What Did ItMean
to Say "I Saw"?
The Clash betweenTheoryand Practice
inMedievalVisionary
Culture
By Barbara
Newman
"In theyear thatKing Uzziah died,"wrote Isaiah, "I saw theLord sittingupon
a throne,highand liftedup" (Isa. 6.1). "In thethirtieth
year,inthefourth
month,
on thefifth
day" of theexile,Ezekiel declared,"theheavenswere opened, and I
saw visionsofGod" (Ezek. 1.1). "Then I turnedto see thevoice thatwas speaking
tome," said John theDivine, "and I saw sevengolden lampstands,and in the
midst of thelampstandsone likea son ofman" (Apoc. 1.12-13).
What did itmean to say "I saw".?Although theBible frombeginningto end is
lacedwith visions,itswritersshowed littleinterestin thesubjectiveexperienceof
thevisionary.
Medieval authors,however,were fascinatedby thequestion.Vi
sionarytextsof all kinds,somenaive,othershighlysophisticated,
coexistwith a
largeand contentiousbody of theoretical
writingson visionaryexperience.The
wrote with diversepurposes: some to interpretthebiblical prophets,
theorists
othersto teachcontemplative
practice,stillotherstodiscreditvisionariestheyheld
to bemaking fallaciousclaims.Thus exegetical,devotional,and juridical
writers
all took an interestinvisions,but theirdiversedisciplinaryperspectivespresup
notionsofwhat a "vision" impliedand inconsequence
posed radicallydifferent
led to significant
and ultimately
dangerousgaps betweentheoryand praxis.
Scholarshipon medieval visionshas not been lacking,but our contemporary
discourseson thesubject,likemedieval ones, tendtobreakdown along disciplin
ary lines.Literarycriticshave turnedtomedieval dream theoryto illuminethe
and genderhave
corpusofMiddle Englishdreampoems.' Scholarsof spirituality
examinedvisionarywomen as a group, tryingto explainwhy thegreatmajority
ofmedieval women writers known to us were visionaries-and
why vision recitals
An earlier version of this article was
delivered as the annual Loy H. Witherspoon
Lecture inReligious
at the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte
inMarch
2003. Other versions have been
and the American
presented at Harvard University, the University of Notre Dame,
Society of Church
History. I thank Dyan Elliott, Richard Kieckhefer, Susanne Sklar, and two anonymous Speculum read
Studies
ers for their helpful
suggestions.
1
Constance
B. Hieatt,
Visions: The Poetic Exploitation
The Realism
of Dream
of the Dream
in Chaucer and His Contemporaries,
De Proprietatibus Litterarum, Series Practica, 2 (The
Experience
1967); Elizabeth D. Kirk, The Dream Thought of Piers Plowman, Yale Studies in English 178
Hague,
(New Haven, Conn., 1972); A. C. Spearing, Medieval
Dream-Poetry
(Cambridge, Eng., 1976); Kath
Dream
Vision: Poetry, Philosophy,
and Literary Form (Stanford,
ryn L. Lynch, The High Medieval
in theMiddle Ages, Cambridge
Liter
Studies inMedieval
Calif., 1988); Steven F. Kruger, Dreaming
ature 14 (Cambridge,
Speculum
80
(2005)
Eng.,
1992).
1
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2
Culture
MedievalVisionary
constitutethe solemedieval genredominatedbywomen.2Art historianshave
explored the relationshipbetween "the visual and thevisionary,"showinghow
thereceptionand use of religiousart could participatein theconstructionof vi
sionaryexperience.3
Historians of sainthood,heresy,andwitchcrafthave inves
of spirits,"which emerged
tigatedthefifteenth-century
practiceof "discernment
in tandemwith increasingclerical suspicionof religiouswomen ingeneral and
of religionhave produced
visionariesinparticular.4
Anthropologistsand theorists
and cross-culturalstudies that includemedieval sourceswithin
transhistorical
broader analysesof thevision as a formof religiousexperience.sIn thisstudyI
someof theseinsights
with threeprincipalgoals: first,
topromote
aim to synthesize
among the very diversephenomena-and
analyticalclarityby differentiating
texts-that go by thename of "visions"; second, to place visionaryexperience
within thecontextof a specializedreligioussubculturethatincludednot only an
itbut also techniquesto facilitateit;and finally,to
arrayof theoriesto interpret
shed lighton the theologicalconfusionand harsh ecclesiasticalresponsethatre
sultedfromtheeventualdiffusion
of thosetechniquesamong thelaity.
My sources
will includetheoretical
monastic
attemptstomake senseof visionaryexperience;
directivesforattainingtheinnerstateinwhich a visionmightoccur;hagiographic
accountsof saintlyvisions;meditationalscriptstohelp believersvisualize thelife
critiquesof
ofChrist; a first-person
reporton theuse of such scripts;and finally,
visionariesthatdemonstratetheconsternationthey
mightcause.But I beginwith
2
Katharina
M. Wilson,
ed., Medieval Women Writers (Athens, Ga., 1984); Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff,
Women's
"Women's
(New York, 1986); Catherine M. Mooney,
ed., Medieval
Visionary Literature
in Fourteenth-Century
and Men
Italian Hagi
Visions, Men's Words: The Portrayal of Holy Women
(Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1991); Edward Peter Nolan,
Cry Out and Write: A Feminine
ography"
Poetics of Revelation
(New York, 1994); Grace M. Jantzen, Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism,
Cambridge Studies in Ideologyand Religion 8 (Cambridge,Eng., 1995); AmyHollywood, The Soul
as Virgin Wife: Mechthild
Porete, and Meister Eckhart, Studies in Spiri
Marguerite
of Magdeburg,
1 (Notre Dame,
Ind., 1995).
tuality and Theology
3
on the Place of Art in
Notes
Sixten Ringbom,
"Devotional
Images and Imaginative Devotions:
Private Piety," Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 73 (1969), 159-70; David Freedberg,
of Images: Studies in theHistory and Theory of Response
(Chicago, 1989); Hans Belting,
The Image and Its Public in theMiddle
Ages: Form and Function of Early Paintings of the Passion,
trans. Mark Bartusis and Raymond Meyer
1990); Jeryldene M. Wood, Women,
(New Rochelle, N.Y.,
Late Medieval
The Power
Art, and Spirituality: The Poor Clares of Early Modern
Italy (New York, 1996); Jeffrey F. Hamburger,
in Late Medieval
The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality
(New York,
Germany
in theMiddle Ages (Basingstoke, Eng., 2002).
1998); Suzannah Biernoff, Sight and Embodiment
4
in Late Me
"The Holy and the Unholy:
and Magic
Richard Kieckhefer,
Sainthood, Witchcraft,
Peter Dinzelbacher,
Studies 24 (1994), 355-85;
and Renaissance
dieval Europe," Journal ofMedieval
Heilige
oder Hexen*
Schicksale
God's Words,
alynn Voaden,
Women
Visionaries
Medieval
und Fr?hneuzeit
(Zurich, 1995); Ros
auff?lliger Frauen inMittelalter
Women's
Voices: The Discernment
of Spirits in the Writing of Late
(Woodbridge, Eng., 1999); Nancy Caciola, Discerning
Spirits: Divine
in the Middle
Possession
and Demonic
2003); Dyan Elliott, Proving Woman:
(Ithaca, N.Y.,
Ages
Culture in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, N.J., 2004).
Female Spirituality and Inquisitional
5
und Bilderwelt
Ernst Benz, Die Vision: Erfahrungsformen
(Stuttgart, 1969); Henry Corbin, Cre
in the S?fism of Ibn ^Arabt, trans. Ralph Manheim,
ative Imagination
Bollingen Series 91 (Princeton,
von Bingen bis
von Hildegard
Visionen: Mystische Weltbilder
N.J., 1969); Karl Clausberg, Kosmische
98 (Cologne, 1980); Richard Noll,
"Mental Imagery Cultivation
Taschenb?cher
Heute, DuMont
in Shamanism,"
and responses, Current Anthropology
The Role of Visions
Cultural Phenomenon:
(1985),
443-61;
Eddie
Ensley, Visions:
The
Soul's
Path
to the Sacred
(Chicago,
as a
26
2000).
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3
Culture
MedievalVisionary
a typologyof fourcomponentsthatappear, to varyingdegrees, inmost vision
texts.
A NEW TYPOLOGY OF VISIONS
No one denies,or should deny,thatvisionscan occurwithoutwarning.6The
and comparativereligionprovidesample
literature
of psychology,anthropology,
testimonyfroma wide rangeof cultures.Yet spontaneouswaking visions are
rare-though perhapsnot so rareaswe tendto think,giventhepowerfulstigma
now attachedto them.Some evidencesuggeststhatsuchvisionsoccurmost often
inthecontextofnear-deathexperience(JulianofNorwich isa celebratedexample)
ormental illness(Christineof Stommelncomes tomind).7 Spontaneousvisions
are uncanny,defyingthenormsof ordinaryperception:theymay be joyfuland
This typeof visionary
comforting
but can justas easilybe disruptiveand sinister.
experienceis ofmysterious,ambiguousorigins:"paranormal"may be themost
neutraltermforit.Medieval textsallude to itasmirumor admirandum,evoking
the"marvelous"as opposed to the"miraculous."Most interpreters
of visionary
from
visions
of thiskind.
experience,
Augustineonwards,presupposespontaneous
visions can also be-and in theMiddle
Without prejudice to thispossibility,
Ages usuallywere-the fruitsof a complex spiritualdiscipline.Over a periodof
centuries,
monasticwritersdeveloped a sophisticatedart fortheconstruction
of
innerexperience,involving
disciplinesofmemory,perception,reading,and atten
tion.Althoughsuchdisciplineshave longsincedisappearedfromourmainstream
religiousculture,theystillpersistwithin subculturesas diverseas neo-pagansand
Jesuits;thewidely used Ignatianspiritualexercisesdescend directlyfromthese
medieval prayertechniques.To be sure,meditationaldisciplinescould not guar
anteevisions,norwere theyexpressly
meant forthatpurpose.Nevertheless,such
did facilitate
spiritualtraining
visionaryexperienceand fosteran acute sensitivity
to itsmodes. Medieval teachersofmeditation acknowledgethe role of human
will
striving,
and encourage it,without assumingthatassiduous spiritualeffort
necessarilyproducevisions.But theydo assertthatsucheffortisoftenrewarded
by divinegrace. Judgingfromour extantsources,cultivatedvisionsof thistype
were farmore common thanspontaneousones.
A thirdcomponentinvision textsis theaesthetic,longfamiliarto literary
critics
but acknowledgedonly recentlyby scholarsof religion.8
Most medieval vision
6
For a contemporary example see Caroline Walker Bynum, "The Woman with the Pearl Necklace,"
8 (2002), 280-83.
Common Knowledge
7
inMedieval
and Modern
Carol Zaleski, Otherworld
Journeys: Accounts ofNear-Death
Experience
"A Marriage
Times (New York, 1987); John Coakley,
and Its Observer: Christine of Stommeln, the
in Gendered
Voices: Medieval
Saints and Their
and Friar Peter of Dacia,"
Bridegroom,
1999), pp. 99-117.
Interpreters, ed. Catherine M. Mooney
(Philadelphia,
8
See the debate between Peter Dinzelbacher
inme
and Ursula Peters over the role of convention
Heavenly
to autobiographical
vision texts, Dinzelbacher
arguing for their value as witnesses
experience,
Peters for their literary constructedness:
Peter Dinzelbacher,
Vision und Visionsliteratur
imMittelalter,
zur Geschichte
23 (Stuttgart, 1981), pp. 65-77;
des Mittelalters
idem, "Zur Interpre
Monographien
tation erlebnismystischer Texte des Mittelalters,"
Zeitschrift f?r deutsches Altertum und deutsche Li
dieval
teratur 117
(1988),
1-23;
Ursula
Peters, Religi?se
Erfahrung
als
literarisches
Faktum:
Zur
Vorge
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4
Culture
MedievalVisionary
whetherproseor verse,displayat leastsome impulsetowardartisticrefine
texts,
ment.Both theculturalprivilegingof visionaryexperienceand thepopularityof
visionsas a literary
genreencourageda nearlyirresistible
tendencyto improveon
experience,or at timesto inventitfrom
whole cloth.This impulsecan be discerned
inbothhighlystylized,formulaictextsand strikingly
original,idiosyncratic
ones.
We seeone versionof thetendencyinsaints' lives,
where thesubject'svisionsoften
conformso closely to conventionaltypes,reportedinnearlyidenticalformfrom
one vita to another,thattheirauthenticityis impossibleto gauge.An alternative
brand of refinement
appears inpoetic dreamvisions,whose aim isnot therepli
cation of conventionalsaintlyexperiencesbut thecreationof aestheticallysatis
fyingtextsthatenable readersto imagine,ifnot actuallyexperience,the tran
scendent.
Finallywe come to theelementthatloomed largestin themedieval reception
of vision texts:thesupernatural.
Nontheists todaymight pathologizevisionary
experience(as didmedieval critiquesof it),or they
might account forvisionsby
recourseto extrasensoryperception,psychicabilities,incursionsof the subcon
scious,or othermysteriouscapacitiesof thehumanmind. But thosecategories
were not available tomedieval theorists,
who tendedtomove rapidlyfrom
mirum
tomiraculum,fromtheparanormalto thesupernatural.
As forvisionariesthem
selves,theyalmostuniversallyexpressa convictionthattheirexperiences,
whether
spontaneousor cultivated,derivedsolelyfromthegraceofGod and bynomeans
fromtheirown imagination,learning,
devoutmeditation,or artisticskill,however
much thosequalitiesmay be apparent to the reader.Such claims aremade by
mysticalwritersforthemselves,
byhagiographersfortheirsaints,and sometimes
even by authorssuch as Dante and thePearl poet,who were obviouslycreating
To endorsethisclaimnormally
meant to endorse thetrustworthi
poetic fictions.
nessor even saintlinessof a visionary,
whereas to rejectitmeant tocast aspersions
on her veracity,
probity,ormental health.
These fourelements-the paranormal,themeditational,theaesthetic,and the
supernatural-neednot bemutuallyexclusive.Yetmedieval accountsofvisionary
experienceevince a clear preferencefor spontaneousas opposed to cultivated
visions,minimizingor denyingtheiraestheticandmeditationalcomponentseven
when theseare clearlypresent.The usual tenorof suchaccounts is to takevision
aryclaims as assertionsof spontaneousdivine intervention,
restingon a strongly
accountof "I saw": not "I dreamed," "I imagined,"or "I visual
supernaturalist
ized,"but "thereappeared tome." This paradigmderivedchieflyfromtheHebrew
Bible,with its famously
Old Testament
matter-of-fact
approach to theophanies.
prophetswere liable to receivetheWord ofGod as a bolt fromtheblue, unpro
voked and evenundesired.
When first
assaultedby thedivinemessage, theprophet
his sycamoretrees,but hewas certainly
might be tendinghis sheepor trimming
not standingin theTemple recitingthecompletePsalter,punctuatedbygenuflec
Texte des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts, Hermaea,
und Genese
n.s., 56
frauenmystischer
1988). I have developed my own views on the relationship between visionary experience
(T?bingen,
in God and the Goddesses:
and literary production
Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle
Ages
and 294-304.
(Philadelphia, 2003), pp. 26-31
schichte
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5
MedievalVisionary
Culture
In contrast,
tionsand prostrations.9
medieval visionsoftensprangfromjustsuch
a contextof liturgical
prayer,
meditation,or devout reverie,but thiscould not be
acknowledgedwithout compromisingthebiblicalparadigm.By thesame token,
neithercould thecarefulliterary
shapingthatmarks somany vision textsbe ad
mitted by theiradmirers.The dominanttheologyof visionaryexperiencecalled
forexclusiveagency-whetherdivine,diabolical,or human-and had greatdif
ficulty
admittingthepossibilityofmixture. In order to be consideredauthentic
and reliable,a visionmust have come directlyfromheaven: itsauthoritycould
not surviveany acknowledgmentthat ithad been soughtor improvedupon by
theseer.
Implicitly,
at least,thisall-or-nothing
approach contradictsthedevotionaland
the
contemplative
manuals that taught way to visionaryexperience.Yet fora
numberof reasons itcarriedgeneralconviction.One was theassimilationof vi
sionariesto biblicalprophets;anotherwas thelinkbetweenvisionaryexperience
andwomen,who were oftendeemed too "simple" to speakof thethingsofGod
unless theybecamedirectchannelsofhisWord.10The subtlestbutmost significant
factor
may have been theperceptionof a genuinegivennessintheexperienceitself,
howeverdeeply ithad been desired,solicited,or anticipatedbeforehand.In any
case,once theprincipleof exclusivedivineagencyhad been establishedas a norm,
conventionand prudencealike dictated the suppressionof human agency.If a
visionarydesiredcredibility,itwould simplynot do to admit toomuch "con
structedness,"in thesenseof eitherspiritualpreparationbeforethevisionor lit
afterit.1"
erarycraftsmanship
The penchantforcultivatingvisionaryexperience,
while at thesame timeoc
in
mis
cludinghumanagency vision texts,eventuatedfinallyina kindof category
church
take,a pervasiveintellectual
confusion,thatcompounded late-medieval
men's anxietyabout uncontrolledvisionaries.I seekhere todemonstratethatthis
was fueledby a profound,yetrarelyexplicit,clashbetweentwocompeting
anxiety
Within thedevotionalormeditationaldiscourseon vi
theologiesof revelation.
sions,which flourishedinmonasteriesand otherhavensof thespiritualelitefrom
was not a spontaneous,
thetwelfth
centuryonward,visionaryexperience
wholly
unpredictableincursionof thedivine into theworld. Rather, itwas a privileged
culturalpracticebywhich thosewith appropriatequalifications-at firstonly
monks and nuns, laterbeguinesand tertiaries,
eventuallyevendevoutlaypeople
mightcourtsacredencountersthroughtechniquesforthedeliberatealterationof
9
For unwilling prophets see Exod. 4.10-13;
Amos 7.14-15;
and the Book
Jer. 1.6-7 and 20.7-9;
of Jonah. Simeon and Anna, two New Testament prophets who do spend much of their time praying
are rewarded not with a vision but with Christ's presence in the flesh.
in the Temple
(Luke 2.25-38),
10
Not all clerics accepted this prevalent stereotype. For a range of views seeMooney,
ed., Gendered
"Women and Creative
and now Alcuin Blamires,
Thought," with
Intelligence inMedieval
"More Thoughts on Medieval Women's
response by Barbara Newman,
Denied,
Intelligence:
Projected,
in theMiddle Ages, ed. Linda Olson and Kathryn
in Voices inDialogue:
Embodied,"
Reading Women
Voices,
(Notre Dame,
Ind., forthcoming).
Kerby-Fulton
11
For a case study in such denial and itsmotives
see Barbara Newman,
inHildegard
Vita S. Hildegardis
and Mystical Hagiography,"
and Art, ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke, Warburg
"Three-Part
Invention: The
ofBingen: The Context ofHer Thought
4 (London, 1998),
Institute Colloquia
pp. 189-210.
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Medieval Visionary Culture
6
consciousness.This theologyenvisagedan implicitsynergybetweengrace and
human effort,and,without altogetherdiscountingthewiles of demons, it ex
with thehelp
pressedconfidencein thedevotee'sabilitytoexpose and defeatthem
of God. On theother side,prelates tendedto favora more cautious, skeptical
which originatedwith thedesertfathersbutwas decisivelycodifiedin
theology,
of spirits.This theologysternly
warned
the fifteenth
centuryas thediscernment
thedevoutnever to covet,much lesssolicit,anyvision.While allowing thatGod
might indeedrevealhimself,as he did to theprophetsofold, thediscernersstressed
thesubtletyand dangerof satanicdelusion,sinceone of theirprincipalaimswas
protectionof the"simple"-and thechurchat large-from thedevil'sguile.The
more thatclericschargedwith thediscernment
of spiritsconceivedtheirtaskas a
visions-the more
juridicalone-scrutinizing,assessing,and ifneed be repressing
with devotionalwriters,whose goalwas to facili
worked at cross-purposes
they
tatethem.
