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Updated 10-26-08
Elisabeth of Schonau
(1128/9-1164/5)
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"ALL THESE THINGS WERE WRITTEN DOWN ACCORDING TO MY NARRATION."
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Elisabeth was born near Bonn to a established family, perhaps minor nobility, with strong church connections --- a great-uncle a bishop, several relatives in monasteries or diocesan positions. When she was 12 she entered the nearby Benedictine monastery at Schonau, which included both a women's and a men's community.
In her later teens, Elisabeth took her vows; when she was 23, she began to have visionary experiences, which at the direction of her abbot, she wrote down or dictated to her fellow nuns. Somewhat later, in about 1155, her brother Ekbert, who had been a canon in Bonn, joined the Benedictines and came to Schonau. Even before Ekbert's arrival, Elisabeth had come to believe that God wanted her visions shared with others; her abbot had preached the content of her early visions in area churches. However, it was apparently Ekbert's "editing" of Elisabeth's written reports of the visions that led to them being published "for the edification of the faithful."
The extent of Ekbert's influence is unclear: he and the abbot determined much of the content of Elisabeth's later reports by giving Elisabeth questions to ask the spirits she saw (though sometimes she neglected to ask and sometimes the spirits declined to answer); however, a comparison of the writings made before and after Ekbert's arrival suggests that the language and style of the works were chiefly Elisabeth's. This is reinforced by a study of Ekbert's own independent writings.
Except for a visit to Hildegard of Bingen at St. Rupert's, Elisabeth appears to have spent the rest of her life at the Schonau monastery. As her reputation spread, she had many visitors and carried on a correspondence with monastics and others (22 letters have survived). At some point before 1157, she became magistra, the superior of the nuns (though under the authority of the abbot). Except for one letter, all of her datable writings are from before 1161.
Elisabeth's works include three visionary journals (Libri visionem primus, secundus, tertius); parts of these were circulated in her lifetime, but not in their entirety. The three complete works that were circulated were these:
Liber viarum Dei (1157), which talks about the "ways of God" followed by men and women in various walks of life --- religious and lay --- and at various stages of life --- childhood, adolescence, widowhood. This work became standard reading in many men's and women's monasteries over the next century.
Revelatio de sacro exercitu virginum Coloniensium (1157), in which Elisabeth reports on her questioning of the "sacred company of the virgins of Cologne": an English princess, Ursula, and her companions. A great number of bones had been discovered in Cologne earlier in the century, and if these were indeed those of the martyrs, then there would be a great number of relics to be distributed. This was by far Elisabeth's most popular work; since she "proved" that the relics were genuine, her report seems to have been wanted by every church and monastery that got a relic.
Visio de resurrectione Beate Virginis Marie (1159), which briefly describes Mary's and an angel's response to questions about a old controversy: whether Mary's body had gone to heaven with her soul at her death. This work appears in at least one extant manuscript circulated before Elisabeth's death and in several shortly after.
Elisabeth is not merely a clone of Hildegard of Bingen, though some of her images are surely influenced by Scivias. Like Hildegard, she sees herself as a servant of God on a mission rather than as a bride seeking mystical union in this life. Unlike Hildegard, she never allegorizes her visions into a theological whole; she simply sees and hears, and in later works asks questions, and then she reports the results to those who should act on them. Perhaps because of the lack of theological speculation, and judging from the number of extant manuscripts, Elisabeth's writings were far more popular in her own time than were Hildegard's.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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Note: Some web sites use the English spelling "Elizabeth" rather than the continental "Elisabeth."
1. In translation:
(a) After a biography by Joan Ferrante, links to 22 letters by Elisabeth, given in the translation of Anne L. Clark and in the original Latin; at each letter, note the "historical context." (At the bottom of the list of links, Ferrante's translation and the original of a 1150s letter from Hildegard of Bingen to Elisabeth.)
(b) Some of the teachings of the early Christian writer Origen had been condemned by the Church, and the question of his salvation was much discussed. At left, click on "Elizabeth of Schonau on Origen" for a passage from Libri visionem tertius that illustrates both the role of Angela's brother Ekbert and her response to him.
