ABSTRACT
Birgitta of Sweden, the only woman to be canonized in the fourteenth century, exercised a profound influence on the spirituality of the late Middle Ages through the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae, a rich and voluminous compilation of her locutions and visions. Birgitta was a fourteenth-century aristocrat, related by blood to the Folkung dynasty, and many of the early Birgittine monastic houses were dynastic foundations. The strong attraction of Lübeck for the new trade of printing is to be found in the city’s dual identity as a Hanseatic port and as a Free and Imperial City. The Imperial Free City of Lübeck derived its economic wealth and its political power from its strategic location. The overriding concern of the devotional literature printed in Lübeck is to communicate “nutte lere den simpelen luden” in the proper conduct of the Christian life. The physical dimensions of the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe are in stark contrast to those of Ghotan’s imposing and representational Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae.