By theend of theMiddle Ages, two extremepositionshad emergedon either
end of thisspectrum.Faced with increasinglay interestin elitedevotionalprac
and fifteenth
centuriesproducedvisionaryscripts
tices,writersof thefourteenth
cross thefinelinebetween"I visualized" and "I
thataimed to help practitioners
saw." Popularmanuals suchas theMeditations on theLife of Christdiffusedthe
techniquesof affective
prayerand visualizationsowidely thateven illiteratelay
folksmightgain access to therealmof visionaryexperienceand inconsequence
make exalted spiritualclaims that,twocenturiesearlier,could scarcelyhave been
of
heard outside themonasteryor therecluse'scell.12But thisveryproliferation
visionarytexts,experiences,and claims led tomassive confusionabout theirna
tureand validity.Intentionalvisionshad posed littlethreatso long as theyre
mained safelycloistered,understoodin thecontextofmonastic pietyratherthan
prophecy.But once laymenandwomen had begun tomake propheticclaimson
thebasis of cultivatedvisions, troublewas bound to ensue.One way to avert it
thewould-be prophet'svidimore andmore promptlyas "I hal
was to interpret
lucinated,"ifnot "thedevildeceivedme."
THEORIZING VISIONS:
FROM AUGUSTINE TO BONAVENTURE
Throughout theMiddle Ages, theoristscontinued to relyon textsfromlate
cultivationof visionaryexperience
which predatedboth thesystematic
antiquity,
and the literary
genreof thedreamvision.The bestknownof thesetextswas the
lastbook ofDe Genesi ad litteram,inwhich St.Augustine sketcheshis famous
hierarchyof perception ascending from the visual (ordinaryphysical sight)
throughthevisionary(spiritualor imaginativevisions) to pure intuitiveinsight
said to be imageless).If itwas not "the finalword on the
(thevisio intellectualis,
De Genesi was usually the first.
But Au
matter,"as one scholarhas asserted,13
12
Johannes
vite Christi, ed. M.
153 (Turn
de Caulibus
(?), Meditaciones
Stallings-Taney, CCCM
hout, 1997). On this work and its contested attribution see below, n. 81.
13
von Magdeburg's
inMechthild
Frank Tobin, "Medieval
Thought on Visions and Its Resonance
inHonor
in Vox mystica: Essays on Medieval Mysticism
of Professor
Flowing Light of the Godhead,"
Valerie M.
Lagorio,
ed. Anne Clark
Bartlett
(Cambridge,
Eng.,
1995),
p. 42.
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
7
gustine'sfamiliartrichotomy,
thoughendlesslycited,proves to be of surprisingly
littlepragmaticuse, sincealmostallmedieval vision textsfallintohis ambiguous
middle categoryof visio spiritualis-visionsthatmay be eitherfalseor true.'4Far
isAugustine'sattempttoprobe therelationship
betweenthepara
more interesting
normaland thesupernatural,thatis,betweenmerelyunusual experienceand di
vine revelation.In particular,he triesto sortout thevarious causes of visionary
experienceto seewhether theybear any relationshipto itstrustworthiness.
Augustine'sanalysiscan be read as a rangeof possibleanswerstomy question,
what did itmean to saw "I saw"? On his account, theseer'svidi canmean any
numberof things:sourcesofvisio spiritualisturnout to includedeliberateexercise
of thememory ("I visualized"), imagesarisingfrom"an excessiveapplicationof
delirium("I hallucinated"),visionsper
thought"("I imagined"),cases of feverish
ceived in sleep ("I dreamed"), and imagesproducedby theagencyof a good or
evil spirit("thereappeared tome" ).15To Augustine'sbewilderment,
however,he
Em
findsno necessarycorrelationbetweenthecause of a visionand itsveracity.
phasizing themysterious,uncannycharacterof such events,he recountsthree
anecdotes involvinga demoniac,a man deliriouswith fever,and an adolescent
with pain froman inflammation
of his penis.All threeexperi
boywho fainted
enced truthful
visionswhile in theseabnormalstates.Further,thetheologiantells
of a band of youthswho pretendedin jestto be astrologersand of anotherman
who satirically
mimickedspiritpossessionat a pagan festival.
While role-playing,
all utteredpropheciesthat,to theirown astonishment,swiftlycame true.16
But
conversely,
Augustinenotes thatevena seemingly
benignvisionmay provetohave
been inspiredby a demon,17and even a sacredexperienceliketheraptureof St.
Paul (2 Cor. 12.1-4) can leavedoubts about centralquestions: "whetherin the
body or out of thebody I know not,God knows." In view of thesetroubling
thepreternatural
with thesupernatural
anomalies,Augustine refusesto identify
with thegraceofGod. Althoughvisionary
or toconflateeven truthful
predictions
experiencecan yield trueknowledgeof thefutureor thedivine, it is too bizarre
to be altogethertrusted.Far safer is theabstract intellectual
vision,which dis
penseswith suchpeculiarpsychicand bodilystates.For all itsfascinating
subtlety,
Augustine's account bequeathedmore questions than answers to itsmedieval
readers.'8
The samemay be said of dream theory,
which drew itschiefinspirationfrom
14
The much
rarer examples of visio intellectualis include certain moments
in Julian of Norwich's
such as her vision of "God in a point"
expe
(chap. 11), and Thomas Aquinas's
his Summa because all he had written appeared
1273, after which he abandoned
Revelation
of Love,
rience of 6 December
in comparison with what he had seen: The Writings of Julian of Norwich,
ed.
and Jacqueline Jenkins (University Park, Pa., forthcoming); James A. Weisheipl,
Friar
Thomas d'Aquino: His Life, Thought, and Work
(Garden City, N.Y.,
1974), pp. 321-23.
15
12.12, ed. Joseph Zycha, Corpus
Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim
Scriptorum
to him "like
Nicholas
straw"
Watson
Latinorum 28/1 (Vienna, 1894), pp. 395-97.
Ecclesiasticorum
16
Ibid. 12.17 and 12.22, pp. 403-6
and 412-14.
17
Ibid. 12.13, pp. 397-98.
18
Augustine also discussed dreams and visions elsewhere in his works: De Trinitate 11.4.7; Epistolae
9 and 159; De divinatione daemonum
5.9; De civitate Dei 4.26 and 11.2. But none of these discussions
matched
the influence of his systematic
treatment
inDe
Genesi
ad litteram.
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8
MedievalVisionary
Culture
thepagan philosophers
Macrobius andCalcidius. Inhis informative
study
Dream
ing in theMiddle Ages, StevenKruger emphasizes the "doubleness" and "mid
dleness" of dreams inmedieval thought.
LikeAugustine'svisio spiritualis,
dreams
inprinciplecome inopposed binarytypes;thatis,theycan be eithertrueor false.
But inpracticemost are ambiguousand fallsomewherebetweenthetwoextremes.
Theoristspersistentlytriedto imposesome kind of dichotomyon thesenightly
encounters
with theuncanny,but thedreamworldsof experienceno lesspersis
tently
escapedand demandedamore subtletypology.
ForMacrobius, whose views
gained currencythroughhis Commentaryon theDream of Scipio, thereare five
fundamental
dream types,two falseand threetrue.19
The insomnium,
or anxiety
dream,and thevisum,or hypnagogicimage,are essentially
meaningless.Macro
bius's somniumis themedian betweentruthand falsehood,takingitsname from
theordinaryLatin noun for"dream": itveilsa truthinambiguousmetaphorsand
In a visio or propheticdream thesubjectclearlyper
criesout forinterpretation.
ceives futureevents,while in thesublimeoraculumsome figureof authority,
such
as a parent,priest,or god, proffers
advice and revelationsfrombeyond.20
Macrobius's rival,Calcidius, transmitted
his theoryofdreamsthroughawidely
studied translationand commentaryon Plato's Timaeus.He, too, distinguished
amongvarious typesof revelatory,
deceptive,andmerelypsychosomaticdreams.
LikeMacrobius, Calcidius held theoraculardreamor admonitiotobe thehighest
type,buthe placed iton a continuum
with theevenmore impressive
waking vision
(spectaculum)and ascribedboth to theagencyof gods. Loftiestof all is the re
velatioor prophecy,
whichmay occur ineithera dreamor a waking vision.One
curiousresemblancebetweenthesetwo theoristsliesintheirfixationon predicting
thefuture-a featureof the
Macrobian visioand oraculumaswell as theCalcidian
revelatio.Yet, despite itsprominenceinancientand biblicaldream lore,prognos
ticationwas only a marginal concernof thereligiousdreamvisions so common
inmedieval literature.
Dreams of this type,likewaking visions, focus less on
predicting the future than on achieving self-knowledge, entering vividly into past
events(suchas scenesfromthe lifeofChrist),ormanifestingeternaltruths(such
as therealityof heavenand hell).For thisreasonMacrobian theory,
thoughoften
citedby literary
critics,proves lesshelpfulthan itseemingly
ought to be.
Both Calcidius andAugustinehad toacknowledgethesimilarity
of dreamsand
feverish
hallucinationsto other,more prestigiousformsof visionaryexperience,
forstatements
suchas "I dreamed," "I visualized,"and "I hallucinated"all denote
alteredstatesof consciousness-a sinequa non fortheexperienceof visions.The
resemblancebetweentranceand dreaming
was also remarkedbyBernardofClair
vaux,who wrote of themonk that"fallingasleep incontemplationhe dreamsof
19
Commentarii
in Somnium Scipionis
ed. Mario
di Studi
Macrobius,
1.3.2-10,
Regali, Biblioteca
Antichi 38 and 58 (Pisa, 1983-90),
1:46-48;
(see above, n. 1), pp. 21-32.
Kruger, Dreaming
20
that the oraculum now seems so obsolete that it could be dismissed as pure literary con
Noting
vention, A. C. Spearing remarks that "it may be that people really did have dreams of that kind in
authoritarian
societies, . . .whereas we, in a society inwhich authority is less personal,
patriarchal,
have ceased to have such dreams": Medieval
(see above, n. 1), p. 11; see also E. R.
Dream-Poetry
The
Dodds,
102-34.
Greeks
and
the Irrational,
Sather Classical
Lectures
25
(Berkeley, Calif.,
1951),
pp.
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9
MedievalVisionary
Culture
God." Even thisfleeting
glimpseper speculum in enigmatecauses him to burn
with insatiablelove.21
For preciselythisreason,medieval teachersofprayerplaced
a highvaluationon trancestates,which theydenotedby such termsas excessus
mentis,exstasis,alienatio,and raptus.
This terminology
itselfisnotwithout interest.
Excessusmentis, themost com
mon term,occurs severaltimesin theVulgate: it is used by thePsalmist (30.23
and 67.28), byLuke todescribePeter'svisionabrogatingJewishdietarylaws (Acts
10.10 and 11.5), and byPaul of his ownmissionaryfervor(2 Cor. 5.13).While
excessusmentis is theLatin technicaltermfor"trance,"equivalenttoGreek ex
stasis,thenotion of "exceedingbounds" linksit to othermeanings of excessus:
and death.Bernard explains thatecstasy is
surplus,exuberance,transgression,
called excessusmentis because in thatstate"the innerselftranscendsthebounds
"22Exstasis is amore specializedterm.Literally
of reasonand is raptabove itself.
"standingoutsideof oneself,"itoccursmost ofteninLatin versionsofDionysius
theAreopagiteandwriters influenced
by him, such as JohnScotusEriugenaand
William ofSaint-Thierry.
ForDionysius, thecontemplative's
ecstasy
mirrorsGod's
own nature as eros ekstatikos,or ecstatic love.23
Given the stronglyapophatic
characterofDionysian theology,theobjectof suchcontemplationisnot an imag
inativevisionof thekind I am consideringhere,but an ineffable
fullness
or "super
essentialrayof divinedarkness."24
Raptus and alienatiohavemore ambiguousconnotations.
Alienatiomentis isa
comprehensivetermforstatesofmental disturbanceor unconsciousness,suchas
fitsofmadness, epilepticseizures,paralyzingfear,and torpordue to physicalor
moralweakness.But themind in tranceisalso "alienated,"thatis,separatedfrom
thebodily senses;thusCistercianwritersdefinealienatiomentisas a stateof spir
itual intoxicationor excess of joy,inwhich thesoul forgetsitselfand theworld
and becomesconsciousonlyofGod.25Finally,raptus,fromrapere,"to snatchor
seize," in legalLatin denotesa rangeof crimesincludingrobbery,seizure,abduc
tion,and especiallyrape. Itsonlypositivemeaning is themysticalsenseof "rap
ture"or "ravishing,"
which isdoubled by itsOld Frenchderivativeravissement.26
These termscarrystrongand disturbingsexualovertones:justas a rapedwoman
was thoughtto experiencespecial pleasure, thecontemplativesoul longs to be
snatchedaway and ravishedby God, much as in JohnDonne's seventeenth
21
"Dormiens
facie ad faciem
Sancti Bernardi
in contemplatione
somniat Deum; per speculum siquidem et in aenigmate, non autem
interim intuetur": Bernard of Clairvaux,
Sermones super C?ntica canticorum 18.6, in
ed. J. Leclercq, C. H. Talbot, and H. M. Roch?is,
8 vols. (Rome, 1957-77),
Opera,
1:107.
22
"Sed
homo interior rationem excedit et supra se rapitur, et dicitur excessus mentis":
aliquando
Bernard of Clairvaux,
Sermones de diuersis 115; Opera,
6/1:392.
23
the Areopagite, De diuinis nominibus 4.13, PG 3:712A.
Dionysius
24
"Ea enim teipso et omnibus
immensurabili et absoluto pure mentis excessu ad superessentialem
divinarum
tenebrarum radium, omnia deserens et ab omnibus absolutus
ascendes":
Dionysius, De
mystica theologia 1, trans. John Scotus Eriugena, PL 122:1173A.
25
"Ab hoc spiritualis jucunditatis excessu et ebrietate sobrium fieri, et propter fraternas necessitates
ab alienatione mentis temperare, quid nisi vultum in diversa mutare est?" Gilbert of Hoyland,
Ser
mones
in Canticum Salomonis
10.1, PL 184:56B.
26
Kathryn Gravdal,
Writing
Ravishing Maidens:
1991), pp. 4-9.
(Philadelphia,
Rape
inMedieval
French
Literature
and Law
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10
Culture
MedievalVisionary
centurysonnet:"for I, /Except you enthrallme, never shall be free,/Nor ever
chaste,exceptyou ravishme."27
Using thishighlychargedvocabulary,medieval theoristsdeveloped theirun
derstandings
of ecstaticvision inbothexegeticaland devotionalcontexts.The first
Adam.Western exegetes
biblical visionaryturnsout to have been, surprisingly,
were familiar
with a versionofGen. 2.21 based on theSeptuagint,inwhich the
"deep sleep" (Hebrew tardema)thatGod sendsuponAdam isnot sopor as in the
Vulgate, but exstasis.On thisreading,theentrancedAdam's soul ascended to
heaven and learnedfromtheangelswhile God was creatingEve, so thaton his
marital unionbut also theunionofChristand
returnhe prophesiednot only their
ecstaticvisions to the
theChurchwhich itprefigured.28
Exegetesascribedfurther
Queen ofSheba,who afterbeholdingKing Solomon's gloryandwisdom had "no
more spiritinher" (2 Chron. 9.4); to "Benjamin,a youth, in ecstasyofmind"
(Vulg.Ps. 67.28); to Peter,James,and Johnat theTransfiguration(Matt. 17.1
9); toPeter in thehouse ofCornelius (Acts10.9-16); and especiallytoPaul,who
experiencedraptureon theDamascus road (Acts9.3-9) and againwhen hewas
commentaries
ravishedup to thethirdheaven (2Cor. 12.1-4). In twelfth-century
on theSong of Songs, theBride is a visionarypar excellence:she experiences
when shedrinksthewine ofherBeloved and
ecstasyand beholdsdivinemysteries
fallsasleep inhis embrace.
Biblical paradigmsoffered
monastic andmendicantwritersampleopportunities
towork out theirtheoriesof visionaryexperience.In thetwelfth
centurythiswas
somethingof a Cistercian specialty.De spirituet anima, a popular pseudo
Augustiniantreatiseon psychologynow ascribed toAlcher ofClairvaux, offersa
This writerbeginswithAugustine's trichotomy
particularlyinteresting
synthesis.
but gives itan optimisticspin typicalof twelfth-century
mystical thought.In in
tellectualvision,he notes, thesoul isneverdeceived,whereas incorporealvision
it isoftendeceivedby optical illusions.Spiritualvisionoccupies an intermediate
status:
In spiritual vision, too, the soul can be deceived and subject to illusion, for the things it
sees are sometimes true and sometimes false, sometimes troubled and sometimes calm.
Those that are trueat times strongly resemble futureevents, eitheropenly announced or
foretold in obscure symbols, as if in figurativelanguage. But in ecstasy,when the soul is
alienated and withdrawn from all the bodily senses,more than in sleep but less than in
death, it is not deceived. Rather, great revelation occurs while themind is divinely as
sisted, or else someone expounds thevision, as in theApocalypse of John. For when the
soul is taken up by a good spirit, itcannot be deceived, since theholy angels inmarvelous
ways make what they themselves see visible to us, through an easy and extremelypow
erfulkind of union or commingling. In an ineffablemanner theycreate the formof their
own vision within our spirit.For they indeed have authority over bodily things for the
sake of judgment and service; in spirit theydiscern significantimages of bodies, and they
27
John Donne,
"Holy Sonnet 14" ("Batter my heart, three-personed God"). The Norton Anthology
(New York,
of English Literature, 7th ed., glosses "ravish" as "rape, also overwhelm with wonder"
1:1271.
2000),
28
136
super Genesim 2.23, ed. Burton Van Name Edwards, CCCM
Remigius of Auxerre, Expositio
sancta Trinitate et operibus eius, in Gen. 2.23, ed.
(Turnhout, 1999), p. 51; Rupert of Deutz, De
Hrabanus
Haacke,
CCCM
21
(Turnhout,
1971),
pp. 228-32.
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
11
can act so powerfully as to join those images to human spirits by some means in reve
lation. So it is that the angel of theLord appeared in dreams to Joseph, saying, "Fear
not to takeMary, your wife" (Matt. 1.20), and again, "Take the child and his mother,
and flee to Egypt" (Matt. 2.13). And God says through the prophet, "I will pour out
my spiritupon all flesh;and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dreamdreams"(Joel2.28).29
of thesamenature,spiri
Aicher goes on to say thatall visionsare technically
tuales,insofaras thethingsseen (visa) are not actual bodies but imagesof bodies
produced by thehuman spirit.In sleep ormental illness(phrenesis),or even in
certainkindsof daydreaming(cogitationes),thepathwaysof normalperception
(viae sentiendi)are blocked in such a way thattheeyedoes not focuson physical
realitybut insteadturnsinward toward imagesthatexistwithin themind. In
ecstaticvisions themysteriousfusionof humanwith angelicconsciousnesspro
vides a safeguardagainstthekindof illusionthatAugustinefeared,enablingsuch
visions to be wholly trusted.
Higher still is ecstaticvisionwithout images-Au
gustine'svisio intellectualis-inwhich "themind of thecontemplativecan be
disturbedby no tumultof competingthoughts,foritfindsabsolutelynothingto
seek indesire,rejectindisgust,or reproachinhatred,but it iswholly collectedin
theserenity
of contemplationand introducedintoa most unaccustomedstateof
fac
affection.... Sensualitydoes nothing,imagination
nothing;but everyinferior
ultyof thesoul is temporarily
deprivedof itsoffice.Rather,thepurerpart of the
soul is joyfullyintroducedintothatsecretplace of intimatepeace, thatmystery
of supremetranquillity."30
CistercianSong commentaries
presentsimilarteachinginan eroticizedkey,cast
in
ingvisionaryexperience theparadoxical termsof a sober drunkennessor a
waking dream.Commentingon "Ego dormio et cormeum vigilat" (Songof Sol.
5.2), GilbertofHoyland says thatwhile thebody and itssensessleep,druggedby
29 "In
ea quae videt, aliquando
visione etiam spirituali anima fallitur et illuditur, quoniam
vera,
futuris
falsa, aliquando
perturbata, aliquando
tranquilla sunt. Ipsa autem vera aliquando
aliquando
obscuris significationibus vel quasi figuratis locutionibus
omnino similia; vel aperte dicta, aliquando
In ecstasi vero quando
ab omnibus corporis sensibus alienatur et avertitur anima, am
praenuntiata.
plius quam in somno solet, sed minus quam inmorte, non fallitur. Sed ipsa mente divinitus adjuta, vel
sicut in Apocalypsi
revelado est. Cum enim
ipsa visa exponente,
Joanni exponebatur magna
aliquo
bono spiritu assumitur anima, falli non potest; quia sancti Angeli miris modis, visa sua facili quadam
ac praepotenti unitione vel commixtione nostra esse faciunt, et visionem suam quodam
ineffabili modo
in spiritu nostro informant. Ipsi siquidem his corporalibus
praesunt, et
judicandis atque ministrandis
eorum significativas similitudines in spiritu ita discernunt, et tanta potentia quodam modo
tractant,
ut etiam eas possint hominum spiritibus revelando miscere.
