Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages by John Van Engen (review)

REVIEWS 309 fart’s Rule] is the most pleasant to read” (197). In the end, scholars of mysticism and devotion without Modern Dutch have much to be grateful for in this translation of Scheepsma’s text. STEVEN ROZENSKI, JR., English, Harvard University John Van Engen, Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2009) 416 pp., ill. Thomas of Kempen, whose Imitation of Christ bears the stamp of the Devotio Moderna, once wrote, “In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.” Before curling up in a corner with John Van Engen’s new book, the reader should know that it is not a general history of the late-medieval religious movement. It is rather an institutional study, in which Van Engen explicitly shifts his focus away from concerns about religiocultural authority that have driven recent scholarship (120). The book is primarily concerned with how men and women in the Netherlands and Germany embraced, organized, and defended a way of life that “fit badly into the binaries we too often rely upon to frame medieval religious history” (164). In the process Van Engen situates the Modern-Day Devout in the world of late- medieval Europe and offers commentary on the broader issues of self-fashioning, Christian perfection, and the ordering of society. Sisters and Brothers is divided into eight chapters, the first three of which are ordered more or less chronologically. The first deals with the background of “conversion” in the late Middle Ages and the movements, such as Beguines, Free Spirits and Friends of God, which made up the “charged atmosphere” from which the Modern-Day Devout emerged. The second chapter gives a brief overview of the geographical, political, and social context of the “Low Countries ,” before explaining the origin of the first Devout house in Deventer. Geert Grote and his early followers wanted to turn from worldly pursuits and establish a common life directed towards Christian perfection, but without taking religious vows. They embraced “a passionate, hard-fought, self-conscious quietism ” to conquer vice and remake their wills (81). Later Van Engen returns to the spirit of the movement, but here he is especially interested in its organizational and legal framework. It was not an ecclesiastical corporation, but was brought into existence by a contract with the town aldermen. An overseer known as the “Martha” was appointed with certain powers to be exercised within the community. The founders established, in Van Engen’s terms, “jointholding societies” to effect the legal transfer of possessions from new members to the organization, which then supported the ministers of a house. Both chapters 2 and 3 explain, with much detail, the early investigation and opposition the Devout encountered, both from inquisitors and skeptical townsmen. The archbishop of Cologne supported the Devout, however, and confirmed a document of privileges allowing them to carry out their way of life. Because of the detailed treatment of legal proceedings and arguments, it is easy to lose the thread of the historical narrative in these first three chapters. Chapter 4 addresses the variety of institutional manifestations of the Modern -Day Devout. Because they lacked the structures of a religious order and had to establish themselves independently in different cities, the Devout pro- REVIEWS 310 duced a variety of instantiations of their life. The largest group was the female Tertiaries, who established about 150 houses throughout Northern Europe. They lived according to a Rule despite having no vows, though in principle they remained subject to local spiritual jurisdiction. Another female group remained closer to the founding impulses of the movement, and Van Engen refers to the members of its twenty-five houses as “Sisters of the Common Life.” The spottiness of their documentary record makes it difficult to reconstruct their life, but they were notable for accepting and integrating women of all classes, who together pursued work and prayer. Van Engen says that the “Brothers of the Common Life” were predominantly “clerical,” in the sense that they were bookmen, often enough those who had become disenchanted with the life of the schools. They followed a common life similar to that...