PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AS LIBERATOR: THE

INFLUENCE OF THE NEGATIVE TRADITION

ON LATE MEDIEVAL FEMALE MYSTICS
by
JOHN ABERTH

Pseudo-Dionysius was a sixth-century Syrian monk who for at

least a thousand years successfully disguised himself as
Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of St Paul. I This man,
whoever his name was, remained anonymous for a good reason:
he subscribed to the Neoplatonic or negative view of God. In
this view, the eternal question, What is God?, is answered this
way: since God is so superlatively great and infinite, he cannot
be contained within any human adjectives we may devise.
Therefore, it makes more sense to think of God as what he is
not: as nothingness, a mystery, a darkness, which lies above
our rational understanding.
But this does not mean he cannot be known. In his Mystical
Theology, pseudo-Dionysius describes the steps or degrees of
self-denial by which we may ascend to God and finally pierce
the darkness. When we annihilate all awareness of ourselves,
according to this theology, we ironically achieve self-
knowledge, for we have replaced our egos with an awareness
of the true, divine essence of our beings (hence the anonymity).
To reach this state we must reject material things which distract
the soul from quiet meditation and spiritual progress. At the
highest level, God in his grace may show himself and pour his
light through the darkness into the empty vessel ofthe soul. The
experience of this union with God is apparently overwhelming
and, in the end, indescribable. 2
The negative tradition, or via negativa, established by pseudo-
Dionysius lies firmly within the Magisterium, or the
authoritative teachings of the Church based on the writings of
its fathers and doctors. During the high Middle Ages, mystical
theologians such as St Bernard of Clairvaux and St Bonaventure
both followed pseudo-Dionysius in their respective works, the
Sermones super Cantica Canticorum and Itinerarium Mentis ad
Deum? But the neo-Platonic or negative image of God also
influenced the more 'affirmative' medieval thinkers who relied
on intellectual wisdom. St Augustine, for example, wrote in the

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fifth century A.D. of a mystical knowledge of God which was

far superior to the quest for human knowledge through
philosophy." St Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae,
dating from the thirteenth century, declares that the essence of
God cannot be known by bodily senses or the created intellect.
Only by grace, not natural reason, is God fully revealed in this
life."
Pseudo-Dionysius was also extremely influential on two
masterpieces of mysticism written in English during the
fourteenth century: The Cloud of Unknowing and Walter
Hilton's The Scale of Perfection:" The Cloud of Unknowing,
again written by an anonymous author, was designed as a
spiritual manual for a twenty-four year old novice entering upon
the contemplative life." With great simplicity and conviction,
the Cloud author explains the steps the contemplative must take
in order to come face to face with God. First, he or she must
put 'the whole created world' under a 'cloud of forgetting' ,
corresponding to the degrees of denial prescribed by Pseudo-
Dionysius. This is because God is a 'jealous lover and will
brook no rival' , or in other words, material things distract from
the work of quiet meditation. The purpose of all this is self-
knowledge, or 'perfect humility'. Ironically, this involves an
annihilation of the self in a spiritual sense so that the soul may
be ready to receive God's grace (and this is perhaps why the
Cloud author chose to be anonymous)."
The next step is to pierce the 'cloud of unknowing' between
the contemplative and God. This cloud of unknowing is akin to
the darkness of pseudo-Dionysius, or better yet, the 'dark night
of the soul' of St John of the Cross." The way to pierce the
cloud of unknowing is by simple prayer repeated over and over,
such as 'God' or 'love'. By continually beating upon the cloud
of unknowing with the 'sharp dart of longing love', the
contemplative eventually may know God if in his grace he
shows himself and pours his light through the darkness into the
vessel of the mystic's soul." As a work of late medieval
English literature, the Cloud of Unknowing probably ranks with
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, although it is not as well known.
The negative approach is likewise sponsored by Walter Hilton
in The Scale of Perfection, written in the latter half of the
fourteenth century for a contemplative nun." Indeed, the
Cloud and The Scale are so similar in spiritual instruction that

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it has been argued they were written by the same man." Like
the Cloud author, Hilton insists that his contemplative pupil first
'forsake all worldly riches, honours, and outward business' .13
As the title implies, the way to a mystical union with God is
through a gradual, step-by-step process culminating in the third
part of contemplation." As does the Cloud author, Hilton
emphasizes prayer as the most efficacious means toward the
mystic's goal. The third and highest kind of prayer Hilton
characterizes as being 'only in the heart, without speaking, and
with great rest of body and soul'." This is similar to the
'darkness' and 'lack of knowing' with which the Cloud author
describes the cloud of unknowing." Both these works had
great and lasting influence on late medieval English mystics. I?
In addition, more modern experts of mysticism, who
themselves were considered contemplatives, identified true
mystical experiences with the dark night of the soul. In the
twentieth century, they included Dom David Knowles, a
Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey and later a professor at
Cambridge Universit~, and Evelyn Underhill, another English
mystical theologian. 8 The via negativa also shares many
affinities with Eastern mystical traditions, as was recognized by
the religious philosophers, William James and Thomas
Merton." Perhaps this is explained by a common origin with
the desert fathers, or the founders of Christian monasticism in
the Middle East." Both the Hindu and Buddhist religions, for
example, use simple mantras and stress a denial of materialism
before the higher state of Brahma or Nirvana can be reached. 21
The negative tradition of mysticism which has just been
outlined provides the standard measure by which the Catholic
Church judges whether a given individual has achieved that
unique, ineffable union with God. During the Middle Ages, this
article will argue, this tradition was a liberating force for
women because it provided them with a rare opportunity to gain
equal status with men. Because its standards were based on
theology, not gender, the negative tradition set a universal
yardstick for mysticism which applied to everyone, be they men
or women. For those who lived up to its standards, the mystical
path ofpseudo-Dionysius was one of the few avenues by which
women during the Middle Ages achieved substantial power and
respect.

