Henry of Nördlingen
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Henry of Nördlingen (german: Heinrich von Nördlingen) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
Catholic priest from
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 ...
, who lived in the 14th century, his date of death being unknown. He was the spiritual adviser of
Margaretha Ebner Margareta Ebner (1291 – 20 June 1351) was a German professed religious from the Dominican Nuns. Ebner – from 1311 – experienced a series of spiritual visions in which Jesus Christ gave her messages which she recorded in letters and a jou ...
(died 1351), the mystic nun of Medingen.


Life

The life of Henry is only known from his correspondence and the writings of the Ebners during the period between 1332 and 1351. Of these nineteen years, the first three were spent in or about
Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was b ...
, where Henry was the beloved director of a group of mystics which included his mother. In 1335 he set out for
Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
on a voluntary exile in consequence of the dispute between the pope and the emperor. Among others, he wrote to, or visited, Margaretha Ebner and Christina Ebner, as well as
Johannes Tauler Johannes Tauler OP ( – 16 June 1361) was a German mystic, a Roman Catholic priest and a theologian. A disciple of Meister Eckhart, he belonged to the Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland mystics. He pro ...
,
Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth cen ...
and
Rulman Merswin Rulman Merswin (c. 1307 - 1382) was a German mystic, leader for a time of the Friends of God. Life Born into an important family in Strasbourg, at the time a free city of the Holy Roman Empire, Rulman Merswin became a banker and amassed a large fo ...
, known as the
Friends of God The Friends of God (German: Gottesfreunde; or gotesvriunde) was a medieval mystical group of both ecclesiastical and lay persons within the Catholic Church (though it nearly became a separate sect) and a center of German mysticism. It was founde ...
. He translated the book of Mechtilde of Magdeburg into High GermanFor more precise details of this translation process, see Barbara Newman, ''Latin and the Vernaculars'', in Amy Hollywood, ed, ''The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism'', (Cambridge: CUP, 2012), p. 234 and urged other mystics, such as Margaretha Ebner, to write down accounts of their visions. His visits and instructions were received by the
Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
of Kaisheim, the
Dominican nuns The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
of
Engelthal Engelthal is a municipality near Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in the Frankenalb ( Frankish Alb). The municipality has a population of approximately 1100 people. History The place was named ''Swinnahe'' in former times and mentioned first in 1058/1059 ...
and Medingen, the Bernardines of at
Deiningen Deiningen is a municipality in the district of Donau-Ries in Swabia, Bavaria in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after R ...
, and by the
Benedictine nuns , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
of Hohenwart Abbey. To his correspondents he sent books both of theology (including works by
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
) and of mysticism, as well as some relics. In 1339, a short while after his return to Nördlingen, his fidelity in abiding by the interdict brought him into a critical position, and he went by way of
Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
and
Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...
to
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, where he found Tauler and where several of the Gottesfreunde followed him from Bavaria. At Basel (January, 1339), which he now made the centre of his activity, his success in the confessional and pulpit brought crowds to him, especially in 1345. Letters to Margaretha Ebner give an idea of his work, fears, and hopes; in 1346-7 he made several trips to Cologne and Bamberg; then he left Basel, much regretted by the Gottesfreunde, and after a wandering life of preaching in
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
(1348-9), while the
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
was raging in Germany, he returned to his country (1350), a little before the death of Margaretha Ebner. We then find him in communication with the aged Christina Ebner of Engelthal, but after 1352 nothing more is heard of him.


Works

His works consist of a collection of fifty-eight letters, of which only one manuscript remains (British Museum). It is the first collection of letters, properly so called, in German literature, as the letters of Henry Suso, which are an earlier composition, are practically sermons, a title which they bear in many manuscripts. They are not speculative, or deep meditations on mysticism; with him all was sentiment. To his letters must be joined the translation from Low German into High German of the work of Mechtilde, now at
Einsiedeln Einsiedeln () is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey, established in the 10th century. History Early history There was no permanent settlement in the area ...
.


References

*Strauch, ''Margaretha Ebner und Heinrich von Nördlingen'' (Freiburg and Tübingen, 1882); *
Denifle Henry Denifle, in German Heinrich Seuse Denifle (January 16, 1844 in Imst, Tyrol – June 10, 1905 in Munich), was an Austrian paleographer and historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an aut ...
in ''Deutsche Litteraturzeitung'', III (1882), 921; *
Marie de Villermont Marie de Villermont (1848–1925), countess of Hennequin, was a Belgian artist, writer and feminist. Life Marie Emma Éloïse Françoise de Villermont was born at Saint-Josse-ten-Noode on 16 August 1848, the eldest of nine children of the industria ...
, ''Un groupe mystique allemand'' (Brussels, 1907), 312, 423, etc.


External links


''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry of Nordlingen Clergy from Bavaria 14th-century Christian mystics 14th-century German Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic mystics 14th-century German writers 14th-century Latin writers 14th-century translators