Bio of Desert Fathers

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DISCIPLES OF THE DEEP DESERT:

WINDESHEIM BIOGRAPHERS AND THE

IMITATION OF THE DESERT FATHERS*

Mathilde van Dijk

Abstract

This article examines how biographers from the Chapter of Windesheim construed

their brothers and sisters as the new desert fathers. In the Devotio

Moderna, these first hermits, monks, and nuns were regarded as the epitomes

of what true piety was about. Windesheim biographers like John Busch

put their subjects forward as the new practitioners of true piety, as it had

been coined by the desert fathers. But what did this mean to them? How

did they interpret the desert father material? How did they use it to create

new examples for religious practice?

Introduction

In the Devotio Moderna, the concept of “Egypt” had two opposing

meanings. On the one hand, it was a metaphor for that which the

truly religious should abandon. John Busch of Windesheim used the

concept in this sense in De viris illustribus, the biographies of the first

brothers of his community of Regular Canons. He praised several

among them for having left Egypt behind. 1 According to him, they

had completed a metaphorical Exodus, having achieved the aim of

religious people from the time of the desert fathers: a liberated heart.

As defined by the Egyptian hermit Moses in the Conferences, the mission

of the religious person was to free the heart from all carnal

desires, making room for an all-encompassing desire for God. 2 Those

who accomplished this had restored themselves to the perfect state

of Adam before the Fall, after the model of the New Man, Jesus

Christ.

* I thank Arjo Vanderjagt for his comments on an earlier version of this article.

1

E.g. John Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 8, ed. in Karl Grube, Des Augustinerprobstes

Johannes Busch Chronicon Windeshemense und Liber de reformatione monasteriorum [Geschichtsquellen

der Provinz Sachsen und angrenzender Gebiete 19] (Halle, 1886), p. 25.

2

John Cassian, Collationes patrum, prologus, ed. E. Pichery, 3 vols. (Paris, 1954-

1959), 1: 1.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2006 chrc 86, 1-4

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258 mathilde van dijk

The reference to Moses points to another connotation of “Egypt.”

It was also the site of true piety, that of the real religious life.

Therefore, much as Busch denounces Egypt in other passages, he

also hails his brothers as “new monks ...devout like Palestinians,

obedient like Thebaids, fervent like Egyptians, disciples of the Antonies

and Macariuses of the deep desert;” and as the modern devout. 3 In

De viris illustribus, he puts them forward as the new desert fathers.

According to Busch, the Devotio Moderna rekindled that which had

started in Egypt and Palestine around the end of the third century,

when men and women had withdrawn to the desert. These hermits,

monks, and nuns from the past invented the religious life, which

they presented as the best way to imitate Christ and the apostles

after the persecution of Christians had ended.

Busch was not alone in asserting that his brothers recreated their

piety. The same is true for other male and female authors from the

movement. The assertion that their fellow brothers and sisters were

the new desert fathers was, of course, a fiction, if only because Busch

and the other authors were operating in an entirely different context,

both physically and metaphorically: the Devotio Moderna

flourished over a thousand years later in the entirely different landscape

of the Low Countries in the Later Middle Ages.

Their reference to the desert fathers happened in a hostile environment.

From the start of the Devotio Moderna with the Deventer

canon Geert Grote (1340-1384), the adherents had been very outspoken

in their criticism of the other religious men and women of

their day. Particularly, they disapproved of the current practice in

the forms of religious life that had originated in the thirteenth-century

Poverty Movement, such as that of the Mendicants. According to

Grote’s followers, these had strayed from the traditional ideals voiced

by Moses the Egyptian hermit. On their part, the Mendicants accused

the adherents of the Devotio Moderna of attempting to create a new

religio, forbidden ever since the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). 4 Grote’s

3

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 9, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), p. 27: Novos enim

Palestine devocionis Thebaide obediencie Egipciacique fervoris monachos ...novosque Anthoniorum

Machariorumque discipulos interioris heremi.

4

The Groningen Dominican lector Matthaeus Grabow filed a complaint about

this at the Council of Constance in 1418. Such influential churchmen as Pierre

d’Ailly and Jean Gerson defended the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life.

Now Grabow himself faced a charge of heresy. See Paul Fredericq, ed., Corpus documentorum

inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis Neerlandicae, 3 vols. (Ghent and The Hague,

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disciples of the deep desert 259

followers made themselves vulnerable to criticism by living in communities

of women and men without vows, the Sisters and Brothers

of the Common Life. The creation of communities of Regular Canons

like Busch’s Windesheim was a later development. 5 Apart from arousing

suspicion that the communities of men and women without vows

were the first phase of a new Order, their semi-religious status made

them easy targets for the charge of heresy. 6 The Sisters and Brothers’

adversaries stressed their similarity with the Beguines, who had a

reputation for heterodoxy. 7 The devouts’ protests that they were no

Beguines and that they did not create anything new but were in fact

reviving time-honored religious tradition from the early Church, happened

in this polemical context. 8

Moreover, though the adherents of the Devotio Moderna would

probably have been as shocked as 21st-century fundamentalists would

be today by the notion that true piety was zeitgemässig, it is obvious

that this was indeed the case. They were among the last medieval

expressions of centuries of interpretation of what being pious meant,

first from Scripture and second from authoritative early Church texts

like the desert father material. As for the latter, in themselves, texts

1896) 2: 216-27. Busch also gives an account of this episode in the Liber de viris

illustribus 58, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), pp. 172-4, which has been included in

Fredericq, Corpus documentorum inquisitionis, pp. 227-9.

5

For an overview of the history of the Devotio Moderna, see R.R. Post, The

Modern Devotion. Confrontation with the Reformation and Humanism (Leiden, 1968) and

A.G. Weiler, E. Persoons and C.C. de Bruin, Geert Grote en de Moderne Devotie (Zutphen,

1984).

6

Evidence shows that, in some cases, they were actually accused of being heretics.

See the chronicle of the Regular Canonesses’ convent Jerusalem at Venray, which

began as a community of Sisters of the Common Life: L. Peeters, ‘Den beginne

des cloesters Jerusalem, tot 1422,’ Limburg 7 (1900), 260-90, there 269.

7

W. Simons, Cities of Ladies (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 19-34 and 118-20.

8

Geert Grote apparently attempted to create an alternative for the Beguines

when he organized a community of Sisters of the Common Life in his home, providing

proper spiritual and material supervision and prohibiting an entrance fee. In

his treatise De simonia ad Beguttas, ed. W. de Vreese (The Hague, 1940), Grote had

condemned this practice as simony. The statutes offer evidence of how much the

adherents of the Devotio Moderna strove to prevent the sisters going the same

heretical route as had the Beguines. See R.R. Post, ‘De statuten van het Mr.

Geertshuis te Deventer,’ Archief voor de geschiedenis van het aartsbisdom Utrecht 71 (1952),

1-46, there 21 and J. de Hullu, ‘Statuten van het Meester-Geertshuis te Deventer,’

Archief voor Nederlandsche kerkgeschiedenis 6 (1897), 63-76, there 69-70. The author of

the statutes was particularly concerned that the sisters might adopt the heresy of

the Free Spirit, common among the Beguines. See Grietje Dresen, ‘God in het hart

sluiten. Ingekeerde vrouwen aan de vooravond van de Nieuwe Tijd,’ Amsterdams sociologisch

tijdschrift 15 (1988), 310-36, there 315 and 317-8.

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such as the Vitae patrum and the Conferences were interpretations of

what Scripture actually intended. They gave models for the way in

which the truly pious, those who were serious about living after the

model of Christ and the apostles, should practice their faith in the

context of late antique Egypt and Syria (and in the case of John

Cassian: Marseille), almost four centuries after the Parousia, when

Jesus Christ had lived among us.

Ultimately, the purpose of this article is to study how the adherents

of the Devotio Moderna defined true piety. What were the characteristics

of a truly pious individual? What was the state of such a

man or woman’s inner person? How did he or she think, feel, or

act? This article will focus on the way in which they used the lives

and sayings of the desert fathers as a model for this definition. How

did they use this material? In what way and how closely did they

imitate the desert fathers? Last, was their presentation of themselves

as the new desert fathers rather the appropriation of a label, a hallmark,

which confirmed the adherents of the Devotio Moderna as

practitioners of true piety?

Gender is an important aspect of this discussion. John Cassian

recorded only conversations with male hermits in his Conferences. Most

texts in the Vitae patrum also refer exclusively to men. Very few are

about women — yet they too could be considered “fathers,” as their

gender was no longer an issue once they had adopted the spiritual

life. As such, there was no problem in defining them as fathers, particularly

because, while they usually defined the body as female, the

soul constituted the male element of a human being. Thus, women

who had renounced their bodies had become, in essence, male. At

the same time, it was clear that women had to walk a different path

than men to reach this status, if only because they were generally

considered more carnal than men. It was harder for them to control

their bodies. 9 As a result, it would be much more difficult for

them to reach spiritual perfection. The other side to this was that

it would be a much greater accomplishment for them to do so. 10

How do these notions affect the Devotio Moderna some thousand

years later? Did the men and women also follow different paths

9

See Joan Cadden, Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages. Medicine, Science,

Culture (Cambridge, 1993) for an explanation.

