This piece of lyrical poetry was written by a thirteenth-century mystic, the Brabantine beguine Hadewijch. The poem can be sung to the melody of the chanson S’Amours veut que mes chans remaigne by the trouvère Blondel le Nesle; we can, therefore, consider it a song of love mysticism. It belongs to a collection of 45 poems (songs) on divine love (minne) most probably written for a small informal group of like-minded souls, as beguine communities are commonly described (see for instance Fraeters, 2014, p. 52).

The beguine movement emerged in the twelfth century in a region that today covers parts of Northern France and the Southern Low Countries, stretching to Cologne in the East. It flourished throughout the thirteenth century in a period marked by the rise of alternative religious movements and practices and stemmed from a combination of Cistercian spirituality and bridal mysticism. Its members were religious women (mulieres religiosae) living an unregulated life. Many of them belonged to the higher social strata and were literate; they were familiar with both the religious tradition and courtly literature, and some could read Latin. According to the Latin Vitae that were written about the most eminent of these women, they were engaged in affective devotional practices, mostly under the leadership of a charismatic teacher.

Songs of a mystic teacher

Hadewijch was such a magistra. Little is known about the historical Hadewijch, but some of the members of her community are mentioned by name in her letters: apart from the ‘dear child’ who is her addressee, there are Sara, Emma and Margriet. There may have been more friends and disciples, and we know about people whom she influenced and who knew her as a spiritual leader during her life. We can be sure in any case that Hadewijch had a small, well-defined immediate circle of intimae. It is now generally agreed among Hadewijch scholars that the audience of her songs consisted of this intimate group of educated women who acknowledged her as a spiritual teacher. Hadewijch describes her acts of verbal expression in the Songs as spreken, zeggen and zingen (speaking, saying and singing), which implies the probability of direct oral and situational communication.