9. Birgitta of Sweden in Northern Germany: Translation, Transmission and Reception

Abstract

Birgitta of Sweden (1303-73), the most important saint of northern Europe, exercised a profound influence on the spirituality of the late Middle Ages through the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae which record her prophetic visions. This chapter has as its focus two incunables, from the Lubeck printing houses, which epitomize the transformation from the visionary to the devotional, that process which is so central to many of the contributions in this volume: the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae, printed by Bartholomaus Ghotan in 1492, and the Low German Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe, printed by the Mohnkopf Press in 1496. It focuses on the principles which informed the Mohnkopf adapter's reworking and reshaping of the Revelationes and for whom this work was intended. One of the structural principles in the recasting and supplementing of the material was the development of a saint's life. Keywords: Birgitta of Sweden; late Middle Ages; northern Germany; prophetic visions