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Examples from the Middle Ages of women who did just that
abound. The most famous example from the high medieval
period is Hildegard of Bingen, abbess of the Benedictine Eriory
at Disibodenberg, Germany during the twelfth century. 2 Her
twenty-six visions, recounted in Scivias , are spiritual rather than
sensory experiences, perceived, as she says in a letter to
Guibert of Gembloux, 'in my soul, with my external eyes
open' .23 This is the quiet form of meditation preferred by the
negative tradition to the more ecstatic and physical brands of
piety.
During the fourteenth century, a real flowering of female
mysticism occurred. In England, the leading example was Julian
of Norwich. At the age of thirty-one, she was privy to sixteen
'showings' in a near-death experience in May 1373. These
showings were to provide the basis for Julian's subsequent
lifelong meditations as an anchoress in the church of St Julian
and St Edward in Conisford." Written down as a book of
'showings', or revelations, these meditations explore such
theological questions as the nature of the Trinity, the wonder of
creation and the Augustinian groblem of evil and the redemptive
power of Christ's passion. 5 The depth and profundity of
Julian's theology is testified by the number of scholarly books
devoted to the subject. 26
That Julian belonged within the pseudo-Dionysian tradition is
demonstrated by her progression from 'bodely syght' to 'gostely
syghte', or to purely spiritual and intellectual visions which
supplanted the corporeal." Her 'noghte', or self-annhilation,
of the soul after it has been 'noghthed of aIle that es made' may
be compared to the dark night of the clouds of forgetting and
unknowing." Julian is also careful to emphasize that the
showings by themselves are no proof of mystical grace but are
given for the benefit of all Christians:

In all this I was greatly moved in love towards my fellow Christians

that they might all see and know the same as I saw, for I wished it
to be a comfort to them, for all this vision was shown for all
men."

On the Continent, elements of the negative tradition can be

found in the Book of the Blessed Angela of Foligno, the
Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena and the Revelations of St
Birgitta of Sweden. 30 Angela, a Franciscan tertiary from

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Foligno, Italy, who died in 1309, experienced 'twenty steps of

penitence' before she embarked on the mystical path. This in
turn led to seven steps of revelations on the Trinity, the
Incarnation, the Eucharist and the nature of God. 3 1 The sixth
step, a two-year-long struggle with horrible suffering,
culminated in the dark night of the soul before the final step,
her mystical marriage with her creator. Angela described the
revelation to her scribe:

Afterward, I saw him in a darkness, and in a darkness precisely

because the good that he is, is far too great to be conceived or
understood. Indeed, anything conceivable or understandable does
not attain this good or even come near it.... And in this most
efficacious good seen in this darkness now resides my most firm
hope, one in which I am totally recollected and sure."

Catherine of Siena, who lived between 1347 and 1380, was

likewise affiliated with a mendicant order, in her case the
Dominicans. In a similar pattern to that experienced by Angela,
she followed three stages of purgation, illumination and union
before attaining a 'perfect love' of God. 33 Imperfect love, by
contrast, was characterized by sensual pleasures or consolations:

There are others who become faithful servants. They serve me with
love rather than that slavish fear which serves only for fear of
punishment. But their love is imperfect, for they serve me for their
own profit or for the delight and pleasure they find in me. Do you
know how they show that their love is imperfect? By the way they
act when they are deprived of the comfort they find in me. And
they love their neighbours with the same imperfect love."

This second trial of spiritual desolation, however, in which God

withdraws his presence from the soul and is comparable to the
dark night, is in reality a blessing. For it is by such means that
the soul may reach perfection, as God asserts to Catherine in
their dialogue:

This is why their love is not strong enough to last. No, it becomes
lax and often fails. It becomes lax toward me when sometimes, to
exercise them in virtue and to lift them up out of their imperfection,
I take back my spiritual comfort and let them experience struggles
and vexations. I do this to bring them to perfect knowledge of
themselves, so that they will know that of themselves they have

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neither existence nor any grace. I want them, in time of conflict, to

take refuge in me by seeking me and knowing me as their
benefactor, in true humility seeking me alone. This is why I give
them these troubles."

Once again, prayer is the key by which the soul can overcome
this trial. In a parallel process to the progression of love, the
devout soul, Catherine explains, proceeds from 'imperfect vocal
prayer' to a 'perfect mental' one. 36
Finally, St Birgitta of Sweden, a noblewoman and foundress
of an order which took her name upon her death in 1373,
experienced a series of revelations in which various doctrinal
issues are addressed in the responses to her 'interrogations' ,37
In these revelations the influence of pseudo-Dionysius is
apparent. For example, in the fifth revelation of the fifth book,
Christ admonishes Birgitta against a love of riches and praises
the virtues of self-denial and humility. 38 In the tenth revelation
of the same book, Christ warns the saint that his teachings are
obscure and must be understood in a spiritual rather than a
corporeal sense:

Sometimes, too, I say things obscurely in order that you may both
fear and rejoice - fearing that they may come to pass in another
way because of my divine patience, which knows the changes of
hearts, and rejoicing too because my will is always fulfilled. So too,
in the Old Law, I said many things that were to be understood more
spiritually than corporeally - as concerning the temple and David
and Jerusalem - in order that carnal mankind might learn to desire
spiritual things."