2. Essays, etc.
(a) Rebecca L. Garber's 1996 historical essay, "Medieval German Women Writers (1100-1450)," contains a brief biography of Elisabeth, useful as an introduction.
(b) A 2003 essay on Elisabeth, by Hugh Feiss, which gives biographical information and summarizes Liber viarum Dei.
(c) At Lina Eckenstein's book, Woman Under Monasticism (1896), link to the chapter, "St Hildegard of Bingen and St Elisabeth of Schonau." The first paragraphs give useful historical background; then about two-thirds of the way down the page, you'll find a summary of all the works and Eckenstein's translation of some passages.
(d) The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Elisabeth; some of the facts given are now disputed, but the continuing nervousness about her orthodoxy comes through clearly. (You may also want to look at the same work's entry, "St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins," which refers to the "fantastic legends" found in Elisabeth's account.)
3. Reviews (for information on the books' treatment of Elisabeth, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Albrecht Classen on Clark's 1992 study, Elisabeth of Schonau: A Twelfth-century Visionary.
(b) Ulrike Wiethaus on John Wayland Coakley's 2006 study, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power: Female Saints and Their Male Collaborators.
(c) Cynthia D. Bertelsen on Cristina Mazzoni's 2005 study, The Women in God's Kitchen: Cooking, Eating, and Spiritual Writing.
(d) Carolyne Larrington on the 1999 essay collection, Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and Their Interpreters.
(e) Classen on Joan M. Ferrante's.1997 study, To the Glory of Her Sex: Women's Roles in the Composition of Medieval Texts.
4. In her 1159 Visio de resurrectione Beate Virginis Marie, Elisabeth wrote: "And I saw in a far-away place a tomb surrounded by a great light, and what looked like the form of a woman in it, with a great multitude of angels standing around. After a little while, she was raised up from the tomb and, together with that multitude standing by, she was lifted up high" (Clark, 2000, pp. 209-210). Scholars believe that it is Elisabeth's vision that was used, only about 20 years later, in a c.1170 English illumination, unusual in that Mary is shown only as a shrouded "form." (For Elisabeth's questioning of Mary about the accuracy of her vision, see under "In print.")
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[Anne L. Clark has translated all of Elisabeth's writings, as well as Ekbert's prefaces to the works and his description of Elisabeth's death. Clark's introduction and notes are thorough, and an index to names and topics is useful. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Elisabeth of Schonau: the complete works; translated and introduced
by Anne L. Clark (The classics of Western spirituality). New
York: Paulist Press, c2000. (xviii, 306 p.)
LC#: BX2350.2 .E4513 2000; ISBN: 0809105217, 0809139596
Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-302) and index
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"Could all those things that were written about Him really
be true?"
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[From Liber visionem primus. Elisabeth's first visions grew out of a depression so severe that she considered suicide:]
On the holy day of Pentecost [1152], when the sisters were gathered for the Eucharist, I was detained for some reason so that I did not partake of that divine and life-giving sacrament. Thus the celebration of that day did not gladden me as it usually did, but instead I remained all day in a certain darkness of soul.
On the next day also, and for the whole week, I was sad and went along in the same darkness, unable to shake off that melancholy.... Amid all this, I was also afflicted with so great a weariness that there was nothing that my soul did not loathe. The prayers that used to be my greatest pleasure were annoying to me. The Psalter, which had always been a great joy to me, I threw far from me when I had hardly finished reading one psalm....
The Betrayer even made me hesitate in my faith so that I pondered our Redeemer with skepticism, saying to myself, "Who was He that so humbled Himself for mankind? Could all those things that were written about Him really be true?"... Likewise I was thinking skeptically about Mary our blessed Advocate at the same time as the sisters were celebrating her memory....
