubts about this, occasionally expressed in research, are unjustified. The Beguines were women who were involved in charitable work, manual work or teaching at school and who combined these activities with an intense religious life. Some of them came together to live together. The cultivation of spiritual love was a focus of her endeavors and was the subject of intense reflection. Entry into the Beguinage took place through an admission rite. The attitude of the clergy to the Beginism was ambivalent, partly positive, partly negative. Porete was critical of the principles and practices of beguine life; some things seemed too rigidly fixed to her and therefore detrimental to spirituality. Apparently she did not belong to any organized community of beguines, but was one of the solitary beguines.

First conflict with church authorities

Probably before the end of the 13th century Porete wrote the "Mirror of Simple Souls". At that time it was considered permissible for a woman to deal with theology and spread her theological views, but this could only be done in the private sphere, especially for the purpose of teaching women one another. Public teaching was excluded because the apostle Paul had forbidden it unequivocally ( 1 Cor 14.34–35  EU ; 1 Tim 2.11–12  EU ). The prohibition of teaching directed against women could be circumvented in the Middle Ages by describing their texts as direct, literal divine inspiration, for example in the context of vision literature . Porete thought her book was divinely inspired, but did not refer to such a wonderful event; Miracles do not occur with her. Therefore, the mere fact that she expressed her theological views with great certainty and that her writing received significant public response could offend. She was also suspicious as a Beguine. Since the activities of the Beguines took place outside the established system of church supervision and teaching, their activities were not as easily controllable from the perspective of the clergy as those of women religious and therefore problematic. Because of the widespread tendency among them to independent, unconventional religious thinking, they were relatively easily suspected of heresy (heresy). In addition, with Porete there was the radicalism and boldness of some of her statements and her renunciation of security by quoting theological authorities by name; she only referred to scriptures.

The Bishop of Cambrai, Guy II of Colmieu, who served from 1296 to 1306, forbade the dissemination of the “mirror” and ordered the public burning of the work in Valenciennes. Porete was hardly impressed by the measures taken against her work. She now propagated a revised version of the "mirror", in which she stuck to the condemned statements, and recommended the book to the bishop of Châlons-en-Champagne , Jean von Châteauvillain, among others . In doing so, she violated an order from the Bishop of Cambrai, who had forbidden her to continue to represent the contested views and to own the book. Guy II had threatened her with excommunication and heresy proceedings in the event of the offense.

Porete's behavior after the burning of her book reveals that no proper inquisition proceedings had been carried out in the diocese of Cambrai. This should have led either to a confession and revocation or to a death sentence. After a heresy confession and retraction, Porete could not have submitted her book to a bishop with the intention of obtaining his approval.

Porete was able to refer to three theological statements obtained from her, which certified the "Spiegel" correctness in the sense of the church teaching. She enclosed a copy of the comments in her work, only one of which was a written opinion; the other two were oral statements that she herself summarized in writing. One of the assessments came from a Franciscan, one from a Cistercian and one from the respected theologian Gottfried von Fontaines , who taught at the Sorbonne . It is disputed in the research whether these statements were requested and drawn up before the condemnation of the book by the Bishop of Cambrai or only afterwards. The latter assumption speaks against the fact that the defenders of the "mirror" risked in this case, to be suspected and charged with heresy themselves. On the other hand, Porete's disregard of the episcopal prohibition can be explained more easily if one assumes that she obtained the statements after the conviction in order to create a counterbalance to the authority of the Bishop of Cambrai. Then it becomes understandable that after the conviction she turned to another bishop. In any case, the statements could not protect them from the consequences of their violation of the prohibition. She was summoned for questioning by the new Bishop of Cambrai, Guy's successor, Philip of Marigny, and by the Inquisitor Provincial of Lorraine. Philip was an influential church politician with good connections to the royal court.

Trial and Execution

Philip of Marigny handed the case over to the papal inquisitor general for France, the Dominican William of Paris. Wilhelm was the confessor of Philip IV , the then reigning King of France, and was instrumental in the Templar trials initiated and promoted by the king in their initial phase. He was so zealous for the interests of the king that Pope Clement V temporarily relieved him of his office, but he was reinstated in 1308 under royal pressure. He summoned Porete several times, but she refused to appear. She was then arrested in 1308, forcibly brought before and imprisoned . The Inquisitor General appointed a committee of 21 theologians to judge fifteen heresy-suspect passages in the “mirror”. It was therefore not about the book as a whole, but only about the selected quotations, the wording of which had to be checked for orthodoxy regardless of the context. The strikingly high number of experts called up testifies to the importance that leading ecclesiastical authorities attached to the case and the need to rebut the opinion of Gottfried von Fontaines, which was positive for Porete. The later famous exegete Nikolaus von Lyra was one of the commission members . The commission met in Paris, where Porete was imprisoned.