These women perhaps found social acceptance in part because

they pursued their mysticism without the encumbrance of
family. St Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae classifies
marriage as directed to the bodily increase of the human race
and therefore belonging to the active life. A contemplative
existence, on the other hand, entails chastity because, as
Aquinas explains, a divine good takes precedence over a human
good;" In the case of Angela, this problem was resolved by
1291 by the sudden deaths of her husband and all her children,
for which she had prayed." Birgitta pursued her mystical
career only after the death of her husband, Ulf', in 1344. She
remained torn by her devotion to her eight children, and seems

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to have resolved this by developing, like Julian, a distinctly

maternal form of spirituality. 42
By following the mystical path, Angela, Catherine and Birgitta
all achieved celebrity in their lifetimes, a group of devoted
followers, and, in the latter two instances, substantial political
influence. Birgitta and Catherine both spoke out on the need for
Church reform and a return of the Pope from Avignon to
Rome, which Gregory XI finally did do in 1378. 43 In 1970, St
Catherine and Teresa of Avila, a sixteenth-century Carmelite
nun, were made doctors of the Church, equal in status to
Augustine and Aquinas, Bonaventure and Bernard.
There is one medieval woman, however, who is sometimes
classified as a mystic yet remains outside the pseudo-Dionysian
tradition. She epitomizes the debate currently raging in
academic circles about how we are to define female medieval
mysticism.
Born around 1373 in Bishop's (later King's) Lynn in Norfolk,
England, Margery Kempe was the daughter of John Brunham,
a wealthy and influential merchant in the city. At the age of
twenty she married John Kempe and had the first of fourteen
children and at the same time her first vision of Christ. Twenty
years later, in 1413 at the age of forty, she persuaded her
husband to take with her a vow of chastity and embarked on a
series of pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago and Prussia
which lasted almost until her death, perhaps in 1439.
Throughout these later years of her life, she experienced
various visions, sounds, sensations, bodily contortions, and her
famous weepings, sobbings, roarings and shrill shriekings. All
these physical signs she claimed to be manifestations of a
mystical communion with God, dictating them to one or two
friendly priests."
Ever since the discovery and publication of the Book of
Margery Kempe in 1934 by Colonel Butler-Bowden.f
religious historians have been sharply divided, as
contemporaries were in Margery's lifetime, concerning her
claims to be a mystic. Recently, a new generation of
feminist/Marxist historians have hailed Margery as the bold
practitioner of an alternative, matriarchal, feminine kind of
spirituality best summed up by Caroline Walker Bynum's
phrase 'Jesus as Mother' .46 In this view, Margery's tears are
to be celebrated as an example of an emotional, erotic, homely

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mysticism every bit as legitimate as the traditional, pseudo-

Dionysian version. Indeed, her weepings and roarings, to use
the current terms, allowed her to subvert 'masculine modes of
discourse', 'destabilize' restrictive public morals, break free of
the oppressive, patriarchal 'phallocracy', 'privilege' her voice
and 'empower' her own unique brand of mysticism."? At the
other extreme, an older generation of scholars, which included
the Nobel Prize winning novelist Sigrid Undset and Evelyn
Underhill, judged Margery to be an hysterical, neurotic, self-
centered, egotistical exhibitionist." There is really no middle
ground here. Either one is a mystic or one is not. Although
'hysterical' may be unkind and Margery Kempe may have been
especially devout, this author does not believe she was a mystic.
The negative tradition would reject Margery Kempe as a
mystic for two reasons. In the first place, physical sensations
were held suspect on doctrinal grounds, not that of gender. The
mystic should not rely only on sensual visions, locutions and
cryings. because their veracity cannot be trusted. Unlike the
soul who has attained a deep and purely spiritual form of
contemplation, he or she who relies on affective piety is an
imperfect instrument of God's grace. The working of the divine
will overwhelms him or her because he or she is not yet
prepared to receive it."
Men as well as women were denied mystical status on this
point. Richard Rolle, a hermit from Yorkshire who died in
1349, is sometimes assumed to be a mystic on the basis of his
influential work, the Incendium Amoris or the Fire of Love,"
In this eloquent book, Rolle relates his sensations of heat,
sweetness and song which he considered the highlight of his
mystical experience:

I was sitting in a certain chapel, delighting in the sweetness of

prayer or meditation, when suddenly I felt within myself an
unusually pleasant heat. At first I wondered where it came from,
but it was not long before I realized that it was from none of his
creatures but from the Creator himself. It was, I found, more
fervent and pleasant than I had ever known. But it was just over
nine months before a conscious and incredibly sweet warmth
kindled me, and I knew the infusion and understanding of heavenly,
spiritual sounds, sounds which pertain to the song of eternal praise,
and to the sweetness of unheard melody; sounds which cannot be

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known or heard save by him who has received it, and who himself
must be clean and separate from the things of earth."