10

John Brinckerinck, Acht collatiën, ed. W. de Moll, Kerkhistorisch Archief 4 (1866),

98-167, there 150.

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towards perfection? How closely did they follow the original desert

fathers in this respect?

The present study concerns two sets of biographies from a specific

group within the Devotio Moderna: the Chapter of Windesheim.

This group consisted of houses of Regular Canons and Canonesses

and was among the most influential achievements of the Devotio

Moderna. 11 De viris illustribus, written about the brothers in the leading

monastery of the Chapter, and the sisterbook of Diepenveen, the

collection of the lives of the sisters from this convent, will be discussed.

The convent of Saints Agnes and Mary at Diepenveen was

one of very few female communities within the Chapter of Windesheim.

The following section briefly introduces these sources. Next I will

provide some further data on the status of the desert fathers within

the Devotio Moderna.

Collections of Biographies

Windesheim and Diepenveen were among the first foundations of

the Devotio Moderna and were regarded as model communities,

both inside the Chapter and among other adherents of the movement.

12 They were in close proximity, both formally and informally.

The prior of Windesheim was the spiritual and temporal overlord

of the sisters at Diepenveen. In addition to this, it is obvious that

the brothers and sisters felt close to each other. This is clear from

the fact that some Diepenveen sisters appeared in the biographies

of the Windesheim brothers and vice versa.

De viris illustribus and the Diepenveen sisterbook are only two examples

of Devotio Moderna biographical collections. Usually, the authors

came from the same communities as their subjects. Some collections

of biographies deal with members of other communities who were

in some way connected to them (for instance, because they moved

from one community to another). The purpose of the sets of lives

was to provide models for present and future members of the author’s

community.

11

S. Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid in de Nederlanden, 4 vols. (Antwerp, 1956).

Volume 3 gives details on Devotio Moderna influence in the Low Countries.

12

This much is clear from the fact that other communities called the sisters or

brothers in to help reform their houses. John Busch gives details on his own activities

as a reformer of monasteries in the Liber de reformatione monasteriorium, ed. in

Grube (see above, n. 1), pp. 388-799.

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Both the Windesheim and the Diepenveen collections survive in

two versions. Busch wrote the first version of De viris illustribus when

he was still living at Windesheim during the years 1456-1459. 13

According to Busch’s assertion, the prior, John of Naaldwijk, ordered

him to do so. He produced the second version after he had moved

to another Windesheim monastery, Saint Bartholomew’s at Sulta

near Hildesheim. He wrote this during his second term as a prior

(1459-1479), completing the work in 1464. 14 The purposes of the

two versions differ. Apparently, Busch intended his first version to

be a traditional “brotherbook”: a history of a single religious community

(Windesheim) written for that community. It survives in one

complete manuscript and a fragment. 15 The second version appears

to aim at a more extensive history of the entire Chapter. It survives

in eleven manuscripts, usually originating from Windesheim milieus.

In most manuscripts, De viris illustribus is combined with another work,

the Liber de origine devocionis moderne. 16

As for the Diepenveen sisterbook, only two manuscripts survive.

Each contains a different version, probably based on an original,

now lost. The Diepenveen sister Griet Esschinges wrote the earliest

version, completed in 1524. A certain sister Griete Koesters produced

the later version in 1534. This manuscript was part of the

collection of the Sisters of the Common Life at Master Geert’s house

at Deventer. It is much shorter and focuses on sisters who had a

connection to the Deventer community. Originally, the convent of

Saints Agnes and Mary had been created from the Master Geert’s

house. In the process, several sisters had transferred from Deventer

to Diepenveen. 17

13

Becker outlines the main differences between the first and the second versions

in V. Becker, ‘Eene onbekende kronijk van het klooster te Windesheim,’ Bijdragen

en mededelingen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanden 10 (1887), 376-445.

14

See for details about Busch’s stays at Sulta, S. van der Woude, John Busch.

Windesheimer kloosterreformator en kroniekschrijver (Edam, 1947), pp. 80-6, 130-7.

15

Brussels Royal Library, MS. IV 110 and Braunschweig, Stadtarchiv und

Stadtbibliothek, no signature.

16

Edition of both texts in Grube (see above, n. 1). See Koen Goudriaan, ‘Het

leven van Liduina en de Moderne Devotie,’ Jaarboek voor middeleeuwse geschiedenis 6 (2003),

161-236, there 224-30 for a list of manuscripts and printed editions.

17

The oldest manuscript (Deventer, City and Atheneum Library, MS. 101 E 26),

is commonly known as DV and will henceforth be quoted as such. I am grateful

to Wybren Scheepsma for allowing me to work with his transcription of this manuscript.

The later manuscript (Zwolle, RA, Coll. Van Rhemen, MS. inv. no. 1) is

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The Desert Father Connection

It would be no exaggeration to assert that religious texts, particularly

Scripture, the lives of the martyrs, and the lives and sayings of

the desert fathers, defined the lives of the adherents of the Devotio

Moderna. These texts were also the basis for other texts that would

occupy the adherents in some way or the other almost all day. 18

This was particularly true for the men and women in the communities

of Regular Canons and Canonesses, as the Rule and constitutions

prescribed such exposure. First, they would sing the texts of

the psalms in the hours, seven times a day, week after week. Second,

they would use texts during daily Mass. Third, they would listen to

readings at several other occasions, as during meals and manual

labor, which itself could consist of the copying of texts. Finally, the

Regular Canons and Canonesses would read texts in the periods

reserved for private study. They generally regarded the latter as a

most important element in the process of self-reformation in the

Devotio Moderna. Texts offered inspiration for meditation and prayer,

and often had this express purpose. For example, summaries of passages

from the Bible or from hagiographical texts provided points of

departure for meditation. Several works in this genre survived from

Diepenveen. 19 Moreover, texts provided models for the reader or

copyist’s spiritual progress.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to assemble a complete catalog of

the texts that the Windesheim brothers and the Diepenveen sisters

used. Few books survive from the communities’ libraries. 20 This does

commonly known as D. It was edited in Van den doechden der vuriger ende stichtiger susteren

van Diepen Veen (Handschrift D), ed. D.A. Brinkerink (Leiden, 1904). For an outline

of the differences between the two versions, see Wybren Scheepsma, Deemoed en

devotie. De koorvrouwen van Diepenveen en hun geschriften (Amsterdam, 1997) pp. 135-41.

Recently, Anne Bollmann provided an extensive study: Frauenleben und Frauenliteratur

in der Devotio Moderna. Volkssprachige Schwesternbücher in literarhistorischer Perspektive (Ph.D.-

thesis, University of Groningen, 2004), pp. 457-592.

18

Ann Matter defined such texts as “co-texts”: E. Ann Matter, ‘Biblical Co(n)texts

and Twentieth Century Fiction: Three Models,’ in The Work of Co(n)texts/Il lavoro

dei contesti, eds. C. Locatelli and C. Covi (forthcoming).

19

For instance in Deventer, Stads- en Atheneumbibliotheek MS. 101 E 15, ca.

1500-1510, fols. 158r-264v. See also Karl Stooker and Theo Verbeij, Collecties op

orde. Middelnederlandse handschriften uit kloosters en semi-religieuze gemeenschappen in de

Nederlanden, 2 vols. (Louvain, 1997), 2: 376.

20

For lists of surviving books see W. Kohl, E. Persoons and A.G. Weiler, Monasticon

Windeshemense, 4 vols. (Brussels, 1980), on Windesheim 3: 487-9, on Diepenveen 3:

600-2.

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not mean that their reading and copying material is virtually unknown.

Busch provides lists of books that his brothers copied in both versions

of De viris illustribus. 21 Occasionally, the authors of the sisterbook

refer to texts the exemplary sisters liked to read. 22 Usually,

these concern works that had become classics of monastic literature.

Next to relatively recent works like Saint Bernard’s sermons on various

subjects or David of Augsburg’s Profectus religiosorum, the biographers

mention Scripture, lives of the saints, works of the Church fathers

(particularly Saint Augustine), and lives and sayings of the desert

fathers. Such works were also common in other communities of the

Chapter of Windesheim and, for that matter, in houses of Brothers

and Sisters of the Common Life. 23

In view of their wish to imitate Christ, the adherents of the Devotio

Moderna looked first at His life and those of the apostles as models

for their self-reconstruction. Both Latin and non-Latin readers

were encouraged to study Scripture. In addition, adherents of the

movement or earlier authors rewrote and interpreted the life of Christ

in various commentaries and meditation guides. 24 From the Diepenveen

library, a manuscript survives which contains parts of Scripture and,

among others, an “exercise divided in points on the life of Jesus.” 25

Both the Old and New Testaments were important, as readers often

interpreted the Old as a prophecy of the New Testament. The

Exodus, for instance, seemed to be a metaphor for, and a foreshadowing

of, the Salvation of humanity. 26 Commentators further

claimed that some figures from the Old Testament prefigured Christ.

In this respect, they were similar to the lives of the saints, the accounts

of which were also among the most important texts. While such Old

21

Busch gave a list in the first version of De viris illustribus, printed in Becker,

‘Eene onbekende kronijk’ (see above, n. 13), 402-5. In the second version, Busch

inserted data about the works that the brothers copied in their biographies.

