6 - Devout Biography and Historiography

Summary

Hundreds of biographies of men and women from various circles of the Modern Devotion exist, all of them written by devoted brothers and sisters. They are usually referred to by the medieval Dutch title viten, a term that clearly reflects their relation to the classical saint's life or vita. The corpus of biographical literature produced by the Modern Devotion is a remarkable phenomenon, not only because of its size, but also because this genre, created by the Modern Devotion itself, gives such a clear expression of the pragmatic attitude towards literature held by the movement. Moreover, the viten provide a kaleidoscopic view of the spirituality of the Modern Devotion, for in them are described individuals who, under constantly changing circumstances, take up the fight for the devout ideal – and win.

All branches of the Modern Devotion produced viten. The brothers and canons of Windesheim did this in Latin, the sisters and canonesses opted for the vernacular. Usually devout biographies were included in the larger context of a brotherbook or sisterbook: a collection of viten from a given monastery or brotherhouse or sisterhouse, compiled by one or more members of that community. Diepenveen produced a sisterbook as well, the only one of the thirteen female establishments of Windesheim to do so. The viten produced by this model convent represent the spiritual ideal of the Windesheim nuns in its purest form. This chapter will deal closely with a few important literary aspects of this work. Thorough consideration will be given first to form (§6.1), followed by contents and function (§6.2), and then authorship (§6.3).

The Windesheim canonesses regular of Bethanië in Mechelen decided in 1486 to write the history of the convent. From that point on they updated their chronicle on a yearly basis. Section 6.4 is devoted to this extremely thorough monastic chronicle. By way of conclusion we shall compare the chronicle of Bethanië, a specimen of traditional monastic historiography, with the Diepenveen sisterbook, which in a certain sense represents a new direction for monastic historiography (§6.5). By happy coincidence, the chronicle from this convent in Mechelen and the Diepenveen sisterbook may even be compared according to their contents. Both works describe in their own way how the reformation of the new convent of Bethanië was accomplished by two sisters from Diepenveen.