In their respective works, both the Cloud author and Hilton

regard such sensual experiences with great suspicion. They
clearly are aware of Rolle's work, and although they do not
mention his name, they caution their readers against placing too
much faith in the kind of physical sensations which Rolle
experienced. In chapter 45, the Cloud author warns young,
novice mystics of a 'spurious warmth' giving rise to a 'sham
spirituality' :

And yet, maybe, they imagine it to be the fire of love, lighted and
fanned by the grace and goodness of the Holy Ghost. In truth, from
this falsehood many evils spring: much hypocrisy and heresy and
error. For hot on the heels of false experience comes false
knowledge in the school of the fiend, just as true experience is
followed by true knowledge in the school of God. 52

Likewise, Hilton devotes the whole of chapter 26 to the perils

of the 'fire of love:'

Not all those who speak of the fire of love really know what it is,
for what it is I cannot tell you, except for this. I tell you, it is
neither material nor felt in the body. It can be felt in prayer or in
devotion by a soul who exists in a body, but he does not feel it by
any bodily sense, for although it is true that if it works in a soul the
body may pass into a heat - as it were warmed by the pleasant
labour of the spirit - nevertheless the fire of love is not in the
body, for it is only in the spiritual desire of the SOUJ. 53

The criticism of Rolle's contemporaries is seconded by the

modern historian David Knowles, who dubbed Rolle a
'beginner' mystic because he 'mistook the first glimpses of the
life of contemplation for the plenitude of grace' .54
The problem that feminist historians of mysticism face is that
by adopting a relativist or deconstructionist approach to the
question of who is a mystic, they remove any standard of
judging whether these visions are the product of genuine piety,
of psycho-somatic disorders or of just plain charlatanism. The
Cloud author gives several examples of the 'curious tricks' of
pseudo-mystics: rowing the arms, holding the head to one side
as if there's a worm in the ear, squinting like sheep banged on

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the head, and holding the mouth open to catch a heavenly

'dew', when in fact it catches only flies. 55 This is paralleled,
in our own day, by the antics of 'television evangelists' and
other charismatic groups. Indeed, one scholar, intending to
portray Margery Kempe in a flattering light, makes comparisons
between her and Pentecostal Holiness congregations in southern
Indiana." Yet if we are to legitimize the weepings, roarings
and shriekings of Margery Kempe, why not those of Oral
Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert, Pat Robertson, and Tammy Faye and
Jim Baker? If we are to believe that Margery could save a
church from fire by calling down a snowstorm, which some
scholars seem prepared to accept on face value," why not that
Pat Robertson can stop hurricanes or balance the budget during
a jubilee year, or that Oral Roberts will die unless we send him
a million dollars?
The second objection the negative tradition has to mystical
sensationalism is to its vanity or pride. By taking a literal
approach to spirituality and trusting in physical sensations as
ultimate signs of God's favor, the novice fails to progress any
further towards a deeper, more inward spirituality. 58 The pride
which the sensational mystic felt as a result of his or her
physical experiences is analogous perhaps to that of their
modern sympathizers. In the introduction to one recent
collection of critical essays about Margery Kempe, the editor
states that 'each essay assumes that this woman and her Book
are to be taken seriously'. 59 Margery is assumed to be a
mystic and modern scholarship is portrayed as monolithically
shifting towards a vindication of her as a mystic. Any objection
to this view from the pseudo-Dionysian perspective is
immediately labelled as a 'misreading' and a 'patronizing
appraisal' of Margery's book." Unfortunately, such conviction
precludes any kind of dialogue.
What is remarkable about Margery Kempe's life, from a
pseudo-Dionysian point of view, is the complete lack of any
evidence of spiritual progress. Material things remained an
important part of her spirituality. Her exhibitionist style of
dress, for example, continued to draw attention to herself even
after her conversion of 1413: Whereas previously it was from
gold-piped headdresses and fashionably slashed sleeves,
afterwards it was by wearing white." Eroticism figured large
in both periods of her life: If before she was tested by a

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pretended admirer in church, afterwards she would stare to the

point of sobbing at handsome men in Rome because they
reminded her of her new 'husband', Jesus.f Her visions,
unlike those of her contemporary female mystics, seem to lack
a certain generosity of spirit. In many long, private
conversations, Christ continually reminded his 'daughter' that
her weepings and visions marked her for special favour." If,
as a result, she had to suffer insults from her travelling
companions, such as being made to sit at the end of the table or
having her dress shortened.P' this only increased her reward
in heaven:

Then our blessed Lord Christ Jesus answered to her soul and said,
'My beloved daughter, I swear by my high majesty that I will never
forsake you. And, daughter, the more shame, contempt and rebuke
that you suffer for my love, the better I love you, for I behave like
a man who greatly loves his wife: the more envy that other men
have of her, the better he will dress her to spite his enemies. And
just so, daughter, shall I behave with yoU. 65

Self-justifications such as these no doubt further exasperated her

travelling companions and led to more 'martyrdoms'. In
addition, contemporaries may have objected to Margery's
abandonment of her husband and children, in contrast to the
exemplary behaviour of Angela and Birgitta."
Margery's book is also noteworthy for its intellectual aridity.
It is essentially devoid of any deep theological content, such as
exists in the writings of Julian, Angela, Catherine or Birgitta.
Like Rolle, her visions retain throughout a physical quality
without any evidence of spiritual progression. Shortly after her
(quite literal) marriage to Christ in the church of Santi Apostoli
in Rome, for example, she experiences a quick succession of
physical sensations, including 'sounds and melodies', 'white
things flying all about her', and, of course, the 'fire of love':