I strongly resisted and urged my friends to pray for me, but my Adversary so much more strongly pressed on, disturbing me in such a way that it even wearied me to live.... Finally, that Betrayer inspired me to put an end to my life and thereby terminate the tribulations I had endured for so long. But at this worst temptation, the one who defends Israel did not sleep. [pp.44-45]
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"The sisters and brother came together... for my sake."
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[For two weeks, Elisabeth was plagued by visions of demons; Mary appeared and sent away the demons, but they came back in different forms. Elisabeth was finally freed by the support of her fellow religious. From that time her visions were chiefly of celestial figures:]
Seeing my difficulties, the sisters and brother came together and they decided to pour out communal prayers for seven continuous days and mortify themselves in the presence of the Lord for my sake, and to celebrate a Mass each day for my distresses.
...[W]hile the brothers were celebrating the divine rite, I was lying prostrate in prayer with the sisters. And my heart was enlarged and I saw a great light in the heavens.... [p.49]
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"...so that these words might be captured in writing."
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[From near the end of Liber visionem primus: the passage describes the day before Palm Sunday, 1154, at the beginning of Elisabeth's public mission. She was praying in the monastery church, felt a ray of light which warmed her and then caused her to fall on the floor:]
After a little while, the angel of the Lord came, and quickly raised me up and stood me on my feet, saying: "O person, rise, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you, and do not be afraid, because I am with you all the days of your life.
"Act manfully and let your heart be strengthened and wait for the Lord. And I will say to the apostates of the earth, 'Just as once the people crucified Me, so I am daily crucified among those who have sinned against me in their hearts.'..."
When he had spoken these things, he departed. I made a sign to the sisters to bring tablets so that these words might be captured in writing. Indeed, I was not able to speak of anything else until all these things were written down according to my narration. [pp.85-86]
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"Won't I be scorned by everyone...?"
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[From a letter to Hildegard of Bingen (c.1155), the first of two extant. Early in her career, Elisabeth learned one of the major problems of those who predict the future --- if people heed the warning and repent, what happens to the prophet's reputation when the bad things predicted don't happen? Based on her visions, Elisabeth's abbot had preached God's wrath; he succeeded in bringing many to penance, so there was no catastrophe. Elisabeth described to Hildegard her complaint to her angel:]
I said to him, "Lord, what will be done about that message that you spoke to me?"
He responded, "Do not be sad or disturbed if the things I predicted do not come to pass on the day I had indicated to you, because the Lord has been appeased by the amends made by many."-
[And two days later:]
Again the angel stood by me and said, "The Lord has seen the affliction of His people and has turned the wrath of his indignation from them."
I said to him, "But then, my lord, won't I be scorned by everyone to whom this message was revealed?'
He said, "You must endure patiently and with good will everything that will happen to you on this occasion. Take diligent heed of that One who, although He was the Creator of the whole world, endured the mockeries of human beings. Now the Lord is testing your patience for the first time." [p.141]
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"Do you see these books? All of these are still to be dictated...."
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[From Liber viarum Dei (1157): At the beginning of her book, Elisabeth acknowledged the influence of Hildegard of Bingen and described her own place among the sacred writers of the future:]
...[O]ne day in the previous year, while I was in a trance, he [an angel] led me as if into a meadow. A tent was pitched there, and we entered it. He showed me a great pile of books kept there and said, "Do you see these books? All of these are still to be dictated before the judgement day." Then, raising one from the pile, he said, "This is the Book of God's Ways, which will be revealed through you after you have visited sister Hildegard and listened to her."
And immediately after I returned from Hildegard, it did indeed begin to unfold in that way. [p.165]
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"The virgin you see is the sacred humanity of the Lord Jesus."
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[From Liber visionem tertius, perhaps the clearest example of the influence of Ekbert and the abbot of Schonau. First, Elisabeth's independent vision:]
While we were celebrating the vigil of the birth of the Lord, around the hour of the divine service, I came into a trance and I saw, as it were, a sun of marvelous brightness in the sky. In the middle of the sun was the likeness of a virgin whose appearance was particularly beautiful and desirable to see, She was sitting with her hair spread over her shoulders, a crown of the most resplendent gold on her head, and a golden cup in her right hand. A splendor of great brightness came forth from the sun, by which she was surrounded on all sides, and from her it seemed to fill first the place of our dwelling, and then after a while spread out little by little to fill the whole world....
