Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

Here's another thread that deals with religion and women in the middle ages, since many liked what I had to say about the Beguines.

I'd like to talk about female Christian mystics - women who *really* bucked norms of the era.

The middle ages were, understandably, a challenging time to be a woman - the risks of childbirth, the misogynistic attitudes passed down in Scripture and fewer legal protections were just some of the issues faced.

@BritishLibrary has a good overview. bl.uk/the-middle-age…

One means of avoiding a lot of these challenges (but by no means all of them) was to enter a nunnery. However, these weren't open to all - some almost functioned as places to put 'extra' daughters.

Lower-born women began to enter the beguinages I told you about yesterday.

While there were undoubtedly a lot of problems still within the confines of convents and beguinages, for some they became places where they could find a greater expression as mystics - much more so than most outside their walls.

Perhaps the most famous female Christian mystic of all was Hildegard von Bingen. born in 1098.

Placed in a monastery as a small child with another, older girl, she was essentially shut off from the world for two decades. It was then that she began an amazing journey.

Hildegard experienced visions throughout her life, but at age 42, they began to tell her to, you know, start writing them down.

With the help of a scribe, she recorded these as a book, 'Scivias' ('Know'). Here's an illustration from it. She would go on to write two more.

Hildegard's visions got her the interest of the Pope, and he permitted her to write and preach. Consequently, she toured the Holy Roman Empire, preaching to both secular and clerical audiences. She was highly respected for her insight.

Additionally, Hildegard wrote music - here's a piece attached to this tweet. She also wrote books on medicine and health. We have a cookbook of her remedies at home!

Hildegard died in 1179. However, it took until 2012 to get her canonzied as a saint.

Beatrice of Nazareth (born in Belgium around 1200) had humbler beginnings as a young girl in a Beguine community, but following her schooling, she expressed a desire to enter a convent.

There, working with another mystic, she wrote a text 'Seven Ways of Divine Love'.

Beatrice died in 1268 as the head of a convent near the city of Lier, known throughout the land and venerated to this day in the Brabant.

She is the very first writer in what would become known as the Dutch language.

Another female mystic who wrote in the language of the common people was Mechthild of Magdeburg. Born in 1207, she also was part of a Beguine community.

She wrote 'The Flowing Light', which not only detailed visions, but took potshots at the venality & corruption of the Church.

Mechthild received criticism throughout her life and was threatened by church authorities, yet she was supported and wrote far into old age.

Many of these female Christian mystics said and did things that others simply couldn't get away with.

Sadly, not all did. Maguerite Porete, a French Beguine, refused to participate in the heresy trial over her book, 'The Mirror of Simple Souls'.

Her book posited that souls can join completely with God, circumventing the strictures of the Church. Of course, this was not on.

Marguerte Porete was burned for heresy on the 1st of June, 1310.

There's also another dark side to many of these female mystics, one that is increasingly being studied and debated...

Hildegard & Beatrice suffered serious illness as a result of deprivations they placed upon themselves in their piety.

The famed Catherine of Siena was known to suffer 'holy anorexia', partaking only in the Eucharist for weeks.

More than a few female mystics died very young.

While there is a great degree of empowerment in what these female mystics did, there's a lot of contradictions and issues that resulted in debilitating, painful mortification. Some posit it as a form of control over themselves and their surroundings.

Despite this - or maybe even *through* this - I see these female mystics as exceptionally strong, fiercely intelligent women who constituted a pillar of the intellectual & cultural life of the middle ages.

Their struggle, their victories and their sorrows resound through time.

There are plenty more female mystics worth your time - their stories are inspirational, moving, horrifying and, at times, hilarious.

Look up people like Julian of Norwich, Getrude the Great, Bridget of Sweden or Margery Kempe.

I think you'll be glad you did. FIN.