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Although we cannot say exactly which edition of Dionysius that Weigel used, I have narrowed down the many early modern Dionysius editions to a much smaller set, and focus only the subset of editions that Weigel might have read. The first criterion by which some Dionysius editions can be eliminated is the translation that Weigel used. By 1550, there existed four complete Latin translations of Dionysius—by Hilduin and Eriugena (both ninth century), John Saracennus (twelfth century) and the most recent translation by Ambrogio Traversari Calmadulensis (early fifteenth century)—as well as a partial translation by Marsilio Ficino (late fifteenth century) of the Mystical Theology and the Divine Names, and finally the so-called Extractio Vercellensis (paraphrase) by Thomas Gallus (thirteenth century). 532 Weigel, it seems, was using Traversari’s translation: even allowing for changes Weigel would have made in paraphrasing, Traversarius translation is a very close fit with what Weigel has copied. In addition to the overall syntax and structure, there are a few individual words that are found only in Traversarius’ version, making it clear that his was the translation Weigel was using. I am assuming that Weigel worked with a printed copy of Dionysius’ works rather than with a manuscript. 533 Moreover, Dionysius first appears in Weigel’s work in 1570, which leaves 532 Charles L. Stinger, Humanism and the Church Fathers: Ambrogio Traversari (1386-1439) and Christian Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977), 159- 161. 533 This assumption could perhaps be challenged with much more archival work on the Dionysius manuscripts circulating in Germany in the 16 th century. However, for the purposes of this study, there is no reason not to think that Weigel was using a printed book. There is, to my knowledge, no work on the postmedieval Dionysius manuscripts, and this understudied area could, I suspect, produce interesting findings in future work. On the manuscript transmission of Dionysius’ work, see for the Byzantine (pre-medieval and non-Western) tradition see Dionysius Areopagite, Corpus Dionysiacum, ed. Beat Regina Suchla, Vol. 1 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990). For the early medieval era see David Luscombe, Denis the Pseudo- Areopagite in the Middle Ages from Hilduin to Lorenzo Valla, Vol. 1, in Fälschungen im Mittelalter: Internationaler Kongress der Monumenta Germaniae Historica, München, 16.-19. September 1986 (Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1988). For the Middle Ages see H. F. Dondaine, Le corpus dionysien de l'Université de Paris au XIIIe siècle (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1953). However, this study is limited to Paris and to the 13 th century. See also Mystical Theology: The Glosses by Thomas Gallus and the Commentary of Robert Grossetests on De Mystica Theologia (Leuven: Peeters, 2003). 192
nine distinct editions of Dionysius (complete, Traversarius translation, published before 1570) that Weigel could have used. Of these, six (more than half) were from France (all from Paris), two from Italy (both from Venice) and one from Spain (Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid). France Given the central importance of Saint Denis to the history of the French monarchy, it is perhaps no surprise that the bulk of the Dionysius editions under consideration here are from Paris. We have already encountered in some detail the editors of two of the Parisian Dionysius editions, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (the 1498 edition) and Josse Clichtove (the 1515 edition). 534 It is worth noting, however, that Weigel likely had had access to both editions, since books published by both editors were available as far away as Saxony. Luther himself read and thoroughly annotated Lefèvre d’Étaples’ translation of the Psalms (the Quincuplex Psalterum of 1509), 535 and a catalogue of the Wittenberg university library from 1536 lists several works by Clichtove and numerous works by Lefèvre d’Étaples, most pertinently his 1498 edition of Dionysius. 536 Indeed, as we will see in the following pages, the Lefèvre d’Étaples edition is reprinted throughout Europe by other printers, meaning that it seems to be the definitive edition of Dionysius’ work in the early modern period, and therefore most likely the one that Weigel consulted. 534 On Hopyl, Higman and Estienne, the printers of the Étaples and Clichtove editions, see Elizabeth Armstrong, Robert Estienne Royal Printer: An Historical Study of the Elder Stephanus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 3-17; Marieke van Delft, "Illustrations in Early Printed Books and Manuscript Illumination: The Case of a Dutch Book of Hours Printed by Wolfgang Hopyl in Paris in 1500," in Books in Transition at the Time of Philip the Fair, 131-164 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010). 535 Hughes, 60-61. See also n. 15 on p. 61 of this chapter. 536 Sachiko Kusukawa, A Wittenberg University Library Catalogue of 1536 (Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1995). 193
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MYSTICISM & CONFESSIONAL CONFLICT I
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ABSTRACT This dissertation investig
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INTRODUCTION • ES IST DIR NICHT B
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mostly undisturbed by his Lutheran
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yet have signalled his assent with
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in a context where action is expect
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Protestant Mysticism: Not a Contrad
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interest, 31 and praised the Theolo
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one can observe the texture of the
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discourse and reasoned debate, or t
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with fragments of Eckhart and Taule
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Dionysius and Eckhart (for differen
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movement, but also profound shifts
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schools, as well as universities wh
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allowed them to cooperate effective
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made clear, would result in dismiss
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and in these external dealings, the
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same laws of physics, but while the
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Tertullian’s De Fuga in Persecuti
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as a martyr. Moreover, Holy Scriptu
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Alternatively, the so-called four-f
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tzeyger und unterrichter ist ynn di
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fellow Lutherans in studying books
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provoked into action unnecessarily,
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masses for the dead (for instance)
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traditional proof texts about the o
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positive understandings of indiffer
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insofar as their imperfection is ra
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Of these forms of indifference, I f
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to Dionysius’ authority. Two grou
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PART I • VALENTIN WEIGEL AND MEIS
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investigating his early modern read
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was a devilish heretic to others (
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his neglect of Eckhart. 158 For ins
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“unheilvolle Kompliziertheit”).