On the holy day itself, while the solemnity of Mass was being celebrated, the holy angel of the Lord appeared to me and I asked him what kind of vision it could be and what meaning it might have. About that virgin whom I most wanted to understand, he responded and said, "The virgin you see is the sacred humanity of the Lord Jesus. The sun in which the virgin is sitting is the divinity that possesses and illuminates the whole humanity of the Savior." [p.123]
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"I questioned him, as I had been advised...."
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[Then when Elisabeth reported her vision, her advisors were puzzled by Jesus' feminine appearance . So another spirit provided an acceptable answer: one vision was doing double duty:]
On the third day after this, the elect of the Lord, John the Evangelist, appeared to me in his usual way when the office of the Mass was being celebrated, and with him was the glorious Queen of Heaven. I questioned him, as I had been advised, and said, "Why, my lord, was the humanity of the Lord Savior shown to me in the form of a virgin and not in a masculine form?"
He responded to my question, saying, "The Lord willed it to be done in this way so that the vision could so much more easily be adapted to also signify His blessed mother." [pp.124-25]
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"They do not allow me to be silent."
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[From Revelatio, on Ursula and her virgins: At the request of area abbots and bishops, Elisabeth's abbot ordered her in 1156 to find out if a group of bodies and inscribed stones unearthed in a Cologne cemetery earlier in the century were indeed the relics and monuments of the English martyr Ursula and her companions, believed to have been killed there some 900 hundred years before:]
Although I was very resistant, certain men of good repute
pressed me with their demand to investigate these things at length
and they do not allow me to be silent. Indeed, I know that those
people who oppose the grace of God in me will take this occasion
to scourge me with their tongues. [p.213]
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"These words threw me into grave doubt."
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[Elisabeth approached her investigation with appropriate skepticism. She questioned the spirits who appeared to her about the presence of male bodies. One told her that men had accompanied the virgins as guards:]
These words threw me into grave doubt. Indeed, like others who read the history of the British virgins, I thought that that blessed society made their pilgrimage without the escort of any men. [p.215]
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"It was not believable."
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[Elisabeth asked many questions. Verena, one of the martyrs who appeared to Elisabeth, told her that one of the bodies was that of a pope named Cyriacus:]
After this, when I had examined the catalogue of Roman pontiffs
and nowhere found the name of St. Cyriacus, I again inquired
of blessed Verena. One day when she presented herself to me,
I asked her why he was not inscribed among the other Roman prelates.
[And on a man who had time to carve all the inscriptions before
himself being martyred:]
I asked about the day of his martyrdom, because it was not believable --- according to this narration --- that he could also have been killed on the same day on which the virgins suffered. [p.218]
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"How could it be?"
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[Finally, on the presence among the bodies of Ursula's fiance; to solve this problem she went to a higher authority, her reliable angel:]
I wondered about these things, thinking that it was completely
unbelievable in light of the history that the fiance of Saint
Ursula was killed in this martyrdom. Then one day the angel of
the Lord, who usually visited me, manifested his form to me.
I asked him, saying "Lord..., how could it be that he was
united with her in martyrdom, when it is written that she fled
from marriage with him? [p.220]
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"It is poorly valued there."
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[After a year of inquiry and after the angel and then Mary supported the martyrs' story, Elisabeth at length pronounced the relics and inscriptions true. The bones of several of the martyrs were kept at Schonau. In the case of one, Verena, the bones were not complete. (The monastery at Ilbenstadt, which had her head, was apparently not highly thought of by Verena):]
I also inquired about the head of Saint Verena, asking her, "Behold, lady, your body has been brought to us, but what shall we do about your venerable head, which is not here? I beg you to tell us where it is so that we may seek it and join it to your body."