Inde est quod ?ngelus Domini apparuit in
somnis Joseph: dicens, Noli timere accipere Mariam
conjugem tuam; et iterum: Tolle puerum etmatrem
. . .Deus etiam per
ejus, et fuge in .?Egyptum.
prophetam dicit: Effundam de spiritu meo super omnem
carnem; et juvenes vestri visa videbunt, et senes vestri somnia somniabunt": Alcher of Clairvaux, Liber
de spiritu et anima 24, PL 40:797. On Alcher and his influence see Caciola, Discerning
Spirits (see
and 192-94.
above, n. 4), pp. 180-82
30
animus nulla altercantium cogitationum
tumultuatione
turbetur, nihil omnino
"[CJontemplantis
inveniens quod vel per desiderium petat, vel per fastidium argu?t, vel per odium accuset: sed intra
contemplationis
tatum. . . .Nihil
duatur
arcanum
totus colligitur, et intromittitur in quemdam
affectum multum
inusi
tranquillitatem
sed omnis inferior vis animae proprio interim vi
sensualitas, nihil agit imaginado;
officio. Purior
autem
felici jucunditate
animae pars in illud intimae quietis secretum, et summae
introducitur": Alcher, De spiritu et anima 34, PL 40:804.
tranquillitatis
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12
MedievalVisionary
Culture
wine of theBeloved, theBride's heartawakens to therapturesof
theintoxicating
loveand shebeholdsGod ina dreamlikevision-dreamlike because itoccursnot
throughhuman choice or effortbut throughgrace.3'Johnof Ford imaginesthe
ravishedBride cryingout, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved ismine," not
knowingwhat she says,for"sacred ecstasies like thisinducea pleasant cloud of
unknowing,and fromamazementat sucha stupendousnew experience,theycan
as itwere, so thatpeople remember
at timescause a mist of gratefulforgetting,
neitherthemselves
nor the thingstheyhave in hand."32 In the sameway,when
onMount Tabor, he "did not knowwhat hewas
PeterbeheldJesustransfigured
saying" (Luke9.33), and theQueen of Shebawas so overwhelmedbySolomon's
glorythatherbreathfailedher (2Chron. 9.4). But as longas she remainson earth,
with sobrietyand humility"so that,
theBridemust tempertheseecstaticflights
when she iscarriedout of herself,she isnot carriedaway fromherself."Sheknows
must alternate
with soberself-possession
until"I come
thatraptself-forgetfulness
intothefullnessof the invisiblelight,and, sayingfarewellto all thatis transient,
withmy exemplar."33
I am absorbed again intomy beginningand imprinted
In reality,of course, theBride is a figureof thecontemplative
monk. Isaac of
his readersthatthesespontaneousraptures
Stella letsus inon thesecret,reminding
presuppose a great deal of disciplinedpreparation:"Many are thewondrous,
men-who
sweet,joyful,and luminousthings,
my belovedbrothers,thatspiritual
have trainedtheirsenses throughhabitual exercise-see, taste,and experience
when theyare raptin theirprayerand contemplationas ifinecstatictrance,
which
once theyreturnto them
theycan byno means telland scarcelyeven remember
Like dreams,suchvisionsfadein thecold lightofwaking consciousness,
selves."34
yet theirimpressionis indelible,creatingin thesoul a stateofpermanentlonging.
Theorists differedas towhether the loftiestformof visionaryexperience is
totallyimage free.The best authorities,including
Augustine and Dionysius, as
writers
followedthem,notingwithAlcher
sertedthatitwas, and themore austere
of Clairvaux thatneitherthesensesnor the imaginationcan partakeof this joy.
devotionalprosewithout imagery,
somany authors
But it ishard towrite stirring
who mighthave conceded thepoint inprincipleneverthelessintroduceda cascade
of thehigheststate.Gerard, a priorof
of biblical imagesto conveythesublimity
31
"Visio ista habet aliquid somnio simile, eo quod non humano arbitrio et industria fiat, non ex
Sermones
in Canticum
investigatione nostra, sed ex visitatione orientis ex alto": Gilbert of Hoyland,
42.2, PL 184:221 A.
32
excessus gratam quandam
sacri huiusmodi
"Habent
ignorantiae caliginem, et prae stu
quippe
nubilum quoddam
interdum piae obliuionis
incurrunt, ut nec sui nec
pendae nouitatis admiratione
eorum quae inmanibus
of
Sermones
uidentur habere meminerint":
Ford,
super extremam partem
John
Cantici
canticorum
46.3,
ed. Edmund
Mikkers
and Hilary
Costello,
CCCM
17
(Turnhout,
1970),
pp. 327-28.
33
"Prorsus
transitoriis meae refun
quid ego sim dum luce inuisibili perfruor, cunctisque ualefaciens
non licet": ibid. 46.8,
sentir?
interim
omnino
licet
sed
effari
dor origini, meoque
imprimor exemplari,
p. 331.
34
"Multa enim, dilectissimi fratres, mira, suavia, iucunda, luce plenissima, vident, gustant, sentiunt,
sua raptim, et quasi in excessu mentis, quae sibi redditi nullatenus dicere
in oratione et contemplatione
viri spirituales,
possunt, immo et vix meminisse,
Isaac of Stella, Sermons 4.10, ed. Anselm Hoste,
et qui per consuetudinem
exercitatos habent sensus":
Sources Chr?tiennes
130 (Paris, 1967), p. 136.
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
13
as
century,representsthemost exalted intellectus
Grandmont in the late twelfth
follows:
There still remains the fourthand highest [type of scriptural understanding], the ana
gogic, which takes place in ecstasy.When the human mind hears that the Son of God
has come in the fleshand died forman, has accepted burial, risen, ascended to heaven,
and taken his seat at theFather's righthand, then it is ravishedwith Paul to the third
heaven, that is, to the contemplation of the holy Trinity, and enters the place of the
wondrous tabernacle, even to thehouse of God, in a voice of exultation and confession,
that itmay marvel, rejoice, give thanks, feast,and be intoxicatedwith the abundance of
God's house, and drink of the torrentof his pleasure, and take its fillof the breasts of
his comfort, and hear theremysterious words which it isnot permitted forman to utter,
where the young Benjamin, "the son of the righthand," is in ecstasy, and see theLord
sittingon a high and loftythrone,he whose majesty fills thewhole earth. There lethim
sing for joywith the stars of heaven, the angels, as theychant and say, "Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts! Heaven and earth are fullof your glory!Amen! Alleluia!" And again
lethim say, "Let your streets,0 Jerusalem,be paved with pure gold, and let thereresound
in you a song of gladness, and through all your quarters let all sayAmen! Alleluia! "3
While thistextdoes not describea vision as such, itpresses intensevisionary
languageintoserviceto depictan ecstaticexperiencethatmightotherwiseelude
In theprocess,of course, itsuppliesexamples to directthe imag
representation.
Thus, even ifimageswere admittedto play
inationofwould-be contemplatives.
no role in theexperienceitself,theycould stillproveusefulas spurstomeditation
and desire.For somewriters,thepatristicconceptof "spiritualsenses"offereda
usefulcompromisebetweentheabstractiondemandedby apophatic theologyand
thesensualityrequiredforrhetoricalbrilliance.Thus Bonaventurewrites of the
twelfth
stageof contemplationthat
in it the holy soul receives an abundance of spiritual gifts by which it is fulfilledand
delighted; and then a person is fitfor contemplation and for the gaze and embraces of
theBridegroom and Bride, which take place in accord with the spiritual senses.Through
these the supreme beauty of Christ the Bridegroom is seen as Splendor; his supreme
harmony is heard as theWord; his supreme sweetness is tasted asWisdom, compre
hending both theWord and theSplendor; his supreme fragrance is smelled as the inspired
Word in the heart; his supreme tenderness is embraced as the incarnateWord, dwelling
35
"Attamen adhuc rest?t quartus qui superior est, id est anagogeticus,
qui fit in excessu mentis,
fuisse et sepultum ac
animus hominis audit Dei Filium uenisse in carne et pro se mortuum
quando
et ad dexteram patris consedisse,
resurrexisse et ad caelum ascendisse,
rapitur cum Paulo usque ad
sanctae Trinitatis, ingrediturque locum tabernaculi admira
tertium caelum, id est ad contemplationem
et confessionis, ut admiretur, iucundetur, gratuletur,
ad domum Dei in uoce exsultationis
et satietur ab uberibus
epuletur, inebrietur ab ubertate domus Dei, et torrente uoluptatis eius potetur,
ibi archana uerba quae non licet homini loqui, ubi est Beniamin adules
consolationis
eius, audiatque
sedentem super solium excelsum
centulus, id est filius dexterae, inmentis excessu, uideatque Dominum
cum astris caeli, id est cum angelis
est
terra.
et eleuatum, cuius maiestate
omnis
Iubilet
quoque
plena
et dicentibus:
Deus
Pleni sunt caeli et
Sabaoth!
Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! Dominus
decantantibus
bilis usque
sternentur auro mundo et
terra gloria tua! Amen! Alleluia!
Et iterum dicat: Plateae tuae Hierusalem,
cantentur [sic] in te canticum laetitiae et per omnes uicos tuos ab uniuersis dicetur: Amen! Alleluia!":
seu enucleatione
"Sermo uel tractatus ad fratres de confirmatione
Gerard of Grandmont,
'Speculi
"
8 (Turnhout,
ed. Jean Becquet, CCCM
Grandimontis'
17, in Scriptores ordinis Grandimontensis,
1968), pp. 363-64
(punctuation altered).
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
14
among us in the body and making himself present to our touch, our kiss, and our
embrace through themost ardent charity,which causes our mind to pass in ecstasy and
rapture from thisworld to the Father.36
Such textslieon theborderlinebetweentheoryand practice.Aiming to system
atize thefullrangeof ecstaticand visionaryexperiences,oftenbyarrangingthem
in hierarchicalorder, theyat the same time seek unabashedly to awaken the
reader'sdesireforsuchexperience.Itcan hardlybe otherwise,giventhat"theory"
itselfderivesfromtbeoria,a synonymforseeingor beholding.Inmedieval con
writings,theorynot onlygrowsout of practicebut always feedsprac
templative
in
return.
This dialectic,so deeply ingrainedinCistercian,Victorine,and early
tice
on visionaryexperience,is among thefeaturesthatdistin
Franciscan literature
on thediscernment
of spirits.
most sharplyfromlatertreatises
guish thatliterature
CULTIVATING VISIONS: A MONASTIC
PRAXIS
Justas theoryimpliestbeoria,an attentivegaze, so cultivationimpliesa culture.
Medieval visionaries,farfrombeing the isolatedandmarginal figureschastised
by Enlightenmentscholars,were engaged in a profoundlysocial practice that
flourishedin certainsubculturesand facedopposition in others.The visionary
where constantimmersioninScrip
subculturepar excellencewas themonastery,
writingstrainedthemonk or nun
and contemplative
ture,exegesis,hagiography,
or even likelihood,of visionsand to esteemthemhighly.
to accept thepossibility,
Visionary experiencewas never supposed to be an end in itself,at leastnot in
purer
principle:itwas valued because itcould lead thesoul intodeepercontrition,
withGod.37Nevertheless,
devotion,more perfectknowledge,and greaterintimacy
visionsand ecstasieswere always treatedinhagiographyas signsof divine favor,
and competitionforthesegracescould be intense.Specificpracticesconduciveto
visionaryexperienceincludedtherigorousfastingobservedinsomecommunities;
withmedi
thehours devoted to lectiodivina,or scripturalreadinginterspersed
tation;the repetitive
chantingof theDivine Office;and thecustomof returning
toone's cell forprayeror sleepbetweenthepredawnofficeofmatins and thehour
of prime.Althoughmedieval monastics did not use hallucinogens,Caroline
cen
Bynum'swork has demonstratedthat,fordevoutwomen fromthethirteenth
the
effect.
The
efficacy
could
have
much
same
the
Eucharist
forward,
receiving
tury
36
numerus
in quo insinuatur spiritualium charismatum
exube
abundans,
anima sancta; et tune est homo ad contemplationem
idoneus et ad
sponsi et sponsae, qui fieri habent secundum sensus spirituales, quibus videtur
summa pulcritudo
sub ratione Verbi;
sub ratione Splendoris; auditur summa harmonia
"Est enim duodenarius
fruitur et delectatur
rantia, quibus
aspectus et amplexus
Christi
sponsi
summa dulcedo
sub ratione Sapientiae comprehendentis
utrumque, Verbum scilicet et Splen
fragrantia sub ratione Verbi inspirad in corde; astringitur summa suavitas
incarnati, inter nos habitantis corporaliter et reddentis se nobis palpabile, osculabile,
caritatem, quae mentem nostram per ecstasim et raptum transir? facit
per ardentissimam
amplexabile
ex hoc mundo
ad Patrem": Bonaventure,
5.6.6, ed. Jean-Pierre Rezette, 7 vols. (Paris,
Breuiloquium
gustatur
dorem; odoratur
sub ratione Verbi
summa
1967), 5:72-74.
37Denise
Despres,
1989),
England
Ghostly Sights: Visual Meditation
Ellen M. Ross, The Grief of God:
(New York, 1997), pp. 15-40.
pp.
19-54;
in Late-Medieval
Images
Literature
of the Suffering Jesus
(Norman, Okla.,
in Late Medieval
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15
Culture
MedievalVisionary
of all these
methods could be enhancedby thepowerof suggestionand example.38
had visionsat certaintimes,
Thus merelyobservingthatsomepeople customarily
Communion ormeditatingbeforethecross on Good Friday,
as when receiving
made iteasier forothers in thesamecommunityto do likewise.
Monastics developed a wide varietyofmeditational techniques,all of them
More oftenthannot, the
involvingsome formof trainedor disciplinedattention.
meditator'sgazewas directedtowardsome specificvisual focus,whetherthisob
a consecrated
book, a crucifix,
jectwas a partof thenaturalworld, an illuminated
of the
host,or an internalimageconstructedby themind.This deliberatetraining
Pro
as
conducive
to
visionary
experience.
theorized
was
sometimes
explicitly
gaze
speculatio,
often
begin
with
stages
of
contemplation
accounts
of
the
grammatic
studyof a visual object,and endwith ecstasy.
theattentiveand reflective
Latin speculatio,likeGreek theoria,had a rangeofmeaning thatextendedfrom
To
sight,show,and spectacleto spectatorship,speculation,and contemplation.
"to see inamirror"
Hamburger remindsus,means literally
"speculate,"as Jeffrey
(speculum),an ideawith a longand complexgenealogyinmedieval thought,as
Two Pauline
we might guess fromthepopularityof Speculum as a book title.39
textsofferedpointsof departureforthepracticeof trained,cultivated,"specula
tive"vision.One was 1 Cor. 13.12, "videmusnunc per speculum in enigmate,
mode
tuncautemfaciead faciem."BernardofClairvaux and othersconstruedthis
which afforded
of seeing"throughamirror inamystery"as visionaryexperience,
visionof theblessed.The
tantalizing
glimpsesthatforeshadowedtheface-to-face
versewas Rom. 1.20: "invisibiliaenim ipsiusa creaturamundi
complementary
This passage counterbalancedthe
conspiciuntur."
per ea quae factasuntintellecta
less to theephemeral,ecstaticmoment thanto a longdisciplineof
first,referring
visualmeditation.As Richard of Saint-Victorexplained,"When it iswrittenthat
theinvisiblethingsofGod are seenby theintellectfromthecreationof theworld,
throughthethingsthataremade, thisplainlymeans thatreasonwould neverrise
presented
to theknowledgeof invisiblethingsunless itshandmaid, imagination,
of
the
Creator
the
mind
to
see
vestiges
Training
to ittheformof visiblethings."40
38
Caroline
Walker
Significance of Food toMe
Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious
Studies in Cultural Poetics 1 (Berkeley, Calif., 1987). I do not
dieval Women, The New Historicism:
mean
to imply that medieval
power to induce
theologians ascribed to the Eucharist any miraculous
of eucharistie visions does suggest that even when known
visions or ecstasy. But the phenomenon
such as peyote and mescalin,
hallucinogens,
and cultural expectations.
ritual performance
are used
On
in religious rites, their efficacy is enhanced by
this theme see Carlos Casta?eda's
anthropological
A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
(Berkeley, Calif., 1968), and its sequels.
fiction, The Teachings of Donju?n:
"Mental Imagery Cul
On other cross-cultural
techniques for inducing visionary experience see Noll,
tivation" (see above, n. 5).
39
on Speculation: Vision and Perception
in the Theory and
"Speculations
Jeffrey F. Hamburger,
ed.Walter
inDeutsche Mystik
im abendl?ndischen
Practice ofMystical
Devotion,"
Zusammenhang,
Schneider-Lastin
2000),
pp. 353-408;
Ritamary
Bradley, "Back
(T?bingen,
29
100-115.
in
Mediaeval
of
the
Title
(1954),
Literature,"
Speculum
Speculum
grounds
40
"Item, cum scriptum sit quia inuisibilia Dei, a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta
ratio assurgeret,
inde manifeste
colligitur quia ad inuisibilium cognitionem nunquam
conspiciuntur,
Richard of Saint
nisi ei ancilla sua, imaginario uidelicet, rerum uisibilium formam repraesentaret":
Haug
and Wolfram
Victor, Benjamin
(Paris, 1997),
minor
5, ed. Jean Ch?tillon
and Monique
Duchet-Suchaux,
Sources Chr?tiennes
419
p. 102.
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Medieval Visionary Culture
16
in thecreaturewas one rationalefor theVictorines'comprehensiveeducational
studyin the"book ofNature" as well as exe
program,which justifiedscientific
mind discern
Not onlycould a well-trained
geticalstudyin thebook of Scripture.
thedivinecause fromitsmaterialeffects;itcould evenperceivetracesof theTrinity
in thepower,wisdom, and goodnessapparent in theworld, inkeepingwithAlan
of Lille's famousverses: "Omnismundi creatura/Quasi liberet pictura /Nobis
est et speculum."'41
But ifGod could be seen in thewhole createdworld by theeyesof reason,he
could be seenmore intimately
by theeyesof faithin sacredart and in thesacra
ment of thealtar.Art historianshave observed thatthelate-medievalfascination
of sightover alter
with visionswas but one aspectof amuch broaderprivileging
nativemodes of experience.Beginningaround 1200, theelevationof theconse
cratedhost atMass, amplifiedby latercustomssuchas itsdisplay inmonstrances
and Corpus Christiprocessions,led to an emphasison "seeingGod" insteadof
Communionas theculminationof thelayperson'sreligiousexperience.42
receiving
It shouldnot be surprisingthata gaze fixedlovinglyand habituallyon thehost,
understoodas thevisible,ediblebodyofGod in theworld, should sometimessee
Christ. In eschatologyaswell, theideaof thebeatific
intotheinfant
ittransformed
metaphors,
vision-once again, "seeingGod" -gradually displaced alternative
And, of course, the
music, and dance, fortheblissof heaven.43
such as feasting,
made
of religiousart in allmedia, includingtheater,
late-medievalproliferation
"holy seeing" accessible to almost everyone.Closely linkedto thevenerationof
actual paintedor sculptedimageswas theconstructionof holy sceneswithin the
mind. A nunwho dailywept beforethepieta or kissed thefeetof theCrucified
easy to visualize thesefiguresin prayer,and the line
would findit increasingly
"vision" is a fineone.
and
"visualization"
between
Not all devotionalwriters recommendedvisualizationas a prayer technique.
Some in theDionysian tradition,such as theauthorof theMiddle EnglishCloud
of Unknowing,most emphaticallyrejectedit.Yet the techniquefiguredpromi
nentlyinmany devotions,especiallyin the lateMiddle Ages. To pray therosary
was, and is, to visualize complex scenes fromthe lifeof theVirgin-the joyful,
sorrowful,or gloriousmysteries-while countingout a fixednumberof Hail
centurythisdevotion,which demands
Marys on theprayerbeads. By thefifteenth
41
Alan
evocative
"Rhythmus alter," PL 210:579 A (punctuation altered). Harold McCurdy's
our nature, / Is a painting, book,
begins: "All creation, every creature / Faithfully reflects
our present is depicted /And our future state predicted /
or sign /
With precision, line on line":
Where
"Omnis mundi creatura (Alain of Lille, c. 1128-1202),"
Theology Today 44 (1987), 371.