Our Lord also gave her another token which lasted about sixteen
years, and increased ever more and more, and that was a flame of
fire of love - marvellously hot and delectable and very comforting,
never diminishing but ever increasing; for though the weather were
never so cold she felt the heat burning in her breast and at her
heart, as veritable as a man would feel the material fire if he put his
hand or his finger into it. 61

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By contrast, God instructs St Catherine to interpret her 'five

stages of tears' through 'the mind's eye' and as a form of
spiritual progression from imperfect to perfect love."
This intellectual or doctrinal aridity in Margery Kempe's work
presents a problem to revisionist scholars attempting to portray
her as a genuine mystic. Modern books about Margery
generally resort to one of three approaches: they recount her
travels and her social milieur" they discuss her within the
context of her more famous female contemporaries; 70 or lastly,
through a deconstructive 'liberation' of the female body from
repressive, patriarchal language (a process christened in
feminist circles as 'writing the body'), they attempt to create
her own unique category of mysticism altogether. 71
The intention of this article is to bring the discussion of
female medieval mysticism back to issues of theology rather
than those of modern gender politics which do not apply to the
Middle Ages. The negative tradition was the product of
centuries of practical experience in contemplation, much of it
by women. Judged by this tradition, Margery Kempe led an
active rather than a contemplative life. This does not mean that
in the eyes of the Church it held no religious value. What it
does mean is that the two must be distinguished. If scholars
refuse to acknowledge the Catholic position, they risk failure to
understand the mystics in their medieval religious context and
perhaps are guilty of religious bigotry.
More importantly, the negative tradition allows us to evaluate
impartially and, in the end, appreciate the substantial
achievements of female mystics. By seeking to elevate Margery
as a 'shaman' ,72 for example, we may be robbing the glory of
Julian as a theologian. The negative tradition provided a level
playing field in the mystical arena, and thus enabled medieval
women to achieve an unusual degree of power and influence.
Yet achieving power and influence was not the point of the
exercise, as the mystics themselves surely would have pointed
out. Something deeper, more spiritual was supposed to be going
on. Without the modern secular world realizing it, female
mystics may have touched God and thus have performed a feat
miraculous for either gender.

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NOTES

1. On the real Dionysius, see C.E. Rolt, Dionysius the Areopagite

(London, 1920); A. Louth, Denys, the Areopagite (Wilton, Conn.,
1989). For the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius, see Pseudo-Dionysius
the Areopagite, TIle Complete Works, trans. C. Luibheid (New York
and Mahwah, N.J., 1987).
2. This summary is based on M.D. Knowles, The English Mystical
Tradition (London, 1961), 1-38.
3. The original Latin texts of these works are available in: St
Bonaventure, Doctoris Seraphici S. Bonaventurae Opera Omnia, 10
vols. (Quaracchi, 1882-1902), 5:296-313; St Bernard of Clairvaux,
Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. 1. Leclercq, C.H. Talbot, and H.M.
Rochais,8 vols. (Rome, 1957-77), vols. I and 2. English translations
can be found in: St Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey into God, trans.
E. Cousins (New York and Ramsey, N.J., 1978),51-116; St Bernard
of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, trans. K. Walsh and I.E.
Edmonds (Cistercian Publications, nos. 4, 7, 31, 40, 1971-80).
4. St Augustine, City of God, Book VIII, Chapter 10 and Book XIX,
Chapter 4.
5. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Part II-II, Question 182,
Articles 1-4.
6. For the original language editions of these texts, see: The Cloud of
Unknowing and Related Treatises, ed. P. Hodgson (Salzburg, 1982),
and Walter Hilton, The Scale of Perfection, ed. E. Underhill (London,
1923). Quotations are taken from: The Cloud of Unknowing and Other
Works, trans. C. Wolters (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1961), and
Walter Hilton, The Scale of Perfection, trans. J.P.H. Clark and R.
Dorward (New York and Mahwah, N.J., 1991). A Latin as well as a
Middle English version of The Cloud is available in: The Latin
Versions of The asua of Unknowing, ed. J. Clark, 2 vols. (Salzburg,
1989). For a discussion of the Latin editions of The Cloud, see: 1.
Hogg, 'The Latin Cloud", in M. Glasscoe, ed., The Medieval Mystical
Tradition in England: Papers Read at Dartington Hall, July 1984
(Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1984), 104-15.
7. The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 1 and 4 (pp. 59 and 64 in the
Wolters edition).
8. Ibid., Chapters 2,5, and 43 (pp, 60,66, and 110-11 in the Wolters
edition).
9. St John of the Cross, Selected Writings, trans. K. Kavanaugh (New
York and Mahwah, N.J., 1987), 155-209.

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10. The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 6 and 7 (pp. 67-70 in the

