The Brieven (Letters) of Hadewijch
Hadewijch's Brieven — her thirty-one prose-Letters, addressed to one or more younger Beguines under her direction. Where the Visioenen are apocalyptic-visionary and the Strofische Gedichten and Mengeldichten are verse, the Brieven are spiritual-direction letters in prose: counsel, doctrine, exhortation, and at moments striking personal confession. Modern scholarship considers the Brieven Hadewijch's most-cited and most-influential work — they are the canonical Beguine spiritual-direction document and a direct source for Ruusbroec's later prose. Source: J. Vercoullie diplomatic edition (1895, Werken van Zuster Hadewijch, Vol II: Proza; DBNL hade002werk02, PD by US 95-year rule). Section I (currently shipped) covers Letters I-III: Letter I with the opening prayer-of-blessing and the famous autobiographical-bitter passage I held him very hard for lord; Letter II the programmatic counsel Letter with the abyss-of-hell passage (he who knew that the will of God favored it would gladly be by his will in the abyss of hell); and Letter III on the heavenly habits with the canonical touching-the-side image (hereby one touches him at the side, where he himself cannot defend himself). Section II (Letters IV-V) is also shipped: Letter IV's famous catalogue of Where Reason Errs (in fear, hope, caritas, keeping order, tears, devotion, sweetness, threats, distinguishing, taking, giving, obedience); Letter V's Why has Love not constrained you nearly enough and swallowed you in her depth? with the famous suffering-from-false-brethren doctrine (the very greatest perfection it is to bear from the false brethren who appear to be house-fellows of the faith). Section III (Letter VI) is now also shipped — Letter VI is one of the longest and doctrinally densest of the Brieven, containing the trouw-and-untrouw warning, the qui amat non laborat doctrine, the great with Christ's manhood live here in labor and misery, with the mighty eternal God love and jubilate within with a sweet trust passage, and the famous Simon-cross-bearer trope (we carry the cross like Simon of Cyrene — hired, briefly, not unto death — not like Christ who died on it). Section IV (Letters VII-IX) is also shipped — the Love-is-the-matter-alone Letter VII (amor sufficiens; Love repays always, though she often come late); the famous Letter VIII on the two kinds of fear in Love and the canonical edele ontrouwe (noble faithlessness) passage; and the briefer Letter IX with the famous mouth-in-mouth, heart-in-heart, body-in-body, soul-in-soul unitive passage. Section V (Letters X-XII) is also shipped — Letter X's virtues prove Love, not sweetness doctrine; Letter XI's since I was ten years old autobiographical passage; Letter XII's God be your god and you his love with the seven-harms-of-affection catalogue and Jacob/Joseph/Esau allegory. Section VI (Letters XIII-XV) is also shipped — Letter XIII's innocent under all things and qui amat non laborat recurrence; Letter XIV's St Paul's caritas + the self-knowledge catalogue; Letter XV's canonical Nine Points of Pilgrimage. Section VII (Letters XVI-XIX) is also shipped — Letter XVI's lime-band image (where two things become one, nothing may be between them but glue — that glue is Love); Letter XVII's famous Five Prohibitions in verse + autobiographical forbidden me four years before the Ascension; Letter XVIII's canonical definition of the soul (Soul is a being visible to God, and God visible to her in turn) and the two eyes of caritas (Love and Reason); Letter XIX's verse-Letter with the moon receives her light from the sun image of the soul rejoined to her half. Section VIII (Letters XX-XXIII) is also shipped — the famous Letter XX Sermon on the Twelve Unnamed Hours of Love (sermo de xii horis); Letter XXI's short be diligent in God; Letter XXII's vast God above-all / under-all / within-all / outside-all doctrine with its four-ways-of-bowing-down and four-animals (eagle-ox-lion-human) Ezekiel symbol; Letter XXIII's short live to God, not for the contentment of your own Love-exercises. Section IX (Letters XXIV-XXVII) is also shipped — Letter XXIV's pastoral Reason-and-confession compression; Letter XXV's famous Sara letter with the I heard a sermon on Saint Augustine episode and Love is all; Letter XXVI's Vaertwel ende levet scone — God si met u (farewell-and-live-well); Letter XXVII's hidden-ways-of-Love anatomy of embracing, kissing, singleness. Section X (Letters XXVIII-XXXI) is the FINAL section — Letter XXVIII's blessed soul speaking in God with its seven attributes, four soul-speeches, and the canonical I-saw-God-God-and-human-human passage; Letter XXIX's deeply personal be not saddened on my account; however it goes — whether wandering through the lands or in prison — it is Love's work; Letter XXX's great closing doctrinal Letter on the Trinity-life, the lightning-and-thunder of Love, and the seven-failures catalogue; Letter XXXI's closing voice of God himself to the soul (Your death and mine shall be one. Therefore we shall with one life live, and one Love shall fill both our hungers). The Brieven corpus is now SHIPPED IN FULL across ten sections — approximately 36K English words total. With this section the entire Hadewijch project on /sources/ — Visioenen + Strofische Gedichten + Mengeldichten + Brieven — is COMPLETE. Modern English translations (Mother Columba Hart 1980 Paulist Press, Marieke van Baest 1998) remain in copyright.
Source context· Greco-Christian stream · Greco-Latin cultural age
- Stream
- Greco-Christian
- Cultural age
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 1240 CE
- 1Section I — Letters I-III — opening the prose-letter corpus
The first three of Hadewijch's thirty-one prose-Letters, addressed to one or more younger Beguines under her direction. Where the Visioenen are apocalyptic-visionary and the Gedichten are verse, the Brieven are spiritual-direction letters in prose: counsel, doctrine, exhortation. Modern scholarship considers them Hadewijch's most-cited and most-influential work — the canonical Beguine spiritual-direction document and a direct source for Ruusbroec.