42
Le d?sir de voir l'hostie et les origines de la d?votion au Saint-Sacrement
Edouard Dumoutet,
(Paris, 1926); Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, pp. 54-60; Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist
of Lille,
translation
and 155-56; Charles Caspers,
(Cambridge, Eng., 1991), pp. 55-60,131-34,
or Popular Mysticism?"
in
Ages: Augenkommunion
during the Late Middle
Customs and Practices Surrounding Holy Communion,
ed. Charles Caspers, Gerard
Bread ofHeaven:
3 (Kampen, The Netherlands,
1995), pp. 83-97;
Lukken, and Gerard Rouwhorst,
Liturgia Condenda
(see above, n. 3), chap. 6.
Biernoff, Sight and Embodiment
43On
The Singing Silence (Prince
the beatific vision see Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History ofHeaven:
and Caroline Walker
ton, N.J., 1997), pp. 129-39;
of the Body inWestern
Bynum, The Resurrection
in Late Medieval
"The Western
Culture
Church
Christianity, 200-1336,
Lectures
on theHistory
of Religions,
n.s., 15 (New York,
1995), pp. 283-91.
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
17
of attention,
had achievedimmense
a difficult
layering
popularitynotonlyamong
religiousbut also among the laity-an indexof the sophisticationthatcan be
Late-medievalnuns improvedon the
achieved in thisvein evenwithout literacy.44
technique,creatingcommunal "gifts"forMary-for example,an embroidered
as theyrecited
cloak or a garland of roses-by visualizingtheseitemsintensely
many thousandsofAves.45
But ifvisualizationcould be combinedwith the rote recitationof prayers,it
could also be combinedwith highlyliterateexercisessuch as thecompositionof
poetryor visionaryprose. In herbrilliantvolumesThe Book ofMemory and The
the techniqueof visualization
Craftof Thought,Mary Carruthershas identified
as an importantlinkbetweentheclassicalartofmemoryand themonastic artof
prayer.For theancients,memorywas a componentof rhetoricaltraining.
They
consideredan agile,well-stockedmemory essentialto literarycomposition(in
ventio),and to fosterit theydeveloped a mnemotechnicsgrounded inpictorial
techniques,suchas themental linkingofparticulartopoior partsof a speechwith
rooms in a house or arches in a colonnade.Whatever thepreferredstructure,it
shouldbe one visualizedso frequently
by thestudentas tobecome secondnature.
Quintilian also taughtthemental construction
of visiones,ormnemonic images,
as a potentmethod of rousingtheemotionalenergiesof speakerand audience.46
Rhetoriciansevenrecommended
certainposturesas especiallysuitablefor
memory
with a book, strollingina garden-or
work-reclining inbed, sittingpensively
anyotherattitudethatfosteredthecombinationof focusedattention
with imag
inativefreedom.
The same techniquesthathelpedRoman schoolboysmemorize theAeneid or
polish theiroratorycould justaswell help themonkmemorizeScriptureor craft
meditativeprayers.Certainbooks of theBible, suchas theProphetsand theApoc
alypse,seemedespeciallysuitableforvisualizationbecause theyare so fullof star
tling,unusual imagery:theApocalypse remaineda favorite
ofmanuscriptpainters
fromthe timeof Beatus of Liebana to theend of theMiddle Ages. Visualizing
such images-transferring
themfromthesacredpage to thestorehouseofmem
ory-was considereda cognitiveact, and "the resultof thisassumption"was, in
Carruthers'swords, "a weak distinction... betweenmeditativereadingand vi
sionaryexperience."47
Throughvisualizationthescripturaltextcould be deeply
internalized,
and this innerlandscapeprepared theground fornew visionsand
44
Anne Winston-Allen,
Stories of the Rose: The Making
of the Rosary in theMiddle Ages (University
Better Prayers,"
Park, Pa., 1997); Rachel Fulton, "The Virgin in the Garden, orWhy Flowers Make
Spiritus 4 (2004), 1-23.
45
zum Verh?ltnis von Gebet,
Ein Diskussionsbeitrag
Thomas
der Heiligen:
Lentes, "Die Gew?nder
inHagiographie
in Schrift, Bild und Architektur,
und Kunst: Der Heiligenkult
(Berlin, 1993), pp. 120-51;
Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Nuns as Artists: The Visual
Culture of a Medieval
Convent
(Berkeley, Calif., 1997), p. 75.
46
2 vols.
libri duodecim
Institutionis oratoriae
ed. Michael Winterbottom,
6.2.29-32,
Quintilian,
Rhetoric, and theMaking
(Oxford, 1970), 1:335; Mary Carruthers, The Craft of Thought: Meditation,
Bild und Imagination,"
ed. Gottfried Kerscher
in Medieval
Literature
34 (Cambridge,
Studies
of Images, 400-1200,
Eng., 1998),
Cambridge
pp. 130-33.
47
Carruthers, Craft of Thought, p. 184. See also eadem, The Book ofMemory: A Study ofMemory
Literature 10 (Cambridge, Eng., 1990).
inMedieval
Studies inMedieval
Culture, Cambridge
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
18
Carruthers
vision texts.As an earlyexample of "monasticvisionaryinvention,"
sourcesinthePsalms,
discussestheCarolingianVisionofWetti,which has literary
Ezekiel, theApocalypse, and theDialogues ofGregory theGreat. Yet thisderiv
ativecharacterdoes notmake thework any less "experiential,"fora vision de
can be experiencedalmostas vividlyas
liberately
craftedby a trainedpractitioner
a spontaneousone.
The practiceof lectiodivina offeredyetanotherrouteforthemonk or nun to
progressfromdisciplinedattentionto ecstaticvision.Although theBenedictine
rule itself
mandates severalhours a day to be spent in sacred reading,48lectio
describedin thetwelfth-century
Scala
divina as a prayermethod ismost succinctly
claustraliumbyGuigo II theCarthusian.49
According to thistreatise,thedevotee's
goal is to ascend the fourrungsof the ladder fromattentivereadingout loud
(lectio)throughdiscursivereflection
(meditatio)tovocal ormentalprayer(oratio)
to a tranceof stillness(contemplatio)inwhich themind holds itself
open todivine
inspiration,includingpossiblevisions.The secondstagemay involvevisualization
memorywork,while evenprayercan
and the linkingof scripturaltextsthrough
be a quasi-literaryexercise inwhich the soul striveswith "burningwords" to
inflameitsown desire.Contemplation,when itcomes, rewardstheeffortof the
Treatises
firstthreestagesbut "can never,or hardlyever,bewon without" them.50
De arcamystica,orBenjaminmajor,
such as Richard of Saint-Victor'sinfluential
where even the subtlest
presuppose thisdisciplinewithin a social environment
nuances of contemplativeexperiencecould be discussedand compared.Richard
observesthatecstasymay occur spontaneouslyas a giftofGod, but itcan also be
ofdesire,
assistedbyhumaneffort:themindmay be liftedabove itself
by intensity
or
If
by sheer joy.51 such graces arewithheld, seekers
by greatnessof wonder,
shouldnotwait passivelybut redouble theirstrivingthroughthedeliberateex
When theprophetElisha lacked inspiration,
Richard notes,
erciseofmemory.52
with theprophetic
he summonedaminstreland,upon hearingthemusic,was filled
48
Chap. 48,
sacred reading
"On the Daily Manual
should devote at least two hours to
says that monks
Labor,"
In addition, each monk
is to be given a book
and more on Sundays.
every weekday
from the library at the beginning of Lent, to be read straight through from beginning to end: The Rule
2001), pp. 109-12.
(Collegeville, Minn.,
of Saint Benedict, trans. Leonard Doyle
49
and
Sources Chr?tiennes
163
Scala
ed.
Edmund
claustralium,
II,
James Walsh,
Colledge
Guigo
and James Walsh,
The Ladder
Cistercian
Studies
(Paris, 1970); trans. Edmund Colledge
of Monks,
is a fifteenth-century Middle
Series 48 (Kalamazoo, Mich.,
1981). There
English version entitled A
Ladder of Four Rungs.
50
Ladder ofMonks
13, p. 80.
51
trans. Grover A. Zinn, The Mystical
Richard of Saint-Victor, Benjamin major 5.5, PL 196:174;
Ark, in Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical
Ark, Book Three of the Trinity
(New York, 1979), p. 316.
52
"Therefore, think how beneficial it is to reconsider often the mysteries of our faith and to have
of divine
them frequently in memory, since from such effort we shall be able to obtain a multitude
ifwe can neither see [the divine mysteries] by ecstasy of mind nor comprehend
showings. Therefore
. . .
insofar as it is possible for us, let us draw
nevertheless,
by means of pure and clear understanding
into frequent consideration
those things which we receive from the Catholic
tradition and hold by
of divine showings will not be completely foreign to those who
faith. ... I think that the consolation
both often and willingly behold by the eye of faith the hidden secrets of divine mysteries": Mystical
Ark 4.21,
trans. Zinn,
p. 301; PL
196:163D-164A.
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
19
spirit(2Kings 3.15). Allegorically,to call foraminstrelmeans to "shout indivine
means "to awaken
celebration... with a greatshoutof theheart,"and thisinturn
ofdivinekindnessesand promises."53Inother
devotionof theheartby recollection
words, to rekindlethe fadingembersof desire a monk shouldmeditate on the
Scriptures,theTrinity,and his own past experiencesofGod. By thatpracticehe
can once again becomeworthyof ecstaticvision.
Elsewhere in thetreatise
Richard draws a tellinganalogyfromoptics,acknowl
edgingtheparallelsbetweencorporealand spiritualvision. In thephysicalworld,
themore tranquila body ofwater, themore brilliantlyitreflects
thesun.Even so
with themeditatingmind:
What does water mean, except human thinkingthat always flows to a lower place unless
it is confined by a barrier of great strength?
Water thathas been collected in a container
represents
thinking
thatisdirected
towards
meditation
andfixed
byintention.
The gath
ering togetherofwater representsmeditation of theheart. A ray of the sun directs itself
onto such water when a divine showing meets with meditation. But when thewater
receives in itselfthe rayof lightfromabove, itsends a flashof lightto theveryheights....
itmakes thelighttremble;
[B]ytrembling
bybeingquiet,quiet;bybeingpurer,
purer;
by being wider, wider....
[T]he more fully and perfectly the soul is able to compose
itselfin inward peace and tranquillity,themore firmlyand tenaciously itwill adhere to
this raising up to the supreme lightbymeans of contemplation.54
Richardwas not theonlyauthortodrawparallelsbetweenvisual and visionary
De oculomorali, thethirteenth-century
experience.In thetreatise
FranciscanPeter
of Limogesworks out elaborateanalogies betweencontemporary
optical theory,
moral behavior,and devotionalpractice.55
More broadly,themedieval scienceof
optics (perspectiva)provides a usefulanalogue forthedisparitybetweensuper
naturalandmeditationalapproaches tovisions.Learned opinionwas dividedbe
tweentheoriesof "intromission"and "extramission,"
on theques
which differed
tionof how theeyemakes contactwith theobjectsof vision.FollowingAristotle,
Avicenna,andAverroes,intromissionists
believedthatall objectsemittedraysor
particlesof somekind,which reachedtheeye throughamedium, suchas air,and
thus communicatedtheir images to the beholder.Extramissionists,following
53
re
cordis exsultationem
"Quid est autem ejusmodi psaltem adducere, nisi pro vida meditatione
cordis devotionem
excitare?
parare, et ex divinorum beneficiorum vel promissionum
recordatione,
Hunc tune procul dubio psaltem psallere facimus, quando ex magno cordis tripudio in divina praeconia
in divinas laudes cum magno
jubilamus, et in gratiarum actionem assurgentes, ex intimis visceribus
trans. Zinn, p. 341.
cordis clamore reboamus":
Benjamin major 5.18, PL 196:190CD;
54
est aqua, nisi cogitatio humana, quae semper ad inferiora labitur, nisi sub districtionis
"Quid
in vase collecta, cogitatio meditationi
cohibeatur? Aqua
magnae moderamine
intenta, et per intentio
nem defixa. Aquae
aquae solis radius se infundit, quando divina
collectio, cordis meditado.
Ejusmodi
occurrit. Sed cum aqua radium in se superni luminis accipit, fulgorem quoque
luminis et ipsa, ut dictum est, ad superiora emittit. . . . [I] ta ut tr?mula tremulum, quieta quietum,
. . . [Q]uanto
plenius atque perfectius ad intimam ani
purior puriorem, diffusior diffusiorem efficiat.
revelado meditationi
mus
pacem et tranquillitatem
componere
vatione summae luci per contemplationem
se praevaluerit,
tanto firmius, tanto tenacius in hac suble
trans. Zinn, pp. 325
ibid. 5.11, PL 196:180;
inhaerebit":
26
(punctuation altered).
55
Peter of Limoges, De oculo morali
the Late Middle
Ages:
Image Worship
pp. 150-54.
(Viterbo, 1655); Kathleen Kamerick, Popular Piety and Art in
1350-1500
and Idolatry in England,
(New York, 2002),
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Culture
Medieval
Visionary
20
Plato, Euclid,Galen, andAugustine,believed thattheeye itselfplayed an active
role inperception,emitting
visual raysthatsoughtout theirobjectsand so enabled
RobertGrossetesteand
themto be seen.The thirteenth-century
English scientists
Roger Bacon worked out complicatedtheoriesthatattemptedto synthesizethese
rivalviews,allowing forboth visual raysfromtheeye and emanationsfromthe
object.56By analogy Imight characterizetheauthorsofmeditativeguides as en
gaged in a similarproject.The devoteewho followstheirinstructions
forvisual
izingthe lifeofChrist isnot a passive percipient:hermental gaze participatesin
what she sees.Yet neitheris theobject of her visionspassive, for
constructing
Christhimselfisunderstoodto illuminethemeditatingmindwith divineradiance.
As in thecase ofphysicalsight,successfulvisio requiresthreeelements:an external
object,an activeand focusedeye,and a sourceof light.
Cultivatedvisionsoftenrevealasmuch about a community's
visionarysubcul
tureas theydo about theprotagonistof a vision text.To conclude thissectionI
will consider two examples: theLife of CbristinaofMarkyate, fromtwelfth
centuryEngland, andMechthild of Hackeborn's Liber specialisgratiae, from
Helfta.Both textsstandon theboundarybetweenhagiography
thirteenth-century
were recordedby a close
and first-person
narrative,as each visionary'srevelations
friendand confidant.Christina'sunfinished
Vita, told to a monk of St.Alban's,
standscloser to thegenreof a conventionalsaint's life.57
Repletewith visionary
use of dreams,prayertrances,
experience,itdisplaysa virtuallyinterchangeable
ofburn
andwaking visions.Richard ofSaint-Victor
had listed"theeffervescence
ingdesire" as thefirstcause of ecstasy,and it iswhile sheprays in thisstate that
Christinaexperiencesa visionof theVirginMary:
Once as shewas at prayer, her facewet with tears fromyearning for heavenly things,
shewas suddenly raptured to heaven above the clouds, where looking around she saw
theQueen sitting on a celestial throne and the glorious angels attending her.... The
lightof the angels could scarcely be compared with the light that surrounded herwho
Yet as [Christina] directed her gaze now to the angels, now to
bore theMost High....
the Lady of angels, amazingly, her sight pierced the splendor surrounding the radiant
Lady more easily than thebrightnessaround theangels, although theweakness of human
sight finds itmore difficultto gaze on things that are too bright.58
56
David
"The Science of Optics,"
in Science in theMiddle Ages, ed. Lindberg (Chicago,
of Force," in
idem, "Roger Bacon on Light, Vision, and the Universal Emanation
the Sciences, ed. Jeremiah Hackett,
Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte
des
Roger
57 (Leiden, 1997), pp. 243-75.
See also Biernoff, Sight and Embodiment
Mittelalters
(see above, n.
inDante's
3), chaps. 3-4, and Robert Podgurski, "Where Optics and Visionary Metaphysics
Converge
35 (1998), 29-38.
'Novella vista,'" Italian Quarterly
57
see Rachel Koopmans,
On the circumstances
"The Conclusion
of its composition
of Christina of
Vita," Journal of Ecclesiastical
Markyate's
History 51 (2000), 663-98.
58
"Nam cum aliquando
lacrimis in oracione maderet pre desiderio celestium, subito rapitur ultra
illi gloriosos
nubes usque ad celum ubi conspicata
reginam celesti in trono sedere vidit et angelos
.
tarnen lumini quo circumdabatur
assistere. . . Nec
ilia que genuit altissimum potuit comparari
lumen
. . . Cum tarnen vicissim intenderet, nunc in
angelos nunc in dominam angelorum, miro
angelorum.
1978),
C. Lindberg,
pp. 338-68;
Bacon
and
modo
facilius penetrabat candentis obtutus splendorem circumfusum domine quam qui circumfulgebat
cum infirmitas humane visionis habeat egrius inspicere clariora": The Life of Christina of
a Twelfth Century Recluse 42, ed. and trans. C. H. Talbot, Medieval
Academy Reprints
Markyate,
angelos,
39
for Teaching
both translations
(Toronto, 1998),
are my own).
pp.
108-10
(punctuation
altered here and
in the following
note;
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
21
of activeand passiveverbs:Christina is
The textrevealsa characteristic
interplay
suddenlyand passively"raptured"("rapitur"),yetactiveverbsof seeingreassert
heragencywithin thevision ("vidit. .. intenderet
. .. penetrabat").Itsmiraculous
nature is signifiedby the factthatChristina'sheavenlyseeingreversesthechar
acteristics
of physicalsight:on earthan excessivelybrightlightisblinding,but in
heaven thebrighterthe light,theclearerthevision.
Elsewherein theLife, as inmany similartexts,
Christina'sbiographerdescribes
revelatorydreams by alternating"vidit" (she saw) with itspassive equivalent,
"videbatursibi" (it seemedto her). In her first
visionarydream,while stillliving
with her abusiveparentsand tryingto escape herunwantedmarriage,thewould
be nun dreamsof being "led intoa beautifultemplewith otherwomen," where
she sees a priestabout to celebrateMass. "Afterseeingthesethingsshe awoke
and foundherpillowwet withmany tears,and justas the tearsshe thoughtshe
had shed inherdream turnedout to be real, shehad no doubt about therestof
thethingsshehad seen in thesamedream."59The realityof thetearsconfirmsthe
realityof thevision.An equivalencebetweendreamsandwaking visions is sug
to contradictionsinhis terminol
gestedby thehagiographer'sblitheindifference
ogy.On one occasion Christina's "beloved,"Abbot Geoffreyof St.Alban's, is
"sittingawake on his bed in theearlyhours of themorning,"presumably
medi
tatingbetweenmatins and prime,when he "clearlysees"Christinasitting
nearby,
"for itwas no dream" ("viditmanifeste,neque enim somniumerat").Her silent
The nextmorninghe sendsames
presenceinspireshim topraymore attentively.
Christinaof theexperience,but itturnsout thatshehas already
sengerto inform
toldhersisterall about "thatdream" ("illo somnio") inwhich shehad deliberately
This sharedvisionaryexperiencerecallsthepracticesouthern
appeared to him.60
Netherlandishhagiographerscalled "sendingGod," inwhich one friend
would
promisetoobtain specialgracesforanotherat an arrangedtimeand place.61Such
experiencesusually tookplace atMass, butChristina'sbedroomvisitseemsap
withGeoffrey.
The ambiguity
propriateto themuted eroticismof her relationship
of hisvision-was ita dreamorwasn't it?-suggests thekind of contemplative
prayertrancedescribedinCistercianandVictorinewritings.
Anotheroccasion forcommunalvisio isaffordedby an eye inflammation
that
renderedChristina temporarily
blind. "Her eyelidswere contracted,her eyeball
bloodshot,and underneaththeeyeyou could see theskinflickering
without stop
were a littlebird insideitstrikingitwith itswings."62Apparently
ping,as ifthere
near death,Christinahad lostboth physicaland spiritualsight,but one of her
59
cum dormiret, videbatur sibi quod in quoddam
"Nocte quadam
[sic] templum cum
pulcherimum
aliis mulieribus
introducta fuisset. Et ecce stabat ad altare quidam
indutus vestimentis sacerdotalibus
. . . Post hec visa
celebranda
paratus.
quasi ad solemnia missarum
evigilavit et cervical suum multis
lacrimis maduisse
reperit, ut sicut verum flere fuit quod sompniasse putabat, ita de reliquorum eventu
non ambigeret, que per idem somnium viderat":
ibid. 24-25,
pp. 74-76.
