Mystical handbooks of the late middle ages

Abstract

Mystical handbooks, or how-do-it books describing the path to union with God, was a genre that arose in Western Europe in the 12th century and lasted into the Early Modern period. These works, though rarely original, have often been overlooked, but they played an important role in disseminating mystical teaching to an increasingly broad audience. Many religious writers contributed to the genre: Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Dominicans, and so on. This article concentrates on the Franciscan friars, who played a major part in the production and spread of the handbooks.