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Document Details : Title: The Exercise of the Imagination in Jan Mombaer's Rosetum Author(s): PIGNARRE-ALTERMATT, Thor-Oona Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf Volume: 94 Issue: 1-3 Date: 2024 Pages: 41-66 DOI: 10.2143/OGE.94.1.3293962 Abstract : This article aims to investigate the role of the imagination in late medieval meditative practices, focusing on the Rosetum exercitiorum spiritualium et sacrarum meditationum by Jan Mombaer (c. 1460-1501), a canon regular of the congregation of Windesheim, the monastic branch of the Modern Devotion. Through a close reading of the Rosetum exercises involving the imagination and a lexical analysis of the term ‘imagination’ and its derivatives, the paper clarifies the meanings and uses of this faculty in the context of meditation. This approach allows to go beyond the stereotype of the distrust of the imagination, commonly associated with the Middle Ages, and offers a more refined understanding of this concept. The article starts with an examination of Mombaer’s view of the imagination. It then elucidates the role of the imagination in the meditative process based on exercises from the Rosetum, and demonstrates how ethical ends command the exercise of this faculty. |
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