Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2626
E-Mail:	a.dlabacova@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, Oude Nederlandse L&C
Office Address:	Witte Singel-complex P.N. van Eyckhof 1 2311 BV Leiden Room number 1.04b

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Fields of interest

Mysticism, literature and society (15th and 16th century), Franciscan Observance and Modern Devotion

Research

Mysticism for a new age: Hendrik Herp’s Spieghel der volcomenheit in manuscript and print (c. 1455/60 – 1552) and the Franciscan Observance in the Low Countries. 

I am working on a PhD thesis (Mosaic project, funded by NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research)), which focuses on the Dutch mystic Hendrik Herp (c. 1400 - † 1477) and his magnum opus the Spieghel der volcomenheit (Mirror of perfection; written 1455-1460).
The Spieghel was the first complete manual for mystical life since the works of the famous fourteenth century mystics, such as Jan van Ruusbroec. The large number of extant manuscripts, translations and printed editions of the treatise, suggest that Herp’s new ‘mystical companion’ was an instant success. Herp himself started off as a member of the Devotia Moderna (Brethern of the Common Live, Delft and Gouda), but in 1450, before writing the Spieghel, he joined the Franciscan Observance. His further career would be closely connected to this religious movement.

My project aims to comprehend the popularity of the Spieghel by describing and analyzing the text and its transmission in manuscript and print within its contemporary context, namely the historical and literary backdrop of the fifteenth century religious reform movement of the Franciscan Observance and its interaction with religiously involved laity.

C.V.

2001-2004
BA History (VU University Amsterdam) 
 
2004-2007        
Mphil Research Master’s programme in History after 1400, cum laude
(VU University Amsterdam and Freie Universität Berlin)

2005                
Contributor (Work placement) NWO-Project ‘Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch  Collections’ (www.mmdc.nl), Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands), the Hague

2008-2009        
Part-time lecturer (VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Arts, Department of History). Courses: Academical Skills, Humanities I and Culture of reading in the late Middle Ages

2008-2009        
Researchassistant NWO-project ‘Men of letters. Medieval Dutch literature and learning’, supervised by dr. Geert Warnar (Leiden University - Pallas, Institute for Cultural Disciplines)

Publications and Conferences

‘Hendrik Herp: observant en mysticus. De Spieghel der volcomenheit in nieuw perspectief’, Queeste 15 (2008) 142-167. 

‘Mysticism in the shadow of the Burgundian court. A new perspective on Hendrik Herp’s Spieghel der volcomenheit (c. 1455-1460)’, presentation at the Third Annual Sacred Leaves Symposium: Comparative Mysticism of the Middle Ages: Textual Traditions, 1000-1600; University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA. 

‘Drukken en publieksgroepen. Productie en receptie van gedrukte Middelnederlandse meditatieve Levens van Jezus (ca. 1479-1540)’, Ons Geestelijk Erf 79 (2005-2008) 321-368 [Awarded with the Rijklof Michaël van Goens-prijs 2009]. 

‘De Legende van Sinte Alena, een gedrukt heiligenleven uit de late middeleeuwen’ in: Bart Fransen (red.), De Heilige Alena. Verering en verbeelding (Vorst 2006) 20-29.