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

These role-reversal dialogues were common property of the German and Dutch
Sprachgebiet and circulated as early as the fourteenth century. 232 It is not possible to say
for certain how the editor of the volume came across the legends in the first place, as
there is no single (extant) volume that includes all three texts, even though, separately,
they are preserved in many manuscripts and printed books. “Meister Eckharts Tochter”
was not printed in the early modern period, but does survive in two Dutch manuscripts,
one from the 1451 and the other from 1592. The situation is the same for the “Frau von
21 Jahren,” where there is no early printed edition but three Dutch manuscripts, all from
the fifteenth century. 233 The final Eckhartlegende, known as “Meister Eckhart und der
arme Mensche,” appears in this text in a modified form, combining two separate but
similar Legenden. 234 This form of the story is apparently found in two other Dutch
manuscripts, as well as in another Tauler edition from 1543 (the so-called Kölner
Taulerdruck), 235 so it is not possible to pinpoint the precise source for these texts in the
1648 Dutch Weigel edition. In any case, this is not to claim that the 1648 editor used
specifically any of these manuscripts or printed books, but rather that the circulation of
the stories in the Netherlands was widely attested at the time the book was published. 236
Further, Beyerland’s decision to publish Eckhart-related materials in the same volume as
232 Kurt Ruh, "Das Frauchen von 22 (21) Jahren," in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters
Verfasserlexikon, ed. Kurt Ruh, Vol. 2, (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980), 858; Kurt Ruh,
“Eckhartlegenden,” in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters Verfasserlexikon, ed. Kurt Ruh, Vol. 2
(Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980), 350. See also Sara S. Poor, “Women Teaching Men in the Medieval
Devotional Imagination,” in Partners in Spirit: Women, Men, and Religious Life in Germany 1100-1500,
eds. Fiona Griffiths and Julie Hotchin (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming November, 2013).
233 Ruh, “Frauchen,” 858.
234 The Handschriftencensus lists Königliche Bibl. Cod. 133 F22 in Den Haag as containing both the
Eckhart Spruch (66) and Das Frauchen von 22 (21) Jahren. http://www.handschriftencensus.de/, accessed
June, 2012.
235 Johannes Tauler, Des erleuchten D. Johannis Tauleri, von eym waren Euangelischen leben, Götliche
Predig, Leren, Epistolen, Cantilenen, Prophetien (Köln: Jaspar von Gennep, 1543), cccxxxviii ra-va.
236 Fully documenting Weigel’s transmission into the Netherlands is obviously a much larger project than
can be accomplished here, and would require a new round of archival research.
87