Wolters edition).
11. Walter Hilton, The Scale ofPerfection, Book 1, Chapter 1 (pp. 77-
78 in the Clark and Dorward edition).
12. J. McCann, 'The Cloud of Unknowing', Ampleforth Journal, 29
(1924), 192-97; H. Gardner, 'Walter Hilton and the Authorship of the
Cloud of Unknowing' ,Review ofEnglish Studies, 9 (1933), 129-47; P.
Hodgson, 'Walter Hilton and The Cloud of Unknowing: A Problem of
Authorship Reconsidered' , Modern Language Review, 50 (1955), 395-
406; L.C. Gatto, 'The Walter Hilton and Cloud of Unknowing
Controversy Reconsidered', Studies in Medieval Culture, 5 (1975),
181-9.
13. Walter Hilton, The Scale of Perfection, Book 1, Chapter 3 (p. 78
in the Clark and Dorward edition).
14. Ibid., Chapter 8 (p. 82 in the Clark and Dorward edition).
15. Ibid., Chapter 32 (p. 102 in the Clark and Dorward edition).
16. The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 4 (p. 66 in the Wolters edition).
17. E. Underhill, TI,e Mystics ofthe Church (London, 1933), 120-27;
T.W. Coleman, English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century (London,
1938), 84-130; C. Pepler, The English Religious Heritage (London,
1958), 217-26; Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 67-118; M.
Thornton, English Spirituality (London, 1963), 176-200; H.P. Owen,
'Christian Mysticism: A Study in Walter Hilton's The Ladder of
Perfection", Religious Studies, 7 (1971), 31-41; 1.P.H. Clark, 'The
Cloud of Unknowing', in P.E. Szarmach, ed., An Introduction to the
Medieval Mystics of Europe (Albany, N.Y., 1984),273-91. For more
detailed studies of these particular works, see: J.E. Milosh, The Scale
of Perfection and the English Mystical Tradition (London, 1966); W.
Johnston, The Mysticism of the Cloud of Unknowing (New York,
1967).
18. E. Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development
of Man's Spiritual Consciousness, 7th edn. (London, 1918), 453-93;
M.D. Knowles, What is Mysticism? (London, 1967),68-72.
19. W. James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in
Human Nature (New York, 1936),400-402; T. Merton, Mystics and
Zen Masters (New York, 1969), 3-44, 215-34; idem, The Asian
Journal (New York, 1973),309-17.
20. M.D. Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius: A Study in the
Constitutional History of the Religious Orders (Oxford, 1966), 2-5;
idem, Christian Monasticism (New York and Toronto, 1969), 9-24;
C.H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in

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Western Europe in the Middle Ages (London and New York, 1984),
1-16.
21. A useful anthology of the texts of Hinduism and Buddhism can be
found in: L. Browne, ed., The World's Great Scriptures: An Anthology
of the Sacred Books of the Ten Principal Religions (New York, 1946).
22. Studies of Hildegard of Bingen include: A. Bruck, ed., Hildegard
von Bingen, 1179-1979: Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen
(Mainz, 1979); V.M. Lagorio, 'The Medieval Continental Women
Mystics', in Introduction to Medieval Mystics, 163-66; P. Dronke,
Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from
Perpetua to Marguerite Porete (Cambridge, 1984), 144-201; K. Kraft,
'The German Visionary Hildegard of Bingen', in K.M. Wilson, ed.,
Medieval Women Writers (Athens, GA., 1984), 109-19; B. Newman,
Sister of Wisdom: St Hildegard's Theology of the Feminine (Berkeley,
1987); S. Flanagan, Hildegard ofBingen, 1098-1179: A Visionary Life
(London, 1989); E.Z. Brunn and G. Epiney-Burgard, Women Mystics
in Medieval Europe, trans. S. Hughes (New York, 1989),3-17; F.
Beer, Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages (Wood-
bridge, Suffolk, 1992), 15-55; A. Weeks, German Mysticism from
Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Literary and Intellec-
tual History (Albany, N.Y., 1993), 39-58; E.A. Petroff, Body and
Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism (Oxford, 1994), 10-
12.
23. Kraft, 'Hildegard of Bingen', 123. The original Latin text of
Scivias is available in: Hildegardis Scivias, ed. A. Fiihrkotter and A.
Carlevaris (Corpus Christianorum: Continuatio MedievaIis, 43, 43a,
Turnhout, 1978). For an English translation, see: Hildegard of Bingen,
Sci vias, trans. C. Hart and J. Bishop (New York and Mahwah, N.J.,
1990).
24. Good summaries of Julian's life and writings are to be found in:
Underhill, Mystics of the Church, 127-32; Coleman, English Mystics,
131-52; E.I. Watkin, Poets and Mystics (New York, 1953), 70-103;
Pepler, English Religious Heritage, 305-20; Knowles, English Mystical
Tradition, 119-37; Thornton, English Spirituality, 201-17; R. Bradley,
'Julian of Norwich: Writer and Mystic', in Introduction to Medieval
Mystics, 195-216; C. Jones, 'The English Mystic: Julian of Norwich',
in Medieval Women Writers, 269-77; Beer, Women and Mystical
Experience, 130-57; Petroff, Body and Soul, 19-20.
25. For the Middle English version of Julian's book, see: Julian of
Norwich, A Book ofShowings to the Anchoress Julian ofNorwich , ed.
E. Colledge and J. Walsh, 2 parts (Toronto, 1978). A Middle English
version in modern alphabet is available in: Julian of Norwich, The
Shewings ofJulian ofNorwich, ed. G.R. Crampton (Kalamazoo, MI.,

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1993). The translation that is quoted in this article is from: Julian of

