Davide Bagnardi, Junior Henriette Herz Fellow
Dr. Davide Bagnardi obtained his PhD in Classical Philology, specialized in Medieval Latin, from the Università di Roma “Tor Vergata” (2018), also obtaining the diploma as paleographer and archivist from the Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia, Diplomatica e Archivistica. Starting from January 2024 he will enter a fellowship at the Herzog August Bibliothek (HAB) Wolfenbüttel with a project about the here preserved manuscript of Mechthilde of Hackeborn’s Liber Specialis Gratiae. His main research interests include hagiography and Latin literature during the Middle Ages. In his dissertation (Il De vitis et gestis sanctorum di Antonio degli Agli: edizione critica, 2018), he dealt with hagiography, History of Christianity, and Medieval Latin philology. The manuscript is currently in preparation for publication. Among his publications features I “Martiri militari” nei primi secoli dell’era Cristiana: peculiarità e tipologie (Atti del VII Convegno Interdisciplinare dei Dottorandi and Dottori di ricerca dell’Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma 2017), an article about the so-called “Passiones” of the soldier-martyrs. Furthermore, since 2018, Dr. Bagnardi is cultore della materia (honorary research assistant) in Latin at the University of Tor Vergata, chair of Prof. Emore Paoli.
“Intellectual Mystics at Helfta in dialogue with the divinity: Mechtilde of Hackeborn’s Liber Specialis Gratiae”
From 1251, under the guidance of its second abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn (1232 – 1291 or 1292), the Cistercian monastery of Helfta, east of Eisleben, experienced the period of its maximal cultural flourishing and became the radiating center of Saxon female mysticism in the 13th century, above all due to the co-presence of three intellectual gems of vivid splendor: Mechtilde of Hackeborn, Gertrude of Helfta, and Mechtilde of Magdeburg. Mechtilde of Hackeborn received an excellent education and, in constant dialogue with the divinity, narrated her mystical experiences to an anonymous sister and to Gertrude of Helfta. The nuns, therefore, decided to write down what Mechtilde narrated: the Liber Specialis Gratiae was born. The first five of the seven books that make up the work hinge on Mechtilde’s revelations, the descriptions of the transcendent experiences, which are extremely vivid and endowed with a refined pictorial elegance. Every significant moment is placidly punctuated by the intimate dialogue that the mystic maintains with the Son of God.
The Liber Specialis Gratiae immediately enjoyed considerable success, particularly in northern Europe. Although in all likelihood the first draft of the work actually took place in Latin, some claim that it was written in German. Whatever the actual situation, there is no organic philological study on the Latin text that methodically compares the works of the two mystics who grew up and educated in Helfta, fruits of a common feeling and daily reciprocity, and which reconstructs the intellectual and spiritual mosaic kept inside the monastery. The same problem concerns other aspects of the Liber.
Aim of this project is the accurate reconstruction of the framework of interdependencies in the Latin mystical-literary production of the convent, outlining the lines of development of the cloister’s production and the dialogue with the divinity and the other mystics of the time, with an eye to contemporary women writers.
More about Davide Bagnardi:
https://uniroma2.academia.edu/DavideBagnardi