Marguerite porete pronunciation

Marguerite porete quotes
Marguerite porete: the mirror of simple souls
Born in France in 1250 and is known as a Christian mystic.

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Marguerite Porete

Laura Moncion is a Canadian graduate student currently working on medieval spirituality, historiography, and queer theory. Other interests include poetry, fermentation, and quoting Judith Butler at parties.

Sometimes, being a dangerous woman means doing what men do freely but being punished for it as a woman. In the fourteenth century, Marguerite Porete learnt this the hard way, by writing a mystical text that pushed the boundaries of the human, challenged ecclesiastical authorities, and would eventually cost her her life.

Not much is known about Marguerite’s early life, except that she was born in what is now Belgium, around 1248 or 1250. She is best remembered as the author of the Mirror of Simple Souls (Mirouer des simples ames anienties), which was written around 1300. The Mirror is a mystical text structured as a dialogue between the personified figures of Love and Reason. Reason asks Love a series of questions about the soul’s journey to unite with God. Reason’s nitpicking inquiries and Love’s simple, swooping answers allow Marguerite to both

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THE TRIAL OF MARGUERITE PORETE (1310)

Marguerite of Hainault, called "la Porete", was a beguine, or member of a female urban religious order that practiced charity and good works in later medieval cities. Some beguines lived together in communities (called beguinages), while others lived with their families. The former were often considered troublesome by civic and ecclesiastical authorities, as the lack of male authority and direction in the beguinage was seen as potentially dangerous both for the beguines and for the community around them. Although many beguines were involved in charity and social work, some developed intricate mystical philosophies. Marguerite was one of the mystics. Her work, The Mirror of Simple Souls, attracted much attention, both positive and negative. Ultimately she and her text were condemned as heretical, and she was burned at the stake in Paris in 1310. From the following texts recounting her trial and execution, try to discern what was most troubling to the church authorities. Why was she burned?

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The Book

By Student Elizabeth Cobb

“I in no way fear to gain the height.”

Burned in 1310 shortly after her widely read book was likewise burnt by the Inquisition, this accused heretic refused to give testimony at her trial.

Marguerite De Porete: A woman who was not bound by vows but dedicated her life to charity and paid the price with her own life.(pg 1)

Porete was a Beguine. Beguine woman sought to fill a spiritual void without putting their lives entirely under the control of a religious order. These women who were apart of the movement were prime targets for the Church’s interrogation for they were seen as outside the Church’s control. These woman, along with Marguerite, were sometimes seen as taking their spirituality outside the clerical world and its Latin language, and therefore beyond the power of the ecclesiastical authorities.

The Mirror of Simple Souls

Marguerite felt so strongly about what she believed in, she wanted to share it all with others. Porete was the author of a work of mystical literature titled The Mirror of Simple Souls. In her writings,