The Bride of the Holy Trinity: The Role of Mary in Mechthild of Magdeburg's Mystical Theology

The Virgin Mary appears as a spiritual teacher in Mechthild of Magdeburg's thirteenth-century mystical text The Flowing Light of the Godhead, actively guiding the narrator into higher forms of mystical life. While Mary was a common figure in late medieval religious writing, Mechthild adapts traditional Marian roles to support her own contemplative ideals, making Mary a model for religious experience that authorizes and sanctions Mechthild's vision of the mystical life.

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Abstract

This article adds to our understanding of late medieval women's religious writing by examining the role of the Virgin Mary in Mechthild of Magdeburg's thirteenth-century mystical text The Flowing Light of the Godhead (Das fließende Licht der Gottheit). The Virgin Mary was ubiquitous in late medieval religious writing, but she played different roles and modeled different ways of life, reflecting the particular aims of individual authors. In Mechthild's text, Mary is depicted as a spiritual teacher who actively draws the narrator into higher forms of the mystical life. Mechthild also portrays the Virgin in several traditional roles, adapting each of these roles to support her particular vision of the mystical life. Mary thus functions as a model for religious experience in The Flowing Light, while also authorizing and sanctioning Mechthild's contemplative ideals.