“Oh! What Treasure Is In This Book?” Writing, Reading, and Community at the Monastery of Helfta

In spite of the sustained interest among medievalists in women’s spirituality and collective institutions, women’s own understanding of the religious significance of community has received relatively little attention. This article explores attitudes toward community at the thirteenth-century monastery of Helfta. It does so through an examination of the process of the creation of The Book of Special Grace, associated with Mechtild of Hackeborn, and The Herald of Divine Love, associated with Gertrude of Helfta, as well as through an investigation of the religious meaning to the nuns of Helfta of the literary endeavor that produced this literature.