Of the fifteen articles of indictment, only three have been handed down verbatim. In the first article, Porete is accused of having taught "that the nullified soul takes leave of the virtues and is no longer in their bondage, since it does not have them for any use, but the virtues obey it at a hint". The fifteenth article concerns her assertion “that such a soul is neither concerned with the consolations of God nor with his gifts and should not and cannot care about them, since it is wholly centered on God and its relation to God would otherwise be impeded”. Another article reads that, according to Porete's teaching, “the soul that has become null and void in love for the Creator can and should grant nature whatever nature strives for and desires without criticism or remorse”. This is a shortened and exaggerated formulation of a statement in the 17th chapter of the "Mirror", according to which one should use the created things, which are needed for the satisfaction of natural needs, without hesitation, if a necessity requires it.

At its meeting on April 11, 1309, in the presence of the Inquisitor General, the commission came to the conclusion that the book containing the fifteen statements objected to must in fact be heretical. At this point Porete was apparently already excommunicated . After she had not made use of the possibility of revoking her theses, the proceedings were continued in the following year. For this purpose, the Inquisitor General appointed a new commission, to which only eleven of the original 21 theologians and five newly added canonists ( canon lawyers ) belonged. This commission met in March 1310, but the theologians withdrew and left the case entirely to the canonists. The five canon lawyers met on April 3, 1310 for an initial consultation. It was established and recorded in the protocol that Porete had refused to be sworn in for the purpose of testifying before the Inquisitor. She also refused to take a position on the content of the charges or to revoke the statements complained of, and stubbornly remained silent. In doing so she was following a principle that she herself had set out in her writing: A free soul is not to be found if you summon her; "Her enemies receive no answer from her". According to the protocol, the inquisitor tried in vain to induce them to give in. The commission found that the defendant, who had been incarcerated for a year and a half, was guilty of heresy and was therefore to be sentenced to death. But if she shows repentance, she can be pardoned for life imprisonment.

When Porete continued to show himself to be completely uncooperative, the Commission of Canons recommended on May 9, 1310 the Inquisitor General to arrange for the execution. Wilhelm then pronounced the guilty verdict, which was publicly announced on May 31 ( Pentecost Sunday ) in the presence and with the consent of the Bishop of Paris. Formally, it was not a death sentence, since the Church, according to its self-image, was not allowed to shed blood, but had to show mercy. It was only decided, as is customary in such cases, to leave the condemned to "secular justice", with Wilhelm expressly requesting that, as far as legally possible, she should be treated with mercy and neither mutilated nor killed. However, this request was an irrelevant formality, because after a church conviction, execution was compulsory for relapsed and stubborn heretics, and a pardon was excluded from the outset. Subsequently, the convict was handed over to the state authorities responsible for enforcement. According to church law at the time, the facts were sufficient to justify the judgment. A guilty verdict by the Inquisition leading to execution could only be made because of the defendants' lack of cooperation, regardless of whether the heresy accusation was actually true.

On June 1, 1310, Whit Monday, Porete was burned at the stake on the Place de Grève in Paris . Since she had not made a confession of guilt, she had not received absolution ( absolution ), but died excommunicated, i.e. outside the church community. Soon afterwards, the Council of Vienne (1311-1312) forbade the Beguines to engage in theological activity, drawing conclusions from the spectacular fall, among other things.

plant

Margareta Poretes “Mirror of the simple souls that have become null and void and those who only persist in the desire and longing for love” (Le mirouer des simples ames anienties et qui seulement demourent en vouloir et désir d'amour) was written in Old French . However, only a central French version has survived, which has been handed down in a single manuscript from the late 15th or early 16th century.

The "mirror" is a textbook on the science of the soul. The topic is generally the soul and its relationship to God and created things and especially the liberation of the soul from its dependencies and its ascent to God. In today's terminology, the work is counted as mystical literature .

Literary design

Dialogue of the soul with the understanding in the mirror of simple souls , chapter 35. Chantilly manuscript , Musée Condé , F XIV 26, fol. 38r (15th / 16th century)

The font consists of 139 chapters loosely strung together. The main part, which is strongly influenced by theoretical explanations, ends with the 122nd chapter. In the more practically oriented remaining seventeen chapters "some considerations for those who find themselves in the state of the lost and who ask for the way to the land of freedom" follow.

The work takes the form of a conversation between several participants. This results in an unsystematic presentation of the teachings presented. The soul and a number of personified powers, virtues and emotional factors talk to one another. The main roles are played by the soul, love (Amour) and understanding (Raison) . Amour and Raison are allegorical figures who are often confronted with one another in old French poetry . Love, who is identical with God, and the soul represent the author's beliefs, the mind expresses doubts and argues against it. Longing, truth, faith, fear, hope and the Holy Spirit are also involved in the dialogue . The author herself (L'Acteur) also takes the floor. The style of the debate is lively, sometimes passionate and dramatic. The audience - the "listeners of this book" - is often addressed directly. Although the “Spiegel” is primarily a textbook, it also includes passages in a lyrical style. It is preceded by a poem in the form of a canzone calling for humility. It is uncertain whether it comes from the author or was inserted later.

