A THIRTEENTH-CENTURY MYSTIC 



AND BEGUINE, 

 MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG 



THE triumphant ecclesiasticism of the thirteenth 

 century, manifested in the forms of political 

 power, material wealth, splendid architecture, 

 and worldly positions sufficiently commanding to 

 satisfy even the most ambitious, was, perhaps 

 naturally, accompanied by a gross materialism. 

 Against this the truly pious-minded revolted, 

 thereby causing a reaction towards mysticism. 

 Whilst before the eyes of some there floated, as 

 the ideal, the material ladder leading to fame 

 and power, before those of others there arose, as 

 in a vision, the " Ladder of Perfection," each 

 rung of which gained brought them nearer 

 to the object of their quest Divine Reality. 

 These latter, whether of great, or lesser, or even 

 of no renown, and amongst whom women played 

 a great and very notable part, were scattered far 

 and wide ; but each one cultivated some little 

 corner of the mystic garden. One such garden 

 was the Cistercian convent of Helfta, near 

 Eisleben, in Saxony, in the thirteenth century a 



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