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and Jerome (wearing what looks like
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title page, as mentioned above, des
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of a respectable though not fanatic
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himself, but rather cultivated part
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church that Luther, Melanchthon and
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kan”), and specifically the role
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soul become convinced that nothing
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that salvation can be attained thro
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more importantly, a theology that a
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Mit Recht der Meister genannt: Mode
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These role-reversal dialogues were
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As this chapter has shown, Eckhart
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philosophers from Hegel and Schopen
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CHAPTER 2 • GELASSENE GELASSENHEI
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the relationship between Tauler and
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e “as it was when it was not.”
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Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
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one-of-a-kind thing, or the best ki
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einvaltig stille), an uncreated lig
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e as free of willing and desiring a
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nestling inside the soul, but rathe
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Gelassenheit, das ist, das er nicht
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(necessarily inferior) knowledge pr
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context is that he picks up on Eckh
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he begins to steer the discussion a
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further proof for Weigel’s theory
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understood that the mind cannot pos
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wait in stiller Gelassenheit, recei
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truth as an educated theologian or
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ungewisser”) and finds that his f
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die Blinden an ein ander gehetzett,
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gesagett das ist er selber und ist
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Gelassenheit for the Bible, which i
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that the kind of Gelassenheit Weige
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indifference that allows Weigel to
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teacher. 366 However, the turning p
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Weigel gives the passage an unexpec
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Page 149 and 150: the strength of the intellectual re
Page 151 and 152: CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
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Page 155 and 156: destroyer that Dionysius is most of
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Page 159 and 160: points out, with a purification, a
Page 161 and 162: served as cornerstones in defences
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Page 167 and 168: Outside the universities, Dionysius
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Page 171 and 172: other leaders of the Protestant Ref
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Page 179 and 180: The primary piece in the compilatio
Page 181 and 182: It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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Page 189 and 190: Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
Page 191 and 192: Aristotle would have been glad to h
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Page 195: offered Dionysius to the Gelehrtenr
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Page 207 and 208: Weigel concludes that, precisely be
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Page 213 and 214: Names, as the title suggests, is ba
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Page 217 and 218: of being.” 580 As we will see lat
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Page 221 and 222: This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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Page 225 and 226: Dionysius to show that, just as God
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Page 231 and 232: dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Page 237 and 238: Melanchthon’s Defence of the Augs
Page 239 and 240: alternative—namely prayer. 643 We
Page 241 and 242: Dionysius writes that the summit of
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Page 245 and 246: work, Weigel had written explicitly
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Luther did not ever use the exact p
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as opposed to an office-holder, an
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writing. By calling his Layman der
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Others are loyal to mere men (the P
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zuerzeigen einen rechtschaffen vnd
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and ceremonial ones at that. 694 Th
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himself returning gloriously from H
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all being. In relinquishing any cre
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improve appearances but, because it
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than resolve it, because the proble
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parcels God, who by rights is supre
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Appendix • The Works of Valentin
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Abad, J. M. (1999). Th
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Chenu O.P., M.-D. (1968). In M.-D.
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Eckhart, M. (1993). Werke I (Vol. 1
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Israel, A. (1888). M. Valentin Weig
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MacCulloch, D. (2010). Christianity
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Payne, R. J. (Ed.). (1981). Meister
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Schindling, A., & Ziegler, W. (1990
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Verkamp, B. J. (1975). The Limits u
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