Beatrice of Nazareth (ca. 1200-1268) was prioress in the Cistercian abbey of Our Lady in Nazareth (near Lier in Brabant). She is well known for her treatise Seven manieren van minne (Seven manners of love) in which she describes levels of love (minne) that will be rewritten later by Ruusbroec as "active", "inner" and "supra-essential". Also during her lifetime her treatise had influence on other mystics. Recent research by John Arblaster has revealed that Marguerite Porete (ca. 1250-1310) has integrated the main line of thought of the Seven Manners in her Mirouer des simpes ames (chapter 118), and has critically and creatively reworked it.
Beatrice as an author (2010-2016)
Research into the status of the mystical writings of Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268). This approach does not content itself with establishing the external literary historical context in which her writings have been produced. Rather, it also touches upon psychological, spiritual and mystical aspects of Beatrice's life as a mystically gifted Cistercian nun.
The current project on Beatrice aims to develop a new understanding of her mystical authorship by defining the nature and the scope of her lost vernacular work (a presumed mystical autobiography) and by connecting this work with the Seven Manners of Love (Seven Manieren van Minne).
- Project: 2010-2016
- Kris Van Put (voluntary researcher)
- Publication: Kris Van Put, ‘ “About which we want to speak now”: Beatrice of Nazareth’s Reason for Writing Uan seuen manieren van heileger minnen’, in: Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 42 (2016), 143-163.
The influence of Beatrice of Nazareth on Marguerite Porete (2012-2013)
As part of the research project on Deification in the late medieval Low Countries (see project under John of Ruusbroec), the literary, theological and historical relationship between Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268) and Marguerite Porete (d. 1310) was explored in detail in two contributions.
The first provides a detailed comparison of Beatrice's seven ‘manners’ of love and Marguerite’s seven ‘states’ in chapter 118 of her Mirror of Simple Souls, demonstrating a complex transmission of themes and ideas displaying both remarkable inherent continuities as well as important differences.
The second article discusses the mystical-theological relevance of the literary parallel “gemeenre minne” in Beatrice and “ame commune” in Marguerite as a central issue in their thought. In Beatrice's text, “common” love is the love held in “common” in the Trinity and between God and the human person. This love is the Holy Spirit. For Marguerite, this love transforms the human person, who becomes a “common” soul, i.e. a soul who manifests pure charity in the world. Charity is understood here in its theological sense, namely as the love that constitutes the life of the Trinity itself.
Project: 2012-2013
- John Arblaster
- Supervisor: Rob Faesen
- Publications:
- 'The Influence of Beatrice of Nazareth on Marguerite Porete: The Seven Manners of Love Revised', in: Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses / Revue d'Histoire Cistercienne / a Journal of Historical Studies 64 (2013), 41-88.
- 'Commune à tous par largesse de pure charité: Common Love in Beatrice of Nazareth and Marguerite Porete', in: Ons Geestelijk Erf 83 (2012), 297-323.