H

HADEWIJCH (fl. mid-13th c.)
In the fi nal line of her twelfth vision, the thirteenth-cen-
tury Brabant mystic Hadewijch writes: “By that abyss
I saw myself swallowed. And there I received certainty
about my being received, in this form, in my beloved,
and my beloved also in me.” The line not only provides
a glimpse into the ecstatic experience of the author, but
also suggests the aesthetic sense which imbues all of
Hadewijch’s writings. Indeed, her letters, visions, and
poems have recently been praised as eminent in the
literature of the minnemystiek (love mystic) tradition
for their description of an unmediated experience of
the divine, which is perfected in minne, or love, and
not in ecclesiastical worship. During her lifetime as a
Beguine, however, Hadewijch was forced into exile and
her literary reputation into obscurity.
Although there is a paucity of biographical informa-
tion about Hadewijch, her writings in the vernacular
Middle Dutch convey the imaginative force with which
she appropriated the courtly love tradition to reveal
her desire for union with love. Addressed variously
as a persona and as an abstraction, love represents for
Hadewijch both the experience of the divine and the
achievement of perfection offered by that experience.
Her letters and poems encourage her readers to devote
themselves to love as a principle of engagement in both
spiritual and mundane matters, while the visions record
the account of her progression into love as a sublime
experience. The three manuscripts of her writings illus-
trate the skill with which Hadewijch crafted enthralling
examples of the language of love.

Further Reading

Fraeters, Veerle, “Hadewijch.” In Women Writing in Dutch, ed.
Kristiaan Aercke. (New York, 1994), pp. 18–60.
Vanderauwera, Ria. “The Brabant Mystic: Hadewijch.” In Me-

dieval Women Writers. Athens: University of Georgia Press,

1984 [English trans.].

Amanda Athey

HADRIAN I, POPE

(d. 795, r. 772–795)

The pontifi cate of Hadrian I (Adrian I) was notable

for the establishment of the long-hallowed contours of

the papal patrimony, for the development of relations

between the papacy and the Franks, and for the fi nal

emancipation of the papacy from Byzantine authority.

Hadrian was born into a noble Roman family and was

raised by an uncle who was infl uential in papal govern-

ment. Before 767, at the behest of Pope Paul I, Hadrian

entered an ecclesiastical career. He was an impressive

fi gure, and his effective preaching, wide learning, and

diligence as a papal notary made him popular in Rome.

His election to the pontifi cate in February 772 began an

anti-Lombard reaction in the city; exiles were recalled,

and the pro-Lombard leader Afi arta was prosecuted for

murder, though Hadrian was apparently disappointed

when Afi arta was summarily executed in Ravenna.

Hadrian was involved in a dispute with the Lombard

king Desiderius over the application of treaties of 754

and 756, by which the Lombards ceded much terri-

tory to the papacy; consequently, the pope appealed to

Charlemagne (in the spring of 773). After that, Hadrian

became embroiled in an extended, courteous debate with

the Frankish king over the promissio donationis, an oath

Charlemagne took at Rome, shortly after Easter 774, by

which he granted most of Italy south of the Luni-Monse-

lice line to Saint Peter. After Charlemagne became king

of the Lombards (in June 774), he was disinclined to

dissolve his kingdom, and in the end Hadrian obtained

only a fraction of what had been promised. However,