MERSWIN, RULMAN. - Banker who exercised an ascetic influence, b. in Strasbourg in 1307, d. there in 1382.

Tauler's preaching filled him with religious zeal; M. entered into relations with the "Friends of God," to whom Henry Suso, Henry of Nördlingen, Margaret Ebner and Venturino of Bergamo belonged. In 1377, having acquired the ruined monastery on the island of Grünes Wörth, he rebuilt it and gave it to the Knights of St. John under the name of Altersheim; and he himself lived there.

After his death, writings of M. were found in which, without naming them, he had transcribed passages from Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck and others; of his own M. had added only supposed visions, stories of conversions and lively laments over the wickedness of his time.

As H. Denifle proved, the "Friend of God from the Oberland" is an invention of M., who composed the work in order to give weight to his directives among the Knights of St. John. Mystical theology owes nothing to M., and the high esteem in which he was held among Protestants (e.g., J. W. Preger) until Denifle's researches, because as a layman he censured the hierarchy, is not justified. The "Friend of God's" relations with Italy and his journey to Rome are inventions.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Ph. Strauch, R. M. und die Gottesfreunde, in Realencyclop. für protest. Theol. u. Kirche, XVII (1906) pp. 203-27; A. Chiquot, Ami de Dieu de l'Oberland, in DSp. 2 (1933), pp. 489-490; W. Stammler, Prosa der deutschen Gott (presents from a Nuremberg manuscript the treatise Die Zeichen eines waltraften Grundes, attributed to M.); R. Egenter, Die Idee der Gottesfreundschaft im 14. Jahrh., in Aus der Geisteswelt des Mittelalters, Festschrift Grubmann, II, Munich 1935, pp. 1021-36; E. Dehnhardt, Die Metaphorik der Mystiker Meister Eckhardt und Tauler in den Schriften des R. M., diss., Marburg 1940; K. Bihmeyer-H. Tüchle, Kirchengeschichte, 12th ed., Paderborn 1951, pp. 429-30.

Ignazio Backes

@incollection{ec8_merswin_rulman, author = {Backes, Ignazio}, title = {Merswin, rulman}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {748}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/merswin-rulman} }

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Merswin, Rulman

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