Ursula King on Hadewijch

“It is difficult to discover precise details about this Flemish woman mystic who has left us a considerable body of writings, composed of Poems, Visions, and Letters, but we do not have a written account of Hadewijch’s life. She is considered one of the creators of Dutch lyrical poetry, and it is thought that her works were written some time during the second quarter of the thirteenth century...It seems she was a Beguine, a “mistress” or spiritual guide to an unorganized group of Beguines to whom she speaks with authority...Given Hadewijch’s knowledge of Latin and French and her use of courtly imagery, it is thought that she came from a noble family, probably from somewhere around Antwerp or Brussels, for she writes in the dialect of medieval Brabant. Influenced by the love mysticism of Bernard of Clairvaux and others, her work represents an “experiential radicalization of the theology of love.” Love is her spouse, her companion, her Lady Mistress, her God. Love is a person to whom one can speak, a lady, a queen whose strength and richness are praised. But love is above all Divine Love whose gifts inebriate and whose strength makes her experience all the rage and fury, the suffering of love when love becomes inaccessible.”

“In her later poems, Hadewijch uses striking language and metaphysical themes that were to be further developed by the German mystic Meister Eckhart. She speaks of nakedness and void, of the shedding of the will, of all images and forms in order to attain “pure and naked Nothingness,” so that union with God is no longer experienced as the highest stage of beatitude but as a plunge into boundless unknowing, into the “wild desert” of the Divine Essence. To reach the divine summit, nothing must remain to encumber the spirit: “The circle of things must shrink and be annihilated so that the circle of nakedness can grow and extend in order to embrace the All.” Hadewijch’s language expresses the superabundance of spiritual experience, reflecting her participation in the trinitarian mysteries. She celebrates the divine names: Presence in the Son, Overflow in the Holy Spirit, Totality in the Father. Union with the three persons of the Holy Trinity in active and contemplative life leads to ultimate Unity, to the repose and silence of the soul in the depths of God. There exists an abyss between this experience of spiritual plenitude and her efforts to say something about it Words are utterly insufficient here, yet they must be used to communicate something of the “blessedness of being lost in the fruition of Love” to those who are capable of receiving such a message.”