Norwich, Showings, trans. E. Colledge and J. Walsh (New York and
Ramsey, N.J., 1978).
26. Scholarly studies of Julian's theology include: P. Molinari, Julian
of Norwich: The Teaching of a Fourteenth-Century Mystic (London,
1958); B. Pelphrey, Love was His Meaning: The Theology and
Mysticism ofJulian ofNorwich (Salzburg, 1982); J.P. Heimmel, 'God
is Our Mother': Julian of Norwich and the Medieval Image of
Christian Feminine Divinity (Salzburg, 1982); P.M. Vinje, An
Understanding ofLove According to the Anchoress Julian ofNorwich
(Salzburg, 1983); R. Llewelyn, ed., Julian: Woman of Our Day
(London, 1985); G. Jantzen, Julian ofNorwich (London, 1987); D.N.
Baker, Julian ofNorwich's Showings: From Vision to Book (princeton,
1994).
27. Julian of Norwich, A Book ofShowings to the Anchoress Julian of
Norwich, Chapter 73 (p. 666 in part 2 of the Colledge and Walsh
edition).
28. Ibid., Chapters 4 and 27 (pp. 216 and 256 in part 1 of the
Colledge and Walsh edition).
29. Julian of Norwich, Showings, Chapter 8 (pp. 190 in the Colledge
and Walsh edition).
30. The original language versions of these works are available in:
Blessed Angela of Foligno, /l Libro della Beata Angela da Foligno,
ed. L. Thier and A. Calufetti (Grottaferrata, Rome, 1985); Catherine
of Siena, II Dialogo della Divina Provvtdenza, ed. A. Puccetti and
T.S. Centi (Siena, 1990); St Birgitta of Sweden, Sancta Birgitta,
Revelaciones, Book V: Liber Questionum, ed. B. Bergh (Uppsala,
1971). Translations quoted in this article are from: Angela of Foligno,
Complete Works, trans. P. Lachance (New York and Mahwah, N.J.,
1993); St Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. S. Noffke (New
York and Ramsey, N.J., 1980); St Birgitta of Sweden, Life and
Selected Revelations, ed. M.T. Harris, trans. A.R. Kezel (New York
and Mahwah, N.J., 1990).
31. For studies on Angela of Foligno, see: A. Stafford, 'Angela of
Foligno', in J. Walsh, ed., Spirituality through the Centuries (New
York, 1965), 181-97; P. Lachance, TI,e Spiritual Journey of the
Blessed Angela of Foligno according to the Memorial of Frater A.
(Rome, 1984); Lagorio, 'Medieval Continental Women Mystics', 178-
81; C. Schmitt, ed., Vita e Spiritualitii della Beata Angela da Foligno
(perugia, 1987); Petroff, Body and Soul, 16-17.
32. Blessed Angela of Foligno, The Book of the Blessed Angela of
Foligno, Chapter 9 (p. 202 in the Lachance edition).

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 THE DOWNSIDE REVIEW

33. Studies on Catherine of Siena include: J. Jorgensen, Saint

Catherine of Siena, trans. 1. Lund (London, 1939); A. Grion, Sancta
Caterina de Siena: Dottrina e Fonti (Brescia, 1953); R.C. Petry, Late
Medieval Mysticism (philadelphia, 1957), 263-69; J.M. Perrin,
Catherine ofSiena , trans. P. Barrett (Westminster, 1965); G. D'Urso,
II Genio di Santa Caterina: Studi sulla sua Dottrina e Personalita
(Rome, 1971); 1. Giordani, Saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the
Church, trans. T.J. Tobin (Boston, 1975); Lagorio, 'Medieval
Continental Women Mystics', 184-91; 1. Berrigan, 'The Tuscan
Visionary: Saint Catherine of Siena', in Medieval Women Writers, 252-
55; Petroff, Body and Soul, 17-19. Raymond of Capua's biography of
Catherine is available in: Raymond of Capua, The Life ofSt Catherine
of Siena, trans. G. Lamb (New York, 1960).
34. St Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, Chapter 60 (p. 113 in the
Noffke edition).
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid., Chapter 66 (p. 125 in the Noffke edition).
37. For studies of Birgitta of Sweden, see: J. Jorgensen, Saint Bridget
of Sweden, trans. 1. Lund (London, 1954); B. Klockars, Birgitta och
Bockerna: En Undersokning av den Heliga Birgittas Kallor
(Stockholm, 1966); J. Oberg, Kring Birgitta (Stockholm, 1969); A.
Anderson, Den Heliga Birgitta och Vadstena: Ett Sexhundraars Minne
(Stockholm, 1970); A. Butkovich, Revelations: Saint Birgitta of
Sweden (Los Angeles, 1972); H. Sunden, Den Helgia Birgitta:
Ormungens Moder som Blev Kristi Brud (Stockholm, 1973); A.
Andersson, Saint Bridget of Sweden (London, 1980); Lagorio,
'Medieval Continental Women Mystics', 181-84; B. Obrist, 'The
Swedish Visionary: Saint Bridget', in Medieval Women Writers, 227-
39.
38. St Birgitta of Sweden, Revelations, Book 5, Revelation 5 (pp. 123-
24 in the Harris and Kezel edition).
39. Ibid., Revelation 10 (pp. 142-43 in the Harris and Kezel edition).
40. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Part II-II, Question 152,
Article 4; Question 182, Articles 1 and 2.
41. H. Graef, 'Angela of Foligno, BI'., New Catholic Encyclopedia,
15 vols. (New York, 1967), 1:501.
42. Lagorio, 'Medieval Continental Women Mystics', 181, 184.
43. Ibid., 182, 184-5; K. Foster, 'Catherine of Siena, St', New
Catholic Encyclopedia, 15 vols. (New York, 1967),3:259-60.
44. Short biographies of Margery Kempe can be found in: Coleman,
English Mystics, 153-76; Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 138-50;

