Lady Love and Her Queen

Mechthild of Magdeburg (1210-1297) is yet another beguine who lived in the 13th century, like Hadewijch and Marguerite Porete (see DMs Nov. 6 and 7). In some ways, these three — who might have never heard of each other —form a trio. Each of them is remembered as the first woman to have written a book in the language of their people. Middle Dutch for Hadewijch, Old French for Porete, and Low German for Mechthild.

They all must have come from rich merchant families or from small nobility, as from their writings we can surmise that they managed to achieve quite a refined education. Also, each of them reached some position of responsibility in their respective communities of women.

But what especially unites them is that they consecrated their lives to God as fiery Love in ways that are very explicit in their writings and were pretty scandalous to the eyes of many. Each of them, in fact, was persecuted. Porete was even burned at the stake. Regarding Hadewijch we know about her serious troubles but not about her fate.

Mechthild lived to her old age and became well-known during her time and beyond. Perhaps she did not reach the same level of fame as Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the previous century, but many scholars believe that Dante read her works. The Matelda of the last five cantos of the Purgatorio could well be our Mechthild.

It is peculiar of Mechthild that she is remembered first as a beguine, then as a Dominican nun, and finally as living in a Cistercian convent. But we would be wrong to think of these peregrinations as a change of heart. Rather, they might show her ability to move with intelligence within the patriarchal world.

At her time, Dominicans were alternatively charged with staying away from these problematic women or taking charge of them. In this context, many friendships were formed. In Mechthild’s case, it was the Dominican Heinrich of Halle — a pupil of Albert the Great, just like Thomas Aquinas — who collected the pages of her diary and published it.

We know that Mechtild became the superior of the Dominican convent in Madgeburg in 1273, but at some point she was rumored to hold heretical opinions. It is not clear what her tribulations exactly were but in the end, having become frail and blind, she sought refuge in the Cistercian women’s community of Hefde. Here, a wonderful thing happened: she was welcomed by these women as a holy teacher. They took care of her, learned from her, and the young elaborated in their own way on her teachings.

Mechthild’s book is quite thick, and it takes time to absorb its contents, but what stands out is the fact that Love is the topic around which all the rest converges. The book, titled The Flowing Light of the Godhead, opens indeed with a dialogue between Love/God and the soul called “the Queen.”

Soul: Ah, Love! thou hast consumed
My very flesh and blood!
Love: Thereby are thou enlightened
and raised up to the divine.
Soul: But, Love, thou art a robber,
Make thou that good to me!
Love: That I will do, O Queen,
I pray thee — take myself!

As Matthew Fox has remarked many times, it is not that the mystic women of
the Middle Ages disavowed the Augustinian doctrine of original sin, but they
reframed it, or they relegated it to such a small position that its negative
effects vanished.

The psychological attitude of those who center their spirituality on original sin
is one of mistrust, especially with regard to themselves. The opposite is seen
here in Mechthild. Love/God calls the soul her “Queen” and tells her that she
can have it all. Love simply wants to embrace the soul and become one with
her. Love is not even interested in “purifying” or “elevating” the soul. She
(Love) already looks at the human as her perfect mate, and simply asks to be
welcomed inside.

While the use of erotic imagery was quite common in the Middle Ages to talk about the connection with God — they were not puritanical at all — Mechthild’s choice of centering her writings on Liebe chasing her Queen could not go unheeded, much as Hadewijch’s transformation of herself into a courageous knight seeking Lady Love. It is, in fact, their writings which brought Mechthild, Hadewijch, and Marguerite in deep trouble.

The patriarchal world, which took a sharp turn for the worst in the modern
period, managed to silence the voices of these three women by hiding their
texts for quite a while. They have all been rediscovered, however, and they
speak volumes to our world which is so desperately far from true love.

Mechthild of Magdeburg, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, translated by Lucy Menzies (Martino Publishing, Mansfield Center, CT, 2012), p. 5.

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Offerings to the Queen of Hearts from the left wing triptych of the King and Queen of Hearts. Art by Robert Anning Bell. Wikimedia Commons.

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