22

For instance sister Catherine of Naaldwijk liked to read works by Saint Augustine,

DV (see above, n. 17), fol. 250r.

23

T. Kock, Die Buchkultur der Devotio Moderna. Handschriftproduktion, Literaturversorgung

und Bibliotheksaufbau im Zeitalter des Medienwechsels (Frankfurt, 1999).

24

See for an overview of such works C.C. de Bruin, ‘Middeleeuwse levens van

Jezus als leiddraad voor meditatie,’ Nederlands Archief voor de Kerkgeschiedenis 63 (1987),

129-73.

25

Deventer, Stads- and Atheneneumbibliotheek, MS. 101 E 15, see also Stooker

en Verbeij, Collecties op orde (see above, n. 19), 2: 376.

26

H. de Lubac, Exegèse médiévale. Les quatre sens de l’Écriture (Paris, 1959). For this

metaphor in the context of the Egyptian desert, see also Claudia Rapp, ‘Desert,

City, and Countryside in the Early Christian Imagination,’ this volume, above, pp.

93-112, there 98-9, 102.

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Testament figures as Moses and the stories about him functioned as

precursors, the saints and their lives functioned as “postcursors” of

Christ and the Gospels. Ultimately, like the Gospels, and in fact like

all the books of Scripture before and after Christ, the lives of the

saints pointed the way toward salvation. 27 This was certainly the case

for the martyrs who, like Christ, had made the supreme sacrifice

during their persecutions. Some vitae assert explicitly that the martyrs

saved souls by their deaths. 28

Living long after persecution had ceased, the adherents of the

Devotio Moderna could not emulate them in this respect. However,

they could strive to imitate the desert fathers, who were supposed

to have found the way to emulate Christ, when it was no longer

feasible to die a martyr’s death. Traditionally, the Egyptians among

them had been the primary models. Many manuscripts and printed

books both of the Vitae patrum and of Cassian’s Conferences and Institutes

survive from the Devotio Moderna. Busch mentions such works in

his listings. 29 Their transmission within the Devotio Moderna is manifold

and complex. This is the case for both the Latin and the vernacular

versions.

It is important to consider that works under the titles “lives” or

“sayings of the fathers” have no fixed content. Copiers or translators

made a selection of lives and sayings according to what they perceived

to be the needs of their intended readers. In addition to the

traditional material, they sometimes inserted other texts concerning

the desert fathers. 30 Material from the desert fathers was included in

other collections as well, legendaries being the most obvious example.

For instance, several legends about famous Egyptian hermits and

other figures made their way into the Legenda aurea, in both the Latin

and the vernacular versions. 31 Like the Vitae patrum, this legendary

27

For an extensive discussion of this, see M. van Uytfanghe, Stylisation biblique et

condition humaine dans l’hagiographie mérovingienne (600-750) (Brussels, 1987).

28

For instance some Lives of Saint Barbara. See Mathilde van Dijk, Een rij van

spiegels. Levens van de heilige Barbara als voorbeeld voor religieuzen (Hilversum, 2000), p. 139.

29

Becker, ‘Eene onbekende kronijk’ (see above, n. 13), 403.

30

For instance a dialogue of Saint Antony and the Devil that was written by

Alfons Buenhombre, Disputatio sancti Antonii, see Stooker and Verbeij, Collecties op orde

(see above, n. 19), 2: 880 and 1056.

31

See for the Latin versions B. Fleith, Studien zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der Lateinischen

Legenda Aurea [Subsidia Hagiographica 71] (Brussels, 1991), pp. 30-7 and for the

Middle Dutch versions W. Williams-Krapp, Die deutschen und niederländischen Legendare

des Mittelalters. Studien zur Überlieferungs-, Text- und Wirkungsgeschichte (Tubingen, 1986).

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had no fixed content. Some copiers and translators chose to include

shortened versions of the legends, following the format that Jacobus

de Voragine preferred in his original version of the legendary. Others

inserted the full text from the Vitae patrum. In addition, fragments

from the Conferences or the Vitae patrum were included in various other

types of works, such as in the devotional collection commonly known

as Der Sielen Troest or in the rapiaria, the collections of fragments that

the brothers and sisters made for their own devotional uses. 32

Even if it is difficult to chart exactly which Devotio Moderna community

used which lives and sayings of which desert fathers, it is

still obvious that the texts about the desert fathers did indeed serve

as models for their practices. As John Cassian and others had done,

they noted sayings of outstanding brothers and sisters, which sometimes

happened to be exact quotes of famous desert fathers. 33 Another

example is the writing of the biographies of exemplary members of

their communities.

New Monks

As mentioned above, the authors of Devotio Moderna biographies

wrote these texts for the education of their fellow brothers and sisters.

This had some impact on the content. They had to put all the

facts and events into a certain format to ensure that the texts would

fulfill their function. Several scholars noted the similarity of the biographies

to the lives of the saints, particularly with respect to the

collections of female biographies. 34

Busch set out to present his brothers as the epitomes of what true

piety was, as the new desert fathers. For him and for the other

adherents of the Devotio Moderna, these inventors of the religious

life were models beyond reproach. In practice, though, the connection

32

J. Deschamps, Middelnederlandse handschriften uit Europese en Amerikaanse bibliotheken

(Leiden, 1972), pp. 193-7 (no. 68). I wish to thank Mirjam de Baar for her help

in completing this reference.

33

See J.F. de Vregt, ‘Eenige ascetische tractaten afkomstig van de Deventerse

broederschap van het gemeene leven,’ Archief voor de geschiedenis van het aartsbisdom

Utrecht 10 (1882), 1-178.

34

For instance Wybren Scheepsma, ‘Illustere voorbeelden. De invloed van de

Legenda Aurea op de geschriften van de koorvrouwen van Windesheim,’ in “Een boec

dat men te Latine heet Aurea Legenda.” Beiträge zur niederländischen Übersetzung der Legenda

Aurea, ed. A. Berteloot, H. van Dijk and J. Hlatky (Munster, 2003), pp. 261-82.

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of the Devotio Moderna to the desert father piety meant that Busch

had to engage in two interpretive movements. First, he had to look

at the desert father material in order to glean from it the essence

of true piety, as it had been defined after persecution had ended.

This essence would enable him to find a feasible way to be a desert

father in his day. It is important to note that Busch stood in a continuous

line of interpretation of the desert father material. Obviously,

the ways in which other early Church and later classic monastic

works had defined it informed his view on piety as lived by the

desert fathers. Next, putting forward the Windesheim brothers as followers

of the desert fathers, Busch had to interpret the former’s practices

as examples of the latter’s true piety. As we shall presently see,

this resulted in him describing the brothers not as exact copies (even

though he claimed that they were such), but as the inventors of a

way to be as desert father-like as possible in the context of the late

medieval Low Countries. Incidentally, though Busch focused on the

brothers at Windesheim, it is clear that he regarded the work of the

entire Devotio Moderna as a rekindling of desert father piety.

Moreover, Busch asserts repeatedly that the renewal of true piety

was not limited to males. He mentions several exemplary Diepenveen

sisters as well. 35

Primarily, Busch directed his work internally: the first version to

the brothers of Windesheim, the second to the members of the

Chapter. He assured his readers that they were on the right track

toward the liberated heart, by pointing to the exemplary brothers’

similarity to the desert fathers and by contrasting their practices

favorably with those of other late medieval religious, implicitly and

explicitly. Busch shows the similarity of his brothers to the desert

fathers at three levels: at the structural level of both the entire work

and the individual tales; at the level of the words and phrases used;

and, finally, at the level of the actual content. One should point out

that such distinctions are artificial, as all three levels are clearly interconnected.

Thus, when Busch imitates desert father material, he imitates

not only the form, but the content as well.

Let us first discuss format. De viris illustribus contains 72 chapters.

This is no coincidence: 72 is the number of disciples Jesus Christ

35

For instance in his account of a vision of Henry Mande, in which this visionary

saw several brothers and sisters in heaven, among the saints, Busch, Liber de

viris illustribus 44, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), pp. 125-32.

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sent out to spread the Word. 36 The first nine chapters give general

information about the early history of the Windesheim community,

its historical context and the virtues and practices of the first brothers.

The last chapter contains a conclusion, which amounts to an

assessment of the brothers. In the remaining body of the work, Busch

writes the biographies of 24 brothers. 37 Nikolaus Staubach of Munster

pointed out that this is the same number mentioned by John Cassian

in the Conferences. In the 24th conference, Cassian links this number

to the 24 elders of the Apocalypse. 38

Even if Busch himself undermines the similarity somewhat by

including a 25th brother from another community, he did not choose

this number at random. Busch places the history of his monastery

and of the Devotio Moderna movement in the context of Salvation

history. He starts his work by recounting the origin of sin in Lucifer’s

first rebellion against God, due to pride, and his later seduction of

Man into the Fall. He then recounts that God sent his son Jesus

Christ to save humankind with his blood and so guide us back to

heaven. Furthermore, he claims that Jesus Christ established the communal

life with his apostles. Later, the desert fathers and those who

imitated them followed this example. Obviously, the religious life was

not an invention dating from the fourth century. It had existed since

the Parousia.

