Recently, Thom Mertens, professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), retired and his closest colleagues wanted to celebrate this with a gift, not only for Professor Mertens himself, but for anyone interested in the spiritual literature from the Low Countries of the late Middle Ages. They have collected a selection of Mertens’ most important articles, in excellent English translations (mostly by prof. John Arblaster), and have thus made them accessible to a wider, international circle of readers.
As the back cover of the volume rightly states: Thom Mertens is a pioneer in the study of the late medieval spiritual literature, a field that had previously been neglected in favour of the study of belles lettres. This volume shows the paradigm shift that Mertens led, as he showed that most of the late medieval texts from the Low Countries qualify as spiritual literature--understudied literary works that are nevertheless of prime importance in late medieval textual culture. Thanks to Mertens’ efforts, serious scholarly engagement with these texts has become a field of research in its own right.
The volume is subdivided in three parts. The first part is titled, “Spiritual Literature in the Late Medieval Low Countries.” It contains three chapters. Chapter 1 (“Books for Eternity,” Boeken voor de eeuwigheid, first published in 1993), provides an overview of the complexity of the large book production of spiritual prose in the Late Middle Ages, for religious, semi-religious and lay people, the substantive variety, and the literary-historical approaches thereto. Next, in chapter 2 (“Mystical Culture and Literature in the Late Middle Ages,” Mystieke cultuur en literatuur in de late middeleeuwen, first published in 1995), an exploration is given of the broader culture that orients itself towards the mystical (“from Groenendaal to Windesheim”) and which has found literary expression in monastic culture. The third chapter (“The Monastery as a Literary Institution in the Low Countries,” Het middeleeuwse klooster als middeleeuwse instelling, dertiende tot zestiende eeuw, first published in 2015), gives an overview of medieval religious literature in Dutch and shows how this was largely produced in monasteries.
The second part is titled “Middle Dutch Sermons,” and indeed, Thom Mertens has been a pioneer in opening up this research domain. There are five leading articles in this part. Chapter 4 (“The Middle Dutch Sermon: A Premature Synthesis,” De middelnederlandse preek: Een voorbarige synthese, first published in 2009) is a thorough introduction to the genre of the Middle Dutch sermon, not only for those beginning to study it, but also for those who are already familiar with it and who want to delve further into issues such as how the sermons are structured, how they are delivered, etc. The next chapter (“Collatio and Codex in the Context of the Devotio Moderna,” Collatio und Codex im Bereich der Devotio Moderna, first published in 1996) explores the genre of the collatio (conference) as it was common among the devout--as it was among the Desert Fathers--and how the characteristics of this genre are reflected in the specific tradition of the manuscripts. This is followed by chapter 6 (“Ghostwriting Sisters: The Preservation of Dutch Sermons of Father Confessors in the Fifteenth and the Early Sixteenth Century,” first published in 2004) about women in convents who turned the sermons of the father-confessors into texts, suitable for further meditation. Earlier scholars had often dismissed this, assuming that the memories or writing skills of the sisters would have been insufficient, but Thom Mertens rethinks the issue. After that, in chapter 7 (“The Sermons of Johannes Brugman OFM († 1473): Preservation and Form,” first published in 2007), Mertens shows that the sermons which are preserved of Brugman, said to be the greatest preacher of his day, are almost certainly of the memory of his listeners, and do not capture the eloquence, but only report his themes and admonitions. Chapter 8 is the last in this part, namely “Private Revelation and Public Relevance in the Middle Dutch Sermon Cycle Jhesus collacien,” (first published in 2009). Mertens describes how the sermon form becomes appropriated for teaching or catechetical purposes, as it is illustrated by these collacien, aimed at the audience of Franciscan tertiaries and with the goal that the reader or listener would find, in the rich images, a point for further personal meditation
The title of part III is “Aspects of Genre in Middle Dutch Spiritual Literature.” Indeed, Thom Mertens has made important contributions to the discovery of lesser-known text genres. Chapter 9 (“Reading with a Pen: Developments in Late Medieval Spiritual Prose,” Lezen met de pen: ontwikkelingen in het laatmiddeleeuws geestelijk proza, first published in 1989) discusses the rapid development of spiritual literature in the late Middle Ages in the context of the Devotio Moderna. This is often seen as an increase in “written propagation of religious thought,” (“preaching with the pen”) but in fact, as Mertens shows, it is about sustaining, preservation, and transmission of tradition, which fits in with the Devotio moderna’s concern for interiorization: receptive and reproductive “reading with the pen.” The following chapter (“Consolation in Late Medieval Dutch Literature,” first published in 1997), gives an overview of the literature of consolation, in connection to guilt over sin, despair over ever feeling truly in touch with God, worry over fate beyond death, and so on. Also chapter 11 (“Spiritual Testaments in the Late Medieval Low Countries: An Exploration of the Genre,” Geestelijke testamenten in de laatmiddeleeuwse Nederlanden: Een verkenning van het genre, first published in 1989) gives another exploration of a lesser-known literary genre, namely that of the spiritual testament. Chapter 12 (“Die gheestelicke melody: A Program for the Spiritual Life in a Middle Dutch Song Cycle,” first published in 2009), discusses a set of nineteen songs in Middle Dutch. Thom Mertens traces their origin and their character by examining the manuscripts. The last two chapters are both about Hendrik Mande, the author on whom Thom Mertens started his research, namely chapter 13, “Voices without Words: Hendrik Mande’s Spiritual ‘Love Complaint’ as a Mystical Dialogue,” (first published in 1984) and chapter 14, “Hendrik Mande’s Apocalypse,” (De Apokalyps van Hendrik Mande, first published in 1996)
This valuable collection, carefully and beautifully edited, also contains a bibliographic overview of Thom Mertens’ publications, from the first title in 1975, when he was still a young student of 22 years old, till the 195th title in 2022--there are of course more now. John van Engen has written an interesting, laudatory tribute. The book ends with a fifty-page bibliography (manuscripts, primary sources, and secondary studies) and a useful index of persons and texts, and one of places.