Mechthild of Magdeburg

About this book

2012 Reprint of Original 1953 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. (c)New introduction and foreword Martino Publishing. This work is the first English translation of her 13th century classic-the mystical writings of Mechthild of Magdeburg. The only complete codex of this work is in the library of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, where the translator spent three years translating the codex from a South German translation of 1344. The book is a collection of visions, revelations, thoughts and letters written in alternating prose and poetry. The variety of its contents includes practical advice on daily conduct, as well as the most sublime descriptions of high mystical experience. Her works were early translated into Latin, and were almost certainly known to Dante, whose vision of heaven, hell and purgatory went on to have a great influence in Western Literature. Her influence is traceable in the Paradiso and by some scholars she is thought to have been the Matilda in the earthly paradise. Her works remains to this day a classic text of Christian mysticism.