''The Mirror of Simple Souls'' is an early 14th-century work of

Christian mysticism Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

Marguerite Porete Marguerite Porete (; 13th century1 June 1310) was a French-speaking mystic and the author of '' The Mirror of Simple Souls'', a work of Christian mysticism dealing with the workings of agape (divine love). She was burnt at the stake for heresy i ...

dealing with the workings of

Divine Love Love of God can mean either love for God or love by God. Love for God (''philotheia'') is associated with the concepts of worship, and devotions towards God. The Greek term ''theophilia'' means the love or favour of God, and ''theophilos'' mean ...

. Written originally in

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...

at a time when

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

was the prescribed language for religious literature, it explores in poetry and prose the seven stages of 'annihilation' the Soul goes through on its path to Oneness with God through love. Enormously popular when written, it fell foul of the Church authorities, who, detecting elements of the

antinomian Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...

Heresy of the Free Spirit in its vision, denounced it as "full of errors and heresies", burnt existing copies, banned its circulation, and executed Porete herself. In spite of this, the work was translated into several different languages around Europe, including English, albeit not with Porete's name attached. In fact Porete was not identified as the author until 1946. Since then it has been seen increasingly as one of the seminal works of Medieval spiritual literature and Porete, alongside

Mechthild of Magdeburg Mechthild (or Mechtild, Matilda, Matelda) of Magdeburg (c. 1207 – c. 1282/1294), a Beguine, was a Christian medieval mystic, whose book ''Das fließende Licht der Gottheit'' (''The Flowing Light of Divinity'') is a compendium of visions, ...

and Hadewijch, can be seen as an exemplar of the love mysticism of the Beguine movement.

20th century rediscovery

A 15th-century manuscript of an English translation by "M. N." of ''The Mirror'' was found by Mr. J. A. Herbert among a manuscript collection purchased for the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

in 1911 and was shown to

Evelyn Underhill Evelyn Underhill (6 December 1875 – 15 June 1941) was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism. Her best-known is ''Mysticism'', published ...

. Other 15th-century copies were subsequently found in the Bodleian library and the library of St. John's College, Cambridge, together with a Latin version made in the late 15th century by Richard Methley of Mount Grace, Yorkshire. A printed edition was edited by Clare Kirchberger from those four manuscripts, and published by Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd., publishers to the Holy See, in 1927, complete with Nihil Obstat and

Imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

. Introduction to said book: The translation by "M. N." included a number of glosses by him, and divided the text into divisions and chapters. For the 1927 edition, the mediæval text was used but with spellings updated, and occasional words replaced accompanied by footnotes with additional glosses.

20th century rediscovery

See also