Spirituality in England
Spirituality in England
Spirituality in England While Julian was a product of her particular time and place, she was also the inheritor of the long‐standing tradition of spirituality in England.
Importantly, while there were some specific native characteristics, the overall approach to spirituality in England was not totally insular but was connected to broader spiritual streams from continental Europe. Apart from Benedictine and Franciscan spiritual writings, mentioned below, in particular we may note the Augustinian spiritual ethos as developed by the French Victorines, Hugh of St Victor and Richard of St Victor. Their spiritual writings also made accessible the mystical theology of the anonymous sixth‐century writer known as Pseudo‐Dionysius who certainly influenced the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing in the 1380s. What is less clear is to what degree the important thirteenth‐century Rhineland mystical tradition, associated especially with the Dominicans Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso, had an impact in England.
It is reasonable to suggest that the intensely visual character of Julian's "showings" is likely to have been influenced in part by certain external spiritual stimuli and was not simply a matter of unprovoked visionary experiences. This has two important elements. The first strong possibility is that Julian was exposed to the tradition of late medieval paintings and sculptures of Jesus' Passion and cross. In particular, some commentators draw specific connections with the notable school of East Anglian art which was at its height during the fourteenth century. From the surviving art of Julian's period we can see that the artists of the East Anglian School excelled in portraying Christ's Passion with both significant physical detail and also emotional pathos. Indeed there is an explicit reference in Julian's
Short Text, chapter i, to "paintings of the Crucifixion, which are made by God's grace, according to Holy Church's teaching, to resemble Christ's
Passion, so far as human understanding can attain." The second likely influence was the tradition of meditative visualization in relation to scripture and in particular to contemplation of Jesus' humanity. This was present in Cistercian writers, not least the twelfth‐century Englishman
Aelred of Rievaulx in his Rule of Life for a Recluse (of which, more in a moment), as well as in the Franciscan meditative tradition, not least the anonymous spiritual text, Meditationes Vitae Christi, once thought to be written by Bonaventure and dating from the mid‐fourteenth century. This work was particularly influential in introducing scriptural meditation to educated lay people. It also became available in an English translation around the end of the fourteenth century or beginning of the fifteenth century as The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ by the Carthusian monk Nicholas Love at Mount Grace Priory, Yorkshire.29
Julian in Context
Another possible influence on Julian may have been the writings of continental women visionaries, many of whom, like Julian, suffered serious illnesses and integrated these into a way of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Because of the close connections that I have already noted between Norwich and the Low Countries, it is quite possible that such texts were known to Julian even though, as we have seen, quasi‐Beguine groups may not have settled in the city until the 1430s.30 Rather more controversial are links between Julian and the tradition of the so‐called
Brautmystik, or "bridal mysticism," influential among the Rhineland mystics Eckhart, Tauler, and Suso as well as among the Beguines, with its idea of union with God as a "mystical marriage" often expressed through erotic imagery. There are undoubtedly some similarities in the themes.
For example, Julian briefly refers to "God's son" as the "spouse" of the soul towards the end of the Long Text, chapter 51. She uses the image of God as spouse at the start of chapter 52, "and God rejoices that he is our true spouse, and that our soul is his beloved wife." Finally, in chapter 58 the spousal imagery is explicitly linked to Julian's major theme of God's meaning as love. Thus, "…he is our very true spouse and we his beloved wife and his fair maiden, with which wife he was never displeased; for he says: I love you and you love me, and our love will never divide in two."
That said, any direct links between Julian and the "bridal mysticism" tradition are inconclusive.31
Otherwise, English spirituality as inherited by Julian of Norwich had several notable characteristics. First of all it was deeply biblical. This was often mediated through the monastic tradition of meditative biblical interpretation, known as lectio divina, which across time was "translated" for the benefit of non‐monastics such as clergy or laypeople. Anglo‐
Saxon England had originally been evangelized by the arrival of Benedictine monks from Rome, and monastic culture subsequently dominated English religion far more than Continental Europe. For example, half of the English cathedrals (for example, Norwich) during the Middle Ages were run by monastic personnel. There were no parallels on the Continent.
Second, the English spiritual tradition was strongly grounded in affective piety, especially devotion to the humanity of Christ, not least to Jesus' Passion. A notable example is the Benedictine Anselm of Canterbury's Prayers and Meditations. This affective strain also resulted in countless meditations, poems, hymns, and prayers that sought to inspire intense and intimate love. One particular theme that is closely associated with Julian of Norwich is Jesus as Mother. However, it is important to note that while Julian employs the theme in original ways, devotion to Jesus as Mother is not original to her. Nor, indeed, is it limited to women writers. For example it appears in Anselm of Canterbury