Staubach also points to the connection of the De viris illustribus with

the Liber de origine de devocionis moderne. It resembles the connection

between Cassian’s Institutes and Conferences. As Cassian argues, the former

work described the exterior practices of the Egyptian hermits;

the second work was about their inner lives. 39 This also seems to be

the main interest in Busch’s work. Thus, the biography of the prior

John Vos of Heusden provides scant information on what happened

to the monastery while he was in charge. Busch refers the readers

to his other work. Many suppose this to be a reference to the Liber

de origine. 40 Moreover, Busch’s biographies give very few details about

36

Lk. 10,1.

37

Nikolaus Staubach, ‘Das Wunder der Devotio Moderna. Neue Aspekte im

Werk des Windesheimer Geschichtsschreiber Johannes Busch,’ in Windesheim 1395-

1995. Kloosters, teksten, invloeden, eds. A.J. Hendrikman et al. [Middeleeuwse Studies

12] (Nijmegen, 1996), pp. 170-85, there 173-4.

38

Rev. 4,4.

39

Cassian, Collationes, prologus, ed. Pichery (see above, n. 2), 1: 1.

40

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 12, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), p. 34.

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such matters as the subjects’ lives before entering the monastery,

their descent, and their social background. If he includes such data,

it is usually because it indicates the state of a subject’s heart. This

is the case in the life of Albert Wijnbergen. According to Busch, he

came from a wealthy, distinguished family and was very learned.

Busch praises his aptitude as a grammaticus, which enabled him to

teach his fellow brothers about the sense of Scripture. Despite these

excellent qualities, the Windesheim Canons did not want to accept

him as a choir brother, as he had a horrible voice. Instead, he had

to content himself with the relatively humble position of a donatus.

He continued to live with the lay brothers even after his ordination

as a priest. These humiliations could have been a cause of great bitterness

for him, particularly owing to the fact that he gave his entire

heritage to the brothers, filling his relatives with anger. Nonetheless,

he accepted the brothers’ decision without complaint. His humility

and obedience were exemplary. For instance, when he bore the cross

during processions, all dressed in priestly splendor, he seemed to his

brothers not to notice that they looked on in admiration and reverence.

They concluded that his focus was on God, rather than on

what transpired around him. Busch writes that he was like “an

Egyptian hermit or a Palestinian anchorite.” 41

Busch further enhances the similarity of his brothers to the desert

fathers by inserting typical elements such as collations, either in the

form of full texts of sermons or as sayings. Usually, the latter are at

the end of a given brother’s vita. As for the level of words and

phrases, it is obvious that Busch strives to write in the same vein as

the Vitae patrum and the Conferences. Often this is, in fact, a biblical

vein. This is in accordance with the view that Busch’s brothers and

the desert fathers imitated Christ. For example, the Historia monachorum,

the Latin translation of which was later included as the second

book of the Vitae patrum, tells the same story about the fathers

in the desert. 42 Frequently the authors of the texts about the desert

fathers borrow words and phrases from Scripture. Either through

them, or directly, Busch does the same thing. For example, some

41

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 66, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), p. 199: Unus de

Egipti solitariis aut Palestine anchoritis.

42

Historia monachorum, prologus, ed. Eva Schulz-Flügel [Patristische Texte und

Studien 34] (Berlin, 1990), pp. 4-5.

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brothers spoke God’s language quite literally. Usually, their utterances

were quotations from Scripture, according to Busch, 43 and he

further identifies his brothers with the desert fathers when he calls

them “old fathers” or “living stones,” or asserts that they lived the

“angelic life.” 44

The phrase “living stones” is present in the Vitae patrum at several

points, but is actually a reference to Christ. According to the First

Letter of Peter, Christ is a living stone. The apostle encourages His

followers to imitate Him in this respect: they should be the living

stones of a spiritual building, which is pleasing to God. 45 The angelic

life meant that people living such lives had completely renounced

carnality. Like angels, they had become spiritual beings. In the Vitae

patrum, this is a common phrase to indicate the state of excellence

attained by hermits, monks, or nuns. In De viris illustribus, the phrase

defines excellent brothers. Readers of the Devotio Moderna would

have understood the connection, as the tales of the desert fathers

were constantly at the background in their milieus.

Busch also emphasizes the status of his brothers as the new desert

fathers on the level of content. He usually does so implicitly, particularly

in tales of individual brothers. The biography of Albert

Wijnbergen is an exception in this respect, because Busch explicitly

claims that this brother was similar to an early Church hermit. 46

Most such explicit references to the desert fathers occur in the introductory

chapters. Incidentally, this part is one instance where Busch

also uses “Egypt” in the opposing senses mentioned above. Busch

praises his brothers for having removed Egypt from their hearts, contrary

to religious in other communities. 47 Yet, at the same time, he

points to the desert fathers as inventors of the way to imitate Christ

after the persecution. In what follows, he contrasts his brothers to

other religious. He points to several attempts in monastic history to

imitate them, all of which had lost their original fervor, particularly

through the laxity of their leaders. In the following, he gives a list

of appalling abuses, which, according to him, are common in the

43

For instance Gerlach Peters, Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 54-5, ed. Grube (see

above, n. 1), pp. 156-64.

44

For instance in Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 3, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1),

pp. 12-4.

45

1 Pet. 2,4-6.

46


47

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 8, ed. Grube, p. 25.

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monasteries of his day. 48 In contrast, the Windesheim brothers recreated

the piety of the early Church. As mentioned above, they were

the “new monks, the disciples of the Antonies and Macariuses of the

deep desert.”

As for Busch’s implicit references, the most obvious example is

the way in which he construed the brothers as angelic beings, even

if he does not connect them to the desert fathers explicitly. Many

brothers shared Albert Wijnbergen’s complete concentration on God.

They did not care for carnal matters. They were supremely humble

and obedient, as is obvious from the way in which they expressed

themselves in word and practice. Among the latter, dress was an

important issue. Busch praises the brothers for their simple clothes.

Although he gives few details about the brothers’ ancestry, it is clear

that most subjects of his biographies came from distinguished families.

By preferring to dress in threadbare habits, they showed that

they had renounced their former status. 49

The level of content is also where Busch’s desire to construe his

brothers as the new desert fathers strikes difficulties. Three examples

are their dietary habits, their manual labor, and their weeping.

Apparently, in the first two instances, Busch is conscious that an

unkind reader could conclude that his claim that his brothers were

the new desert fathers was false. Therefore, he employs some clever

rhetoric to prove that, even if his brothers did not follow the desert

fathers to the letter, they were entirely similar as far as the essence

of their spirituality was concerned.

In chapter five, Busch discusses the brothers’ eating, drinking, and

fasting habits. First he describes them as frugal, but not excessively

so. They were allowed to eat meat four times a week and to drink

wine. Second, he details the reason for fasting: obedience. Here, he

cites the sons of Jonadab as an example. According to the Old

Testament prophet Jeremiah, they did not drink any wine, as their

father had forbidden them to do so. God contrasts their obedience

with the disobedience of His people. 50 Busch explains that God does

not say that the drinking of wine is bad in itself. It would have been

48

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 3, ed. Grube, pp. 13-4.

49

Lynda Coon, Sacred Fictions. Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity (Philadelphia,

1997), pp. 54-9.

50

Jer. 35,6-10.

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bad for the sons of Jonadab, however, because in doing so they

would have disobeyed their father, just as the Israelites had done.

Busch concludes that the meaning of this story is that a truly pious

person should obey his Father, that is, God. Abstinence itself is not

the issue.

Continuing, Busch relates how the first brothers of his monastery

wanted to live in strict abstinence in accordance with the earliest

habits, no doubt in reference to the practices of the desert fathers. 51

However, some did so with very bad results: two brothers went mad

from too much fasting. Because of this, the other brothers concluded

that excessive fasting was not useful: it diverted the mind from God

rather than achieving the opposite. Henceforth, they asked all postulants

three questions: whether they could eat well, sleep well, and

obey well. Busch ends this chapter by asserting that these three points

ensure a person’s perseverance in the religious life.

Another problem was the connection of manual labor and books.

The former had been a most important practice in religious life from

the beginning. Its purpose was training in obedience and humility.

Following Saint Paul’s lead, the Egyptian hermit Palaemon instructed

his pupil Pachomius to weave baskets in order to have something

to give to the poor, just as the apostle had done. In addition, he

made him move piles of sand from one place to another and back

again. 52 The nature of the work seems a topos. The abbess of a female

desert father, the Egyptian nun Euphraxia, gave the same orders

concerning a heap of stones. 53

Busch praises his brothers for their work on the actual building

of the Windesheim monastery. In particular, the choir brothers receive

high praise for not leaving such physical work to the lay brothers,

as had become common practice in most religious communities.

Showing how far they had progressed on the path towards humility,

they moved heaps of stones as though they were the lay brothers’

equals. Busch considers the priest Henry Clingebijl even more

praiseworthy, as he went so far as to learn masonry and carpentry. 54

51

Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 9, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1), p. 18: Iuxta pristinam

morem.

52

Vitae patrum, Pachomius 7, ed. J.-P. Migne [Patrologia Latina 73] (Paris, 1894),

col. 234. Cf. Eph. 4,28.

53

Vitae patrum, Euphraxia 16-7, ed. Migne (see above, n. 52), col. 631.

54


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These hard working choir brothers did not rest even at night, copying

books for the new community’s library instead.

