The page of Hadewijch, English biography
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Biography
Hadewijch -- often called
Hadewijch of Brabant or sometimes Hadewijch of Antwerp -- lived in the 13th
century in what is now Belgium. She is rightly called one of the greatest names
in medieval Flemish and Dutch literature.
Little can be said for certain
about the life of Hadewijch. Unlike many other women mystics of the time, no
biography was written about her, so all we know is what scholars have been able
to deduce from her writings themselves.
Hadewijch was probably the head
of a Beguine community. The Beguines were a sect of devout women in Belgium,
Holland, Germany and northern France. Beguines did not take vows, but they
gathered together to live in simplicity and service. Many Beguines were mystics
and poets of the highest order.
Hadewijch's poetry has a rich love
mysticism. Like her contemporary, St. Francis of Assisi, Hadewijch was clearly
inspired by the courtly love poetry of the Troubadours and Minnensingers. The
fact that she was familiar with this courtly art form suggests that Hadewijch
was probably born to a noble family.
The writings of Hadewijch were
gathered and studied by the Flemish Christian mystic John Ruusbroec in the
1300s, but later fell into obscurity until rediscovered in the 1800s by
scholars.
