The Mystics of Engelthal: Writings from a Medieval Monastery [Hardcover]

Leonard P. Hindsley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1998

Engelthal was the name of a community near Nuremburg and the location of a fourteenth-century monastery. The nuns and chaplains who lived at the Monastery of Engelthal were responsible for a remarkable collection of autobiographical and biographical texts during the 1300s. The Mystics of Engelthal is the first English-language book to unveil these writings and to examine the meanings contained within them. Leonard Hindsley shows us how the production of medieval German original texts from one place remains unparalleled in the literary history of the Middle Ages. The works analyzed include autobiographies of two mystics, Adelheid Langmann and Christina Ebner, as well as biographies of three nuns and one chaplain, and one devotional text, the Prayer of Adelheid Langmann. In this volume Hindsley inspects each text and then studies them together to determine what may be said of the spirituality that inspired the authors and subjects and helped to produce such an outpouring of mystical literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Hindsley (modern languages, Providence Coll.) reveals the importance of the medieval autobiographical and biographical texts from the Monastery of Engelthal. Founded in the 1240s near Nuremburg, Germany, the monastery followed Dominican penitential spirituality, or a synthesis of contemplation and apostolic ministry. This book focuses on the writings of two nuns, Christina Ebner and Adelheid Langmann, and what inspired their mystical writings. The strictness of cloistered life during the 14th century inspired mystical preaching and fostered ecstatic experiences. Adelheid's moments of transcendence included seeing a vision of Mary, perceiving the spiritual state of others. The visions were well documented in the Sister-Books of Engelthal, from which we are able to draw life sketches of a religious community whose writings still contain literary and spiritual significance. For large religious collections.?Leo Vincent Kriz, West Des Moines P.L., IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

...a welcome and valuable contribution to a growing body of scholarship.
- Catholic Historical Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312162510
• ISBN-13: 978-0312162511
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,753,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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