She responded to me, "It is in a place called Ilbenstadt, and it is poorly valued there; I would rather it be where my body is venerated." [p.225]
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"A voice thundering in the heart of a small worm-person
speaks."
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[From an 1159 letter. In 1157, Elisabeth had sent copies of Liber viarum Dei to all of the area bishops, with directions to share it with "the Roman church and all the people and all the churches of God" (p.206). In Trier, at least, the bishop did not obey her order, so two years later, Elisabeth wrote to him again. Her opening:]
A certain small spark sent from the seat of great majesty, and a voice thundering in the heart of a small worm-person speaks. To Hillin, archbishop of Trier.
The one who was and is and is to come warns you.
[And later:]
Again the same Lord admonishes you, saying, "Give the reason that you have defrauded me of my chosen pearls and precious gems, which have been sent to you from the power of great majesty. You have thrown them behind you and have not wished to obey Me....
Take up and open the book and you will discover what I have
said and what has been done... If you will not tell them what
has been revealed to you and they die in their sins, you will
bear the judgment of God.... So now, pay attention and do what
is pleasing to Me...." [pp.236-37]
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"...just as I had been advised by one of our elders."
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[From Visio de resurrectione Beate Virginis Marie (1159). The church had long taught that Mary's soul went directly to heaven at her death; the question of whether her body had gone with her soul was controversial. Elisabeth was instructed to go to the one person who should know:]
...[O]n the day that the church celebrates the octave of the Assumption of Our Lady, at the hour of the divine sacrifice, I was in a trance and my Comforter, the Lady of heaven, appeared to me in her usual way. Then, just as I had been advised by one of our elders, I inquired of her, saying, "My Lady, may it be pleasing to your kindness to deign to verify for us whether you were assumed into heaven in spirit alone or in the flesh as well?"
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"I might be considered an inventor of novelties."
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[It was a year before the answer was given. On the next feast of the Assumption, Elisabeth's angel told her not only that Mary had indeed been assumed in the flesh, but that the early church had gotten the date wrong:]
...I was doubtful about publishing a text of this revelation, afraid I might be considered an inventor of novelties."
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""These things have not been revealed to you so that
they may be destroyed."
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[After two more years had passed, Elisabeth asked Mary herself about publishing the true date:]
I inquired of her, saying, "Lady, shall we make manifest that message which was revealed to me about your resurrection?"
And she replied, "It must not be divulged to the people, because this is an evil age, and those who hear it will get entangled and not know he to extricate themselves."
I responded, "Do you wish us, then, to destroy completely what has been written about this revelation?"
She said, "These things have not been revealed to you so that they may be destroyed and cast into oblivion.... You must make them known to my intimate servants...."
Therefore,... we celebrated the solemnity in our cloister to the extent that we could and rendered devout praise to the venerable Lady. [pp.209-211]
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[Anne L. Clark's 1992 book is a balanced study of all of Elisabeth's writings, and it covers them in much more detail than Clark would present in the introduction to her 2000 translation (above). The study is especially useful in its evaluation of Ekbert's role:]
Clark, Anne L. Elisabeth of Schonau: a twelfth-century visionary
(Middle Ages series). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, c1992. (x, 211 p.)
LC#: BX4700.E39 C57 1992; ISBN: 0812231236
Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-204) and index.
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[This collection includes a recent essay by Clark, "
Why All the Fuss About the Mind? A Medievalist's Perspective
on Cognitive Theory," which uses the views of recent cognitive
scientists to ask the question, "How did Elisabeth of Schonau
think?" Clark sees Elisabeth as drawing from but going beyond
what she had learned through her community life. (The "comic
mode" of the book's title refers not to humor but to Caroline
Walker Bynum's suggestion that historians acknowledge that stories
are incomplete and can alway be told in other ways.) (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
History in the comic mode: medieval communities and the matter
of person / edited by Rachel Fulton, Bruce W. Holsinger. New
York: Columbia University Press, c2007. (x, 392 p.: ill.)
