the mystical theology of valentin weigel - DataSpace at Princeton ...

Theologie. 227 These are then followed by Dutch versions of three of the so-called
Eckhartlegenden, elliptical fables featuring Meister Eckhart as a character. 228 All three
little tales share a common structure, in which the learned Meister speaks with an
unlearned layperson who, in the end, proves wiser than the Master. For instance, in
“Meister Eckharts Tochter,” a “goede Suster” approaches the Porter of a cloister asking
to speak to Meister Eckhart. When the Porter asks whose name he should announce, she
responds that she is “geen [i.e. kein] Maeghdeken, noch geen Vrouw, noch geen Man,
noch een Wijf, noch geene Weduwe, noch eene Jongh-vrouw, noch een Heer, noch eene
Dienst-maegt, noch een Knecht.” 229 She explains her cryptic answer to the Porter’s
simple question, mimicking Eckhart’s language of negative theology, saying that she is
neither one thing nor the other, and then disappears (“en loope [i.e. laufe] daer heen”). 230
Eckhart returns to his students, declaring that he has met “den alder-loutersten
demoedigsten mensch...dien ick oyt hebbe ghevonden naer [i.e. nach] mijn goet-duncken,”
presenting her to his (male) students as exemplary. 231
227 Actually, Pfefferl notes that what is printed is not simply a translation of Weigel’s Bericht zur
Deutschen Theologie, but rather a “grundlegende Umarbeitung” of Weigel’s work as it is translated. The
first work, however, the Betrachtung des Lebens Christi, is a “wortgetreue Übersetzung.” Valentin Weigel,
Schriften: Neue Edition, ed. Horst Pfefferl, Vol. 7 (Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2008),
XVII.
228 Valentin Weigel, Van de Betrachtingh des Levens Christi: En, Hoe Christus tot onsen nut, moet gekent
worden; Vervat in vijf Cappittelen; Noch is hier by ghevoeght de Korte Invleydinghe Tot de Duytsche
Theologie, (Amsterdam: Pieter la Burgh, 1647). Actually, one of the three small works, “Die Frau von 21
Jahren,” is not considered one of the Eckhartlegenden per se, even though Kurt Ruh classifies it as being
associated with that group of texts. For simplicity’s sake, I refer here to all three texts as Eckhartlegenden.
229 Weigel, Van de Betrachtingh, 107-108. I am citing the Dutch version of this legend from the volume
containing Weigel’s work.
230 Ibid, 109.
231 Ibid, 109-110. Whether intentionally or not, the spatial structure suggested by the narrative is
compelling, as it mimicks the path of procession (ûzgang) and return that Eckhart describes many times in
his writings.
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