3,304 words - 2Section II — Letters IV-V — Where Reason Errs; the over-Love-cry
Letter IV — the famous Where Reason Errs catalogue, an elaborate enumeration of the places where Reason errs (in fear, in hope, in caritas, in keeping order, in distinguishing of being, in taking, in giving). Letter V — the short blessing-Letter with the suffering-from-false-brethren stanza and the famous over-Love-cry: 'why do you not fall deeply into her? — why do you not touch God deeply enough in the depth of the nature which is so bottomless?'
1,694 words - 3Section III — Letter VI — Trouw and untrouw; Qui amat non laborat; the Simon-cross-bearer
One of the longest and doctrinally densest of the Brieven. Three movements: the trouw / ontrouw warning (stop demanding fidelity from each other — it is the sickest sickness of our time); the qui amat non laborat doctrine grounded in Christ's life of unceasing labor (with the manhood of God live here in labor and misery, with the mighty eternal God love and jubilate within with a sweet trust); the Simon-cross-bearer trope (we carry the cross hired for reward, briefly, not unto death — not like Christ).
4,070 words - 4Section IV — Letters VII-IX — amor sufficiens; two-kinds-of-fear; mouth-in-mouth
Three of the shorter Letters. Letter VII — Love is the matter alone that may satisfy us (amor sufficiens); the like-with-like axiom; Love repays always, though she often come late. Letter VIII — the famous two kinds of fear doctrine, climaxing in the canonical edele ontrouwe (noble faithlessness) passage and eight successive Die mint sentences on what the true lover gladly endures. Letter IX — the brief unitive Letter: mouth in mouth, heart in heart, body in body, soul in soul — one sweet divine nature flowing through them both.
1,731 words - 5Section V — Letters X-XII — virtues prove Love; the ten years old passage; God be your god
Letter X — virtues prove Love, not sweetness; the imperfect are soft and fat in sweetness, but their ground stays rough and lean. Letter XI — the famous autobiographical since I was ten years old, so close-in-heart constrained by Love that within the first two years I should have died had God not given me special strength. Letter XII — God be your god and you his Love; the seven-harms-of-crooked-affection catalogue; the Jacob, Joseph, Esau fire-flame-stubble allegory of Obadiah 1:18; make haste to Love.
3,906 words - 6Section VI — Letters XIII-XV — innocent under all things; St Paul's caritas; the Nine Points of Pilgrimage
Letter XIII — Innocent under all things; Dilectus meus mihi et ego illi; vita penosa (the loving life is a life of pain); qui amat non laborat recurs. Letter XIV — on St Paul's caritas and the self-knowledge catalogue (test yourself in willing, un-willing, loving, hating, fidelity, faithlessness). Letter XV — the canonical Nine Points of Pilgrimage: ask the way, choose good company, guard against thieves, avoid over-eating, gird tight, bow upward, walk upright downward, desire prayer, speak of God.
2,790 words - 7Section VII — Letters XVI-XIX — lime-band of Love; Five Prohibitions; definition of the Soul; verse-letter
Letter XVI — where two things become one, nothing may be between them but lime: that lime is Love. Letter XVII — the famous Five Prohibitions in verse + autobiographical disclosure that God forbade these virtues to her four years before the Ascension. Letter XVIII — canonical definition: Soul is a being visible to God, and God visible to her in turn; the two eyes of caritas doctrine (Reason teaches, Love illumines). Letter XIX — brief verse-letter; the soul un-touched is most God-like; the two half-souls become one.
5,317 words - 8Section VIII — Letters XX-XXIII — Twelve Unnamed Hours; God above-under-within-outside-all; four animals
Letter XX — the famous Sermon on the Twelve Unnamed Hours of Love (each hour a particular dimension of Love's working without an ordinary name). Letter XXI — short pastoral be diligent in God. Letter XXII — the great God above-all / under-all / within-all / outside-all doctrine; the four ways of God's bowing-down + the fifth way of the simple; the Son poured out his name when he was baptized Jesus Christ gives the Christian fatness; the four animals (eagle, ox, lion, human) of the Ezekiel-Apocalypse vision. Letter XXIII — do not kiss what is given you before you know it will eternally endure.
6,298 words - 9Section IX — Letters XXIV-XXVII — Reason and confession; the Sara letter; farewell; the hidden ways of Love
Letter XXIV — pastoral compression on Reason, on bearing slander, on the three-fold confessio (before God / priest / those offended). Letter XXV — the famous Sara letter: Greet me also Sara with the very anything-and-nothing that I am; closing with the Augustine sermon episode (the flame in me would have burnt all the earth — Love is all). Letter XXVI — Vaertwel ende levet scone — God si met u (Farewell and live well — God be with you). Letter XXVII — anatomy of Love's working: embracing, kissing, singleness, recognizing, taking, giving, humilities, mutual greeting, gracious receiving.
2,929 words - 10Section X — The Closing Section — Letters XXVIII-XXXI — blessed soul in God; be not saddened on my account; Trinity-life; your death and mine shall be one
The closing section. Letter XXVIII — the blessed soul speaking in God, the seven attributes, the I saw God God and human human; then God human and human god passage. Letter XXIX — be not saddened on my account; however it goes, whether wandering through the lands or in prison, it is Love's work. Letter XXX — the great closing doctrinal Letter on the Trinity-life (Father / Son / Holy Spirit each lived); lightning and thunder of Love; seven-failures catalogue. Letter XXXI — closing voice of God himself: Your death and mine shall be one. Therefore we shall with one life live, and one Love shall fill both our hungers... The Brieven corpus is COMPLETE.
6,986 words
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