Purpose and target audience

Margareta Porete describes God or love equated with him as the actual author of the book. He wanted it to help those for whom it was intended to better appreciate perfect life and the state of peace. One can only understand the "mirror" if one follows the explanations with great desire and mindfulness "from within" (de dedans vous) . Otherwise there will be misunderstandings. Elsewhere Porete remarks that the book was written by the soul. Since, according to their doctrine, the destroyed soul has no will of its own, but only carries out God's will, these statements on authorship are in harmony with one another. However, the soul appearing in the dialogue is not a static figure. It manifests itself in various stages of development, which differ in terms of their closeness to God.

As can be seen from the title, the “Spiegel” is intended for two groups of readers: the advanced, already “nullified” souls who no longer have an individual will separate from the divine will, and those who are still willing and wishing with regard to love pause after getting rid of their other desires. Porete divides the intensely religious people into three groups: the perished (periz) , the lost (marriz) and the perished (adnienties) . There are also the "common people" (les communes gens) . Those who trust in their works of virtue and believe that the right way of life consists in external activity have died. They limit themselves to keeping God's commandments and prohibitions. Porete does not address them or the “common people” because she believes that such people are not able to understand the “mirror”. Among the incomprehensible, she particularly counts the “raw” people who are guided in their way of life by common sense (that is, by common evaluations and prejudices); in this connection she explicitly mentions the theologians. The audience she writes for are only the lost and the vanished. She describes people as “lost” who are capable of learning and strive towards God on the path of contemplation , but have not yet managed to completely break away from all their desires. They should be helped to completely give up their own will and thus "to be destroyed", whereby they rise to the most advanced level. Only those who have become null and void are really free and have thus achieved the goal. However, this does not mean that the unfree souls are excluded from salvation. You can also achieve it within the scope of your respective possibilities, but in a laborious way and in a different way than the one described and recommended in the "Spiegel".

Theological and literary influences

Sources used nowhere are expressly named in the “Spiegel”, but a number of literary influences can be identified. Margareta Porete adopts terms from secular, chivalrous-courtly love literature, from the world of thought of the troubadours . This includes, in particular, the central concept of fin amour , which describes the ideal of perfect, unconditional love both in the courtly concept of love and in the “mirror”. In the courtly Minnet texts, this love is directed towards a certain lady, in the "mirror" towards God. Porete owes a number of suggestions to the rose novel or the treatise De amore by Andreas Capellanus . This includes the idea of ​​allowing personalized terms to appear. Furthermore, the “mirror” stands in the tradition of medieval “mirror literature”, a genre of literature that is intended to convey knowledge to the reader “like in a mirror”. Works of this genre depict what is (factual mirror) or - as with Porete - what should be (exemplary or normative mirror). In addition, the doctrine of the ascension of the soul presented in the “Spiegel” is strongly influenced by the Neoplatonic tradition. Porete also deals with the ideas of leading theologians of the Cistercian order ( Bernhard von Clairvaux , Wilhelm von Saint-Thierry ).

In the first chapter of the “Mirror”, the prologue , the author presents an example from the Alexander novel . Love personified tells of a king's daughter who was seized with love for an extraordinarily noble and excellent foreign king named Alexander ( Alexander the Great ), although she only knew him from stories. Since he was far away and no other love could satisfy her, she fell into lovesickness; she was "often wounded in heart". But she was able to remedy her need by having a picture of her lover made, which represented his appearance according to the ideal in her imagination. With regard to this story, the soul remarks that it is the same with her distant beloved (God). That is why he gave her this book - the "mirror" - so that she could visualize it.

Teaching

Margareta Porete's thought revolves around the ascent of the soul to God. She sees the ascent as a return to an original state in which the soul was originally before it separated from God.

The steps of ascension

The ascension of the soul is a process that takes place in seven stages or stages, which Porete calls the “seven modes of being in noble being” and “the seven states”. This process leads the soul "from the valley to the top of the mountain, which is so isolated that you can see nothing but God". Each of the first five levels has to be brought to perfection according to its special requirements before one can get to the sixth, the "most precious and noble" state attainable in earthly life (the last level is post-fatal).

In the first stage the soul is touched by the grace of God and tries to keep his commandments, which it finds troublesome. She thinks she is busy with this task. In the second stage, she also adheres to what God advises his special friends. This particularly refers to the evangelical councils (poverty, chastity and obedience). On the third level the soul loves nothing more than to accomplish works of love. Since she is now in danger of becoming internally dependent on her attachment to such works, she gives them up and submits to the alien will of another person in order to destroy their own will. On the fourth level the soul renounces obedience to the will of others and also gives up its external exercises. Now she experiences an intense enjoyment of love in contemplation, but this existence leads to a dangerous self-centeredness and stagnation. Therefore, none of the first four levels can be called a high state, rather the soul still lives “in very hard bondage” on the fourth level. The four first stages in their totality correspond approximately to what Bernhard von Clairvaux had described in his treatise De diligendo deo ("On the love of God") as the four stages of the love of God in the 12th century . Porete, however, wants to overcome Bernhard's concept by trying to prove what can be reached on its four levels as something useful, but provisional and problematic. With her the soul only attains freedom on the fifth level.

