Western vernacular mystics

This chapter explore deification in the writings of western vernacular mystics. Although vernacular mysticism in the West in Middle Ages was never firmly delinated from Latin mysticism, we do find a new phase in western discussion of deification emerging in vernacular texts. Sources are extensive. To illustrate the depth and complicity of the tradition, the chapter focuses on authors from within three vernculars, all who make significant contributions to the theme of deification: John of Ruusbroec, Hadewijch (both writing in Middle Dutch), Marguerite Porete (writing in Picard/Old French), and Richard Rolle and Julian of Norwich (both writing in Middle English). Divergent geographically, all bear witness to the central importance of the theme of deification in the West in the High to Later Middle Ages.