I’ve written several times about spiritual writings from the thirteenth century: Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe. Each risked being fingered by the Inquisition as a heretic, and took steps to demonstrate orthodox obedience to the powerful Catholic Church.
Marguerite Porete stands out from the others and is the most interesting by far. Almost nothing is known about her, apart from the book she wrote and the report of her inquisitors, setting out the steps which led to her being burned at the stake as a lapsed heretic. Everything I can find from two books and online searches associates her with the Beguines, a lay religious order of women prevalent in Flanders at that time. You get the sense that scholars have trodden this ground so much, back and forth, because they are more interested in the Beguines than who she was, and what she has to say. Suffice that the Beguines often shared a house, united in their sense of devotion like nuns in a convent. Except that they took no vows, maintained their own local rule. So they were free to leave at any time, go back to the world and if they wished, marry like other women.
What do we know about Marguerite? She was fearless and outspoken. She was unstoppable. She carried on when they burned copies of her book; refused the Inquisition’s authority to the end; went so calmly to her execution that it brought her new followers; thus failed in its intent to deter others.
Her book is a treatise in the language of courtly literature, with its own parables and allegorical discussions. Here’s a fragment, translated by Ellen Babinsky from the Old French original:
Soul: In truly similar fashion, speaks the Soul who had this book written, I tell you of such a thing: I heard tell of a King of great power who was by gentle courtesy and by very great courtesy of nobility and largesse a noble Alexander. But he was so far from me, and I from Him, that I did not know how to take comfort for myself. And for the sake of my memory of Him, he gave me this book, which makes present in some fashion His love itself. But it is no hindrance that I have His image*, for it is not true that I am in a strange land and far from the palace where the very noble friends of this Lord dwell, who are completely pure, perfect and free through the gifts of this King with whom they remain.†
Editor’s notes on the above:
* The image referred to here is the image of the Trinity within the soul, which is an important theme in Marguerite’s thought.
† Here Marguerite has presented the theme of farness and nearness of the soul’s beloved which she will treat in depth with her concept of the Farnearness
I owe it to my reader to set out what I find so compelling about this book from long ago. Your curiosity may have limits. I can see this journey extending for some time and multiple instalments. Much will be uncovered by the author. Much may be discovered by an eager reader. Here are some of the things which fascinate me.
1) there are uncanny parallels between the prevailing culture of her day, jealously guarded by the Inquisition, and the developed world in 2019. As in the thirteenth century, we have an entrenched orthodoxy governing what may be said and done. Stray from the rules—you face reputational ruin, death threats. The more prominent you are, the more at risk. Back then, your sins would haunt you in the afterlife, hell was eternal torment. Today, your death offers no hiding-place. A single denunciation and you may bring shame on your surviving family. Your likeness may be defaced or destroyed. Institutions named after you must change their names and publicly disown you
2) in the Middle Ages, theological disputes were bitter, unforgiving and pointless in retrospect. And today? Same, but ideological. Each defines virtue, damns the other to hell
3) I seek company among free souls, to whom God = Love = Nature as three aspects, a trinity if you will, that constitutes the unchanging ground of reality. Porete examines these closely and reaches conclusions more subtle and intricate than I ever imagined
4) I see organized Christianity, founded upon the first English translations of the Bible, as a bedrock of the culture which has sustained me till now, and within which, despite the mud of human frailty, pure truth can yet be mined and refined. This is what Porete, writing in the vernacular but dependent on Latin sources, does for her age. I suspect her recipe for freedom is as fresh today.
a wayfarer’s notes 
If you can be bothered – and I am borderline as to whether I can be bothered or not – you will find plenty of noise ‘out there’ today. Noise about the current state of affairs. There are those who, in an infamous reversal of Harold Macmillan’s proud boast, proclaim that we’ve never had it so bad. There are also, noisily, those who opine that we are on the cusp of a golden age: that the old ways are falling apart, it is a new dawn, hallelujah!
I am personally suspicious of both these positions. Things go up, things go down. So it is refreshing to read your first two reasons, especially, for finding Marguerite fascinating. I think it’s called ‘maintaining a perspective’.
Like you, if I cast an eye over the past thousand years or so, I see that, in the depths, things have not changed very much (in western civilisation). Sure, plenty of details have transformed, unrecognisably so, but the underlying patterns, the dynamics, have not.
It strikes me that it is just a small number of inventions or understandings that have made significant differences to our lot. Hygiene, sewers, clean water, antibiotics. These have led to real improvements in quality and length of life. Arguably advances in communications, whether it be canals or superfast fibre broadband. For the rest? Lots of nice technological stuff, plenty of gadgets and distraction. But much more than that? I am less convinced.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In truth I’d prefer not to be bothered about all the noise out there. Unfortunately, it lurks like a gremlin or virus, infecting this excellent typewriter-or-telex-substitute which I use to write to people far away, and receive replies from them. So in idle moments, of which I have rather many, it’s hard not to click on the click-bait & get sucked in to things which are none of my business, endlessly repetitive and lacking in nourishment for the soul.
As for changes, what i find most challenging is not so much the changes themselves but their pace., and the wilful discontinuity with th past. My most formative years were in the Forties and Fifties among educated relations & private-school teachers whose own influences covered the entire 20th century and through their own parents and grandparents almost all the 19th century too. There was a sense of enduring values, learning the bitter lessons of history but not rejecting it wholesale.
I find it important to live in the present, embrace it wholeheartedly. When I allow myself to see it’s no worse than earlier times, Then I give thanks, feel a glow of euphoria. That’s enough.
Quality and length of life? Length can be measured, for what it’s worth. I’d measure quality not in material terms but awareness of the eternal and unchanging.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a pretty interesting and informative post. I came here following the link you emailed me, But you might have deleted the post. But this was a wonderful find. Reminds me that I don’t follow blogs enough. A shame really.
LikeLike
‘FarNearness’ – this immediately reminded me of Georgia O’Keeffe. I went to see the exhibition of her work at Tate Modern in 2016 and made full use of the portable stools you can take round with you to sit and gaze and gaze and gaze. Her own reflections on her work can be read here: https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/my-faraway-nearby
Rebecca Solnit has written a memoir/reflection with the title ‘The Faraway Nearby’. I haven’t read it, only reviews, but it also seems to be exploring this theme in depth.
LikeLike