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Thornton, English Spirituality, 222-24; M. Fries, 'Margery Kempe',

in Introduction to Medieval Mystics, 217-35; W. Provost, 'The English
Religious Enthusiast: Margery Kempe', in Medieval Women Writers,
297-302; R. Kieckhefer Unquiet Souls: Fourteenth-Century Saints and
Their Religious Milieu (Chicago and London, 1984), 182-96; Petroff,
Body and Soul, 152-56.
45. Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, ed. W. Butler-
Bowden (London, 1936). The original Middle English version is
available in: Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, ed. S.B.
Meech and H.E. Allen (Early English Text Society, no. 212, 1940).
The translation quoted in this article is from: Margery Kempe, The
Book of Margery Kempe, trans. B.A. Windeatt (Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, 1985).
46. C.W. Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the
High Middle Ages (Berkeley, 1982).
47. See especially K. Lochrie, Margery Kempe and Translations ofthe
Flesh (Philadelphia, 1991), and SJ. McEntire, ed., Margery Kempe:
A Book of Essays (New York and London, 1992).
48. G. Burns, 'Margery Kempe Reviewed', The Month, 171 (1938),
239; S. Undset, 'Margery Kempe of Lynn', Atlantic Monthly, 164
(1939), 232-40. Other negative assessments of Margery Kempe
include: H. Thurston, 'Margery the Astonishing', The Month (1936),
446-56; Coleman, English Mystics, 175; Knowles, English Mystical
Tradition, 141-50; D.E. Hinderer, 'On Rehabilitating Margery
Kempe', Studia Mystica, 5 (1982),37. Good summaries of the debate
surrounding Margery Kempe are to be found in: R.B. Bosse, 'Margery
Kempe's Tarnished Reputation: A Reassessment', Fourteenth-Century
English Mystics Newsletter, 5 (1979), 9-19; Fries, 'Margery Kempe',
227-29; Kieckhefer, Unquiet Souls, 196-97.
49. Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 12.
50. The original Latin version is available in: Richard Rolle,
Incendium Amoris, ed. M. Deanesley (London, 1915). The translation
quoted in this article is from: Richard Rolle, The Fire ofLove, trans.
C. Wolters (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1972). Brief biographies of
Rolle can be found in: Underhill, Mystics of the Church, 111-20;
Coleman, English Mystics, 64-83; Petry, Late Medieval Mysticism,
208-13; Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 48-66; Thornton,
English Spirituality, 218-22. For a good discussion of Rolle's
theology, see: J.P .H. Clark, 'Richard Rolle: A Theological Re-
Assessment', Downside Review, 101 (1983), 108-39.
51. Richard Rolle, The Fire ofLove, Chapter 15 (p. 93 in the Wolters
edition).

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52. The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 45 (p. 114 in the Wolters

edition).
53. Walter Hilton, The Scale ofPerfection, Book 1, Chapter 26 (p. 98
in the Clark and Dorward edition).
54. Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 54.
55. The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapters 53 and 57 (pp. 123-24, and
129 in the Wolters edition).
56. E.P. Armstrong, 'Understanding by Feeling in Margery Kempe's
Book', in Margery Kempe: A Book of Essays, 30-33.
57. D.B. Mahoney, 'Margery Kempe's Tears and the Power over
Language', in Margery Kempe: A Book of Essays, 42.
58. Knowles, English Mystical Tradition, 12.
59. S.L McEntire, 'Introduction', in Margery Kempe: A Book of
Essays, xvi.
60. Ibid., xi.
61. Margery Kempe, The Book ofMargery Kempe, Chapters 2 and 15
(pp. 43 and 67-71 in the Windeatt edition).
62. Ibid., Chapters 4 and 35 (pp. 49-50 and 123 in the Windeatt
edition).
63. Ibid., Chapter 14 (pp. 65-67 in the Windeatt edition).
64. Ibid., Chapter 26 (p. 98 in the Windeatt edition).
65. Ibid., Chapter 32 (p. 117 in the Windeatt edition).
66. Fries, 'Margery Kempe', 231. It is not certain that all of
Margery's fourteen children were fully grown when she embarked on
her first pilgrimage, to Jerusalem in 1413.
67. Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, Chapter 35 (pp.
124-25 in the Windeatt edition).
68. St Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, Chapter 88 (p. 161 in the
Noffke edition).
69. E.!. Watkin, 'In Defence of Margery Kempe', Downside Review,
69 (1941),243-63, reprinted in idem, Poets and Mystics, 104-35; K.
Cholmeley, Margery Kempe: Genius and Mystic (London, 1947).
70. C.W. Atkinson, Mystic and Pilgrim: The Book and the World of
Margery Kempe (Ithaca and London, 1983), 157-94; S. Dickman,
'Margery Kempe and the Continental Tradition of the Pious Woman',
in Medieval Mystical Tradition, 150-68.
71. See Margery Kempe: A Book of Essays, especially chapters by:
Mahoney, 'Margery Kempe's Tears', 37-50, SJ. McEntire, 'The
Journey into Seltbood: Margery Kempe and Feminine Spirituality', 51-

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69, E. Bremner, 'Margery Kempe and the Critics: Disempowerment

and Deconstruction', 117-35; and Lochrie, Margery Kempe and
Translations ofthe Flesh, 2.
72. N. Hopenwasser, 'Margery Kempe, St Bridget, and Marguerite
D'Oingt: The Visionary Writer as Shaman', in Margery Kempe: A
Book of Essays, 165-87.

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