The soul reaches the fifth level by falling out of love into (divine) nothingness and thus becoming null and void. This has to happen, because "without this nothingness it cannot be everything", that is, it cannot express the divine being inherent in it. At this stage she gives back her free will , which she received from God, to God, because she recognizes that God is being and that she is nothing by itself; This means that self-will separated from God's will only tends towards what is ontologically non-existent, i.e. towards bad, and is therefore worthless. The freedom that the soul gains in this way consists in its liberation from its self-will, of which it was previously a slave. Slavery arises from the mere existence of self-will and also exists when self-will strives for harmony with the divine will in that it seeks to recognize and fulfill the divine will. If the unity of the divine will and the will of the soul is completely realized through the complete elimination of self-will, then the statement “God wants what I want and does not want anything I do not want” is just as true as the reverse. The soul "swims in the sea of ​​joy" that flows out of the divinity, but it does not feel the joy, but it is joy itself. The soul reaches the sixth level through its fall from nothing of the fifth level into the clarity of God. On the sixth level she does not see herself because of her humility and God does not see himself because of his sublimity, but God sees himself in her. This abolishes the subject-object separation between God and the soul with regard to knowledge. Now the soul is so far removed from all created things that it can no longer feel anything that belongs to them. However, it can only remain briefly in this state, which occurs in a flash, as otherwise it would be overwhelmed; it then returns to the fifth level. The seventh stage is the status of eternal bliss, which the soul will only attain after the death of the body in the land of peace. Specifically, Porete mainly deals with the fifth and sixth levels, she pays little attention to the other levels.

In the course of its ascent the soul experiences three deaths. First, she receives the life of grace born from the death of sin. This life corresponds to the first and second stages. In the transition to the third stage she experiences the death of nature and attains the life of the spirit. The transition to the fifth stage is associated with the death of the spirit (mort d'esperit) . This death is necessary so that the soul can henceforth lead the divine life. The spirit must die because it is full of spiritual desires that are incompatible with divine life.

The liberated soul

The main characteristics of a free soul who has been liberated by attaining the fifth level are its parting with virtues, its indifference to piety practices and current religious value judgments, and its inability to sin. While the free soul continues to possess the virtues, even better than before, it no longer uses them. So far it has served them, now the virtues have entered into the service of the soul and have to obey it. The will of God, which now rules in the soul alone, cannot be subject to an orientation towards the demands of the virtues, but is their master. Porete emphasizes that there is no mediation between the free soul and the deity, rather the connection between them is a very direct one. Therefore, the virtues that act as messengers of God for unfree souls are no longer needed in the kingdom of freedom. The indifference of the free soul to all goals that are not God extends to heaven and hell ; she neither strives for the kingdom of heaven nor does she want to escape hell. She cannot sin because all sin comes from self-will. Porete derives such radical consequences, which sounded provocative at the time, from basic assumptions with which she moves within the framework of conventional, church-recognized teachings. With the consequences, however, she leaves this framework from the point of view of her opponents. This is where the heresy charge against them comes in.

The free soul has indeed detached itself internally from everything that is created, but this in no way means that it turns away from the world externally. Rather, as personified love (God) explains, it can even rule a country if necessary.

God's transcendence

An important theme of the “mirror” is God's transcendence . He is "incomprehensible except by himself". In the sense of negative theology , Porete emphasizes that everything one can think, write or say about God is more a lie than truth. She also relates this statement to her own book, the drafting of which she nevertheless considers helpful and willed by God. The real knowledge of God is the self-knowledge of God in the soul.

Porete shows a particular fondness for the designation of God as "the far near" (le Loingprés) . With this paradoxical concept she expresses the contrast between the absolute transcendence of God and the perfect unity of God and soul and at the same time indicates the coincidence of the opposites in God.

The human common sense (raison) can only mentally comprehend the steps required for the ascent of the soul with difficulty or not at all, because it is not up to a transcendent reality. However, Porete's criticism of his inadequacy does not mean that she admitted an irrationalist position. The allegorical figure Raison , which they appear and fail in dialogue, represents conventional thinking habits, the unsuitability of which is to be brought to light. Porete - following the Platonic tradition - rates the value of the human intellect and the insight it provides (entendement) very highly; knowledge locates it at the summit of the soul.

The big and the small church

Margareta Porete's church teaching is a special feature of her theological concept. It distinguishes between the “little holy church” (Saincte Eglise la Petite) , which is guided by the mind, and the “great holy church” (Saincte Eglise la Grant) , which is guided by love. The terms “small” and “large” do not refer to the number of members, but to a spiritual ranking. The little church is the institution directed and represented by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The great church is not an external institution, but the community of free souls. The little church preaches the fear of God , which, however, must be wiped out in the case of free souls, otherwise it would destroy their freedom. The little church is incapable of recognizing the way of life of a free soul as exemplary; what is happening in the realm of the great church is beyond its horizon. A free soul is incomprehensible to the small church precisely because of its special closeness to God. Although Porete expresses her criticism of the church with restraint, her disdain for the hierarchy of offices and the claim to authority of the church teaching office is evident.

