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Document Details : Title: The Recipient(s) of Geert Grote's Letters 15, 27 and 85 Author(s): HOFMAN, Rijcklof Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf Volume: 88 Issue: 2-4 Date: 2017 Pages: 124-149 DOI: 10.2143/OGE.88.2.3256928 Abstract : The focus of attention in this article is on three letters written by Geert Grote (1340-1384), founder of the religious reform movement Devotio moderna (his Epp. 15; 27; 85). It was until now generally assumed that Grote sent all three letters to a certain Matthew of Tiel. The purpose of this article is twofold, first, to try and find out whether there are arguments to support the often encountered claim that this Matthew intended to enter the Carthusian Order, and secondly, to consider whether the letters are indeed all three addressed to this recipient. On closer inspection, it can be established that Grote indeed addressed his Ep. 15 to Matthew, but there is no proof that he entered the Carthusian Order. Matthew has been proposed as the recipient of Ep. 27 as well, with the inference that there is a Carthusian connection for that letter, but there is no proof for this either. Since much of the contents of this letter deals with unallowed personal property in a monastic setting, a newly professed Cistercian seems a much more likely recipient. Likewise, there is no evidence that Ep. 85 was meant for Matthew. A further purpose of this contribution is to investigate the history and interrelationship of a group of manuscripts, all from Carthusian monasteries in the ‘Prouincia Rheni’, that transmit a short, but fairly consistent series of Grote’s letters, among them his Epp. 15 and 27. This second topic turns out to be quite a major contribution to our understanding of how the Carthusians fit in with the Devotio moderna. |
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