Hendrik Mande (1350-60 – 1431) was a Dutch

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

writer, an early member of the

Brethren of the Common Life The Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religio ...

, and an

Augustinian Canon Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

Life

Hendrik Mande was born in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. While serving as a copyist in the court of Count Willem, he heard the preaching of

Geert Groote Gerard Groote (October 1340 – 20 August 1384), otherwise ''Gerrit'' or ''Gerhard Groet'', in Latin ''Gerardus Magnus'', was a Dutch Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. He was a key fi ...

on the

Devotio Moderna Devotio Moderna (Latin; lit., Modern Devotion) was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. It began in the late 14th-cen ...

, a movement seeking a return to an apostolic faith based on piety, humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. Mande became a convert and joined the

, a group devoted to the principles of Devotio Moderna. About 1382, he moved to Deventer and then

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

, centers for the Brethren of the Common Life. In 1395 he joined the

Congregation of Windesheim The Congregation of Windesheim ( la, Congregatio Vindesemensis) is a congregation of Augustinian canons regular (i.e., ecclesiastics living in community and bound by vows). It takes its name from its most important monastery, which was located at ...

near Zwolle and became a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

, remaining there the rest of his life. Mande wrote fourteen mystical treatises, such as ''Book of Revelations'' (now lost), ''A Love Complaint'' (about the absence and inaccessibility of God ) and ''Apocalypse''. His works drew heavily on those of

Hugh of Saint Victor Hugh of Saint Victor ( 1096 – 11 February 1141), was a Saxon canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology. Life As with many medieval figures, little is known about Hugh's early life. He was probably born in the 1090s. ...

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 i ...

and especially

John of Ruusbroec John van Ruysbroeck, original Flemish name Jan van Ruusbroec () (1293 or 1294 – 2 December 1381) was an Augustinian canon and one of the most important of the Flemish mystics. Some of his main literary works include ''The Kingdom of the Di ...

.John M. Jeep, ed., ''Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia'', New York: Routledge, 2017, p 489

Notes

References

*F. L. Cross, E. A. Livingstone. eds., ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (3 rev. ed.), Oxford University Press, 2005. *John M. Jeep, ed., ''Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia'', New York: Routledge, 2017. *Rik Van Nieuwenhove, Robert Faesen, Helen Rolfson, eds., ''Late Medieval Mysticism of the Low Countries'', Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2008.

Life

Notes

References

See also