Mechthild of Magdeburg

Here is one of the great surprises of German medieval literature. Compiled between c.1250 and c.1282 it is an extraordinary piece of imaginative writing. It integrates visions auditions dialogues prayers hymns lyrical love poems letters allegories and parables and draws creatively on features from hagiography the disputation the treatise and magic spells as the author documents her relationship with God and with her contemporaries. Selections from the text are presented here in translation with introduction and notes. Dr Elizabeth A. Andersen teaches in the School of Modern Languages Newcastle University