Caleidoscopios de amor en la mística femenina medieval: Beatrijs van Nazareth y Hadewijch'

Abstract

This paper aims to show, through the analysis of two texts by two Dutch mystics of the thirteenth century, Beatrijs van Nazareth and Hadewijch, the beguine from Ambers, the new paths undertaken by thirteenth-century female mysticism. These paths lead to the fusion of the stairway of virtues, the itineraries of perfection, and the ways of amorous encounter with the divinity. Confronting a fundamentally ascensional topography that goes through a certain number of levels, which is typical of the traditional imagery of the stairway, this paper turns to the image of the kaleidoscope to understand the circular character of these new approaches and the need to understand the itineraries of perfection in concordance with the new spiritual practices of amorous mysticism.