Proximity to the teaching of Meister Eckhart

What is striking is the close proximity of Porete's theological positions to those of Meister Eckhart , who was her contemporary. For example, with Porete the soul exists forever because of its essential identity with God, so it is not created in time; this corresponds to Eckhart's doctrine of the eternity of the soul's ground . Porete writes that the soul “ flowed out of the goodness of God”, which ties in with the Neo-Platonic emanation model that Eckhart also received. A core element of their theology, which recurs at Eckhart, is their radical rejection of any form of religious achievement thinking. She emphatically rejects the idea that one can and should earn merit by observing commandments, cultivating virtues, and doing good works in the hope that God will honor this. From their point of view, such an attitude is an expression of a slave mentality. She also agrees with Eckhart in the conviction that a unity of God and man does not only exist in Christ, but is inherent in every individual human being.

reception

Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Late medieval French chroniclers noted Margareta Porete's theological education. They cited theological errors, particularly with regard to the Eucharist, as the reason for the execution .

Porete's writing, the title of which is nowhere mentioned in the trial files and chronicles, was considered lost after the author's death. The Inquisitor General had ordered the destruction of all copies and forbade possession of the “mirror” under the penalty of excommunication. Therefore the work could not be passed on under the name of the author. However, it continued to circulate anonymously, without readers suspecting that it came from an author who had been executed for heresy and that they were making themselves liable to prosecution by owning the book. Sometimes it was attributed to Margaret of Hungary († 1270), a Hungarian king's daughter and Dominican . Meister Eckhart apparently knew and used the “Spiegel”, but never explicitly refers to it. He was probably well informed about Porete's fate, because he lived during his second stay in Paris from 1311 in the Dominican convent of St. Jacques , where the Inquisitor General Wilhelm von Paris lived at that time. The Inquisition Commission, which found Porete guilty, met there in April 1310. Via Eckhart, Porete's central thoughts can then also have flowed into the vita of the beguin Gertrud von Ortenberg, who temporarily lived in Strasbourg .

In spiritually oriented circles, the anonymously or pseudonymly handed down “mirror” found widespread use for centuries and aroused anger among church dignitaries and writers. The work was translated into old Italian in the 14th century . A Latin translation, of which several manuscripts have survived, may have been made during the author's lifetime, and a Middle English translation in the late 14th or early 15th century.

The Middle English translation was created in the milieu of the English Carthusians . It is based on an incorrect copy of the original French text. Since the content seemed problematic in part, the translator prepared a second version, adding fifteen glosses (explanations) with which he tried to defuse the explosiveness of sensitive passages. This version, afflicted with a number of translation errors, has survived in three manuscripts from the 15th century. In the 15th century, the English Carthusians considered the "mirror" to be the work of the famous Flemish theologian Jan van Ruysbroek († 1381), who was mistaken for a Carthusian in England. The alleged author's authority gave the work a reputation. In reality, however, Ruysbroek had sharply criticized some of the main theses of the “Spiegel”. The spread of writing in England was primarily from the Carthusians; in the 15th and 16th centuries it received a lot of attention there.

The effect in Italy was even more lasting than in England. There were two Italian translations in circulation, both of which were based on the Latin version. In the 15th century, the Franciscan Saint Bernard of Siena († 1444) identified the teachings of the “mirror” against which he preached with those of the “ brothers and sisters of the free spirit ” active in Italy . He said it was the same heresy. In 1433 the General Chapter of the Benedictine Congregation of Santa Giustina forbade the monks to read the "mirror". In 1437 Pope Eugene IV sent the Franciscan John of Capestrano to Venice, Padua and Ferrara, where John was supposed to investigate the distribution of the "mirror" in circles of the Jesuits there . The Pope ordered the found copies of the work to be confiscated. In 1439, Eugene IV himself was accused at the Basel Council of being a heretic and of sympathizing with the teachings of the “mirror”. A prosecutor accused him of imprisoning orthodox opponents of this pamphlet and demanded their release and the destruction of the more than 36 copies of the "mirror" that were still in the possession of a papal commission.

The English Carthusian Richard Methley made a second Latin translation of the "mirror" in 1491, based on the Middle English version, whose glosses he replaced with his own explanations. He was convinced of the theological harmlessness of the work.

In France, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the “Spiegel” was occasionally received by authors of anonymously transmitted spiritual literature.

Queen Margaret of Navarre († 1549), who was active as a writer, took over ideas of the "mirror" in her allegorical epic Les prisons ("The Prisons"), where she donated high praise to the unknown author. Among other things, she took up the designation of God as “near far”.

Modern

The Middle English "Spiegel" translation was translated into modern English by Clare Kirchberger and published in 1927. Since no one suspected of Margareta Porete's authorship at the time, Kirchberger received the ecclesiastical printing permission ( imprimatur ) for her publication of the work of an “unknown French mystic” , with which the theological harmlessness of the “mirror” was certified. Around two decades later, the Italian researcher Romana Guarnieri discovered that a Latin version of the "mirror" contains two of the convicted articles known from the trial files. This enabled her to assign the anonymous work to Porete and thus initiate modern research into its teaching. Guarnieri published their spectacular result in 1946. It was not until 1965 that Guarnieri published the first edition of the French text.

