The Monk of Heilsbronn (german: ''Mönch von Heilsbronn'') is the unknown author of some short mystical treatises, written about the beginning of the fourteenth century, at the
Cistercian Abbey of Heilsbronn, in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
The Monk cites
St. Bonaventure and
Albert the Great
Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his life ...
(d. 1280) and draws largely on the works of
Conrad of Brundelsheim (Soccus), Abbot of Heilsbronn in 1303 (d. 1321). His mystical conceptions show a close relation to
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order throug ...
and
Hugo of St. Victor.
Dating
The date of the composition of the treatises is determined by these borrowings and quotations; they are written in
Middle German with some traces of the
Bavarian dialect.
Book of the Seven Degrees
The first, in verse, is "The Book of the Seven Degrees" (Das Buch der siben Grade), which comprises 2218 lines, and has only been preserved in one manuscript-that of Heidelberg, transcribed in 1390 by a priest, Ulric Currifex of Eschenbach. In it the author, taking as his starting point the vision of
Ezechiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is ackn ...
(xl, 22) describes the seven degrees which make the pure soul mount up to the realms of heaven: prayer, penitence, charity, the habitual thought of God, with the devotion, which purifies and which ravishes, union and conformity with God, contemplation of God. The author may have utilized a treatise of the same nature attributed to
David of Augsburg
David of Augsburg (early 13th century – 19 November 1272) was a medieval German mystic, and a Franciscan friar. It is believed that he probably joined the Franciscan Order at Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at th ...
.
Oldest german papermanuscript (1340)
In 2019 an issue of "The Book of the Seven Degrees" was discovered in the
Badische Landesbibliothek in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
. Dated 1335–1340 by paper-analysis and existing watermark, the 179-page script is said to be the oldest paper manuscript fully written in german language ever found.
Liber de corpore et sanguine Domini
The other work is in prose with a prologue and epilogue in verse and it is in this prologue that the author was himself the "Monk of Heilsbronn" (einem Muniche von Hailsprunne) and asks the prayers of the reader. The title of the treatise is the "Liber de corpore et sanguine Domini" (or "Das Puch on den VI namen des Fronleichnams", or also the "Goldene Zunge").
He passes in review six different names given to the
Blessed Sacrament
The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of the ...
: Eucharist, Gift, Food, Communion, Sacrifice, Sacrament; he gives the reasons for these names and suggests considerations on the Divine love, union with God, etc. (cf. supra), especially when speaking of the second and the sixth names. He cites Bernard of Clairvaux "his father", very frequently, while much less frequently
Augustine of Hippo and
Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
are quoted. We find the same work also in Latin translations.
Other works
A third work "On Love" (Das Puch von der Minne), if it ever existed, has not been recovered. Two other treatises which are found in the manuscript of Heidelberg have been attributed to the same author, they are "The Daughter of Sion" (Tochter Syon), a short poem of 596 lines, in the
Alamannian dialect, rich in matter and full of emotion; it treats of the mystical union of the soul with God, a theme frequently dealt with in the poetry of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The second work (von Sante Alexis) gives us in 456 lines the well-known legend of
St. Alexis. However, peculiarities of language, rhyme, and verse, coupled with an original fashion of conceiving things (e.g. the idea of soul and spirit), forbid us to consider the "Monk of Heilsbronn" as the author of these two poems.
References
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**Merzdorf, ''Der Mönch von Heilsbronn'' (Berlin, 1870);
**Wagner, ''Über den Mönch von Heilsbronn'' (Strasburg, 1876);
**
Denifle in ''Anzeiger für deutsches Altherthum und deutsche Literatur'', II (1876), 300-313;
**Birlinger in ''Alemannia'', III (1875), 105 sqq.;
**Wimmer, ''Beitrage zur Kritik und Erklarung der Werke des Monchs von Heilsbronn'' (Kalksburg, 1895).
External links
german Wikisource: ADB:Mönch von Heilsbronn1340 Manuscript of "The Book of the Seven Degrees" : browse & download*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heilsbronn, Monk of
14th-century writers
German Cistercians
14th-century German writers
German male writers
14th-century Latin writers