Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics

by Monica Furlong

The women mystics of medieval Europe represent the very first feminine voices heard in a world where women were nearly silent. As such, they are striking and unusual, strange, powerful and urgent. Monica Furlong uses key selections from among these women's own writings and writings about them by their contemporaries, along with her own assessment of them, to open up their contributions to a wide popular audience. The eleven women represented in this anthology were housewives, visionaries, abbesses, beguines, recluses, and nuns who wrote between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. They include: Heloise, the scholar and abbess, whose letters to Abelard are treasure of medieval literature Hildegard of Bingen, the visionary Rhineland nun Clare of Assisi, the close friend of Saint Francis and founder of the Poor Clares Catherine of Siena, an influential spiritual counselor whose book, Dialogue, consists of a debate between herself and God Julian of Norwich, the English hermitess who spent the greater part of her life meditating on and coming to understand the striking visions she received as a young woman and many others

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Medieval, Womens, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Monica Furlong was a British author, journalist, and activist, regarded as one of the Church of England's most influential and creative laypersons of the post-war period.
Her work often focused on religion and spirituality, with notable biographies of figures such as John Bunyan, Thomas Merton, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Alan Watts. She also explored subjects like the spiritual life of aboriginals, medieval women mystics, and the Church of England. Furlong was also known for her children’s novels, including the Wise Child series, which consists of Wise Child, Juniper, and Colman.
Furlong began her writing career in 1956 as a feature writer for Truth magazine and later worked as a religious correspondent for The Spectator and Daily Mail. She became an advocate for religious reform, particularly supporting women’s rights within the Church of England. In her first book, With Love to the Church (1965), she championed an inclusive Church. She continued to support the ordination of women in the 1980s and pushed for the appointment of women to senior Church positions.
Her autobiography, Bird of Paradise (1995), provides insights into her life and career. Furlong’s controversial experiences with LSD were shared in Travelling In (1971), which was banned from Church of Scotland bookshops. Throughout her career, Furlong wrote extensively on spirituality, reform, and religious figures, becoming a well-respected voice in both religious and literary circles.

Reviews

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially an anthology, with an introductory essay and potted biographies of the various mystics before their own writings are introduced. As with all anthologies and collections, some of the writings were more interesting than others. I found the stand-out here to be the poetry of Hildegard of Bingen, but some of the others were pretty repetitive and, dare I say, even a little dull.

I did enjoy the introduction and mini-biographies of these women - frankly they were more readable, and more interesting, than the edited material/primary sources. It makes me wonder if Furlong has written a more substantial history on the same subject - I'd be interested in reading that, as long as I didn't have to wade through Julian of Norwich again.

[Bonnie Westmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a shocking, hard book for me to read. I had no idea. I thought all the stories would be like that of Julian of Norwich. Praise God her story was told because the rest were unsettling! We read it at St. Placid Priory for our Wisdom Women book study and discussing it with other women helped. It is one I would not have picked or read on my own, but I’m glad I did. The way women were treated left me feeling hurt and angry and it opened my eyes. I am still shocked, but I’m glad I read it.

[Isadora Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for an introductory volume, this is a good place to start. The selections are representative of the women writing (or dictating) and the sources cited will help steer you to other scholarly works in this vein. Being an anthology, it is a bit shallow on both medieval religious history and on Christian mysticism, but it should be helpful to new readers.

[Liaken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Furlong present these women as the strange extremists they were. However, despite her good scholarship and writing, I have a hard time connecting with the women mystics she presents.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good starting place for learning about religious women of the medieval period. This book is mostly a collection of writing from the women themselves, although the author includes an unromantic introduction framing and contextualizing their work. "Mystic" is used as a broad term here. Some of the women were more inclined towards holy visions and fevers than others, and their religious experiences varied pretty significantly. The author argues that their writing exemplified some forms of internalized misogyny endemic to the church of the time (ie. women are considered "infirm and weak" across the board and also can't wear pants, according to Hildegard of Bingen 97-98) but that they also broke barriers of gender afforded to them through their chosen lifestyle. It was difficult for me to get into the writing, as it felt less mystical and more like someone paraphrasing the Bible, but I'm sure it probably holds more interest or value to someone with stronger theological leanings. Mostly I'm interested in their idiosyncrasy and strangeness, and their ability to manufacture their own transcendence.

"These are not normal ways of living, and mystics are not normal people. If we try too hard either to pretend they are 'like us' or ignore the fact that their behavior strikes us as very peculiar indeed, it becomes even more difficult to get past the blocks to whatever is good and original and interesting in what they have to say." (33)

[LuAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of various female Medieval mystics and portions of their writings. I especially enjoyed Julian of Norwich’s short text of Showings included in its entirety and the balance and wisdom of Claire of Assisi’s rule for her community which belies our view of medieval religious orders being harsh and rigid.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and surprisingly chatty for the academic subject matter.

[Ella]

Read for primary tutorial: Medieval Female Mystics

[Spring Holbrook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this from my library on a whim. I'd read some of Monica's fiction books and thought the subject matter sounded interesting.

On the whole though this book is pretty dry, which I was expecting. The summaries of the women mystics' lives was more interesting to me than their writing. I'm willing to admit that I'm not Christian or spiritual though, and I think that has a lot to do with my boredom with this volume. Also, I don't have a medieval mindset, so that's a sort of barrier to entry.

I'm still glad I read it though. It's interesting to see what these women mystics were writing alongside their male contemporaries.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book completely captured my imagination.

[Jillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

[l · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight book - a kind of 101 to select female medieval mystics.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing special

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed it, but it didn't say much that was new to me. HILDEGARD/RICHARDIS 5EVER

[Debbie Hoskins]

GRPL has at 248.22 V824