60
Ibid. 67, pp. 152-54.
61
Send Me God: The Lives of Ida the Compassionate
of Nivelles, Nun of La Ram?e, Arnulf, Lay
trans. Martinus
Brother of Villers, and Abundus, Monk
of Bossut,
of Villers, by Goswin
Cawley,
6 (Turnhout, 2003).
Medieval Women
62
"Contrahebantur
turbabatur oculus, sub ipso oculo videres cutem ita sine intervallo
palpebre,
moveri, ac si earn intus latens avicula iugi volatu percuteret": Life of Christina 48, pp. 122-23.
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Medieval Visionary Culture
22
nuns has a visionarydreamon her behalf.In aMacrobian oraculum,she sees "a
-the Mother ofGod-giving Christinaa medicinal
matron of greatauthority"
lozenge.Upon awakening,thenun learnsthat thesickwoman has in factbeen
restoredto health, thefirstsignsof her cure being "a movementof her eyelids"
and "sight inher eyewhich had been blind."Here Christinaand her sistershare
ofherphysical
a jointmiracle: one receivesa spiritualvision,theotherrestoration
Christina'svisionarytalentacts as a cat
sight.As in thecase ofAbbot Geoffrey,
alyst to inspirevisions in thosearound her.This is a phenomenonwe meet time
culminatingin theDominican sister
and again inwomen's religiouscommunities,
In a visionarysubculture,"I saw" couldmean
books of thefourteenth
century.63
"I learnedto see."
One of themost celebratedsubculturesof thiskindwas theconventofHelfta
Cistercian
century,thisunofficially
inSaxony. In thelastdecades of thethirteenth
community
was home to at least threevisionarywriters:Gertrude theGreat (d.
Mechthild ofHackeborn (d. 1298/99),and thebeguine
1301/2),64
herclose friend
when old age, clerical
Mechthild ofMagdeburg (d. 1282),who took refugethere
harassment,and encroachingblindnessmade her formerindependentlifeimpos
sible. Itwas at Helfta in the 1270s thattheex-beguinewrote the finalbook of
LichtderGottheit,perhaps inspiringthenuns toheightenedliterary
Das fliessende
nunswere both
activity.
Unlike thevernacularmystic,the two convent-educated
excellentLatinists,who collaborated-along with stillotherunknownsisters
in recordingone another'svisions.Thus theLegatus divinaepietatisascribed to
Gertrudeconsistsof a shortVita writtenafterher death (book 1), her own vi
books of her revelationstakendown
sionarynarrative(book 2), and threefurther
In
and
others.
Gertrudewas among several
return,
byMechthild ofHackeborn
book of visions,en
amanuenseswho pennedMechthild ofHackeborn's lengthy
titledLiber specialisgratiae but translatedintoMiddle English as theBooke of
GostlyeGrace.65The women of thislearnedand ardentmilieu clearlyprizedvi
sions, both as experienceand as text. In theirworks we findvirtuallyall the
visionaryexperiencediscussedabove, aswell asmutual
techniquesforcultivating
literaryinfluence.
with Ger
devotion and vivid,painterlyvisions, together
Mechthild's fervent
trude'selegantLatin,made herbook a favoriteamongconnoisseursof suchthings.
character.
Like othercloisteredvisionaries,her revelationshave a strongliturgical
with someof thetheologicaldaring
The Liber visionsalso reveala playfulstreak,
63
Gertrud
Century
for Women,
Jaron Lewis, By Women,
Studies and Texts 125 (Toronto,
about Women:
1996);
by Medieval
Germany,
Sister-Books
of Fourteenth
L. R. Garber, Feminine Figurae:
German Women Writers,
1100-1375,
The
Rebecca
Texts
in Religious
Representations
of Gender
Studies inMedieval
History and Culture 10 (New York, 2003), chap. 3.
64
natural sister,Abbess
This Gertrude is not to be confused with Mechthild's
(1232-91).
65
Mechthild
2
edition of theMiddle
of specialis
ofHackeborn
inRevelationes
Gertrudianae
Liber specialis gratiae, ed. Louis Paquelin,
(Poitiers, 1877). This edition by the monks of Solesmes is quite rare. A complete
inmicrofiche: The Booke of Gostlye Grace ofMechtild
English text is available
of Hackeborn,
ac Mechtildianae,
ofHackeborn,
an erroneous
Gertrude
ed. Theresa
Latin
A. Halligan,
title, Liber
Studies and Texts 46
spiritualis gratiae, which
(Toronto, 1979). Gostlye grace translates
is explained by the very similar abbreviations
and spiritualis.
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23
MedievalVisionary
Culture
more oftenascribed toMechthild ofMagdeburg. At one point thenun imagines
playinga game of dicewith Christ, ignoringtheclericalcondemnationsof gam
Elsewhere she elaborateson theCrucifixionas a wedding feast,
bling.66
making
Jesusbecome inquick successionthepriceof thebanquet, themeat andwine, the
harp and organ, the tumblerand thedancer.Finallyhe even becomes thebride,
"enteringthemarriage-bedof thecross" and openinghis heart forhis loverto
penetrate,"when indyingon thecross I sleptwith you thesleepof love."67Typ
icallyaudacious is thenun'svisionofDivine Love, a goddess favoredinthirteenth
Continentaltexts.Love appears as a "fullfayre
century
maydene" in theheartof
with
her
God, againstwhich she insistently
knocks
diamond ring.Questioned by
thevisionary,Love says that "this stonebetokeneththe synneoffAdam" and
explains thatjustas a diamondcannotbe cut exceptbyblood, nor couldAdam's
sin be undone save by theblood ofChrist.So as soon asAdam fell,shebegan to
battertheheartofGod with her ringuntilat lengthshe droveChristout of the
Father'sbosom into theMaiden's womb, and so on to thecreche,theministry,
and "thegybetteof thecrosse,"untilshehad "cowpledeman toGod with a bande
of lovewhichemaye nowghtbe unbownden."68 In short,originalsinprovidesthe
jewel in theringwithwhichGod weds humankind-a new and unexpectedtwist
on thedoctrineof felixculpa.
atwork heresuggestsbothdisciplinedtheo
The trainedallegoricalimagination
elaborationafterthem,perhaps
logicalmeditationbeforethevisionsand literary
inconversation
with Gertrude.Yet none of thislikelycontextfiguresin thetext
itself.
Rather, the languageof seeing inMechthild's Booke is typicalof prayer
visionsor trances,not unlikethedictionobservedinChristinaofMarkyate's Life.
"In here tymeof prayere,when schedesyredehere love," the reader is assured,
"sodeynlyetheverteweof theGodhede drowe here sowle sodeynlyeto hym."69
The adverb "sodeynlye"is repeatedas ifto stressdivineagencyand spontaneity.
But thevisioncannothave beenwholly unexpected,foritoccursduringa fervent,
eroticallyinflected
prayerjustasBernard,RichardofSaint-Victor,
and otherteach
ersof contemplationadvised.Moreover, thewriterclearlyknew theAugustinian
What Mechthild "sawe" inhervisionwas "gostlye"
definition
of visio spiritualis.
ratherthanbodily,so itappears only in themind's eye ("to here semynge"),and
Love presentsherselfonly "als itthadde bene" a fairmaiden, echoingthe"as if"
language(quasi, sicut,velut) familiarinLatin visionarytexts.
Mechthild's revelationsare allwaking visions.Sincemany of themoccurduring
theDivine Office,theseat leastcannothave been ecstatic,fortheseerwas chan
tressand could hardlyaffordto swoon inchoir.Her liturgicalrole figuresin the
epilogue toherBooke, where it isnotMechthild buthereditorGertrudewho has
66
Liber
specialis gratiae 4.27; Mary Jeremy Finnegan, The Women
ofHelfta: Scholars and Mystics
(Athens, Ga., 1991), p. 53.
67
Liber specialis gratiae 3.1; Finnegan, Women
ofHelfta, pp. 51-52.
68
Booke ofGostlye Grace, London, British Library, MS Egerton 2006, fols. 116-17,
ed. Alexandra
Barratt, inWomen's Writing inMiddle English
(London, 1992), pp. 55-57. Cf. Liber specialis gratiae
2.17, ed. Paquelin, pp. 151-52.
69
Booke ofGostlye Grace, ed. Barratt, p. 55; cf. Liber
specialis gratiae
2.17,
p. 151.
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24
Medieval Visionary Culture
theauthorizingvision.70
Gertrudedreams thatMechthild, afterreceivingCom
munion, intonesthechant "Domine, quinque talenta" to signifythat she has
turneda good profiton thetalentsgivenher byChrist.She thenasks thenuns if
would liketo receivehoney fromtheheavenlyJerusalem.
they
Mechthild offersa
honeycombtoeach sisterinchoir,but toGertrudeshealso givesamorsel ofbread,
intoa whole loaf.Here thedevout recipient
which ismiraculously transformed
ofCommunionbecomesa priestlyfigureable todispenseit.Ifthequasi sacrament
ofhoney indicatesthesweetnessofMechthild's visions,theloafseemsto represent
Gertrude'sbook, suffusedinsideand outwith the"swete lykoure"
-yet so great
is theexcess of honey "that ittwette alle here lappe, ande so ranne forthande
moystedealle theerthabowte them."This vision,a sharedexperiencelikeseveral
inChristina'sLife,manages to conveyat once theauthorityofGertrude'sbook,
its insufficiency
to contain the fullnessofMechthild's "ghostlygrace," and its
nurturingsweetnessforthereader.
Gertrude's epilogue to theLiber specialisgratiae bears comparisonwith an
unknownnun's prologue toherown Legatus divinaepietatis,writtenin theearly
As ifrebuttingtheargumentsI have justmade, thisnun firmly
fourteenth
century.
remindsher audience thatwhat theyare about to read isnot a literarytext:
Although [Gertrude] abounded in these and similar giftswhich normally produce plea
sure, it should by no means be thought that she imagined [the visions] that follow out
of her own ingenuityor the keenness of her intellect just as itpleased her, or that she
composed them out of diligence inwriting (ex industria sermonis) or fluencywith lan
guage (ex habilitate eloquentiae). Not at all! Rather, itmust be firmlybelieved, without
the least hesitation, that all were truly infused in her by a gratuitous gift of the Spirit
from the very fountof divinewisdom....
But since invisible and spiritual thingscan by
no means be expressed for the human intellect except through visible and corporeal
images, it is fittingto imagine them in human, bodily forms.71
Does the sisterprotest toomuch? She knows thatGertrude's textwill give
pleasurebecause of her livelyintellectand elegantstyle,and forthatveryreason
readersmay be temptedto see thebook as a literary
product.Itspervasivesensual
imagerycan be justifiedby a passage fromRichard of Saint-Victor(citedunder
thename ofHugh) on thebiblicaluse of attractive
material symbolsto represent
But thedivineoriginof thevisionsmust be emphasizedmore
immaterial
realities.72
strongly:theyderive solely frominfusedgrace, the freegiftof theHoly Spirit.
awoman's vernaculartext,asHein
Had theeditorbeen amale clericintroducing
70
Edition
et al., The Idea of the Vernacular: An An
in Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
and commentary
1280-1520
Middle
(University Park, Pa., 1999), pp. 288-91.
thology of
English Literary Theory,
71
"Et quamvis his et similibus, quae humanam placentiam
incitare soient, abundaverit, nequ?quam
est quod ea quae sequuntur ex ingenio aut ex agilitate intellectus ipsa sibi ad placitum
arbitrandum
suum
imaginata fuerit, sive ex industria sermonis aut ex habilitate
eloquentiae
composuerit,
quod
est quod vere omnia de ipso fonte divinae
sed firmiter absque omni haesitatione
credendum
... Et
quia invisibilia et spiritualia nullatenus ad
sapientiae sibi gratuito dono sint infusa a Spiritu.
absit;
et visibilium similitudines exprimi non pos
intellectum humanum aliter quam per rerum corporalium
adumbrare":
sum, oportet ea humanis et corporeis imaginationibus
Legatus divinae pietatis 1.1.3-4,
uvres spirituelles, 2, ed. Pierre Doy?re, Sources Chr?tiennes
inGertrude of Helfta,
139 (Paris, 1968),
p. 124.
72
on Speculation"
(see above, n. 39), pp. 388-91.
Hamburger,
"Speculations
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
25
richofHalle did for
Mechthild ofMagdeburg, thecasemighthave seemedclearer.
Illiterataearemore obviouslyinspiredbecause theyare not presumedto be intel
ligentand skilledinwriting.73
ButGertrudecould not so easilybe dismissedas an
unletteredrustic,nordid thenunwho wrote herprologuehave a genderedinterest
indenyingor minimizingtheseer'shuman abilities.Nevertheless,given theall
of
or-nothingapproach to divine revelationI have described,the"authenticity"
Gertrude'svisionsmust be defendedby emphaticallydenyingtheirliterariness.
SCRIPTED VISIONS:
FROM THE CLOISTER
INTO THE WORLD
Cultivated visionaryexperiencewas considerednormal, even normative,in
some religiouscommunities.74
Visions likethoseofChristinaofMarkyate or the
Helfta nunswere groundedon theliterary
side intheartofmemoryand rhetorical
inventio,on the religiousside in lectiodivina and thecultivationofmeditative
trance.They neverlosttheiressentially
monasticcharacter,
eventhoughthirteenth
centurybeguinesbroughtthegenreto itsmost vivid flowering.75
But thistypeof
an
intensive
even
theveryde
visionarypracticerequired
trainingthatlaypeople,
vout,were unlikelytoobtain.Thus,when thelaitybegan to infiltrate
thevisionary
realminsignificant
numbers,theirvisionshad amore formulaic
character,
almost
as ifthey
were followinga script-as, inmany cases, they
were.
The phenomenonIwill call "scriptedvisions," likesomany otherlaydevotional
practices,had originatedin spiritualexercisesforprofessedreligious.From the
mid-twelfth
meant
centuryonward,clericalwritersproduceda longseriesof texts
tohelp readersvisualize the lifeofChrist so vividlythatpious imagination
would
shade intovisionaryexperience.Such writingsare best describedas visionary
Aelred ofRievaulx's Rule fora Recluse is one of theearliestentriesin a
scripts.
Meditations on theLifeofChrist,
genrethatculminatedin thefourteenth-century
with itsmany counterpartsand translations.
While Aelredwrote fora selectand
tinyaudienceof cloistered
women, by theearlyfifteenth
centurythe
Meditations
had reacheda public sowide as toopen theprivileged
path tovisionaryexperience
aswe see in thecelebratedcase ofMargeryKempe.
foreven the illiterate,
If thenotion of a visionaryscriptseemscounterintuitive,
even perverse,it is
worth noting that thismeditational techniquehas latelyexperienceda revival
within our own culture,and not only amongChristians.Creatingand following
73 In
to the Lux divinitatis, a translation of Mechthild
Das fliessende
his prologue
ofMagdeburg's
Licht der Gottheit, Heinrich
suppresses the name of "the woman
through whom thiswriting was made
in a "primitive tongue" in order to represent the text's real author as "the Father, Son, and
public"
ac Mechtildianae
The Flowing
Gertrudianae
(see above, n. 65), 2:435-37;
Spirit": Revelationes
trans. Frank Tobin
(New York, 1998), pp. 31-33. The translator Heinrich of
Light of the Godhead,
Halle
of Halle who had been Mechthild's
should not be confused with the Heinrich
confessor.
74
convents
This seems to have been true especially of the fourteenth-century German Dominican
or collective hagiographies;
in such communities a ?ow-visionary nun
that compiled Schwesternb?cher
Holy
See Lewis, By Women,
and Garber, Feminine
forWomen, about Women,
might be seen as anomalous.
Figurae, chap. 3 (see above, n. 63).
75
are the most celebrated visionary b?guines, but see also
and Mechthild
ofMagdeburg
Hadewijch
trans. Ulrike Wiethaus
of Vienna
(d. 1315), Life and Revelations,
Agnes Blannbekin
(Woodbridge,
Eng., 2002).
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26
MedievalVisionary
Culture
visionaryscriptsisnow a commonpracticeof neo-pagans,who use themforthe
invocationof spiritsand deities,for theesotericexerciseknown as "pathwork
ing,"and even forpast-liferegressions.
Byway of cross-cultural
comparison,here
is one directivefromtheWiccan priestessStarhawk's instructions
forcastinga
circle,takenfromherpopular handbook The SpiralDance:
Ground and center. Face East. Visualize your athame [sacred knife] in your strongest
hand, and draw an Invoking Pentacle....
See it burningwith a pale, blue flame. Say,
"Hail, Guardians of theWatchtowers of the East, Powers of Air." Walk through the
pentacle, and see a great wind sweeping across a vast plain of waving grass. Breathe
deeply, and feel the air on your face, in your lungs, throughyour hair. The sun is rising,
and in its rays a golden eagle shines as it flies toward you.When you are filledwith the
power of air, say, "Hail and farewell,Shining Ones." Walk back through thepentacle.76
formeditatingon the lifeofChrist,addressedby
Compare theseinstructions
theCistercianmonk Aelred to his sister,a recluse:
Now that your mind has been cleansed from all defiling thoughts by the practice of
virtues, turnyour purified eyes back to thepast. First enter the chamberwith theblessed
Mary, and read the books thatprophesy the virgin birth and the coming of Christ.Wait
there for the angel to arrive so that you may see him enter and hear him greet her, and
so, filledwith amazement in ecstasy,greet yourmost sweetLady togetherwith the angel.
Cry out and say, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord iswith you, blessed are you among
women." Repeat this frequently,contemplatingwhat this fullnessof grace may be.77
Both spiritual
writersassume a stateof focusedconcentration
or entrancement:
thedevoteemust firstbe "groundedand centered"or have hermind "cleansed
fromall defilingthoughts"beforebeginningtheexercise.The fourskillsthatStar
hawk representsas centraltomagical training-relaxation,concentration,
visu
alization,and projection-were also essentialto themeditativeprayerofmedieval
religious,butmonasticwritersrarelygo intodetailaboutmattersthatwould have
Both assumepriorreligiousknowledge:
been taughtinpersonbya novicemaster.78
thewitch alreadyknows about theelementalspiritsand theirdomains, justas the
anchoressalreadyknows about the livesof Christ andMary. Aelred, likeStar
hawk, encouragesthedevotee tomake use of all her senses,especiallysightand
hearing,as she activelymoves about her imaginedspace and greetsthe figures
who appear there.Bothwritersthusconceive thevision as a relationalencounter,
opening intodialoguebetweenthemeditatorand thesacredpersons.Finally,both
assume thatthevisionarytrancewill be a pleasurableexperience."In trancewe
76
A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion
Starhawk
[Miriam Simos], The Spiral Dance:
20th anniversary ed. (San Francisco,
Goddess,
1999), p. 94.
77
"Cum
sorde uirtutum exercitatione
igitur mens tua ab omni fuerit cogitationum
oculos
quibus
uideas
of the Great
iam
purgata,
ad posteriora
libros
retorque, ac primum cum beata Maria,
ingressa cubiculum,
ut
aduentus
euolue.
Ibi aduentum
Virginis partus et Christi prophetatur
angeli praestolare
tuam cum
dominam
intrantem, audias salutantem, et sic repleta stupore et ?xtasi dulcissimam
defaecatos
et dicens: Aue, gratia plena, Dominus
tecum, benedicta tu inmulieri
angelo salutante salutes, damans
. . .
Aelred of Rievaulx, De
bus. Haec
crebrius repetens, quae sit haec gratiae plenitudo
contemplare":
1 (Turnhout,
institutione inclusarum 29, in Opera
and C. H. Talbot, CCCM
omnia, ed. A. Hoste
1971), pp. 662-63.