The philosopher Simone Weil read the “Spiegel” in London from 1942–1943 in the English translation published in 1927 and noted her impressions.

In modern research, two areas in particular are controversially discussed. On the one hand, it is discussed whether Porete was actually to be regarded as a heretic in the sense of the ecclesiastical ideas valid at her time and to what extent the accusation could be based on the wording and the meaning of her statements in the "Spiegel". On the other hand, from the point of view of the topic of gender studies, the question is asked to what extent a specifically female attitude is recognizable in her and what role the fact that she, as a woman, had challenged the purely male hierarchy of the church, played in her condemnation. Some researchers, who have dealt intensively with Porete's ideas and fate, profess a feminist approach; others tend to minimize the importance of gender. Joanne Robinson has worked out the elitist character of Porete's attitude and target audience.

The Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson wrote the libretto for the three-part opera Decreation , which premiered in New York in 2001 , the second part of which is about the fate of Porete.

Text editions and translations

• John Clark (Ed.): Richard Methley: Speculum Animarum Simplicium. A Glossed Latin Version of The Mirror of Simple Souls. Volume 1: Text , Volume 2: Introduction and Notes. Institute for English and American Studies, University of Salzburg, Salzburg 2010 (critical edition)
• Marilyn Doiron (Ed.): Margaret Porete: "The Mirror of Simple Souls". A Middle English Translation. With an appendix: The Glosses by "MN" and Richard Methley to "The Mirror of Simple Souls", by Edmund Colledge and Romana Guarnieri. In: Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà. Vol. 5, 1968, pp. 241–382 (critical edition)
• Louise Gnädinger (Ed.): Margareta Porete: The mirror of simple souls. Paths of women's mysticism. Artemis, Zurich / Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7608-0727-5 (German translation with explanations and a brief introduction)
• Romana Guarnieri, Paul Verdeyen (ed.): Marguerite Porete: Le mirouer des simples ames. Margaretae Porete speculum simplicium animarum (= Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis vol. 69). Brepols, Turnhout 1986, ISBN 2-503-03691-0 (critical edition of the French text and the medieval Latin translation; Edmund Colledge: The New Latin Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Ons Geestelijk Erf . Vol. 63, 1989, pp. 279–287)
• Bruno Kern (Ed.): Marguerite Porete: The mirror of the simple souls. Mysticism of freedom. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-86539-253-4 (German translation)

literature

• Barbara Hahn-Jooß: "Ceste ame est Dieu par condicion d'amour". Theological horizons in the “Mirror of Simple Souls” by Marguerite Porete. Aschendorff, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-402-10284-8 .
• Suzanne Kocher: Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Brepols, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-51902-9 .
• Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, ISBN 3-451-26872-8 .
• Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete. A woman lives, writes and dies for freedom. Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7698-1322-7 (introduction to popular science)
• Bernard McGinn : The Mysticism of the Occident . Volume 3: Bloom. Men and women of the new mysticism (1200-1350). Herder, Freiburg 1999, ISBN 3-451-23383-5 , pp. 431-465.
• Kurt Ruh : history of occidental mysticism . Volume 2: Women's mysticism and early Franciscan mysticism. Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-34499-2 , pp. 338-371.
• Ulrike Stölting: Christian women's mysticism in the Middle Ages. Historical-theological analysis. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-7867-2571-3 , pp. 323-440.
• Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Vol. 81, 1986, pp. 47-94.
• Sean L. Field et al. (Ed.): Marguerite Porete et le “Miroir des simples âmes”: Perspectives historiques, philosophiques et littéraires. Vrin, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-7116-2524-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Margareta Porete in the catalog of the German National Library
• bibliography
• Excerpts from the "Spiegel" in German translation
• Irmgard Kampmann: Fixed in Nothingness (2010)

