Mechthild von Magdeburg ‘Lux divinitatis’ — ‘Das liecht der gotheit’. Der lateinisch-frühneuhochdeutsche Überlieferungszweig des ‘Fliessenden Lichts der Gottheit’. Synoptische Ausgabe ed. by Ernst Hellgardt, Balázs J. Nemes and Elke Senne (review)

Together with the writings of the contemporary mystic Hadewijch, Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit (The Flowing Light of Divinity) by Mechthild von Magdeburg marks both the beginning of vernacular mystical literature and a poetic high point of the genre. With this statement, the authors introduce the edition of the Latin and Early New High German versions of the work of one of the great medieval mystics. Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit, which is dated to the second half of the thirteenth century, consists of seven books that most likely represent various stages of composition. The originally Low German text is extant solely in an Alemannic rendering that was produced in Basel in the years 1343–45. Only one complete text is preserved, in Cod. 277 (Einsiedeln, Bibliothek des Benediktinerstiftes), which is dated to shortly after the middle of the fourteenth century. Otherwise, only excerpts of Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit have been transmitted in manuscripts dating from the middle of the fourteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Like Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit, its translation into Latin, Lux divinitatis, was produced in the Dominican milieu of Basel, presumably in the 1280s/1290s. The complete text of the Latin translation is solely extant in a manuscript from the middle of the fourteenth century, that is, Cod. B IX 11 fol. (Basel, Universitätsbibliothek). The Latin text in turn was the source of a translation into the Alemannic dialect. This back translation into the vernacular is extant in a single manuscript, Cod. nr. 175 (Zentralbibliothek Luzern), dated 1517.

The title of Mechthild von Magdeburg’s book is given by God himself. In the prologue, Mechthild asks God what name the book should have and receives the response: “Es sol heissen ein vliessende lieht miner gotheit in allú dú herzen, dú da lebent ane valscheit” (It is to be called a light of my divinity flowing into all hearts living without falseness, Mechthild von Magdeburg >Das fließende Licht der Gottheit<, 1990, p. 5). In the prologue to the Latin translation, Lux divinitatis, Mechthild’s question receives the response: “‘Lux diuinitatis fluens semper in corda ueritatis’ appellabitur liber iste” (This book shall be called Light of divinity flowing ever into faithful hearts), and the corresponding answer in the back translation, Das lieht der gotheit, is as follows: “Dis buch wirt genent werden ‘Das licht der gotheitt, das do alwegen flúist in die hertzen der warheit’” (This book shall be called “The light of divinity ever flowing into faithful hearts,” pp. 34–35). In the Latin translation and its Alemannic back translation a slight shift of emphasis occurs from God’s response in Das fließende Licht der Gottheit. The notion of the overflowing light of divinity recurs in variation throughout Mechthild’s work and is captured, for example, in God’s declaration in the Latin translation: “Cvm splendeo, tu radias; cum fluo humectaris; cum suspiras, trahis cor meum in te; cum ploras pro me, inter brachia mea sumo te; cum amas me, simul unimur. Et sic vniti numquam diuidimur. Verum deliciosa expectacio duorum est in amoris vinculo” (When I shine, you gleam; when I flow, you become moist; when you sigh, you draw my heart into yours; when you weep over me, I draw you into my arms; when you love me, we are at once united. And thus united we are never parted. Truly, the delightful longing of two beings is in the bonds of love; Lux divinitatis, p. 256).

The editors introduce the edition of Lux divinitatis and Das liecht der gotheit with an extensive survey of the transmission of Fließendes...