78
on the theory and practice of trance.
p. 72; see also pp. 166-84
Starhawk, Spiral Dance,
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
27
findrevelation,"Starhawkwrites. "We experienceunion, ecstasy,openness.The
limitsof our perception . . . dissolve."79
Aelred expectshis sistertoweep as she
beholds thedyingChrist,yethe also remindsher todrinkjoyfullyfromhis bleed
ingwounds, for "your lips, stainedwith his blood, will become like a scarlet
ribbonand yourword sweet."At theend of thevision,when the risenChrist
embraces
Mary Magdalen, Aelred's advice is to "lingerhere as longas you can,
virgin.Let no sleep interruptthesedelightsof yours,nor outer tumultdisturb
them. "80
Aelred's how-tomanual forproducingvisionswas among thefirst
experiments
inwhat would become an extremely
popular genreof guidedmeditations.Even
inmonastichands,works of thistypeencouragedreaderstocultivatevisionsquite
different
fromthosethatgrewout of free-form
meditatioor inventio.
Unscripted
visions presupposea well-stockedmemory that is freeto rangeat libertyover
and classical textsand images.Given theancientplace of
scriptural,liturgical,
in
mnemotechnics theartof rhetoric,
visionsof thiskindare intimately
tiedto the
prospectof freshliterary
creation.But scriptedvisionaryguides suchas Aelred's
requirethereadertoconsultonlyone book, and theirvernacularoffspring
do not
evenpresumedirectknowledgeof theGospels.Many suchworks are dedicated
towomen,whose devotionalreadingwas expectedto resultin theexperienceof
new visionsbut not necessarilyin thecreationof new texts.For everyvisionary
textthatcomes down to us, theremust have been hundredsofmute inglorious
Margerys contentwith theirdevoutmeditations,who feltno need-or had no
capacity-to write themdown.
The blockbustersuccessin thisgenrewas enjoyedby thepseudo-Bonaventuran
Meditations on theLife of Christ,a mid-fourteenth-century
Franciscanwork as
cribedby itseditoron rathertenuousgrounds to Johannesde Caulibus.81Like
Aelred, theFranciscanaddressedhismeditationsto awoman, a Poor Clare ofSan
fortheiruse. In hispro
Gimignano,and likeAelred he gave explicitinstructions
logue he explains thathis graphic retellingof Christ's life ismeant, not as an
but as a scripttoawaken thereader'svision
exerciseinhistoricalreconstruction,
ary imagination:
If you wish to exercise yourselfwith diligentmeditation on these things,you will have
as your teacher theLord Jesus himself, ofwhom we speak. But you should not believe
that everythingwe could imagine he had said or done iswritten here. Rather, tomake
a firmerimpression, Iwill narrate these events to you as if theyhad taken place in this
way, as we can piously believe that theyhappened or might have happened, in accord
with certain imaginary representations that themind can grasp in a variety ofways. For
79
80
Ibid., p. 171.
.
labia tua, et eloquium tuum dulce. . . Hic
sanguine eius fiant sicut uitta coccinea
quamdiu
morare.
somnus
tuas
Non
has
delicias
nullus
exterior
tumultus
uirgo,
interpolet,
impediat":
Aelred, De institutione 31, pp. 671-73.
81
to the attribution see Jaime Vidal,
in
See above, n. 12. For challenges
"The Infancy Narrative
"[E]x
potes,
Pseudo-Bonaventure's
1300)"
edition
published
delivered
'Meditationes
A Study inMedieval
Franciscan Christ Piety (c.
review of the Stallings-Taney
1984), and Sarah McNamer's
un
50 (1999), 378-85.
I am also indebted toMcNamer's
vitae Christi':
(Ph.D. diss., Fordham University,
in Journal of Theological
Studies
of the Meditationes
Affect and the Two Crucifixions
paper, "Franciscan
at theMedieval
Academy meeting inMinneapolis,
April 2003.
vitae Christi,"
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28
MedievalVisionary
Culture
we can expound, understand, and meditate on the divine Scripture in as many ways as
we see fit,so long as it is not opposed to the truthof [Christ's] life, righteousness, or
teaching-that is, not against faith or good morals. So when you findme saying that
theLord Jesus, or other characterswho are introduced, said or did such and such, if it
cannot be proven by Scripture, you should not take itotherwise than devout meditation
requires. Receive it, then, as if I were to say: Imagine that the Lord Jesus said or did
such and such. And the same goes for the rest.But ifyou want to gain the fruitof these
meditations, you should make yourself as present to these sayings and deeds recounted
of theLord Jesus as ifyou heard themwith your own ears and saw themwith your eyes,
engaging thewhole affectionof yourmind, attentively,delightfully,and at leisure,having
put aside for a time all other cares and worries.82
could hardlybe clearer.Pseudo-Bonaventure
offersthereader
These instructions
or dramaticscenarios,and her task is to
a setof "imaginariasrepresentaciones,"
butas a participant.
"makeherself
present"withinthem-notmerelyas a spectator,
at theend of thelengthy
volume: "it is sufficient
to
These directivesare reinforced
.
meditateon a singleact thattheLord Jesusperformed,. . making
yourself
present
thenand there(te ibidempresenteexhibendo)as ifthiseventwere happeningin
to themeditating
yourpresence(in tuapresencia),justas itoccurs inall simplicity
soul."83This emphasison presenceshould be read in lightof theauthor's frank
admissionthatthegraphicdetailofhisnarrativeisonlyan imaginedrepresentation
which themeditator
ofwhat might have happened,a kind of novelistichistory,
with a certainmeasure
herselfis freeto alter."Seeing" in shortmeans visualizing,
Yet some versionof theseeventsdid once occur,so the
of imaginativefreedom.
exercisehas its limits:even thoughauthorizedvisionsdo not requirescriptural
proof,theycannotovertlycontradictthesacred text.In thissense the
Meditations
on theLife of Christdiffersfromthevisualizationspracticedin thecourseof rhe
which aremore likelyto evoke fictivelandscapesand allegorical
toricalinventio,
fora readerto createherown var
TheMeditations affordedopportunities
figures.
visionaryinvention.
iantson a standardscript,butnot forfree-form
While performingtheexercises,theauthor specifies,thedevotee shoulddivide
Christ's lifeintosegments,
visualizingitas faras theflightintoEgyptonMonday,
throughhis inauguralsermonon Tuesday,and so forth,"so thatby doing this
82
Iesum de quo loquimur
uolueris,
"[S]i te in his exercitare sedula meditacione
ipsum Dominum
habebis. Non autem credas quod omnia que ipsum dixisse uel fecisse meditari possimus
Magistrum
scripta sint. Ego uero ad maiorem
impressionem ea sic ac si ita fuissent tibi narrabo prout contingere
uel contigisse pie credi possunt, secundum quasdam
quas animus diuer
imaginarias representaciones
circa diuinam
simode percipit. Nam
exponere et intelligere multifarie, prout
Scripturam meditari,
non sit contra ueritatem uite, iusticie aut doctrine, id est non
dummodo
expedir? credimus possumus:
sit contra fidem uel bonos mores. Cum ergo me narrantem inuenies: Ita dixit uel fecit Dominus
Iesus,
seu alii qui introducuntur, si id per Scripturam non possit probari, non aliter accipias quam deuota
exigit. Hoc enim inde accipe ac si dicerem: Mediteris
Et sic de similibus. Tu autem si ex his fructum sumere cupis,
meditacio
Dominum
Iesum dicta
et facta narrantur
ac si tuis auribus
Iesus.
quod ita dixit uel fecit Dominus
ita presentem te exhibeas his que per
audires et oculis ea uideres, toto mentis
et morose, omnibus aliis curis et sollicitudinibus
tune omissis": Medi
affectu diligenter, delectabiliter
taciones vite Christi, prologue, p. 10.
83
Iesus fecit, ... te ibidem
sufficit solum factum quod Dominus
"Igitur scire debes quod meditari
presente exhibendo,
pp. 349-50.
ac si in tua presencia
fi?rent prout simpliciter anime cogitanti occurrit":
ibid. 108,
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MedievalVisionary
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29
with thesemeditations;themore often
everyweek, youwill familiarize
yourself
you do them,themore easily and pleasantly theywill come to you. You will
happilyconversewith theLord Jesus,and youwill zealouslycarryhis lifeinyour
heartat all times,justas theblessedCecilia carriedtheGospel inher bosom."84
The samedirectivesare preservedinNicholas Love'sMirror of theBlessedLife of
Middle Englishadaptations.
JesusChrist,thebestknownof several
Writingexplic
itlyfora lay audience,Love abridgedor deletedmany of Pseudo-Bonaventure's
a key sentencefromtheprologuequite literally:
auctoritates,
but he translated
Wherefore kou bat coueytest to fele treulybe fruytof Pis boke; bou most with all 1i
bought & alle bin entent, in bat manere make be in bi soule present to boo binges bat
bene herewriten seyd or done of oure lord Jesu,& bat bisily, likyngly& abydyngly,as
bei bou herdest hem with bi bodily eres, or sey baim with bin eyen don; puttyng awey
forbe tyme,& leuyng alle over occupacions & bisynesses.85
In thisformofmeditation theboundarybetween "I visualized" and "I saw" is
porous indeed.
The hoped-forcrossingof thatborderline iswell described in a twentieth
Dion Fortune,who explainshow sheand a fellow
centuryaccountby thepriestess
adeptmagically "constructed"thetempleof Isisby visualizingit:
We pictured the temple of Isis as we had known it near theValley of theKings in the
great days of the cult.We pictured it in itsbroad outline, and thenwe pictured it in all
itsdetail, describingwhat we saw tillwe made each other see itmore and more clearly.
We pictured the approach through the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes; the great pylon
gate in the temenoswall; the court with its lotus pool; shadowed colonnades, and the
great hall with itspillars.... And as we did this,alternatelywatching and describing
thephantasied scenes began to take on the semblance of objective realityand we found
ourselves in them-no longer looking at themwith themind's eye, but walking about
in them.After that therewas no more effortof concentration, for the astral vision took
charge.86
For theChristianpractitioner,too, ifall goes well, visualizingbecomes seeing,
while stiff,
formaldialoguegivesway to spontaneousconversation:"libentercon
uerseriscumDomino Iesu."Anyonewho performedsuchmeditationsas directed
and failedto have visionswould have been seriouslylackingin imagination.
Nicholas Love's idealreadermaywell have been awoman like
MargeryKempe,
whose lackofpersonal literacy
could not preventher fromlearningand following
his directives.
Kempe isoftenand rightlylabeleda "visionary."Butwhenwe read
herbook expresslyto seewhat ithas to tellus about visionaryexperience,
what
we findmay surpriseus. In determining
what ismost originalabout any text,it
isusefultoaskwhat lingerslongestin thememoryaftera firstreading-or a third
84
"Et sic per singulas ebdomadas
facias ut ipsas meditaciones
tibi reddas familiares quod
faci?s tanto facilius tibi concurrent, et iucundius. Libenter conuerseris cum Domino
magis
uitam
quanto
Iesu, et
in corde studeas inseparabiliter
ad imitacionem b?ate Cecilie
ipsius tanquam Euangelium
350.
locare":ibid.,p.
85
Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, proem, ed. Michael
Nicholas
Love, Nicholas
1233 (New York, 1992), pp. 12-13.
Garland
Reference
Sargent,
Library of the Humanities
86
Dion Fortune, Moon Magic
(New York, 1972), pp. 81-82.
col
G.
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30
Medieval Visionary Culture
or a tenth.
When we raise thisquestionaboutMargeryKempe,we discoverthat
her book has become, likeHamlet, a compendiumof famousquotations:
Alas, that evyr I dede synne, it is fulmery in hevyn.87
Forasmech as thu art a mayden in thi sowle, I schal take the be the on hand in hevyn
and my modyr be the other hand, and so schalt thu dawnsyn in hevyn.88
I preche not, ser, I come in no pulpytt. I use but comownycacyon and good wordys, and
thatwil I do whil I leve.89
What, woman, art thu come agen? Iwolde fayn be delyveryd of the.90
As thesezingerssuggest,
bestabout thisintensely
oral book
what we remember
is itsdialogue. The reparteehas as sharp a tangas anythinginMalory; and if
moremedievalistswere filmmakers,
thebookwould yieldan excellentscreenplay.
This isnot somethingthatcan be said ofmany saints' lives,letalone visionary
texts.Ifwe go on to askwhat visual scenesaremostmemorable,chancesare they
will be vignettesof theheroineherself.
Here we see a leaden-faced
Margerywrith
ingon thegroundat Calvary,screaminglikea woman in labor (chap.28). There
we findher inwhite clothesatHessle, pursuedby a troupeof angrywomenwith
distaffsshouting"Burnthisfalseheretic!"(chap.53); and thereat last isthemuch
chastenedwife, scrubbingher senilehusband'sdiapersand fretting
about thecost
of firewood(chap. 76). Kempe's self-portraits
tend to be farmore strikingthan
her holymeditations.Evenwhen we considerher actual visions,themost unfor
gettableare this-worldly
experiences.SightseeinginRome,Margery bursts into
tears,thinking
of Jesus,everytimeshe sees a motherwith an infantson (chap.
35); andwhenevershehears aman beatinga horse, thesoundof thewhip renews
her lamentover thePassion (chap. 28). Later on, aftershehad encounteredthe
novel cult of St. Joseph,
Margery could not see a weddingwithout recallingthe
marriageof JosephandMary and how itsignified"thegostlyjoynyngofmannys
sowle to JhesuCrist."91Much likeher older contemporary
William Langland,
when hergaze encompassedthesacred inthepresent
Margery "saw" most vividly
world.
Nevertheless,Kempe also hadmore conventionalvisions,which have received
less criticalattentionthanany other aspect of her text.92
For thesevisions are
strictly"by thebook,"93and theirscripted,formulaiccharactercontrastssharply
with thecandid, unconventionalnarrativethat intrigues
ad
Kempe's latter-day
mirers.Despite theirseeminglyartlesschronology,
Margery's scriptedvisionsare
Visual meditationson
strategically
placed to createa desiredhagiographiceffect.
87
The Book ofMargery Kempe 3, ed. Lynn Staley (Kalamazoo, Mich.,
1996), p. 26.
88
Ibid. 22, p. 62.
89
Ibid. 52, p. 126.
90
Ibid. 54, p. 131.
91
Ibid. 82, p. 189. On the top-down
introduction of St. Joseph's cult see Newman,
God
Goddesses
(see above, n. 8), pp. 284-87.
92
Kathleen Ashley, "Historicizing Margery:
The Book ofMargery Kempe as Social Text,"
ofMedieval and EarlyModern Studies28 (1998), 378.
and
the
Journal
93
For this term I am
indebted to Elaine Scarry, Dreaming
(New York, 1999). Scarry
by the Book
gives a fascinating account of how themind uses the instructions contained in prose fiction to construct
texts
visual imagery that mimics the vivacity of actual perception. The process envisaged inmedieval
ismore conscious and deliberate than the semiautomatic
responses Scarry describes.
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31
theVirgin'sbirthand childhoodand theNativitycome soon aftertheaccountof
Margery's conversion,forthesewere consideredappropriatesubjectsforbegin
ners.Later,once she iswell established(at least in her own eyes) as a saintly
woman, she sees "wythhirgostlyeye" thepartingofChrist andMary, theAs
cension,and thedeath of theVirgin.Near theend of hernarrative,she recounts
a detailed setof Passion visions,fromGethsemanethroughtheResurrectionand
"Noli me tangere."Afteran interludeinwhich she is testedby clericsand con
asmystic
gratulatedbyGod, who promisesher sainthood,Kempe's self-portrait
culminatesin a TrinitarianvisionnarratedbyChristhimself,playingtheroleof
hagiographerto his beloveddaughter.Thesemeditationsfollowan acceptedpat
ternof spiritualascent,beginning
with the tenderjoysofChrist's infancy,
pro
ceeding throughsorrowfulscenesof parting,to thecentralPassion sequence in
whichMary Magdalen joins thecast of characters,to theexalted sightof the
Trinity.94
Thoroughlyorthodox in theologyand devotionalpractice,such visions are
meant to seta seal of approvedpietyon Kempe's exceptionalnarrative.It
surely
would be possible todemonstrate
herdebt toNicholas Love, and thustoPseudo
Bonaventure,in somedepth.Gail Gibson has shown thateven thehomelydetail
ofMargery's offeringthebereavedVirgin a hot "cawdel" to drinkderivesfrom
a passage inthe
Mirror-although Love does notgo so faras toprovidetherecipe
for this "chickensoup for the soul" thatappears on the last folioofKempe's
manuscript.95
SinceLove's work was commissionedbyArchbishopArundel, the
ofLollardy,Kempe could hardlyhave chosen amore effective
way
archrepressor
todemonstrate
herorthodoxythanby studiousobservanceof themeditativeprac
ticeLove teaches.In theprocessofmodeling her approveddevotions,
Margery
how
she
from
also providesan invaluableaccountof
"learnedto see,"progressing
in
in
theart of constructing
visions.Early her
beginnerto proficientto adept
mysticalcareer,Christ assignsher to a spiritualdirectorand tellsher to giveup
vocal prayersin favorofmeditation:"thynkswychthowtysas Iwyl putt
lengthy
in thimend." As a novice in themeditativeart,Margery at firstasks inbewilder
Christ tellsher to thinkof hismother,and
ment, "Jhesu,
what schal I thynke?"96
"anoon"1shehas her firstintentional
vision,beginning
with thebirthofMary. In
fact,
Margery completesthe fullset ofmeditations recommendedforMonday,
Years later,
endingwith Love's first
Tuesdaymeditationon theflightintoEgypt.97
recallingthis initiationforher scribe,Kempe seemsawed not somuch by the
of her own experience- "wyth
mysteriesof the Incarnationas by the intensity
gretreverns
wythmany swet thowtysand hymedytacyonsand also hy contem
94
The Nativity visions can be found in chaps. 6-7, the Ascension
and death of the Virgin in chap.
and the Trinity visions in chaps. 85-86.
73, the Passion cycle in chaps. 79-81,
95
as {)OUwere {>ere bodily present, confort oure lady & j)at
"And ?)ou also by deuoute ymaginacion
felawshipe praiyng hem to ete sumwhat, for zit J>eibene fastyng": Love, Mirror 48, p. 190. Cf. Book
East Anglian Drama
Gibson, The Theater of Devotion:
ofMargery Kempe 81, p. 186; Gail McMurray
and Society in the Late Middle Ages (Chicago, 1989), p. 51.
96
Book ofMargery Kempe 5-6, pp. 31-32.
97
on the four daughters of God, since she
in heaven," a meditation
Kempe
skips Love's
"prologue
had no use whatsoever
for allegory.
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32
Culture
MedievalVisionary
placyons,sumtymedurynginwepyng two owyresand oftynlengarin themend
of owyrLordysPassyonwythowtynsesying."98
AsMargery advances inhervisionarypractice,she stressesherobedience to the
directivesof Pseudo-Bonaventureand Nicholas Love. The Meditations and the
Mirror prescribethatthemeditator should relivethesacred scenes inher imagi
nation as vividlyas if she had been present in the flesh.ThusMargery writes,
"Sche had many an holy thowtof owr Lordys passyon and beheld hym in hir
Again, after
gostlysyghtas verilyas he had ben afornhir inhir bodily syght."99
seeing thepriestelevate a crucifixon Palm Sunday, "sche saw owr Lord Crist
Jhesuas verilyinhirsowlewythhirgostlyeyeas schehad seynbefornthecrucifixe
100From her spiritualreading,whichwas extensivedespite
wyth hir bodily eye."
herneed forclericalmediation,sheknewabout othertypesofvisionaryexperience
as well. In chapter85 she recordsa numberof sacreddreams and trances,all
while she praysormeditates inchurch:"On a tyme,
takingplace appropriately
as the sayd creaturwas knelyngbefornan awterof thecros and seyingon an
oryson,hir eynewer evyrtogedirwardas thow sche schuldea slept.And at the
lastschemythnot chesyn;sche felina litylslomeryng,
and anon aperydverilyto
of thistype,
hir syghtan awngel."101"Visyonsand felyngys"
Margery says,were
of theperiod soon afterher conversion,
when shevirtuallylivedin
characteristic
her parish church.Their somewhatnebulous,dreamlikecharacterdistinguishes
themfromher scriptedvisions, inwhich everydetail remainsclear and distinct.