LC#: CB353 .H575 2007; ISBN: 9780231133685, 9780231508476
Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-372) and index
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[In a 1999 essay, "Holy Woman or Unworthy Vessel? The Representations of Elisabeth of Schonau," Clark focuses (again in greater detail than in her translation's introduction) not only on the differing perspectives of Elisabeth and Ekbert but also on Elisabeth's own developing view of her prophetic role. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Gendered voices: medieval saints and their interpreters /
edited by Catherine M. Mooney; foreword by Caroline Walker Bynum
(The Middle Ages series). Philadelphia: University Pennsylvania
Press, 1999. (xi, 276 p.)
LC#: BX4662 .G46 1999; ISBN: 0812234855, 0812216873
Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-259) and index
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[A 2002 article by Clark looks at the tension revealed in the writings of Hildegard of Bingen and Elisabeth that was brought about by the newly developing role of the priest in the 1100s. In her discussion, Clark illustrates the differences between Elisabeth's Libri visionem primus and the later Libri visionem secundus, apparently due to the increasing influence of her abbot and brother. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Clark, Anne L. The Priesthood of the Virgin Mary: Gender Trouble
in the Twelfth Century. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion,
18 (Spring 2002), 5-24.
LC#: HQ1393 .J68; ISSN 8755-4178
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[John W. Coakley's study of the ways that male writers presented the women they wrote about from the 1100s through the 1300s includes a chapter, "Revelation and Authority in Ekbert and Elisabeth of Schonau," which describes the relationship between the two. Coakley sees Ekbert as the theologian who uses Elisabeth as "a researcher into the heavenly realms" (p.43). Quoted passages are given in Coakley's translation, with the Latin original in the notes. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Coakley, John Wayland. Women, men, and spiritual power: female
saints and their male collaborators. New York: Columbia University
Press, c2006. (x, 354 p.)
LC#: BV5083 .C55 2006; ISBN: 0231134002, 0231508611
Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-344) and index
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[Volume 2 of this anthology includes a section by Thalia A. Pandiri, "Autobiography or Autohagiography? Decoding the Subtext in the Visions of Elisabeth of Schonau," which introduces the Latin and Pandiri's translation of Chapters 2-13 of Visionem Primus with a detailed essay on Elisabeth's own perception and understanding of her experiences. The notes to the translation make up a mini-essay in themselves, showing how passages connect to later sections of the three book of visions. (See online the tables of contents of all three volumes.):]
Women writing Latin: from Roman antiquity to early modern
Europe / edited by Laurie J. Churchill, Phyllis R. Brown, and
Jane E. Jeffrey (Women writers of the world). New York: Routledge,
2002. (3 v.)
LC#: PA8030.W65 W66 2002; ISBN: 0415942470 (set);
0415941830 (v. 1); 0415941849 (v. 2); 0415941857 (v. 3)
Includes bibliographical references. Contents v. 1. Women writing
in Latin in Roman antiquity, late antiquity, and early modern
Christian era -- v. 2. Medieval women writing Latin -- v. 3.
Early modern women writing Latin
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[Joan Ferrante's study contains a discussion (pp.141-52) of
Elisabeth's treatment of the women she descrbes in the accounts
of her visions; the book also includes a brief account (pp.19-21)
of Elisabeth's extant letters. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Ferrante, Joan M. To the glory of her sex: women's roles in
the composition of medieval texts (Women of letters). Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, c1997. (xii, 295 p.)
LC#: PN682.W6 F39 1997; ISBN: 0253332540, 0253211085
Includes bibliographical references (p. [270]-282) and index
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[Cristina Mazzoni's study of the images of food and food preparation in the writing of visionary women over the centuries includes a brief but useful section (pp.51-58) on Elisabeth's accounts in her visionary journals of the sweetness of her experiences of God. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Mazzoni, Cristina. The women in God's kitchen: Cooking, eating,
and spiritual writing. New York : Continuum, 2005. (x, 222 p.)
LC#: BV4527 .M36 2005; ISBN: 0826417604
Includes bibliographical references (p.195-213) and index
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Updated 10-26-08