The Dedicated Spiritual Life of Upper Rhine Noble Women: A Study and Translation of a Fourteenth-Century Spiritual Biography of Gertrude Rickeldey of Ortenberg and Heilke of Staufenberg by Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker (review)

The major part of this book consists of a biography of Lady Gertrude Rickeldey of Ortenburg written by an anonymous woman who knew her. The original was written in Middle High German and it is here translated into English. The biography emphasizes the saintliness of Gertrude’s life, and seems to have been intended as an exemplar that other religiously inclined people might be guided or influenced by. The main content of the biography deals with Gertrude’s spiritual development from early widowhood, which occurred in 1301, up until close to her death in 1335. This is a considerable time span and an important focus of the biography is the different spiritual stages that Gertrude went through during this period.

The book also features a lengthy introduction by Anneke Mulder-Bakker. It serves the useful purpose of setting the book in its place and time. For example, it is made clear what the aspirations and customs of the German upper-class were, and how religious values and practices were at that time spreading among lay people, especially among lay women. It also provides an overview of the circumstances of Gertrude’s life, which are present but a little hard to pick out of the biography.

A number of books were written by their contemporaries about medieval people regarded as holy or saintly. In accordance with the traditions of this writing, the author repeatedly emphasizes that Gertrude was humble, willing to take advice from others, especially with regard to moderating her own self-discipline and austerity, often serene (especially in the latter part of her life), conventional in belief, caring for the poor, and averse to interpersonal disputes of any kind. Such characteristics were those commonly looked for in the later Middle Ages to discern the nature of the spirit; that is, to determine whether an individual really did have some personal contact with God or a saint, rather than being misled by a devil or simply deceived in some human way. It was, for example, the approach of Wendy Love Anderson in The Discernment of Spirits: Assessing Visions and Visionaries in the Late Middle Ages (Mohr Siebeck, 2011).

During virtually the whole period of Gertrude’s widowhood and religious life, she lived together with a companion, Heilke of Stauffenberg. Heilke moderated some of Gertrude’s more extreme religious impulses, ensured she ate enough to keep reasonable health, and perhaps kept her in the world. ‘Had Gertrude not had Heilke, she would have often been mocked and she might even have lost her mind’ (p. 131). Although the biography is centred on Gertrude as the chief religious figure, Heilke is frequently mentioned as protecting and grounding her, often employing a good deal of wisdom in the process. This makes the book rather unusual. It was quite normal, indeed expected, that very spiritually oriented medieval people should be advised by those whose foothold in everyday reality was less tenuous than theirs, but we do not often hear much about the advisor’s point of view or how they went about the task. In part this is because many of them were bound by the rules of the confessional. But here Heilke is a character in her own right, and though this reader at least was left thinking hers was often a thankless task, it was enlightening and rewarding to read of the intelligence and devotion she brought to it.

I conclude with an observation which is far from original. I, like others so far as I can tell (Mulder-Bakker, Heilke, the original biographer), had difficulty in coming to grips with the central theme of Gertrude’s life. This life...