Margery notes thatinher earlyyears,she sometimesdoubted,and theseexperi
thatitwas God who sentthem,"than
encesceased; butwhen shebelievedfirmly
had sche somany holy thowtys,
holy spechys,and dalyawns inhir sowle" that
she could neverrememberthemall.102
her
originality,
AlthoughKempe's lifeand herBook are bothworks of stunning
piety is pure imitation.In addition to her visualmeditations, she seems self
with everyspiritualpracticesheencounteredin
consciouslytohave experimented
everybook shecould persuadeher clericalfriendsto read toher.Under theinflu
of Sweden), shebegan toprophesymore
enceof herbeloved "St.Bride" (Birgitta
Learningof St.Catherineof Siena's experi
harshlyconcerningdivine judgment.
ences inRome, she underwenta mysticalmarriage to theGodhead. Inspiredby
Richard Rolle, she perceivedsweet smells,celestialmelodies, and ardentfiresof
This mimeticmysticismhas oftenbeen read as a sign of
love in her breast.103
as a competitive
and unpleasingambition:Kempe practicedspirituality
insecurity
sport,neverconfidentof herholinessuntilshehad outweptand outprayedevery
saint inher repertoire.In theeyesof theologians,too, thisself-consciousness
has
No matterhow absorbinghervisions,she
been thebane ofMargery's reputation.
remainedperpetuallyfascinatedby her own reactionsto them-a traitthathas
98
Book ofMargery Kempe 7, p. 33.
"Ibid.
78, p. 176.
100
Ibid., p. 179.
101
Ibid. 85, p. 195.
102
Ibid. 83, p. 191.
103por tne
Birgittine-style prophecy see chap. 20;
tions, chap. 35.
for the mystical
marriage
and paranormal
sensa
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
33
piety,as opposed
provokedmany accusationsof narcissismor low-gradeaffective
towhatWalterHilton called "truecontemplation."'104
may be a consequenceof genre.As AmyHolly
Part of thisself-preoccupation
betweenmysticalwritingand hagiogra
wood has shown,one genericdifference
have to be externalized,
all signsof devotionand sanctity
phy is that,in thelatter,
made visible to the saint's public, so thatwhat might have begun as internal
as outwardbodilyperformance.105
Kempe foundherself
experienceis represented
in theawkwardpositionof composingher own Vita, so-like Henry Suso, an
othermysticwho is oftenchargedwith exhibitionism-she stressedthevisible,
audible tokensof her spirituallife,even or especiallywhen theyresultedin the
persecutionshe seemedto crave.But afterdue allowancehas beenmade, itseems
hard to deny thatKempe was fascinatedbyherown experience:hervisions"wer
so holy and so hy thatschewas abaschyd to tellynhem to any creatur,and also
itweryn so hy abovynhirbodilywittysthatschemythnevyrexpressynhemwyth
hir bodily tungelicheas sche felthem. Sche undirstodhem bettyrinhir sowle
complex ofmotives and
than sche cowde uttyrhem."'106It is an extraordinary
yes,but also sacred
feelingsthatshe expresseshere:claims to religiousauthority,
with herown sainthood,theprideof an artistwho
awe, a delightedsatisfaction
of her "singular love," and sheer
craft,the fulfillment
has mastered a difficult
wonder atwhat it ispossible fora human being to know ofGod. In comments
such as this,which are sprinkledliberallythroughouttheBook, we encounter
Margery Kempe not as an "originalmystic" but as a gratefulreader,tellingus
exactlywhy visionaryguidebooksenjoyed theenormousand lastingpopularity
thattheydid.
AMBIGUOUS VISIONS: THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS
Kempe's scriptedvisionswould have been invaluabletoanyonewishingtomake
a case forherorthodoxy,since thenormativepietyof thesemeditationsformeda
of herbehavior.But even iftheircontent
contrastwith thestrangeness
reassuring
was unimpeachable,themeditationalpracticeunderlyingthemwas farfromuni
versallyapproved.Within the broader context of late-medievalChristianity,
scriptedvisions can be seen as one aspect of a comprehensiveand profoundly
ambivalenttrendtowarddomesticationof thesacred,alongwith vernacularBible
books of hours, indulgencedprayers,and devotions"by number"
translations,
On theone hand, thisdemocratizing
movement liberated
such as the rosary.107
elitepiety fromtheiroriginalhome in thecloister,
theexpressionsof a formerly
104
Walter
2000),
Hilton, The Scale of Perfection 1.10, ed. Thomas H. Bestul (Kalamazoo, Mich.,
p. 40.
105
Soul as Virgin Wife (see above, n. 2), pp. 27-39.
Hollywood,
106
Book ofMargery Kempe 83, p. 191.
107A
in The Waning of theMiddle Ages: A Study of the Forms
trend firstnoted by Johan Huizinga
in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,
of Life, Thought and Art in France and the Netherlands
trans. F. Hopman
1954). Cf. Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of
(London, 1924; repr. Garden City, N.Y.,
c. 1400-c.
1580 (New Haven, Conn.,
in England,
the Altars: Traditional Religion
1992).
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
34
making themaccessible to a wider public enjoyingnewfoundaccess to literacy.108
mysti
On theotherhand, suchburgeoninglaypietyran theriskof a routinized
cism: ifdivinegrace could be had on demand, so to speak,was itstillgrace?
In thecase of visionaryexperience,thecultivationof scriptedvisionsposed a
Even some
sharp challenge to the theologyof spontaneousdivine intervention.
relativelytolerantclericsfeltthatmeditationslikeMargery's, nomatterhowwell
intentioned,
presumedtoo faron thegrace ofGod, fortheyencouragedthedev
when itwould be safertopracticehumbleobedience.109
otee to seek special favors
For others, the intentionsof such devoteeswere automaticallysuspectbecause
even spontaneousvisionsought to be feared,given thedevil'spropensityto dis
guise himselfas an angel of light.To cultivatevisionaryexperienceon purpose
was asking fortrouble:theonlypossiblemotives forsuch an exercisewere self
delusion (oftenascribed to femaleemotionality)or a malicious will to delude
others.Exemplum collectionsabounded incautionarytalesof believerswho fell
prey toSatan'swiles because of a presumptuousdesire forvisions.110
Worse yet,scriptedvisionsmightbe soughtdirectlyfromevilspirits.Ihave cited
thevisionarydirectivesofDion Fortuneand Starhawkadvisedly,fortheydescend
of ritual
magic thatemployedsimilartechniques.
at somedistancefroma tradition
A fifteenth-century
necromancer'shandbook, forexample, tellsthereaderhow to
conjure sixteendemonswith theaid of a sacrificialhoopoe, afterwhich he can
enjoy a visionarybanquet:
When you have [performed the conjuration], you will see sixteen splendid and stalwart
knights. They will say to you, "You summoned us and we have come, obedient to your
will. Ask what you will, confident thatwe are ready to obey." Say in reply,"Make me
see your power, that Imay behold tableswith many people reclining at them,with an
infinitearray of dishes." . . .At once many pages will come, carrying three-leggedtables,
towels and other necessary equipment. Then themost noble of folkwill come and recline,
and butlers to serve, carrying an infinitearray of dishes. And you will hear singing and
music-making, and you will see dancing and innumerable games.111
108
The routinizing of religious exercises did not always serve a "democratizing"
purpose but could
also be used to curtail expressions of spontaneous
piety and place more control in the hands of clerics.
Even exorcisms were transformed in the fifteenth century from relatively unstructured, charismatic
Spirits (see above,
by saints into tightly controlled liturgical scripts: Caciola, Discerning
performances
n. 4), pp. 225-73.
109For
example, Johannes Tauler warns devotees who "choose their own techniques in prayer and
or perhaps
in the hope of being "drenched with
imitate what other people are doing"
meditation,
sweet consolations,"
is false, for true peace comes only
that the peace they obtain by these means
Shrady (New York, 1985), pp. 47
through obedience and detachment: Sermons 5 and 21, trans. Maria
and 75.
110
inMedieval
of Embodiment
Spiritu
Dyan Elliott, "True Presence/False Christ: The Antinomies
64
256-57.
Studies
Mediaeval
(2002),
ality,"
111
. . . videbis xvi milites decoros
et strenuos, qui tibi dicent, 'Vocasti nos et ad te
"Qua dicta
secure
tibi sumus in obediendo
Pete
subiecti.
vis,
venimus, parare
quoniam
parati.' Tu autem
quid
cum discumbentibus
vt aspiciam mensas
multis cum
potenciam,
mensas
Et
statim
venient
domicelli
multi, apportantes
tripedes, manuter
inprandionibus
gia, et alia necessaria. Post hec venient nobilissime gentes, qui discumbent, et pincernas ibidem semien
et tripudiantes videbis et ludos inn?
tes et apportantes
infinita cibaria. Et audies cantus, melodias,
'Facite michi
dices,
videre vestram
infinitis.'...
Clm 849, fol. 16v, ed. and trans. Richard Kieckhefer,
Staatsbibliothek
Munich,
Bayerische
Manual
Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's
of the Fifteenth Century (University Park, Pa., 1997), pp. 48
and 210.
meros":
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35
MedievalVisionary
Culture
While thisspectacle is explicitlydemonic,othermagical textsaremore canny,
practitioners
telling
how to summonup visionsof theVirginMary or thecrucified
fromthem.'12
The monk
Christ forthepurposeofgainingprivilegedinformation
JohnofMorigny,havingexperienced
many visionswhile practicingtheforbidden
ars notoria,ultimatelyrenouncedthismagical artonly to devisehis own, suspi
ciouslysimilarpracticeforconjuringvisionsofMary. Johnpromisesthat"if the
intactheartof theoperator is fixedand seton her,thenprayer,figureand visual
isation(ymaginatio)obtain thedesiredeffectas a giftofGod.""'13He goes on to
describevarious aspects inwhich theVirgin is likelyto appear-as a "venerable
and religious
matron," a "queen of lovelyandwondrous beauty,"and so forth
Satanmay also appear in theVirgin's likeness.
but adds thatunfortunately
Not
surprisingly,
John'stextwas condemnedand burnedat Paris in1323.
Given thepotentialdangerof visions, it is smallwonder thatmanywho expe
riencedthemlivedindread of delusion.Despite frequentreassurancesfrom
God,
Angela of Foligno becameconvincedfromtimeto timethatshewas possessedby
demons,"theirdaughtereven."1"4
MargeryKempe, evenas sheexultedinChrist's
favors,felta continualneed to ask her spiritualadvisers"yfschewer dysceyved
be any illusyons.""'11
One of thosecomforting
advisers,JulianofNorwich, had
initially
doubtedherown spontaneousvisions,believingthatshehad "raved" in
thegripof a life-threatening
illness.Even aftershehad come to accept thevisions,
Julianassuredher readersthatby thetimeof theillness,shehad longsinceaban
doned heryouthfulprayerfora sightofChrist'sPassion: "in thisI desirednever
no bodilysightne nomaner shewingofGod, but compassion,asmethoughtthat
a kind soulemighthavewith our lordJesu."5116
Some of thisnegativeattitudetowardvisionaryexperienceappears tohavebeen
rootedina deeplyskepticalstrainpeculiar toEnglishScholasticism.Inparticular,
theFranciscan
William ofOckham (d. 1347) and hisDominican follower
Robert
Holkot (d. 1349) brokewith a thirteenth-century
consensusbyprivileging
abso
lutepower,ratherthangoodness or love,as theprimaryattributeofGod. This
emphasisled themintosomealarminginquiriesconcerning
God's abilityandwill
to deceive.Ockham maintained thatGod could deludehuman sensesbymaking
an absentobjectappear tobe present,"17
andHolkot wentmuch further,
declaring
112
Frank Klaassen,
"Dream Manipulation
in the Later Middle
Ages: Surveying the Manuscript
International Congress on Medieval
paper read at the Thirty-Eighth
Evidence,"
Studies, Kalamazoo,
9 May 2003.
Mich.,
113
"Si autem cor integrum operands
in ipsa applicetur et ponatur, tune oratio, figure, ymaginatio
optatum Dei donum consequitur effectum": John ofMorigny, Liber visionum, prologue, chap. 45, ed.
and trans. Claire
F?nger
Esot?rica
3 (2001), 108-217,
online at www.esoteric
Watson,
pp. 160 and 202.
trans. Paul Lachance
8, in Complete Works,
(New York, 1993),
and Nicholas
.msu.edu/VolumeliyMorigny.html,
114
Angela of Foligno, Memorial
p. 200.
115
Book
18, ed. Staley, p. 52. Her adviser in this case was William
ofMargery Kempe
Southfield, a
Carmelite
friar of Norwich who was himself a noted visionary.
116
A Revelation
ed. Watson
and Jenkins (see above, n.
of Love 3, inWritings of Julian of Norwich,
14). For her "raving" see chap. 66.
117
trans. Alfred J.
William
of Ockham,
5, q. 5, resp. ad obj. 1, inQuodlibetal
quodlib.
Questions,
Freddoso and Francis E. Kelley, 2 vols. (New Haven, Conn., 1991), 2:416. This discussion
is indebted
to Elliott,
"True Presence,"
pp. 258-63,
and Proving Woman
(see above,
n. 4), pp. 239-41.
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Culture
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36
Moreover, divinedeception
God to be thecause of all erroraswell as all truth."18
was notmerely a theoreticalpossibilitybut a biblical fact.Thus, according to
his sonunderfalsepremises;Jesus
Holkot, God commandedAbraham to sacrifice
misledMary when he remainedbehind in the
at theage of twelvedeliberately
Temple; and theHoly SpiritdeceivedPeter througha vision inwhich hemistook
a net fullof illusoryanimals for real ones (Acts 10.11-12).119This theology
scarcelyrequiredtheintervention
of demons to account forthehumanpropensity
to err.Yet ifevenGod could and did deceive even saints,thendiabolicalwiles
must be fearedall themore.Nominalist thoughtcan hardlybear fullresponsibility
but itsurelyexacerbated
fortheoft-notedinsularaversiontovisionaryspirituality,
thattrend.
Even among devotionalwriters,Walter Hilton (d. 1396) would remarkthat
were not trulycontemplation
visions,dreams,and otherparanormalexperiences
and could be thework of eitherangelsor demons,justasAugustinehadwarned.120
Thereforeit isbettertohave a truelongingforJesus,"thoughymyghtenot seen
ofHis Godhede withmy goostli iye," than to have thesum of "alle visiounsor
revelacionsof angelsapperynge,songesand sownes,savoursor smelles,brennyn
The Cloud of Unknowing stateseven
bodili felande.11121
ges and ony likynges,
more sharplythat in fallenhumanity,the imaginationcan do nothingbut err:
"This inobedyenceof theymaginacionmay clerlybe conseyvidinhem thatben
newlyngestornidfrotheworeld unto devocion in thetymeof herepreier.For ...
fantasies
theimowe inno wise put awey thewonderfuland thediversethoughtes,
mynde by the light
and ymages,thewhiche benmynystredand preentidin theire
And alle thisinobedyenceis thepyneof the
and thecoriousteeof ymaginacyon.
originalsynne."'122
Geert Grote (d. 1384)
On theContinent,by contrast,thehugely influential
was indeedsomedan
cautiouslyendorsedvisualmeditations.He noted thatthere
gerofmistakingimaginationforreality:"it is in thenatureof imagesand species
firmly
pressedupon themind, especiallywhen theyare consciouslyprojectedas
present,to returnto theiroriginsin theexternalsenses.Then thevisualized image
ismade real,as ifitwere inour verypresence,and thephantasy is takenup by
our externalsenseorgans.Thus a simpleman will believe thathe can sense the
verycorporealpresenceof Christ,or seem to see himwith his eyesor hearwith
his ears, or touch some sainthe has imagined.Such deceptionsare notwithout
118
"preterea
ita est de facto quod omnis rei deus est prima et summa causa, secundum Au
quod
est inquit prima causa omnium rerum atque motionum.
Sed
gustinum, iiiDe Trinitate cap. vi. Deus
error est una res atque operado,
de
facto omnis error est a deo sicut a prima causa et summa":
ergo
bk. 3, q. 1, art. 8, ad 2,2 (Lyons, 1497).
Robert Holkot,
Super quatuor libros Sententiarum questiones,
119
does not challenge the moral or theo
Ibid., bk. 3, q. 1, art. 8, ad 3, 1-3. Interestingly, Holkot
a
logical point of Peter's vision but its physical reality: a phantasm appeared to Peter as material object,
as in the case of any Augustinian
visio spiritualis.
120
Hilton, Scale of Perfection 1.10, ed. Bestul (see above, n. 104), p. 40.
121
Ibid. 1.47, p. 85. Hilton here criticizes the spirituality of Richard Rolle, whose Incendium amoris
was one ofMargery Kempe's
favorite books.
122
The Cloud of Unknowing
1997), p. 92.
65, ed. Patrick J. Gallacher
(Kalamazoo, Mich.,
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
37
danger."'123
Nevertheless,Grote regardedvisualmeditationas so usefulto begin
ners in thedevout lifethat"no infant
would shrinkback" fromit, ifonly some
"wise and discreteperson"were at hand towarn against errors.In short,the
"simple" couldmeditate safelyso longas theydid notmistake cultivatedvisions
forspontaneousones, thatis,fordivinerevelationor prophecy.
Skeptical and devotionalattitudestowardvisionaryexperienceclashedmost
sharplyin therivalassessmentsofBirgittaofSweden,whose revelations
provoked
competingtractson discernmentthroughthe late fourteenth
and much of the
fifteenth
century.
Margery Kempe may have been, by her own account, an in
tenselycontroversialfigure,
yetno medieval narrativebut her own somuch as
mentionsher.124
with Birgitta,themost important
The case is strikingly
different
ofKempe's rolemodels and themost contestedvisionaryof theMiddle Ages.125
Shewas also theonlywoman to be canonized in the fourteenth
century,
an ac
colade shewon fromPope Boniface IX in1391, less thantwentyyearsafterher
death (1373).126The turbulent
politicsof theagewere such thather sainthood
needed tobe reaffirmed
byJohnXXIII at theCouncil ofConstance (1415), around
thetimeofKempe's visittoBirgitta'shouse inRome, and again byMartin V after
theend of theschism(1419).Among theauthoritative
voices raised indefenseof
Birgitta'svisionsand her sanctity
were thoseof her firstspiritualdirector,
Master
Mathias ofLinkoping;herconfessors,
PriorPeterofAlvastra andMaster Peterof
Magnus Petri,authorof a tractagainsther "calumniators";theSpan
Skanninge;
iardAlfonso Pecha, formerbishop of Jaenand editorof Birgitta'sRevelations;
theSwedishbishopsBirgerGregerssonandNils Hermansson;Adam Easton, an
Oxford-trainedcardinal residinginRome;MargeryKempe herself;and theDo
123
"Natura
est enim phantasmatum
et specierum fortiter impressarum recurrere ad
originem sen
etmaxime
cum res sicut praesentes voluntarie finguntur. Tune visus
phantasiae quasi
in rei praesentiam
reducit et cadit phantasma
ad organum sensuum exteriorum, sicque homo simplex
suum exteriorum
secundum corporalem
sanctum, cuius tale est phantasma,
praesentem
visum videre eum vel secundum auditum audire, vel secundum tactum
Et talis deceptio non est sine periculo": Geert Grote, II trattato "De quattuor
credit Christum vel aliquem
sensum sentir?, ut secundum
tangere sibi videatur.
ed. Ilario Tolomio,
Pubblicazioni
dell'Istituto di Storia della Filosof?a e del
generibus meditabilium,"
Centro per Ricerche di Filosof?a Medioevale,
n.s., 18 (Padua, 1975), p. 60; trans. John Van Engen, "A
Treatise on Four Classes
of Subjects Suitable forMeditation:
A Sermon on the Lord's Nativity,"
in
Devotio Moderna:
Basic Writings
(New York, 1988), p. 102.
124
Lynn Staley cites this lack of corroborating
evidence, even for such significant events as Kempe's
heresy trial in York, to support her radical view of The Book ofMargery Kempe as a work of "prose
fiction": Book,
ed. Staley, p. 10; and eadem, Margery
Pa., 1994).
125
For Birgitta's
Kempe's
Dissenting
Fictions
(University Park,
surrounding her see Bridget Morris, St Birgitta of Sweden,
1 (Woodbridge, Eng., 1999); Claire L. Sahlin, Birgitta of Sweden and
Mysticism
the Voice of Prophecy, Studies inMedieval
3 (Woodbridge, Eng., 2001); Voaden, God's
Mysticism
Voices
and Werner Williams-Krapp,
Words, Women's
(see above, n. 4), chap. 3; and Ulla Williams
f?rwahre Heiligkeit,"
in Studien zur deutschen
"Expertis crede! Birgitta von Schweden als Ma?stab
Studies
life and the controversies
inMedieval
und Literatur: Festschrift f?r Konrad Kunze zum 65. Geburtstag,
ed. Vaclav Bok, Ulla Wil
Studien zur Germanistik
10 (Hamburg, 2004), pp. 211-32.
liams, and Werner Williams-Krapp,
126
Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) was not canonized until 1461 by the Sienese Pope Pius II. Alfonso
Sprache
of Ja?n, Birgitta's
confessor
and editor, had also championed
Catherine's
cause.