In view of his Egyptian models, it is striking that Busch puts copying

and writing forward as the principal manual labor of the choir

brothers, particularly in the individual lives. After all, such a pillar

of true piety as Saint Antony himself had refused to learn how to

read and write. It seems that Busch regarded reading and writing

as the essential task of the choir brothers. This explains his giving

a reason when choir brothers specialized in menial work instead. In

the biography of the builder-priest Henry Clingebijl, Busch explains

that he needed to serve God in an alternative way to the other choir

brothers because he had come to Windesheim later in life. Because

of this, he could not reach their heights of inner devotion and ecstatic

contemplation. 55

Busch resolves the problem that his brothers seem to differ from

the desert fathers in this respect by arguing that even if some past

holy fathers had not shown much interest in writing, others had

received this gift because of their spiritual fervor. John of Kempen,

for example, had attained an aptitude for writing as a gift of divine

grace. 56 Interestingly, Busch does not use Saint Augustine to legitimize

the brothers’ interest in books. Throughout his work, Augustine

always promoted the indispensability of study for achieving true piety;

he was himself a primary example of someone to whom God granted

ability in intellectual pursuits. One would have thought that the

author of the Rule of the Regular Canons would be the primary

authority to offer proof for the usefulness of writing in the redirection

of the heart. Apparently, Busch did not want to suggest that

authorities like the Order’s founding father and the authors of the

desert father texts disagreed about the nature of true piety.

Busch’s description of another traditional religious practice is an

example of how later interpretations informed his views: weeping.

This was a common religious practice in the Egyptian and Palestinian

milieus. 57 In the medieval West, it had become an advised path for

55


56


57

Christoph Benke, Die Gabe der Tränen. Zur Tradition und Theologie eines vergessenen

Kapitels der Glaubengeschichte (Wurzburg, 2002) and Barbara Müller, Der Weg des Weinens.

Die Tradition des “Penthos” in den Apophthegmata patrum (Göttingen, 2000).

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focusing on God. This continued in the Devotio Moderna. 58 Busch

gives several examples of brothers who could not contain their tears.

However, he appears to restrict accounts of such practices to brothers

who had distinct visionary abilities, such as Henry Mande and

Gerlach Peters. It is useful to compare the occasions on which these

men wept with those of the desert fathers. Like the early Church

hermits, Mande and Peters wept from contrition. They also wept

out of love for Jesus Christ, for instance out of pity for his suffering.

The main occasion for weeping was during Mass, especially during

the transubstantiation. 59 This, however, corresponds to the affective

piety introduced by Bernard of Clairvaux and others, rather than

the practices of the desert fathers. 60 Apparently, in Busch’s view, this

different meaning of a traditional religious practice had become a

regular ingredient of true piety, as first defined by Jesus Christ and

the apostles and later by the desert fathers. If he distinguished weeping

for love from weeping out of contrition at all, this was an elaboration

of the practice, not a divergence.

Hard-Working Sisters

The comparison of Busch’s work to the Diepenveen sisterbook provides

an insight into the gendered nature of his treatment of the

brothers. It also allows a more detailed perspective on the way he

used the desert fathers to create ideal modern devouts of both sexes

that would serve as models for the devouts to come.

Unlike Busch, the authors of the two versions of the sisterbook

do not assert that their subjects were in fact desert fathers. All references

are implicit. Nonetheless, there are still many similarities

between the sisterbook and De viris illustribus. Of course, it is no great

surprise that there should be. After all, the brothers and sisters

were adherents of the same religious movement. For example, the

58

E.g. a popular author in the Devotio Moderna, Jordan of Quedlinburg, advised

to weep regularly: Maastricht, Rijksarchief MS. 429 (Olim 3820), fol. 18r. On

Jordan, see the article by Eric L. Saak, ‘Ex vita patrum formatur vita fratrum: The

Appropriation of the Desert Fathers in the Augustinian Monasticism of the Later

Middle Ages,’ this volume, above, pp. 191-228.

59

See for instance Busch, Liber de viris illustribus 43, ed. Grube (see above, n. 1),

pp. 123-4.

60

See e.g. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermones in cantica canticorum, ed. J.-P. Migne

[Patrologia Latina 183] (Paris, 1894), col. 50.

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Diepenveen authors, like Busch, provide collections of sayings by

exemplary sisters. They also echo the lives of the desert fathers by

not including many miracles. 61 There are other similarities insofar

as the contents of the sisters’ piety are concerned. This is the case

with respect to weeping as a religious practice. The biographers

shared Busch’s view: the sisters also wept both from contrition and

from love, and usually at Mass. 62

Moreover, the sisters were just as fierce in their condemnation of

other religious of their day, even if they were not as explicit as Busch

was. Their description of another convent, the nearby Secular

Canonesses at Vreden, speaks volumes. Clearly, this community represented

the competition. A former abbess of Vreden, Jutte of Ahaus,

was among the first sisters to take vows at Diepenveen. Her biographer

describes how her previous life was similar to that of highborn

women in the world: the Secular Canonesses kept lapdogs, had

personal servants, fought each other over matters of rank, and could

leave the convent to get married. She reserves particular contempt

for what passed for manual labor in this convent: embroidery. The

author contrasts the humility of the former abbess with the pride of

the Secular Canonesses. When Jutte of Ahaus began thinking about

transferring to Diepenveen, she exchanged embroidery for spinning.

The other sisters mocked her for engaging in this menial work. The

unspoken comment is that, were the Vreden sisters genuine religious,

they would rather have welcomed a chance to train themselves in

humility as their converting abbess did. 63 The extent to which Vreden

had become everything a religious community should certainly not

be is clear from the biography of a later sister. She announced her

intention to become a Secular Canoness at Vreden to her brother.

Shocked, he told her that she might as well have said that she

intended to devote herself to the Devil’s service and advised her to

report to Diepenveen instead. 64

61

See for this Thom Mertens, ‘Het Diepenveense zusterboek als exponent van

gemeenschapstichtende kloosterliteratuur,’ in Het ootmoedig fundament van Diepenveen.

Zeshonderd jaar Maria en Agnesklooster 1400-2000, ed. Wybren Scheepsma (Deventer,

2002), pp. 77-94 and Wybren Scheepsma, ‘Illustere voorbeelden’ (see above, n. 34),

pp. 261-82.

62

DV (see above, n. 17), fol. 209v and Van den doechden, fol. 12r, ed. Brinkerink

(see above, n. 17), p. 23.

63

DV fol. 131v and Van den doechden, fol. 32v, ed. Brinkerink, p. 61.

64

DV fol. 378r.

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Another similarity with respect to the accounts of the brothers lies

in the description of the sisters’ dressing practices. These descriptions

are alike, although the sisterbook gives much more detailed

accounts of the wonderful clothes that a sister wore when still in the

world: how she loved them at the time and hated them now, preferring

threadbare, patched-up clothes instead. Dress is also an important

motive in the lives of male and female desert fathers but, in

the Vitae patrum, there is a difference between the motives of men

and women. Female fathers such as the Alexandrian actress Pelagia

and Mary the Egyptian are said to have dressed well because of

their lust, in order to seduce as many men as possible. In fact, Mary

the Egyptian was so obsessed with the sin that she did not even

accept pay for her services for fear that the cost might prevent any

man from sleeping with her. 65 Rather than omitting this motive from

the Diepenveen sisterbook, the author deliberately rules it out. Thus,

the life of the Diepenveen sister Elsebe Hasenbrocks makes it clear

that she did not dress well because she wanted to seduce men, but

out of pride. She wanted to outshine all other women with the

splendor of her clothes. 66

The effect of this change is twofold. First, the perspective on sin

is less gendered in the Devotio Moderna biographies than it was in

the Vitae patrum. As for perfection, sin was primarily located in the

supposed “sexless” state of the inner man. The desert fathers would

have agreed with this, but the balance shifted in the Devotio Moderna.

Traditionally, the fathers considered lust primarily a feminine sin, as

they linked it so closely to the body that women were, according to

the thinking of the time, less able to control. By contrast, they considered

pride more associated with men, as it was purely a sin of

the heart, which did not necessarily lead to bodily action. In the

Devotio Moderna, however, the difference between male and female

sin appears somewhat reduced: sin resides more firmly in the heart,

rather than in the body, both as far as men and women were concerned.

Second, it should be noted that, bad as lust was, pride was

even worse. Unchasteness could be purely a matter of the body,

while pride was a sign of an utterly depraved heart. Moreover, the

65

Vitae patrum, Maria Aegyptiaca 13, ed. Migne (see above, n. 52), col. 680.

66

DV (see above, n. 17), fols. 88r-102r and Van den doechden, fols. 107r-112r, ed.

Brinkerink (see above, n. 17), pp. 203-11.

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sin of Lucifer was pride. In favoring pride over lust, Elsebe Hasenbrocks

was more sinful than were her desert father “foremothers.”

