Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls

195 Pages·2001·0.99 MB·English

by  Joanne Maguire Robinson

Nobility and Annihilation
in Marguerite Porete’s
Mirror of Simple Souls
SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions
David Appelbaum, editor
Nobility and Annihilation
in Marguerite Porete’s
Mirror of Simple Souls
JOANNE MAGUIRE ROBINSON
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
ALBANY
© 2001 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, address
State University of New York Press,
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Production and book design, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Joanne Maguire, 1966–
Nobility and annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of simple
souls / Joanne Maguire Robinson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-4967-X—ISBN 0-7914-4968-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Contemplation—History of doctrines—Middle Ages, 600–1500.
2. Porete, Marguerite, ca. 1250–1310. Miroir des simples ãmes. 3.
Mysticism—France—History—Middle Ages, 600–1500. 4. Women
mystics—France—History. I. Title.
BV5091.C7 R62 2001
248.2’2—dc21
00-045679
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For
Mom and Dad,
with love and thanks

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
CHAPTER ONE
NOBILITYASHISTORICALREALITYANDTHEOLOGICALMOTIF 1
Reconstructing the Medieval Nobility
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: The Beauty of High Birth
Hildegard of Bingen: Elitism Upheld
Bernard of Clairvaux: Egalitarianism Upheld
Le Roman de la Rose:The Nobility of Virtue
Hadewijch of Brabant: The Soul’s Noble Image and Likeness
CHAPTER TWO
THE “BEGUINECLERGERESSE”ANDHER MIRROR 27
Neither Lowly Writer Nor Lowly Reader
The Text of The Mirror of Simple Souls
The Seven-Stage Path to Annihilation
“Taking Leave of the Virtues” and Possessing All
CHAPTER THREE
GOD,THESOUL,ANDNO-THINGNESS 49
God as Trinitarian Ground and Creator
The Roots of a Theological Anthropology
Creation and Fall of Humanity
Fall(s) and Return(s)
viii Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls
CHAPTER FOUR
NOBILITYANDANNIHILATION 77
The Three Beautiful Considerations
Annihilation: The Soul Without a Why
Traditional Mystical Metaphors
Nobility, Lineage, and Annihilation
A “Simple” Noble Soul?
Conclusion 101
Appendix 109
Notes 111
Bibliography 161
Index 175
viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work, which is concerned in part with the lineage of ideas and of people,
would not have been possible without the support of mentors, friends, and
family. A special thanks to Gene Gallagher at Connecticut College, an out-
standing teacher who enticed me into a life of teaching and scholarship, and
to George McCormack and the late Larry Robinson, both of whom fostered a
love of learning when it made all the difference. I hope to live up to their
legacy of exceptional teaching. My dissertation readers at the University of
Chicago, David Tracy and Peter Dembowski, shared their expertise freely and
graciously in the early stages of this project. I remain most indebted to
Bernard McGinn, advisor, friend, and tireless and brilliant scholar. For him,
an Irish blessing: Sláinte!
Thanks also to my friends at the University of Chicago and in
Charlotte, some of whom have never read a word of this manuscript but all of
whom helped to get me through and beyond my doctoral work: the Anderson
family, Emily Baird and Darren Dowell, Trish Beckman, Paul and Sylvie and
the girls, Eddie Howells, Sarita Tamayo, and, always, Jill Mancina, who came
to mind many a time when the pages weren’t simply producing themselves.
Thanks also to my colleagues in Bernard McGinn’s Christian Mysticism sem-
inar in 1993, as well as to the Fellows of the 1994–1995 Institute for the
Advanced Study of Religion, all of whom gave constructive advice when this
project was in its formative stages.
This work was supported, in part, by funds provided by the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte. I graciously acknowledge this Junior Faculty
stipend support during the summers of 1997, 1998, and 1999. I will always be
grateful for the outstanding work of the interlibrary loan staff of Atkins
Library. This project would have been impossible without their particular
magic. Thanks also to all faculty, staff, and students of the Department of
Religious Studies for supporting my work.
I am especially grateful to my editorial team at the State University of
New York Press, for taking on this project and for patiently answering my
many questions. I am also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers, who saw
ix