Remarks

1. ↑ For unfounded doubts about this origin, see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 74 f. See Robert E. Lerner: New Light on The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Speculum 85, 2010, pp. 91–116, here: 92.
2. ^ Documents from Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47-94, here: 91 f.
3. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 13 f.
4. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 92; Robert E. Lerner: New Light on The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Speculum 85, 2010, pp. 91–116, here: 93; Ulrike Stölting: Christian women's mysticism in the Middle Ages. Mainz 2005, p. 330 f.
5. ↑ For the opinion prevailing in this regard in the late 13th century see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 14 f.
6. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 404-419.
7. ↑ Sean L. Field: The Master and Marguerite: Godfrey of Fontaines' praise of The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Journal of Medieval History 35, 2009, pp. 136–149, here: 140 f.
8. ↑ Margareta Porete's summary of the statements is edited by Romana Guarnieri: Il movimento del Libero Spirito dalle origini al secolo XVI. In: Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà 4, 1965, pp. 351–708, here: 638 f.
9. ↑ Winfried Trusen: The trial against Meister Eckhart. Paderborn 1988, p. 34 f.
10. ↑ See on this question Sean L. Field: The Master and Marguerite: Godfrey of Fontaines' praise of The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Journal of Medieval History 35, 2009, pp. 136–149, here: 142–148; Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 66.
11. ↑ On the dating of the imprisonment see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 340; Michael G. Sargent: The Annihilation of Marguerite Porete. In: Viator 28, 1997, pp. 253-279, here: 256.
12. ↑ See Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 337; Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47-94, here: 52 f.
13. ^ Latin text by Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47-94, here: 51, 88.
14. ^ The minutes of the meeting are edited by Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47-94, here: 50 f. For the dating, which is given in the protocol, see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 337, note 136; she follows Ulrike Stölting: Christian women's mysticism in the Middle Ages. Mainz 2005, p. 334. According to another dating, which is assumed by some researchers, the meeting did not take place until April 11, 1310.
15. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 85: et pource ne trouve telle Ame qui l'appelle: ses ennemis n'ont plus d'elle response.
16. ↑ The text of the judgment is edited by Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309-1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47–94, here: 80–83.
17. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 338-341.
18. ↑ Doubts about the place of execution are expressed by Thomas Werner: Liquidate the error. Göttingen 2007, p. 468 and note 344.
19. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 2.
20. ↑ See Amy Hollywood: The Soul as Virgin Wife. Notre Dame 1995, pp. 89-92, 95-97.
21. ↑ For the interpretation of the title see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 123. According to another research opinion, the words “and (those) who only persist in the desire and longing for love” are not an authentic addition to the title; Louisa Muraro shares this view: Le mirouer des simples ames de Marguerite Porete. Les avatars d'un titre. In: Ons Geestelijk Erf 70, 1996, pp. 3-9 and Suzanne Kocher: Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Turnhout 2008, p. 11 f.
22. ↑ Louise Gnädinger translates as “lost”; but the word also has the meaning "grieved"; see Barbara Hahn-Jooß: "Ceste ame est Dieu par condicion d'amour". Theological horizons in the “Mirror of Simple Souls” by Marguerite Porete. Münster 2010, p. 66 and note 48.
23. ↑ For a detailed discussion of possible theological and literary sources, see Wendy Rachele Terry: Seeing Marguerite in the Mirror. A Linguistic Analysis of Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Leuven 2011, pp. 57-95. See also Suzanne Kocher: Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Turnhout 2008, pp. 56-79.
24. ↑ On the influence of courtly values ​​see Alexander Patschovsky : Freiheit der Ketzer. In: Johannes Fried (ed.): The Occidental Freedom from the 10th to the 14th Century , Sigmaringen 1991, pp. 265–286, here: 278–280. Cf. Kurt Ruh: 'Le miroir des simples âmes' by Marguerite Porete. In: Hans Fromm et al. (Ed.): Verbum et signum , Volume 2, Munich 1975, pp. 379-387.
25. ↑ On the sources used by Margareta Porete see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 141–156.
26. ↑ Luisa Muraro: Marguerite Porete lectrice de l'Epistola aurea. In: Nicole Boucher (ed.): Signy l'Abbaye, site cistercien enfoui, site de mémoire et Guillaume de Saint-Thierry. Signy l'Abbaye 2000, pp. 555-563.
27. ↑ For the Alexander motif, see Suzanne Kocher: Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Turnhout 2008, pp. 84-91; Wendy Rachele Terry: Seeing Marguerite in the Mirror. A Linguistic Analysis of Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls , Leuven 2011, pp. 81-85; Amy Hollywood: The Soul as Virgin Wife. Notre Dame 1995, p. 88 f.
28. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 1: Ils sont sept estres de noble estre ; Chapter 118: sept estaz .
29. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 118.
30. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 91.
31. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 61.
32. ↑ See Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 175-178.
33. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 91: elle est cheue (…) d'Amour en Nient.
34. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 118: Or est ceste Ame cheue d'amour en nient, sans lequel nient elle ne peut tout estre.
35. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 48.
36. ↑ Spiegel Chapters 36 and 122.
37. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 28.
38. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 81.
39. ↑ See on the ascent of the soul in Paul Mommaer's step model: La transformation d'amour selon Marguerite Porete. In: Ons Geestelijk Erf 65, 1991, pp. 89-107.