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Medieval Visionary Culture
38
Yet not
minican cardinalJuande Torquemada, uncle of thegrand inquisitor.127
Before
declarationof sanctitycould silenceBirgitta'sdetractors.
even a threefold
her canonization these includedHenry of Langenstein,a German theologian
tract
teachinginParis,and an anonymousItalianmasterwhose lostanti-Birgittine
is known fromAdam Easton's rebuttalof it.After thepapal decree,Birgitta's
most famousopponentwas JeanGerson,who vigorouslyattackedher revelations
on thediscernment
De probationespirituum
in twoof his threetreatises
of spirits,
(1415) and De examinationedoctrinarum(1423). The posthumous impactof
Gerson's assaultwas such that,in 1436, theCouncil of Basel issueda judgment
against thedivineauthorityof theRevelations,and itspresidingcardinal,Louis
d'Allemand of Arles, forbade its furtherpromulgation.Although the council
Birgitta'ssainthood,itsdecreewas allowed to stand
stoppedshortof rescinding
untilPope Sixtus IV finallyrevokedit in 1484.128
Admittedly,thenatureofBirgitta'svisionswas not thechief issueat stake in
Politicsplayed an evengreaterrole: thesaint'spropheciescon
thiscontroversy.
cerningtheHundredYears'War were perceivedas pro-English,and shestaunchly
advocated thepapacy's returnfromAvignon toRome. Those positionswon her
supportersinEngland and Italy,as well as her nativeScandinavia,but theyan
Gender as always figuredprominently:
Birgitta'soppo
tagonizedtheFrench.129
nentsridiculedtheideaofGod revealinghiswisdom to amulierculaand attacked
her forviolatingthenormsofmeeknessproper to her sex.Defenderscountered
with argumentslong familiarinwomen's hagiography,claiming thatBirgitta's
or else (more frequently)
"manly" spirithad exalted her above femininefrailty
thathergendermarked her as one of thoseweak vessels so oftenchosenbyGod
to confound the strong (1 Cor. 1.27). But within thiswelter of polemics, the
characterofBirgitta'svisionaryexperiencedid emergeas a crucialquestion. Iwish
whichwe have already
here to highlightonlyone dimensionof thatcontroversy,
onemight
seen adumbratedin thevision textsfromHelfta. The veryfrequency,
ofBirgitta'svisions fueledsuspicionsthatshehad con
almost saypredictability,
were therefore
not tobe
cocted themherselfout of her imaginationand thatthey
trusted.
There is indeedevidence that some of Birgitta'svisionswere cultivated.Al
thoughhermultivolumeRevelations refersrepeatedlyand formulaicallyto her
trancestates (raptus,elevaciomentalis, excessusmentis), theprologue to her
awaited. In this
Sermo angelicus suggeststhat theseecstasieswere confidently
routine
is described:she
prologue,probablybyAlfonso of Jaen,Birgitta'sdaily
would read fromher book of hours, thensitdown at herwritingdesk next to a
127
The most
solitarii ad reges. For the
important defense of Birgitta is Alfonso of Ja?n, Epistola
text see Arne J?nsson, Alfonso of Ja?n: His Life and Works, Studia Graeca et Latina Lundensia
1
Voices, pp. 159-81.
(Lund, 1989); for theMiddle
English see Voaden, God's Words, Women's
128
Sahlin, Birgitta, pp. 222-23.
129
Politics frequently played a role in the discernment process: thus the Frenchman Gerson, despite
Latin
skepticism, accepted the revelations of Joan of Arc. See Dyan Elliott, "Seeing Double:
Review
107 (2002),
of Spirits, and Joan of Arc," American Historical
the Discernment
John Gerson,
"Constance
de Rabastens:
Politics and
for further examples see Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski,
26-54;
25 (1999), 147-68,
in the Time of the Great Schism," Mystics Quarterly
and
Visionary Experience
(forthcoming).
eadem, Poets, Saints, and Visionaries
of the Great Schism, 1378-1417
his normative
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
39
window overlookingtheadjacentchurch,where shecould see thebodyofChrist
on thehighaltar.Having preparedherpen andwritingtabletsbeforehand,"she
waited fortheangel of theLord," who faithfully
arrivedbeforelongto dictatea
was
portion of the lectionaryforherVadstena nuns.The angel's authenticity
he
to
assured by his gaze, which
always directednot Birgittabut to thehost.
Likewise,theauthenticity
ofher textwas assuredbecause theangeldidnotalways
come: on some days, as she toldher spiritualfather,shewrote nothingbecause
he had failedto appear.130
This detail is important
because itimpliesthattoomuch
regularity
would be suspect;grace could not be graceunless itreservedtheright
towithhold itself.
While Alfonso sanctionedthisvigorouslysupernaturalist
accountofBirgitta's
workingmethods,he suppresseda passage thatdescribedthehuman elementin
herwritingmore fullythananyother textinher corpus.The visionnow known
as Revelaciones extravagantes49 was foundamongAlfonso's papers only after
his death. In itBirgittafirstacknowledgestheroleof her editors:Christ tellsher
thathe is like a carpenterwho chopswood in the forestto carve and paint a
beautifulimage,but laterhis friendscome along and repaintthe statue in "still
more beautifulcolors." Even so "I, God, have precutmywords fromtheforest
have reducedthem
ofmy divinityand placed theminyourheart.Butmy friends
tobooks inkeepingwith thegracegiventhem,and coloredand adornedthem."'131
As ifitwere not bad enough to admitthatherconfessorshad dared topaintover
thework ofGod's hand,Birgittagoes on to acknowledgethatsheherselfoften
revisedher texts.Significantly,
Christassertsthatnot only she,but even theevan
gelistsand doctorsof thechurch,made errors,which theylaterhad to correct,
because all humans are fallibleand no one can be constantlypossessedof divine
inspiration:
My Spirit sometimes leaves my chosen ones to themselves so that theycan weigh and
ponder my words in theirheart as in a balance, and aftermuch thought,expound them
more clearly and improve on them.For just as your own heart isnot always ferventand
capable of proclaiming and writing the things you perceive, but sometimes you turn
themover and over inyourmind, and sometimes you write and rewrite themuntil you
arrive at the proper understanding of my words, so, too, my spirit ascended and de
scended with the evangelists and doctors, for sometimes theywrote down things that
had to be emended or retracted,and sometimes theywere judged by others and found
wanting.'32
130
inOpera minora, 2, ed. Sten Eklund, Samlingar
Birgitta of Sweden, Sermo angelicus, prologue,
trans. John E. Halborg,
2/8 (Uppsala, 1972), pp. 75-76;
The
Utgivna av Svenska Fornskrifts?llskapet
Word of the Angel: Sermo angelicus
(Toronto, 1996), pp. 13-14.
131
"Filius Dei loquebatur ad sponsam dicens: 'Ego sum similis carpentario, qui prescindens
ligna de
silua d?port?t in domum et inde fabricat ymaginem pulchram et ornat earn coloribus et liniamentis.
et ipsi
amici videntes ymaginem, quod adhuc pulchrioribus
coloribus ornari posset, apposuerunt
suos depingendo
super earn. Sic ego Deus prescidi de silua deitatis mee verba mea, que posui
et
in cor tuum. Amici vero mei redegerunt ea in libros secundum graciam eis datam et colorauerunt
Cuius
colores
av
ilia'": Birgitta, Reuelaciones
49, ed. L. Hollman,
extrauagantes
Samlingar Utgivna
2/5 (Uppsala, 1956), p. 165.
Svenska Fornskrifts?llskapet
132
electos meos sibiipsis, vt ipsi more statere diiudicent et
"Quia
Spiritus meus dimittit quandoque
discuciant verba mea in corde suo et post multos cogitatus exponant clarius et eliciant meliora. Nam
sicut cor tuum non semper est capax et feruidum ad proferendum et scribendum illa, que sentis, sed
ornauerunt
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Medieval Visionary Culture
40
Inevitably,thiscommonsenseacknowledgmentof human agency is itselfcast in
the formof a revelation.Even so, Birgitta'sadmission inExtravagantes49, so
uncharacteristic
of her officialcorpuseditedbyAlfonso, leadsus towonder how
many othervisionarieswould gladlyhave conceded, iftheydared, thattheirown
intelligence(and theireditors)had cooperatedwith thedivineSpiritto produce
theirbooks. The authorof theprologue toGertrude'sLegatus divinaepietatis,as
notedabove,managed to suggestsuchcollaborationevenas shedenied thatithad
occurred.But theclericaleditorsof suchworks preferredto insiston a pure su
both
which, ifgivencredence,had thedual benefitof safeguarding
pernaturalism,
the
of
female
of
the
text
and
Conversely,
incapacity.
theabsolute validity
myth
however,thisclaim forexclusivedivine agencywas readilychallengedand con
vertedto itsopposite-indignant dismissalon thegroundof exclusivehuman (or
diabolical) agency.
One ofBirgitta'searlydetractors,
Henry ofLangenstein,explicitlyopposed her
canonizationwith theclaim that therewere toomany saintsalready,a position
he took in 1381. But he hintedat a more profound reason in his treatiseDe
discretionespirituum(1383), one of theearliestof itskind.He argues therethat
"spiritualpeople" who spend toomuch time in contemplationare prone to a
category
mistake: "In suchmatters it ishard formortals toknow and distinguish
what occurs to themnaturallyfor
what may be supernaturally
inspired. .. from
someothercause.Clearly,then,one shouldnot quicklyor easilybelievea spiritual
personwho labors continuallyin fantasyand contemplation(phantasiandoet
moved by a good or evilspirit
contemplando),imaginingthatshe issupernaturally
in all the impulsesshe feels,or in everythingthathappens to her unexpectedly.
Anyonewho is foundgulliblein such thingsseemsto sufferfroma vain greedfor
In otherwords, onewho de
supernaturalrevelationsandmiraculous events."'133
visions
to
imaginative
techniques,likethosecon
through
liberatelyseeks induce
Aelred ofRievaulx toPseudo-Bonaventure,
may very
recommendedfrom
sistently
well succeed.But itwould be a grave, ifcommon,error tomistake such self
inducedfantasiesforpropheticrevelationor supernaturalgrace.Henry implies
thatit isgrandioseeven to blame thedevil forthefruitsof theunaided but fallen
Althoughhe does notmentionBirgittabyname, itseems likelythat
imagination.
he had her inmind.
A generationlater,duringtheCouncil ofConstance,Gerson agonizedover the
et reuoluis ea in animo tuo, nunc scribis et rescribis ilia, donee venis ad proprium sensum
et descendebat,
sic spiritus meus cum euangelistis et doctoribus
ascendebat
verborum meorum,
quia
nunc aliqua retractanda, nunc iudicabantur
et reprehendebantur
nunc ponebant
aliqua emendanda,
ab aliis": ibid., p. 166.
133
et distinguere potest mortalis homo, quid sibi inspiretur
"Inter haec itaque difficulter cognoscere
. . ei naturaliter occurrat. Patet ergo non esse cito et leviter credendum
et
aliunde.
supernaturaliter,
quid
nunc voluis
et contemplando,
impulsibus
quod in omnibus
spirituali, qui laborat continue phantasiando
quos sentit vel in omnibus, quae ei quasi inopinate oecurrunt, a bono vel malo spiritu supernaturaliter
moveatur. Qui
igitur in talibus levis inveniretur esse credulitatis, videtur esse quasi vane cupidus su
et circa se miraculosarum
motionum":
revelationum
Henry of Langenstein, De discre
pernaturalium
"
von Langenstein
tione spirituum 2, inHeinrichs
der Geister,
lateinisch und deutsch,
"Unterscheidung
zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters
Texte und Untersuchungen
ed. Thomas Hohmann, M?nchener
homini
63
(Munich,
1977),
pp. 58-60.
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MedievalVisionary
Culture
41
Swede's nowwidely circulatedtexts.To condemnthewritingsof a canonizedsaint
would scandalize the faithful,
yet to approve themwould be to riskaccepting
or frivolous
"false,illusory,
visionsas trueand solidrevelations."
The chancellor's
generaldistrustofvisionary
womenwas exacerbatedinBirgitta'scase by thesheer
numberof her revelations,forthesainthad grown "accustomed (assueta) to vi
sions thatshe claimed to have receiveddivinely,not only fromangels,but also
from
Mary, Agnes, and othersaintsinnever-ending
Christ,
intimacy(familiaritate
jugi), just as a bridegroomspeaks to his bride."5134
Custom and habitwere the
prime sourcesof suspicion: in theseall-too-familiar,
chattyconversations,
what
place could be leftforholy awe, forauthentictranscendence?
In this lengthytourof clashingmedieval discourses,I hope to have shown that
thetangleddebate overvisionsdid not focusexclusivelyon visionaries'gendered
claims to authoritybut also on profounddisagreements
about thenatureof reli
gious experience,thepossibilityof human collaborationwith grace, the roleof
inelitespiritual
theimagination,
and not least,theadvisabilityof layinvolvement
practices.The position thatfinallytriumphed
was, not surprisingly,
a versionof
the already ascendant supernaturalismthatgavemaximal authorityto clerics
of spirits.By theirstandardsthevastmajorityof
chargedwith thediscernment
reportedvisionswould be judged inauthentic,
while thosethateventuallypassed
musteras "privaterevelations"had tomeet a dauntingsetof criteriadesignedto
assure preciselythat theyhad not been cultivatedand did not stem fromthe
De probationespirituum(1415), Gerson
visionary'simagination.In his treatise
not only voiced his doubts about Birgittabut supplieda listof personswhose
visions should be held automaticallysuspect:thementally ill,people under the
swayof strongpassions,and recentconverts,"especiallyadolescentsandwomen,
whose ardor isexcessive,greedy,changeable,unbridled,and therefore
suspect."'135
A visionaryshould be immediately
disqualifiedby any signof heresy,spiritual
pride,disobedience,singularity,
or excessive intimacy
with her confessor.In the
lastof his threetractson discernment,
De examinationedoctrinarum(1423),Ger
son recommendedthatbishopsand theologiansapproachall visionaryclaimswith
thegreatestskepticismbecause evenpopes, canonized saints,and doctorsof the
churchcould err inmattersof doctrine.How much less,then,is theauthorityof
women, and especiallythosewho presume towrite books: "The femalesex is
banned by apostolic authorityfromteachinginpublic. By thisunderstandany
teachingpublished inherown name,whetherorallyor inwriting,especiallyifit
were addressedtomen-and not justanymen but thewise and learned,ormen
eminentindevotionand religion."
Writingvision textsonlyexacerbatedthechar
134
unius quae Brigitta nominatur, assueta visionibus quas nedum ab angelis, sed a
"[pjraesertim
et Agnete et caeteris sanctis, familiaritate jugi, sicut sponsus ad sponsam loquitur, se
Christo etMaria
. . .
asserit divinitus suscepisse.
enim falsas et illusorias aut frivolas visiones pro veris et
Approbare
solidis revelationibus,
Jean Gerson, De proba
quid indignius, quid alienius ab hoc sacro Concilio?":
uvres compl?tes, ed. Palem?n Glorieux,
tione spirituum 5, in
10 vols. (Paris, 1961-73),
9:179.
135
in zelo Dei, qui novitius fervor cito fallitur si regente
sit novitia
ergo si persona
"Quaeritur
et foeminis, quarum est ardor nimius, avidus, varius, effrenis,
in adolescentibus
caruerit; praesertim
ideoque
suspectus":
ibid. 7, 9:180.
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42
MedievalVisionary
Culture
acteristicallyfemalesin of cultivatingvisions in the firstplace, for"no man or
woman has anymore efficaciousremedyagainst illusionsthan to shunvisions
with determinedhumility."'136
In 1735 Cardinal ProsperoLambertini,thefuture
Pope BenedictXIV, reinforced
Dei beatificationeet bea
Gerson's skepticisminhis classic treatise
De servorum
While admittingthatvisionsand propheciescan play a role
torumcanonizatione.
in thecanonizationof saints,hemaintained thatbeliefinsuchprivaterevelations,
is a matter for
even thoseapproved by thechurchafterthoroughinvestigation,
This remainstheofficial
individualjudgmentratherthan an articleof faith.137
which stillstronglydiscouragesany desire
teachingof theRoman magisterium,
forvisions.138
of thistheology
Interestingly,
however,thenormativeestablishment
worked to theultimateadvantageof lay visionaries.Although religiousorders
continuedtopracticemedievalmeditational techniques,
notablytheSpiritualEx
the
distin
ercisesof St. IgnatiusLoyola,
fruits
of suchpracticeswere increasingly
guished fromvisionaryand propheticclaims.Devout meditationsmight be good
for the soul, but theywere by no means to be confusedwith divine revelation.
visionsbyprovingthattheycould not have been
Instead,theneed to authenticate
or unwittingly,
led to a demand forless
fabricatedby theseer,eitherintentionally
and lessspiritualpreparationon thepartofvisionaries.By thestandardsof a later
period, laywomenlikeBirgittaand evenMargeryKempewould have been fartoo
churchcame, ineffect,todefinetheideal
well instructed,
forthepost-Reformation
visionaryas an uneducatedpeasant child livinginabject poverty.139
Marian
approvedvisionsof themodern era, the
The twomost famousofficially
In
apparitionsat Lourdes and Fatima, representtheendpointof thistrajectory.
for
the
of
at
Lourdes
was
one
authenticity Mary's appearance
fact,
keyargument
herselftoBernadetteSoubirous as theImmaculate
when theVirgin identified
that,
and claimednever to have heard of the
the
did
not
understand
Conception,
girl
recently
defineddogma.140It isalmost impossibleto imagineamedieval visionary
claim being advanced
on that basis. Rather, such ignorance of Catholic
doctrine
would havemilitatedagainsttheseerand led toan outrightdismissalofherclaims.
136
"Postremo
sexus muliebris
in
ab apost?lica
prohibetur auctoritate ne palam doceat; doctrinam
si fuerit ad viros, nec qualescumque,
tellige, seu verbo seu scripto, nomine suo publicatam, maxime
. . .
sed sapientes, sed eruditos, sed status in devotione et religione praecellentis.
[Njullum vir vel mulier
efficacius habet remedium pro illusionibus evitandis quam visiones cum humilitate sedula fugere":
doctrinarum
Jean Gerson, De examinatione
137
Benedict XIV, Opus
de servorum Dei
2:32 and 3:53.
1839-42),
138
"What is singular and not in keeping
writers must inspire caution and distrust.
2.2-3,
9:467
ed. Glorieux,
et beatorum
beatificatione
and 469.
canonizatione,
7 vols.
(Prati,
with the common
teaching of spiritual and theological
... A desire for
is generally unhealthy
private revelations
P. de Letter, "Revelations,
Private,"
and, as history shows, leads to pitiful or disastrous deviations":
2nd ed. (Washington, D.C., 2003),
12:202. See also Michael
New Catholic Encyclopedia,
O'Carroll,
A Theological
in Theotokos:
Encyclopedia
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
"Apparitions,"
(Wilmington,
Del.,
1982),
139
William
pp. 47-48.
A. Christian,
Studies in Society and
Jr., "Holy People in Peasant Europe," Comparative
in Late Medieval
and Renaissance
106-14;
idem, Apparitions
Spain (Princeton,
L. Zimdars-Swartz,
(Prince
N.J., 1981);
Encountering Mary: From La Salette toMedjugorje
ton, N.J., 1991), pp. 8-9.
140
Zimdars-Swartz,
Encountering Mary, pp. 55-56.
History
15
(1973),
Sandra
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Culture
MedievalVisionary
43
Moreover, althoughBernadetteand hercounterpartat Fatima,Lucia dos Santos,
were not nuns
eventuallybecamenuns, it isboth typicaland significant
thatthey
at thetimeof their
struggletodisambig
world-shakingvisions.A centuries-long
uate thevarietiesof visionaryexperiencethatjostleeach other inmedieval texts
had come finallyto this:theclergyand religiousretainedtheirhold on theological
learning,
meditational techniques,and thediscernment
of spiritsbut surrendered
theirplace on thefrontlinesof charismaticexperience;the laitykept theirigno
ranceand theirvisions.
Barbara Newman isProfessor of English and Religion and John Evans Professor of Latin
Language and Literature at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 (e-mail:
[email protected]).
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