In some instances, the biographers construe the Diepenveen sisters

differently from the brothers. Manual labor and their eating and

fasting habits are examples. Like the brothers, the sisters exerted

themselves by working with their hands. Usually, this meant housework,

but they also made an active contribution to the building of

the convent by carrying stones and other materials. However, for

the sisters, such menial work constituted their principal activity. The

biographers always give details of the sisters’ former status and those

included in the sisterbook were always descendants of aristocratic or

wealthy burgher families. This created as large a contrast as possible

between their former and their present selves, their diligence in

menial work being the primary sign of this. The biographers thought

it significant that the sisters, who had come from the highest classes

as far as their worldly background was concerned, insisted on performing

the most menial tasks: cleaning chamber pots, cooking meals,

and doing the laundry. The biographies always present their efforts

as an expression of great humility: a sign of their renunciation of

carnality. This motive is also present in the lives of some female

desert fathers. The senator’s daughter Euphraxia, previously mentioned,

is one example. She is also similar to the Diepenveen sisters

in the poor quality of her housework. 67 The authors of the sisterbook

provide some stories of highborn women who were very clumsy

in this respect. Of course, when they lived at the family home or

with their husbands, they had never even seen a floor mop at close

range. Such stories probably had a basis in truth. Yet, it is significant

that both the Diepenveen lives and the lives of desert fathers like

Euphraxia highlight this issue.

On the other hand, writing and copying is absent from the accounts

of the hard work of the sisters. This is true even in the biography

of the second prioress, Salome Sticken, at least one of whose works

survives. 68 Even when they do praise the sisters for their love of

67

Vitae patrum, Euphraxia 21-2, ed. Migne (see above, n. 52), cols. 633-4. See

also Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker, ‘Heilige maagden aan de Maas,’ in Genoechlicke ende

lustige historiën, eds. B. Ebels-Hoving, C.P.H.M. Tilmans and C.G. Santing (Hilversum,

1987), pp. 121-39, there 131.

68

Salome Sticken, Vivendi formula, ed. in W.J. Kühler, Johannes Brinckerinck en zijn

klooster te Diepenveen, 2nd ed. (Leiden, 1914), pp. 362-80. J. van Engen translated

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books or their knowledge of Latin, the biographers insist that this

did not hinder them from being as diligent as the other sisters were

in performing menial work. 69 There is, unfortunately, no record of

how intellectual activities were presented in the original version of

the sisterbook. In 1455, the Chapter of Windesheim forbade its sisters

to write about mystical theology. 70 Probably because of the activities

of the Ghent prioress Alijt Bake, the priors had come to agree

with the common opinion that it was dangerous for women to write

theological texts. 71 In view of their greater tendency to carnality, the

priors believed women could more easily fall into heresy. It is therefore

not surprising that a sisterbook from the sixteenth century would

suppress accounts of the sisters’ activities as writers. In fact, the sisters

become apparently more like the desert fathers as a result, though

one might doubt whether this was the conclusion drawn by readers

of the Devotio Moderna.

The sisters and the brothers also differed in their practices involving

food and fasting. Like the brothers, the sisters ate and drank

soberly, but not excessively so compared to the desert fathers.

Interestingly, feasting and fasting do not seem to be much of an

issue in the Diepenveen sisterbook. The accounts do not suggest that

the sisters upheld the kinds of practices concerning food, corporeality,

and the Eucharist that have been described as typical for the

religious women of the Later Middle Ages. 72 Yet, their practices were

much stricter than the brothers’ were, as they exerted themselves by

eating disgusting food. Much as the notion of sin had become more

nearly unisex, this was apparently not entirely the case with gluttony,

which, like lust, was a traditionally female vice. 73 Yet it is clear

Salome’s text into English in his Devotio Moderna. Basic Writings (New York, 1988),

pp. 176-86.

69

See for this for example the biography of sister Catherine of Naaldwijk: Van

den doechden, fols. 45v-70r, ed. Brinkerink (see above, n. 17), pp. 87-133 and DV

(see above, n. 17), fols. 226r-266v.

70

Acta Capituli Windeshemensis. Acta van de kapittelvergaderingen der Congregatie van

Windesheim, ed. S. van der Woude (The Hague, 1953), p. 53.

71

On Bake, see Anne Bollmann, ‘“Een vrauwe te sijn op mijn selfs handt.” Alijt

Bake (1415-1455) als geistliche Reformerin des innerlichen Lebens,’ Ons geestelijk erf

76 (2002), 64-98 and Grietje Dresen, Onschuldfantasieën. Offerzin en heilsverlangen in feminisme

en mystiek (Nijmegen, 1990), pp. 53-131.

72

Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of

Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley, 1987).

73

Compare the Life of Mary the Egyptian: Vitae patrum, Maria Aegyptiaca 19,

ed. Migne (see above, n. 52), col. 684.

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that, in this instance too, the locus of sin moved more firmly toward

the heart and thus became relatively sexless. Throughout, the sisterbook

describes the desire for luxurious food and drink as not only

a sign of gluttony, but also as a sign of pride. Indeed, such indulgence

was possible only for the upper classes. Moreover, evidence

shows that the organization of sumptuous feasts was a primary way

of asserting status. 74

Egyptians (m/f )?

Writing biographies of exemplary fellow brothers and sisters, Busch

and the authors of the sisterbook searched for models of true piety

in order to shape religious practice in their communities. They defined

this as an imitation of the desert fathers. In their view, these early

hermits, monks, and nuns had found the best way to imitate Christ

and the apostles. In this respect, they followed religious tradition

established by the early Church. Over the centuries, the desert fathers

had come to function as a hallmark of true piety.

Yet, Busch and the sisters’ biographers did not always follow their

spiritual forebears to the letter. They were informed by centuries of

interpretation of what true piety, as it was commonly supposed to

have been defined by the desert fathers, entailed. In addition, they

had found that some practices just did not work in their context.

Busch and the other biographers show that imitation to the letter

was not the point: the challenge was to find and imitate the essence

of the desert fathers’ piety. Thus, they had to perform a complicated

movement. They had to make a careful study of the texts concerning

the desert fathers to glean the essence of piety from it. In

this they had centuries of interpretation to help them. They also had

to describe their fellow brothers and sisters as people who had lived

like desert fathers, at least as far as the essence of their piety was

concerned.

It was obvious to Busch and the sisters’ biographers that this

essence had not changed and would be the same always, whether

one lived during the Parousia, in late antique Egypt, or the late

medieval Low Countries. Humility was its primary ingredient. Their

74

See e.g. J. Huizinga, Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen. Studie over levens- en gedachtenvormen

der veertiende en vijftiende eeuw in Frankrijk en de Nederlanden (Groningen, 1919, repr.

1973), p. 261.

CHRC86_F11_256-280 7/17/06 8:55 PM Page 280


brothers and sisters were to train themselves in this virtue by means

of obedience, weeping, frugality in food and dress, and diligence in

manual labor (in keeping with the desert father experience), but they

differed in their execution of these practices. This, however, was no

problem so long as they stuck to the essence and accomplished similar

results.

The most significant difference with the desert fathers is that Busch

and the authors of the sisterbook focused more intently on the training

of the inner person. This had already been an important issue

with the first hermits, monks, and nuns, but the Windesheim and

Diepenveen biographers stress it much more strongly, as evidenced

by their treatment of virtue and vice. The heart is the primary locus

of both. For both men and women, pride becomes the sin par excellence,

at the expense of gluttony and lust. Unchaste or gluttonous

behavior could be a matter of the body alone; pride, on the other

hand, was always a sign of a totally depraved heart, whether or not

it resulted in corporeal practices. This also made sin (and virtue,

as well) less gendered. In the Vitae patrum lust and gluttony were

associated primarily with the female sex because of their corporeal

dimension. By putting forward pride as their primary problem, the

Diepenveen sisters became more like their male counterparts. For

both sexes, sin was rooted in the heart. They needed to reform their

inner persons to reach perfection. Humility was its fundamental characteristic.

The desert fathers, or the descriptions of the new desert

fathers as inserted in De viris illustribus and the sisterbook, taught the

readers of these works how to accomplish this.

