Liber specialis gratiae (Book of Special Grace). At
age seven, Mechthild entered the Rodersdorf cloister,
where her sister Gertrud already resided. After the
community had relocated to Helfta, Mechthild served
in the capacities of magistra and cantrix. In 1261 the
fi ve-year-old Gertrud von Helfta (die Große) was given
into her charge. Bedridden the last eight years of her life,
Mechthild revealed her visions at this time to Gertrud
and at least one other sister at Helfta, who recorded them
without her knowledge; however, Mechthild did approve
portions of the account before her death.
The original German version of Mechthild’s visions
has not survived. There are more than 250 contempora-
neous and subsequent Latin and vernacular manuscript
versions of the Liber specialis gratiae, but only one
manuscript contains all seven books. Rich in allegory,
the seven parts chronicle Mechthild’s life and death,
her visions, the special graces she experienced, her
teachings concerning the true devotion to God and the
virtuous life, and fragments of a correspondence with
a female friend. In contrast to the Fließendes Licht der
Gottheit (Flowing Light of the Godhead) of Mechthild’s
somewhat older namesake at Helfta, Mechthild von
Magdeburg, the descriptions and observations found in
the Liber specialis gratiae are based on liturgy, scrip-
ture, and the writings of the church fathers; however,
like the Fließendes Licht, the Liber exhibits original-
ity in imagery, language, and style. Of special note is
Mechthild’s description of the devotion to the Sacred
Heart of Christ (Herz-Jesu-Verehrung), which she and
Gertrud die Große promoted at Helfta.
See also Gertrud von Helfta; Mechthild von
Magdeburg
Further Reading
Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Women Mystics in the Thirteenth
Century: The Case of the Nuns of Helfta.” In Jesus as Mother:
Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1982, pp. 170–262.
Finnegan, Jeremy. “Saint Mechtild of Hackeborn: Nemo Com-
munior.” In Medieval Religious Women, vol. 2. Peace Weavers,
ed. Lillian Thomas Shank and John A. Nichols. Kalamazoo,
Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1987, pp. 213–221.
Finnegan, Mary Jeremy. The Women of Helfta. Athens: Univer-
sity of Georgia Press, 1991 [fi rst published 1962 as Scholars
and Mystics].
Haas, Alois Maria. “Mechthild von Hackeborn. Eine Form
zisterziensischer Frauenfrömmigkeit.” In Die Zisterzienser.
Ordensleben zwischen Ideal und Wirklichkeit. Ergänzungs-
band, ed. Kaspar Elm. Cologne: Rheinland-Verlag, 1982, pp.
221–239; rpt. “Themen und Aspekte der Mystik Mechthilds
von Hackeborn.” In Geistliches Mittelalter, ed. Alois Maria
Haas. Dokimion 8. Freiburg, Switzerland: Universitätsverlag,
1984), pp. 373–391.
Halligan, Theresa, ed. The Booke of Gostlye Grace of Mechthild
of Hackeborn. Toronto: Pontifi cal Institute of Mediaeval
Studies. 1979.
Lewis, Gertrud Jaron. Bibliographie zur deutschen Frauenmystik
des Mittelalters. Berlin: Schmidt, 1989, pp. 184–195.
Paquelin, Ludwig, ed. “Sanctae Mechthildis Virginis Ordinis
Sancti Benedicti Liber specialis gratiae.” In Revelationes
Gertrudianae ac Mechthildianae, vol. 2. Poitiers: Oudin,
1877, pp. 1–422.
Schmidt, Margot. “Mechthild von Hackeborn.” In Die deutsche
Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, 2d ed., ed. Kurt
Ruh. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1987, vol. 6, cols. 251–260.
Debra L. StoudtMECHTHILD VON MAGDEBURG
(ca. 1207–ca. 1282)
Beguine, visionary, and mystic, known to us through her
sole book, Das fl ießende Licht der Gottheit (The Flow-
ing Light of the Godhead). Biographical information
gleaned or inferred from her book and its introductory
material written in Latin by others indicates that she was
born to a family of lower nobility near Magdeburg. She
experienced her fi rst vision at age twelve and left home
about 1230 to take up the life of a Beguine in Magde-
burg, returning home occasionally perhaps because of
sickness or troubles caused by her book. Just as she
criticized the deportment of some Beguines, male and
female religious, clergy, the pope, and others, she, too,
was subjected to criticism and even threats. Equally
evident, however, is the support she received, especially
from the Dominicans, whose order she praised. Bald-
win, her brother, was received into this order, became
subprior of the Dominican house in Halle, and was
esteemed for virtue and learning. Another Dominican,
Heinrich von Halle, was her spiritual adviser for many
years and helped her edit (and, no doubt, circulate) in-
complete versions of her book. About 1270 she entered
the Cistercian convent at Helfta, renowned, under the
leadership of Gertrud von Hackeborn, for its thriving
spiritual life and devotion to learning, as witnessed by
the writings of Mechthild von Hackeborn and Gertrud
(the Great) von Helfta. Here Mechthild was sheltered
from the trials of the unprotected life of a Beguine but,
if we can believe her, was more revered from a distance
than accepted into the community. With her health weak-
ening and her sight failing, she completed the seventh
and fi nal section of her book. Her death is described in
Gertrud of Helfta’s Legatus divinae pietatis.
The original text of her book, written in Middle Low
German with some Middle German characteristics, has
been lost. A Middle High German version of the com-
plete work translated about 1345 under the direction of
Heinrich von Nördlingen in Basel survives in a manu-
script at Einsiedeln (“E”) and provides the principal
textual basis for the study of Mechthild. Parts and short
fragments have been discovered in other manuscripts.
A Latin translation of the fi rst six books of the Middle
Low German original, probably the work of DominicansMECHTHILD VON MAGDEBURG