40. ↑ Spiegel Chapters 59 and 73. On the “death of the spirit” see Elisa Chiti: Si cor sentit, hoc non est ipsa. Morte dello spirito e liberazione del cuore in Margherita Porete. In: Micrologus 11, 2003, pp. 305-323.
41. ↑ See Joanne Maguire Robinson: Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Albany 2002, pp. 42-48.
42. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 64: Il n'a nul moyen entre elles et la Deité, et aussi n'y en veulent ilz point. On the relationship between the free soul and virtues, see John A. Arsenault: Authority, Autonomy, and Antinomianism: The Mystical and Ethical Piety of Marguerite Porete in The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Studia Mystica 21, 2000, pp. 65-94.
43. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 58.
44. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 5: Il est incomprehensible fors que de luy mesmes.
45. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 119.
46. ↑ See Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 267-271.
47. ↑ Spiegel Chapter 110: la cognoissance est la somme de l'Ame.
48. ↑ Spiegel Chapters 19 and 134.
49. ↑ See the research overview by Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 30-34; see. Pp. 187 f., 214 f., 227-257, 274, 295, 303.
50. ↑ Bernard McGinn: The Mysticism of the Occident. Volume 3, Freiburg 1999, p. 460 f .; Amy Hollywood: The Soul as Virgin Wife. Notre Dame 1995, pp. 118, 174 f.
51. ↑ Spiegel, Chapter 135.
52. ↑ On this view see Astrid von Schlachta : The "Freedom of Piety"? Folk poetry and the mysticism of the Beguines. In: Edeltraud Klueting (Ed.): Pious women - uncomfortable women? Feminine Religiosity in the Middle Ages , Hildesheim 2006, pp. 181–204, here: 194–196.
53. ↑ The relevant texts have been compiled by Paul Verdeyen: Le procès d'inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart (1309–1310). In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 81, 1986, pp. 47-94, here: 87-93.
54. ↑ Kurt Ruh: Meister Eckhart. Theologian, preacher, mystic. 2nd Edition. Munich 1989, pp. 102-107. However, doubts are sometimes expressed about this assumption, which is widespread in research; see Robert E. Lerner: New Light on The Mirror of Simple Souls. In: Speculum 85, 2010, pp. 91–116, here: 112; Michael G. Sargent: The Annihilation of Marguerite Porete. In: Viator 28, 1997, pp. 253-279, here: 265 f. The relationship between Eckhart's and Porete's theology is also the subject of three contributions in the volume Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics, edited by Bernard McGinn . New York 1994, pp. 63-146.
55. ↑ Siegfried Ringler (translator): From the holy life of Gertrud von Ortenberg , Munich 2017, p. 18, p. 103, note 58, p. 181, note. 112, p. 182, note. 114 and 115, p. 184, note 118 ( online ).
56. ↑ For the Middle English translation, see Nicholas Watson: Melting into God the English Way: Deification in the Middle English Version of Marguerite Porete's Mirouer des simples âmes anienties. In: Rosalynn Voaden (ed.): Prophets abroad , Cambridge 1996, pp. 19–49; Michael G. Sargent: 'Le Mirouer des simples âmes' and the English Mystical Tradition. In: Kurt Ruh (ed.): Western mysticism in the Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1986, pp. 443-465.
57. ↑ Paul Verdeyen: Ruusbroec's opinion on Marguerite Porete's orthodoxy. In: Studies in Spirituality 3, 1993, pp. 121-129.
58. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 34 f.
59. ↑ Relevant correspondence is edited by Romana Guarnieri: Il movimento del Libero Spirito dalle origini al secolo XVI. In: Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà 4, 1965, pp. 351–708, here: 645–648.
60. ↑ Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, p. 35 f .; Romana Guarnieri: Il movimento del Libero Spirito dalle origini al secolo XVI. In: Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà 4, 1965, pp. 351–708, here: 474–476, 649–660. However, Edmund Colledge, Jack C. Marler and Judith Grant have doubts about the credibility of the report: Margaret Porette: The Mirror of Simple Souls. Notre Dame 1999, pp. LXII-LXIV. On the reception of the “mirror” in Italy see also Kurt Ruh: 'Le miroir des simples âmes' by Marguerite Porete. In: Hans Fromm et al. (Ed.): Verbum et signum. Volume 2, Munich 1975, p. 369 f.
61. ↑ See Geneviève Hasenohr: La tradition du Miroir des simple âmes au XV ^e siècle: de Marguerite Porète († 1310) à Marguerite de Navarre. In: Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. Comptes rendus des séances de l'année 1999 , pp. 1347–1366, here: 1349–1357.
62. ^ Michael G. Sargent: The Annihilation of Marguerite Porete. In: Viator 28, 1997, pp. 253-279, here: 279.
63. ↑ On Weil's reception of the “mirror” see Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 40-42; Geneviève Hasenohr: La tradition du Miroir des simple âmes au XV ^e siècle: de Marguerite Porète († 1310) à Marguerite de Navarre. In: Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. Comptes rendus des séances de l'année 1999 , pp. 1347–1366, here: 1347 f.
64. ↑ The feminist approach is represented by Irene Leicht: Marguerite Porete - a pious intellectual and the Inquisition. Freiburg 1999, pp. 48–52, Maria Lichtmann: Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart. In: Bernard McGinn (ed.): Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics , New York 1994, pp. 65–86, here: 69 and particularly emphatically Catherine M. Müller: Marguerite Porete et Marguerite d'Oingt de l'autre côté du miroir , New York 1999. Wendy Rachele Terry comes to the opposite view: Seeing Marguerite in the Mirror. A Linguistic Analysis of Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Leuven 2011, p. 154. Michela Pereira provides an overview of research in the second half of the 20th century with a special focus on gender studies: Margherita Porete nello specchio degli studi recenti. In: Mediaevistik 11, 1998, pp. 71-96.
65. ^ Joanne Maguire Robinson: Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Albany 2002. See Suzanne Kocher: Allegories of Love in Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls. Turnhout 2008, p. 113 f.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 4, 2011 in this version .