Duchy of Brabant

3 texts in the archive

Duchy of Brabant3 texts

iiWhat they prayed from

Contemplatio01

The Spiritual Espousals (Die gheestelike brulocht)

Ruusbroec's masterwork was composed in Middle Dutch c. 1340 while he was still a chaplain in Brussels, before his 1343 move to the Groenendaal hermitage in the Sonian Forest. Organized around Matthew 25:6 — 'See, the bridegroom comes, go out to meet him' — the Espousals traces three stages of the soul's ascent (active, interior, and contemplative) toward union with God. It survives in 36 Dutch manuscripts and Latin and Middle High German translations; Geert Groote visited Ruusbroec at Groenendaal c. 1378 and the text directly shaped the Devotio Moderna programme of interior reform. The Latin translation by the Carthusian Surius (1552) ensured broader circulation among learned elites across Catholic Europe.

c. 1340–1343Middle Dutch·Duchy of Brabant · Brethren of the Common Life (Low Countries)Confirmed

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Contemplatio02

The Sparkling Stone (Vanden blinkenden steen)

A compact mystical treatise on the soul's progression from external religious observance through the life of the hidden son of God to union with the divine, organized around the image of the white stone given to the overcomer in Revelation 2:17. The work's concise three-stage analysis of Christian perfection made it a favoured formation text across Devotio Moderna houses and beyond; a Middle English translation, 'The Treatise of the Perfection of the Sons of God,' survives in the 1413 Amherst Manuscript (British Library, Additional MS 37790). It is available in the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality volume devoted to Ruusbroec.

c. 1340–1343Middle Dutch·Duchy of Brabant · Brethren of the Common Life (Low Countries)Confirmed

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Contemplatio03

A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness

Written by Ruusbroec for Margareta van Meerbeke, a Poor Clare of Brussels, this shorter treatise addresses the soul's preparation for and reception of the Eucharist, treating the active union with God available to every soul through the sacrament. The work documents the pastoral relationship between the Groenendaal community — dependent on Brabant ducal patronage — and the women religious of Brussels, to whom it was sent in 1359. Unlike the Spiritual Espousals, which addresses advanced contemplatives, this text is directed to active religious women and is notably more pastoral, accessible, and sacramental in its focus.

c. 1359Middle Dutch·Duchy of Brabant · Franciscan houses (Brussels)Confirmed

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