CHRC86_Index_281-286 7/17/06 9:12 PM Page 281

INDEX OF NAMES

Aaron (Old Testament), 95

Aaron of Philae (hermit), 25, 49-51,

77, 85-6, 91

Abihu, 95

Abraham, 119

Achler, Elisabeth, 239, n. 48

Adam, 102, 257

Aegos, 109

Agathos Daimon

See Shai

Agnes, 152

Aigrain, René, 68

Albrecht of Bonstetten, 236-7, 240-1,

246, 249, n. 87, 251

Alcuin, 159

Alexander IV (pope), 192, 197, 218,

223

Alpaïs of Cudot, 239, n. 48, 240

Alypius, 193, 205

Ambrose of Milan, 110, 127, 153, 159

Ammianus Marcellinus, 25

Amoun, 101

Amschwand, Rupert, 235

Amun, 34

Angelo Clareno, 185, 187

Anselm, 216

Antiochus II Epiphanes, 96

Antony, 1-2, 19, 44-5, 48, 68, 89,

98-9, 101, 106, 115, 119-23,

126-9, 137, 153, 164-5, 169-73,

189, 193-4, 202, 204-8, 212, 219,

222, 237, n. 41, 238, 258, 265,

n. 30, 273

See also: Athanasius of Alexandria

Aphrodite, 20

Apollo (god), 20, 32, 75-6

Apollo of Hermopolis (hermit), 15, 26,

31, 102

Apollonius (martyr), 71

Apollonius of Tyana, 83

Aquila, 152

Arbesmann, Rudolph, 196-8, 201

Ardo, 136, 140-2, 146

Aristotle, 99, 252

Arsenius, 249, n. 89

Asclepius, 86

Aseneth, 32, n. 69

Assmann, Jan, 74

Astratol, 33, n. 70

Athanasius of Alexandria, 1, 19, 49-50,

68, 77, 89, 98, 119-20, 126, 137,

164, 169-71, 189

Augustine of Hippo, 62, 102, 110,

115-7, 120-1, 125-8, 131, 153,

159, 166, 176, 192-206, 208-16,

218-28, 264, 273

Augustine of Ancona, 214, n. 89, 226

Aurelius of Le Puy, 123

Baal, 20, 32

Babion, Geoffrey, 197

Bagnall, Roger, 18

Bake, Alijt, 278

Balaam, 30, n. 61, 143-4

Bane, 72-3, 84

Banina, 31, n. 65

Bardis, Robert de, 198, 200-2

Basil of Caesarea, 100, 107-8, 110,

135, 140-1, 164, 183, 187, 194, 204,

212

Baugulf, 147

Bede, 137, 153, 159

Beheim, Michel, 250, n. 95

Belting, Hans, 231

Benedict XI (pope), 186

Benedict of Aniane, 135-6, 140-2, 146,

148, n. 46

Benedict of Nursia, 116, 118, 122,

129-33, 136-7, 140-1, 145, n. 36,

146, 153-4, 156, n. 85, 160, 170,

214-5, 226

Benvenuti Papi, Anna, 168

Bernard of Bessa, 180, 182

Bernard of Clairvaux, 214-5, 264, 274

Bes, 24-5

Besa, 16, 27, n. 46, 30, 35, 46

Beutlerin, Magdalena, 239, n. 48

Bevegnati, Giunta, 168

Bona of Pisa, 167

Bonaventure, 174, 182-3

Bonaventure of Bagnoreggio, 180, 184

Boniface, 137, 142, 143, n. 26, 144,

145, n. 34, 148, 149, n. 54, 150-3

Boniface VIII (pope), 187, 191, 223



282 index of names

Bonnes, J.-P., 197

Bourdieu, Pierre, 29

Bracciolini, Poggio, 232, 239, 251

Brown, Peter, 14, 64

Brunert, Marie-Elisabeth, 117

Bucolos, 109

Buenhombre, Alfons, 265, n. 30

Busch

See John Busch

Caesaria, 124

Caesarius of Arles, 124-7, 200

Caesarius of Heisterbach, 238, n. 46,

239-40

Callinicus, 71

Calypso, 108

Casagrande, Giovanna, 167-8

Cassian

See John Cassian

Cassiodorus, 159

Catherine of Naaldwijk, 264, n. 22,

278, n. 69

Catherine of Siena, 239

Cecelia, 152

Celano

See Thomas of Celano

Celestine V (pope), 187

Cerchi, Umiliana, 168

Charlemagne, 148, n. 46

Christ

See Jesus Christ

Christ (false-of Bourges), 123

Chrysostom

See John Chrysostom

Cicero, 93, 159

Clare of Assisi, 175

Clare of Montefalco, 168, n. 7

Claudius (martyr), 76, n. 66

Clement of Alexandria, 103

Clingebijl, Henry, 272-3

Colette of Corbie, 167

Colonna, Giacomo, 167

Colonna, Margherita, 167

Columbanus, 137, 153

Connerton, Paul, 29

Constantine of Lycopolis (bishop), 76,

85

Constantine the Great, 61, 67, 87,

139, 140 n. 14, 210

Conze, 252

Coon, Lynda, 28

Cosmas, 152

Cuthbert, 137

Cyriacus of al-Bahnasa, 53

Cyril of Scythopolis, 251, n. 100

Cyrus (martyr), 73

Damian, 152

Daniel, 20, 96

David (Old Testament), 41, n. 6

David of Augsburg, 180-2, 264

Décobert, Christian, 52

Delehaye, Hippolyte, 59-61, 63, 68, 83

Déroche, Vincent, 66

Diana, 123

Dijkstra, Jitse, 25, 49-50

Dinzelbacher, Peter, 254

Diocletian, 21, 69, 80, 87

Dominic, 214, 226

Domitius, 67

Durrer, Robert, 235

Eigil, 136, 142-51, 152, n. 65-7

Elijah, 17, 20, 28, 32, 73, 84, 98, 222

Elisha, 20, 98

Elm, Kaspar, 196, 200

Elsner, Ja≤, 139, 161

Endelechius, 108

Ephrem the Syrian, 100, 132

Epima, 77, 79

Erasmus, 195, 232

Esschinges, Griet, 262

Eucherius of Lyons, 109, 119, 181

Eugendus, 128, 130

Eugippius of Lucullanum, 129-32

Euphraxia, 272, 277

Eusebius of Caesarea, 62, n. 14

Eustochium, 115

Euthymius, 251, n. 100

Evagrius Ponticus, 31, 105, 132, 238

Ezekiel, 96

Fabri, Felix, 246, n. 73

Fernandus of Spain, 223-5

Francis of Assisi, 164-6, 169-80, 183-6,

188-9, 197, 214, 226

Frankfurter, David, 2-3, 58

Fulgentius of Ruspe, 127-8, 132

Gatti, Marcella, 165

Geiler of Kaysersberg, 246

Gelasius (hermit), 106

Gelasius (pope), 211

Gerard of Borgo San Donnino, 186

Gerasimus, 101

Gerson, Jean, 256, n. 4


index of names 283

Gessios, 19, 82

Gilbert (recluse), 176

Giles of Assisi, 165, 185-6

Giles of Rome, 223

Goehring, James, 1, 97, 107

Grabow, Matthaeus, 258, n. 4

Gregory of Nazianzen, 126

Gregory of Nyssa, 110

Gregory of Rimini, 206

Gregory of Tours, 113-4, 118, 123-6,

133

Gregory the Great, 116, 118, 122,

127, 132-3, 141, n. 21, 153, 216,

230

Gressmann, Hugo, 78

Grote, Geert, 258-9

Guido of Anderlecht, 250, n. 90

Gundelfingen, Heinrich, 237-41, 242,

n. 68, 251

Haistulf of Mainz, 149, n. 54

Hasenbrocks, Elsebe, 276-7

Helios, 32, n. 69

Helle, 101

Henry of Friemar, 194-5, 197-9, 214

Henry of Nördlingen, 240

Hildemar of Civate, 153-60

Homer (poet), 94, 108

Homer (priest of Kothos), 32, 75-6

Horace, 109

Horus, 97

Hrabanus Maurus, 136, n. 4, 138,

142, n. 23, 152, n. 65-6

Hugh of Saint Victor, 182, 215

Huizinga, Johan, 59, 84

Innocent III (pope), 174

Isaac of Syria, 165

Isaiah, 101

Isidore of Seville, 153, 159

Iskarat

See Yazgird

Jacob of Waltheym, 245-54

Jacobsen, Werner, 148, 151

Jacobus de Voragine, 266

Jacobus Intercisus

See James the Persian

Jacques de Vitry, 178

James the Persian, 39-44, 46, n. 28,

47, n. 36, 48-9, 52

Jeanne-Marie de Maillé, 168, n. 7

Jeremiah, 271

Jerome, 15, 100, 107-8, 110-1, 115-7,

119-20, 132, 143, n. 25, 144, n. 30,

183, 202, 214, 216, 238, 252,

n. 104

Jesus Christ, 20, 40, 52-3, 65, 81, 83,

94, 96-7, 103, 120, 138, 152, 156,

168, 170, 171, n. 12, 173, n. 20,

174-5, 206-7, 209-10, 213, 215,

219-21, 225-8, 231, 238, n. 46,

257-8, 260, 264-5, 267-70, 274,

279

John (abbot), 209

John (apostle), 20, 233

John (deacon), 117

John (father), 201, n. 38

John (martyr), 73

John XXII (pope), 187, 191, 223

John Bono, 166

John Busch, 234, 257-9, 261-2, 264-75,

279-80

John Cassian, 1, 104-6, 109, 111,

116, 118, 121, 125, 128, 130-2,

143, n. 27, 154, n. 75, 157-8,

164, 181-3, 207-9, 214-6, 219,

260, 265-6, 268

John Chrysostom, 104, 110, 164, 183

John Climacus, 187

John Moschos, 101-2

John of Fermo, 186

John of Kempen, 273

John of Naaldwijk, 262

John of Parma, 186

John Rufus, 43

John the Almoner, 66

John the Baptist, 96, 98-100, 103, 226

Jonadab, 271-2

Jordan of Quedlinburg, 191-228, 274,

n. 58

Julius of Aqfahs, 70, n. 42

Julian of Speyer, 165, 185

Julian the Apostate, 80

Jutte of Ahaus, 275

Kinsella, Sean, 170-1, 174

Klaus

See Nikolaus of Flüe

Koesters, Griete, 262

Kothos, 17, 20, 27, 29, 31-2, 34, 75

