Reviewed
by A. Classen, University of Arizona, United States
Mystical
experiences proved to be a remarkable avenue for women in the Middle Ages to
discover their own voice through relating what visions and revelations they had
received. This dialectical move forced
them, on the one hand, to give up oneself entirely to God, and then, on the
other hand, afterwards to report either orally or in the written form what the
meaning of this mystical encounter was.
To be sure, these experiences provided women unique means to participate
in the literary discourse of their time.
Elisabeth of Schoenau has long been recognized as one of the earliest
and influential religious women who was closely connected with Hildegard of
Bingen. Although she has previously been
examined in many studies, Anne Clark here attempts a new approach to the life
and writings of a remarkable twelf-century women, not only trying to fill gaps,
but specifically endeavoring to reach a better understanding of the mystic's
visions and the way how her texts were transmitted to posterity.
As
in the case of many mystical writers, it is difficult to outline a precise
biography, and most of the data available today had to be gleaned from
autobiographical references spread throughout her work, her brother Ekbert's
introductory comments to her visions, and from his letters to three relatives
describing Elisabeth's death (De Obitu Elisabeth). In her first chapter Clark closely follows the available
documents and is able to project not only the basic biographical information,
but also to detail some of the major concerns which Elisabeth discussed in her accounts. She harbored strong objections to the
Cathars, but also criticized the clergy which, through neglecting its pastoral duties,
allowed this movement to spread.
Next
follows a discussion of the visionary texts and collections, introduced by an
examination of Elisabeth's linguistic abilities to read and write Latin. Although her brother asserted that she had
never learned it, he expresses admiration for the bilingual nature of her
visions. Other references demonstrate, however,
that she knew Latin well enough to read the Bible and other texts. In other
words, Ekbert's comments are not absolutely reliable, since we have to see in
him an editor who felt compelled to intervene, to select, and to channel his
sister's visions as to make them most effective for clergical purposes. The Liber Viarum Dei, often called a
"visionary diary," closely follows the liturgy and the Church's
kalendar and was soon accepted as a highly useful handbook for spiritual
guidance (34). Moreover, its pragmatic sermons
and didactic instructions made it more appealing than even Hildegard's
Scivias. Elisabeth's visions of Saint
Ursula and her companions, the eleven thousand virgins, are transmitted in
seventy medieval manuscripts, thus by far topping the Liber Viarum Dei.
Clark
then discusses the editorial role which Ekbert assumed, particularly after
Elisabeth's death, although he refrained from intervening any further beyond
the textual arrangement into the internal structure of the accounts. Although he claimed in the expanded
introduction to the Liber Visionum Primus to have refrained from any major
alterations, Clar observes that his presence at the Schoenau community had a
direct impact on the visions which Elisabeth received because of his concrete
questions with which he directed his sister's visions to special subjects.=20 Obviously,
the visions were not only considered to be God's messages to his daughter
Elisabeth, and from her to the rest of the Christian community, but they were
also seen as helpful channels into the world beyond through which direct
instructions could be received. Clark
attempts to rescue the mystic's role as an independent author, but admits that
Elisabeth apparently incorporated her brother's concerns into her own visionary
perspectives (66). But either way, the
revelations emerge not as one-way messages, but as documents of a two-way
communication process. Certainly, without Ekbert many of those visions would
not have been copied down, or would have assumed a different appearance, yet
this does not diminish the mystic's spiritual achievements. Perhaps it would be best to label the
end-result a cooperative effort to convey transcendental experiences to the Christian
believers. These conclusions basically confirm, however, what older and more
recent scholarship has observed as well, which makes the reading somewhat
tedious (cf. P. Dinzelbacher, "Die Offenbarungen der hl. Elisabeth von
Schoenau," Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktinerordens
97 [1986]: 462-482).
In the fifth chapter Clark discusses the
changes of prophetic visions prevalent in the twelfth century. Revelations, such as in the case of Joachim
of Fiore and Hildegard of Bingen, were understood as "expositio" of
the Bible. Whereas in earlier times the
mystics were taken on to otherworld journeys, now the visions are dominated by
visits from the otherworld. Such a
distinction, as valuable as it seems, does not necessarily constitute a
paradigm shift and threatens to erect walls among the mystics where there were
none. Clark does not produce enough
evidence to support her thesis that Elisabeth, together with Hildegard of
Bingen, forged "new literary genres to express her experience"
(80). Moreover, many of the mystic's
visions clearly take her into the otherworld where she meets angels and saints
who interpret for her what she is seeing (e.g.: "Et vidi in loco valde
remoto," Liber visionum, 2. 31).
The
discussion about Elisabeth's visions lacks in clarity and confuses the
reader. Instead of outlining what makes
up the bulk of the mystic's account, Clark focuses again and again on individual
aspects and forgets to reconnect them with the overall picture. The reason for this disorientation might
rest in the problem of how to distinguish Elisabeth's own reports and Ekbert's editing
efforts. And there is no denying that a
rational approach to a mystical vision is difficult to achieve, and in this
light the author's efforts are to be commended after all.
The
last chapter focuses on Elisabeth's religious visions, which have, however,
often been discussed in previous sections of this book. At any rate, here she highlights Elisabeth's
relationship with God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary. Moreover, the mystic's strong believe in the power of the prayer
to intervene on behalf of the sinners, her clear vision of the otherworld in geographic
terms, and her conviction of her role as a critic of the Church and
Christianity are important aspects of the visionary account.
In a way Elisabeth also resorted to the
sermon to convey her messages, and frankly discussed the importance of
self-control in marriage, to be continent, and to use sex only as a means to achieve
progenity. Virginity here becomes a
symbol not only of the "innocence of flesh (127), but also of monastic
idealism centered on contemplation, the communal life of devotion and penance. But all this does not necessarily indicate
that Elisabeth was a "harbinger of the new developments in visionary
literature" (134).
As
impressive as Clark's examination of the mystic's texts proves to be, she does
not succeed in projecting a clear picture of what the distinguishing marks of
this religious woman were. In comparison
with Kurt Ruh's recent discussion of Elisabeth's work in his Geschichte der
abendlaendischen Mystik, II (1993), it seems as if Clark has lost the critical
distance to the mystic's writings, leading to a patchwork of certainly
important, though not fully convincing or clarifying analyses. The relationship between Ekbert and his
sister, the latter's self-consciousness, and the interpretation of her visions
in feminist terms would require further investigation.
An
appendix dealing with the extensive transmission of Elisabeth's work, the
scholarly apparatus, and an index conclude this volume.
Feastday:
June 18
c.
1164
A
Benedictine abbess who was a gifted mystic. She had her first vision in 1152
and was known for ecstasies, prophecies, and diabolical visitations. She became
abbess in 1157 . Her cult was never formalized, but she is listed as a saint in
the Roman Martyrology. Her brother, Ethbert, a Benedictine abbot, wrote her
biography and recorded her visions in three books