Workshop: Hadewijch’s Vernacular

This two-day workshop will collectively work through some of the Middle Dutch terminology of the thirteenth-century Brabant mystic Hadewijch (ca. 1230), the first poet in the Middle Dutch language. We will work together mapping out how an array of key terms are used throughout her visions, songs, and letters; what they might be translating (and reinventing) with regard to Latinate concepts; how her terms might relate to other Middle Dutch uses; and how she compares with Beatrice of Nazareth. We will be thinking through her critical vocabulary– what terms mean and how they mean what they do. Since there is a large vocabulary to work with, we will also reflect on what constellation of terms best represents her spiritual orientation and practice as a beguine. We invite thoughts on the meaning of vernacularity  – how to think through what this concept in relation to her work as a whole and in relation to the use of the vernacular in Middle Dutch contexts.

Space is limited. Please r.s.v.p. to Patricia Dailey to attend and for instructions and location. [email protected]