Krautheimer, Richard, 148-9, 151

Kronos, 20

Laminit, Anna, 239, n. 48

Lanata, Giuliana, 60


284 index of names

Lawrence, 152

Leclercq, Jean, 169

Leo of Assisi, 165, 185

Liberato, 187

Louis the Pious, 143, n. 26, 148, n. 46

Lubomierski, Nina, 16

Lucifer

See Satan

Luke, 171

Lull of Mainz, 151, n. 64

Lupicinus, 128, 130

Lupulus

See Wölflin, Heinrich

Luther, Martin, 195

Macarius (hermit), 47-9, 67, 101, 132,

258, 271

Macarius of Tkow (bishop), 17, 20, 26,

29, 31, n. 65, 32, 34-5, 75-6, 79

Macedonius, 25

MacMullen, Ramsay, 14

Magdalene

See Mary Magdalene

Malchus, 143, n. 25, 144, n. 30

Mande, Henry, 267, n. 35, 274

Marcian, 41, 43

Mareri, Filippa, 167

Margaret of Città di Castello, 187

Margaret of Cortona, 168

Mark, 28, 220-1

Maroveus of Poitiers, 124

Martha, 164, 177

Martin de Bois-Gaultier, 168, n. 7

Martin of Tours, 15, n. 7, 24, 31,

113, 123-4, 129, 153

Mary, 52, 63, 200

Mary (sister of the “false Christ of

Bourges”), 123

Mary Magdalene, 164-5, 177, 246, 249

Mary the Egyptian, 276, 278, n. 73

Matoes, 106

Matthew, 171

Maximus, 67

McClendon, Charles, 148

Melitius of Lycopolis, 77, n. 66

Merrills, Andrew, 15

Merswin, Rulman, 240

Mertens, Benedikt, 165

Michael (archangel), 175

Michael of Cesena, 187

Migne, J.-P., 195-6

Monegundis, 124

Moore, Marianne, 22

Morrone, Peter

See Celestine V (pope)

Moses (hermit), 23, 257-8

Moses (native of Pemje), 41, 44, n. 17

Moses (Old Testament), 20, 94-5, 97,

101, 103, 110-2, 119, 152, n. 66,

265

Moses of Abydos (bishop), 20, 23-5,

32, 51, 73-5

Münzer, Hieronymus, 247

Muschg, Walter, 240

Nabraha, 67

Nadab, 95

Nebridius, 205

Nesteros, 158

Nicetius of Trier, 124

Nicholas of Alessandria, 193-4, 197-9,

204, 219, 224, n. 126

Nicholas of Tolentine, 214, 216

Niklas of Wyle, 241

Nikolaus of Dinkelsbühl, 233

Nikolaus of Flüe, 229-55

Numagen, Peter, 237, n. 41, 239-40,

246, n. 73, 251-2

On

See Helios

Origen, 103-4

Orlandi, Tito, 69

Orosius, 110

Osiris, 97

Ot, Guiral, 187

Ovid, 108-9, 159

Pachomius, 28, 44-6, 48, 68, 77, 135,

140-1, 145, n. 36, 194, 204, 212,

272

Palaemon, 272

Palladius of Helenopolis, 15, 68, 238,

246

Papaconstantinou, Arietta, 63

Paphnouti, 47

Paphnutius (hermit), 132

Paphnutius (martyr), 65, n. 24

Papnoute, 45

Patlagean, Evelyne, 18

Paul (apostle), 20, 80, 99, 152, 175,

182, n. 43, 272

Paul (deacon), 117

Paul of Thebes (hermit), 107, 137,

194, 202, 204-5, 207-8, 212, 219-27,

237, n. 41, 238


index of names 285

Paulinus of Nola, 108, 110

Peeters, Paul, 67

Pelagia, 276

Pelagius, 116

Petephr, 32, n. 69

Peter (apostle), 151-2, 175, 210, 270

Peter (bishop and martyr), 172

Peter Comestor, 206

Peter Damian, 176

Peter of Macerata, 186

Peter the Iberian, 40-3, 44, n. 17

Peter the Venerable, 176

Peters, Gerlach, 270, n. 43, 274

Phileas, 63, n. 19, 69, 89

Philemon (martyr), 71

Philo of Alexandria, 103-4, 110

Piamon, 209

Pierre d’Ailly, 258, n. 4

Pippin, 201, n. 38

Plato, 83, 126

Polycarp, 44

Pomerius, 125

Ponticianus, 193

Praxede, 152

Prinz, Friedrich, 129

Priscian, 159

Priscilla, 152

Prosper of Aquitaine, 116

Proterius of Alexandria, 41, 43

Prudentius, 61

Psote, 69, n. 41, 71

Pudentiana, 152

Quintilian, 159

Raaijmakers, Janneke, 148, 150

Radegund, 124

Rano, Balbino, 197-200

Ratgar, 136, n. 4, 147, 149

Rhaetus, Sebastian, 241

Romanus, 128-30

Rufinus of Aquileia, 110, 216, 238,

246

Rutebeuf, 232-3

Rutilius Namatianus, 120

Sabina, 152

Sabôr

See Shâpûr

Salimbene of Parma, 184

Samuel, 206

Satan, 75, 98, 268, 277

Schedel, Hartmann, 251

Schiner, Mattäus, 241

Schott, Peter (sr.), 246, n. 73

Schott, Peter ( jr.), 246, n. 73

Senoch, 123-4

Serapion, 132

Seth, 97

Severus, 159

Shai, 17

Shenoute of Atripe, 16, 18-9, 24,

n. 34, 26-7, 30, 33, 35-6, 45-7,

70-1, 77, 82-4, 122

Shâpûr, 39

Sigebert of East Anglia, 134

Sigismund of Burgundy, 128

Simeon the Stylite, 113-4

Simplicianus, 197, 204-6

Socrates (philosopher), 126

Socrates Scholasticus (Church

historian), 47, n. 35

Sozomen, 31

Stancliffe, Claire, 134

Stark, Rodney, 82

Staubach, Nikolaus, 268

Stephen of Lenaios, 57, n. 2

Stephen the Protomartyr, 62, 69

Sticken, Salome, 277

Strabo, 77

Sturm, 142-8, 150, n. 58, 151-3

Sulpicius Severus, 15, n. 7, 24, 31, 216

Suso, Henry, 5, n. 9, 240

Sybilla of Marsal, 233, 239, n. 48

Sylvester of Assisi, 175

Syncletica, 107

Theodora (lady of Paim), 42-3, 44,

n. 17

Theodore (disciple of Pachomius), 45

Theodore of Philae, 50

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, 107

Theophilus of Alexandria, 90

Thietmar of Merseburg, 234, n. 25

Thomas Aquinas, 226

Thomas of Celano, 169-76, 178

Thomas of Tolentine, 186

Tityrus, 109

Ubertino of Casale, 186

Ulrich of Memmingen, 236, 246

Umiltà of Faenza, 168, n. 7

Urban I (pope), 210, 247, n. 80

Valerius, 224

Verheijen, L., 196


286 index of names

Victorinus, 159

Vincent of Beauvais, 240

Virgil, 94, 108-9, 154

Vito of Cortona, 168

Vos, John-of Heusden, 268

Walsh, Katherine, 197-8, 200-1

Weber, Max, 88

Wijnbergen, Albert, 269-71

William of Malavalle, 166

William of Saint Thierry, 182

Wimpfeling, Jakob, 195, n. 14

Wipszycka, Ewa, 14, 66

Wölflin, Heinrich, 237, n. 41, 240-5,

248, 251

Wulfoliac, 113-4, 117, 122-4, 134

Yazgird, 39, 43

CHRC86_F12_287-288 7/17/06 8:56 PM Page 287

ADDRESSES OF AUTHORS AND EDITORS

Dr. L.L. Coon, Department of History, MAIN 416, University of

Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA; Ilcoon@uark.edu

Dr. M. van Dijk, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University

of Groningen, Oude Boteringestraat 38, NL-9712 GK Groningen;

mathilde.van.dijk@rug.nl

Dr. J.H.F. Dijkstra, Department of Classics and Religious Studies,

University of Ottawa, 70 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada K1N 6N5; jdijkstr@uottawa.ca

Prof. D. Frankfurter, Religious Studies Program, Department of

History, Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire,

Durham, NH 03824-3586, USA; dvidtf@cisunix.unh.edu

Dr. C. Leyser, Department of History, University of Manchester, Oxford

Road, UK-Manchester M13 9PL; conrad.leyser@manchester.ac.uk

Dr. P. van Minnen, Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati,

410 Blegen Library, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0226, USA; peter.

vanminnen@classics.uc.edu

Dr. C. Rapp, Department of History, UCLA, Box 951473, Los

Angeles, CA 90095-1473, USA; claudiar@history.ucla.edu

Dr. B. Roest, Wettsteinplatz 4, CH-4058 Basel; bertroest@yahoo.co.uk

Dr. E.L. Saak, IUPUI, Department of History, Cavanaugh Hall

504P, 425 Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA; esaak@

iupui.edu

Prof. Dr. G. Signori, Geisteswissenschaftliche Sektion, University of

Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, D-78457 Konstanz; gabriela.signori@

uni-konstanz.de


CHRC86_F12_287-288 7/17/06 8:56 PM Page 288

288 addresses of authors and editors

Dr. J. van der Vliet, Department of Egyptian Language and Culture,

University of Leiden, PO Box 9515, NL-2300 RA Leiden;

j.van.der.vliet@let.leidenuniv.nl

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