Welcome to this collection of excerpts from the Sister Books!
How to use this site
Find a variety of excerpts below and explore the links!
See below for Notes on Manuscripts and Translations. Excerpt pages are titled with a reference to the manuscript and section from which the passages are drawn: ‘G(8)’ in the title indicates manuscript [G], section (8). Citations and links are provided for critical editions and digitized copies of the manuscripts where possible.
What the “Sister Books” are
These are the medieval Dutch writings of the Sisters of the Common Life, women who were part of the Devotio moderna (Modern Devotion), a late medieval and early modern movement for renewal of Christian piety and community.
Si dan aldus vol doechden was ende allen menschen een exempel alles guedes, soedat een ander guede zuster alsoe veel doechden van oer mercte, dat si anders gien boeck en behoefde dan oer hilige ende levendige exempel, als hiervoer geschreven is…
She was then thus so full of virtues and was an example of all good to all people, so that another good sister might remark so many of her virtues that she needed no other book than her holy and living example, as is written about above…
Excerpt from (17) Van zuster Stijne van Kalker. († 1422), in Dirk de Man, Ed. 1919. Hier beginnen sommige stichtige punten van onsen oelden zusteren. Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, 45.
Excerpts:
In the Kitchen
About their Clothing
Stories of Conversion
About their Animals
Spiritual Exercises
Zuster Katheryna van Arkel, die blijnde
Notes on Manuscripts and Translations
The translations provided here are very free. Sometimes the syntax and terminology follow the original more closely; at other times, different phrases and constructions are used for clarity in modern English.
Manuscript [D]:
Hijr begint een weynich van den doechden der vuriger ende stichtiger susteren van diepen veen, welker eendeels wt onsen huyse aldaer geset weren
Sister Book from the Master Geerts House, about the Diepenveen Cloister
Critical edition by Brinkerink, 1904
Manuscript [G]:
Hier beginnen sommige stichtige punten van onsen oelden susteren
Sister Book from the Master Geerts House, about the Master Geerts House
Critical edition by De Man, 1919