THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
at Strasburg is determined at least for the year 1314. Also he must have been reached by the influence of the mystic Johann Sterngasser, lector at the Dominican monastery at Strasburg (1317-24). If it be assumed, with W Preger, that Sermon 1. was preached at Cologne (which is not established), Tauler may have been at the stadium generale of the order in that city while Eckhart was lecturer (1326-27). Possibly he witnessed, at the same time, the closing events of the latter's life, and in that case met Heinrich Suso (q.v.). At any rate he was acquainted with Suso, having received from him as a gift his Horologium sapientice. Beyond doubt Xicholas of Strasburg (q.v.), whom he may have known at his native city, wras one of his teachers at Cologne. He probably returned to Strasburg at the conclusion of his studies and reappears toward the close of the fourth decade in the correspondence of Henry of Nordlingen (q.v.) with Margareta Ebner (q.v.). During Lent 1339 he appears at Basel, driven from Strasburg, together with the other Dominicans, in consequence of suspending mass pursuant to the interdict of John XXII. (q.v.). He is known to have been there at the beginning of 1346, and with Henry of Nordlingen was the center of a numerous body of Friends of God. In 1347, or 134S at the latest, he was preaching at Strasburg, and Christina Ebner (q.v.) writes of his "fiery tongue that has kindled the horizon." Rulman Merswin chose him as his confessor. To this activity at Strasburg must have belonged his open opposition to pope and interdict mentioned by the chronicler Daniel Speckle (Specklin), an account which has been variously disputed. A coincidence of a sermon (102d) preached on the twentieth Sunday after Trinity in honor of St. Cordula (Oct. 22) leads W Preger to the conclusion that about 1357 Tauler stayed for a considerable period at Cologne, and that his extant sermons belonged to this period. That they were preached at Cologne is shown by internal references and by the mention of the ancient Cologne manuscript (see below), which locates them at St. Gertrud, of that city; yet the arrangement, according to the church year, points to a later date. The sermons may presuppose a long sojourn in Cologne, and there is nothing to be said against tliis being in the sixth decade.
With reference to the works ascribed to Tauler,
the following is to be said: (1) Nach/olgung des
armen Lebens Christi (Frankfort, 1621; Eng. transl.,
The Following of Christ, London, 1886), published
by Denifle with the more accurate title,
Works. Das Buch von der geistlichen Armut (Munich, 1S77; Eng. transl., Golden Thoughts from the Book of Spiritual Poverty, Glasgow, 1897), formerly ascribed to Tauler, has been proved by Denifle to be ungenuine, by the difference of doctrine from the sermons; and A. Ritschl showed that it is a compilation; (2) the Medulla animai (Frankfort, 10-14) contains the material appended in seventy-seven chapters to " Sermons " (Cologne, 154 3). The title intended for chapters i.-xxxix. only originated with Christian Hohburg, who issued this separate edition. These are merely compilations, and of the rest of the collection even Preger would claim as genuine only several of the
epistles in xl.-lxvi., and chapter lxxii. Golden Thoughts on the Higher Life (Glasgow, 1897) consists of selections from (1) and (2) translated into English. (3) Betrachtug und erklerung des leidens und sterbens Jhesu Christi (Cologne, 1567; Berlin, 1856) was shown to be ungenuine by C. Schmidt. (4) Several hymns have been ascribed to Tauler (cf. P Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirche>ilied, numbers 457-67, ii. 302 sqq., Leipsic, 1863-77); but even the one most generally held to be genuine, " Es kumt ein schif geladen," Preger has declared not by him. (5) There remained the " Sermons " of which no edition scientifically adequate has been produced, and there is scarcely the beginning of a critical examination of the manuscripts. The first redaction, Sermon des gross gelarten in gnade erlauchte doctoris Johannis Tauleri (Leipsic, 1498; reprint, Sermones von latein in teiitsch gewendt, Augsburg, 1508), consisted of eighty-four sermons. The second redaction, Predige (Basel, 1521; another ed. with preface by Johann Arndt, Hamburg, 1621), adds forty- two, " recently found," to the first, of which several in the opinion of the publisher were not from Tauler. It further affixes sixty-one sermons and literary pieces from other teachers, in particular, Meister Eckhart. The third redaction (Cologne, 1543) drops the latter and instead adds twenty-five sermons, which are genuine in the judgment of the editor, but certainly are not all by Tauler. This edition, based upon the manuscript found at St. Gertrud, Cologne, in 1542, which is the first to distribute the sermons according to the church year, became the basis of all those following. L. Surius translated and paraphrased it into Latin, Opera ofhia ex Germanico nunc primum idiomate in Latinu transfusa sermonem (Cologne, 1548; German retransl., Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1622- 1621; another ed., with preface by P J. Spener, same place, 1681; Germ. Roman Catholic retransl., Cologne, 1660; and retranslations into Italian, Dutch, and French). Recent editions, going back to the old prints, are, Johann Tauler' s Predigten. Nach den besten Ausgaben und in unverdndertem Text in die jetzige Schriftsprache ubertragen, with an excellent introduction (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1826; Eng. transl., The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler, by Susanna Winkworth, with preface by Charles Kingsley, London, 1S57, and New York, 1907; rev. ed., J. Hamburger, Frankfort, 1864); and Predigten (Berlin, 1S41). It can scarcely be presumed that most of the sermons were preached at St. Gertrud. In form they are rather dissertations than sermons; they proceed in a quiet, orderly way, but often rise into dramatic energy. Scripture is employed in most fanciful allegory. The sermons, contrary to the misunderstood titles of the first redaction, were delivered in German.
The sermons are to form here the only basis upon which to determine Tauler's doctrines. A disciple
of Eckhart, he was more practical; Practical hence his sermons lack in real consist- Teachings, ency. This practical side, which came
to the attention of Luther, who in his day frequently extolled him, made him famed among Protestants as a forerunner of the Reforma-