Hadewijch

Hadewijch , sometimes referred to as Hadewych or Hadewig (of Brabant or of Antwerp), was a 13th-century poet and mystic, probably living in the Duchy of Brabant. Most of her extant writings are in a Brabantian form of Middle Dutch. Her writings include visions, prose letters and poetry. Hadewijch was one of the most important direct influences on John of Ruysbroeck.

Life No details of her life are known outside the sparse indications in her own writings. Her Letters suggest that she functioned as the head of a beguine house, but that she had experienced opposition that drove her to a wandering life. This evidence, as well as her lack of reference to life in a convent, makes the nineteenth-century theory that she was a nun problematic, and it has been abandoned by modern scholars. She must have come from a wealthy family: her writing demonstrates an expansive knowledge of the literature and theological treatises of several languages, including Latin and French, as well as French courtly poetry, in a period when studying was a luxury only exceptionally granted to women.

Beguine life

Beguines were Christian lay religious orders developed in the thirteenth century. Members lived in semi-monastic communities and were free to leave at any time. Beguines lived together in a home referred to as beguinages. Several larger towns had more than one beguinage. The movement was not solely for women. However, men were not known as beguines, but rather, called themselves beghards.

Hadewijch was a beguine mystic who had lived during the thirteenth century in the Low Countries, specifically in the city of Antwerp which was in the region of Brabant at the time. She shared a house with some friends, for whom she was a spiritual leader. Hadewijch is known for her poems, letters, and visions that she had described in writing.

Works Most of Hadewijch's extant writings, none of which survived the Middle Ages as an autograph, are in a Brabantian form of Middle Dutch. Many of her writings writings explored themes of divine love, spiritual experiences, and the union of soul with God.

Five groups of texts survive: her writings include poetry, descriptions of her visions, and prose letters. There are two groups of poetry: Poems in Stanzas (Strophische Gedichten) and Poems in Couplets (Mengeldichten). Finally there is the "Lijst der volmaakten" ("list of the perfect ones").

Poems in Stanzas (Strophische Gedichten) Her forty-five Poems in Stanzas (Strophische Gedichten, also Liederen, "Songs") are lyric poems following the forms and conventions used by the trouvères and minnesingers of her time, but in Dutch, and with the theme of worldly courtship replaced by sublimated love to God. Many of them are contrafacta of Latin and vernacular songs and hymns, leading to a Dutch edition renaming them "Liederen" ("Songs") and including audio recordings of performances.

Poems in Couplets (Mengeldichten or Berijmde brieven)

The sixteen Poems in Couplets (Mengeldichten, also Berijmde brieven, "letters on rhyme") are simpler didactical poems in letter format, composed in rhyming couplets, on Christian topics; not all of them are considered authentic.

Visions

Hadewijch's Book of Visions (Visioenenboek), the earliest vernacular collection of such revelations, appears to have been composed in the 1240s. It prominently features dialogue between Hadewijch and Christ in visionary speech, an early example of this mode of vernacular religious instruction.

Her writings indicate that she started experiencing visions early in her life. Many of her descriptions focus on ascending to Jesus Christ while experiencing strong emotions that are almost euphoric. Another common theme throughout the visions is the agony she would describe when it came to the end of the vision. The visions focus on themes of divine love, using metaphors of nature, as well as direct visions of Christ.

Letters

Thirty prose letters also survive. Many were written to other Beguines sharing instruction and spiritual guidance. These letters provide some of the evidence that she played a role in the spiritual formation of the early Beguine movement.

List The Lijst der volmaakten ("list of the perfect ones"), is joined to the Visions in some manuscripts, but to the Poems in Stanzas in a more recent one. It lists several saints, like Bernard of Clairvaux, but some entries are more remarkable, like a beguine who had been condemned to death by the inquisition.

Recent Scholarship

In the 20th century a question that was being asked about mysticism and the visions that Hadewijch had described considered what events led up to each experience, and also, were these encounters actually seen or only felt within the mystics.

Agatha Anna Bardoel suggests that the visions described by Hadewijch were a result of nothing other than a deep meditation, that, when done on a regular basis, what she was experiencing came to be quite simple and easily repeated. Based on an experiment done by Arthur J. Deikman over the course of several weeks that was related to stages of meditation, Agatha found similarities between that and the experiences described by Hadewijch. Each encounter that Hadewijch had with a higher power was indistinguishable from that of a young child experiencing something for the first time. Put simply, Hadewijch had indescribable moments within each vision much like all children do in the early years of their lives.

While Bardoel focused on the visions of Hadewijch to come to her conclusions, others have viewed her visions in relation to Hadewijch's other works to form a narrative. Mary A. Suydam takes this approach from a feminist perspective. According to Suydam, Hadewijch believed that the power held by mystics within the experiences they have had essentially outranks the hierarchy. Suydam argues that women have a better understanding and connection with their spirituality because of the experiences they have had, and that can be, and has been, overlooked without looking at Hadewijch's work as a whole.

Influence Hadewijch's writings influenced Jan van Ruusbroec both as a theologian and a mystic.

Sexuality Some of Hadewijch's letters have been interpreted as alluding to same-sex attraction or desire. In Letter 25 she describes her powerful, unrequited feelings for a woman named Sara, as well as her close relationship with two women named Emma and Margriet:

Veneration In 2022, Hadewijch was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 22 April.