Brethren of the Free Spirit

The Brethren of the Free Spirit are described as a religious group whose claim to mystical union with God was associated with freedom from ordinary moral obligations. In the account, their teaching helped make mysticism appear suspect at a time of growing concern about heresy, and it sharpened the distinction between spiritual transformation and the belief that union with God removed the need for moral restraint.

Teaching and Controversy

The group taught that people who had experienced mystical encounters with God were no longer bound by accepted moral teachings. The book describes this claim as a radical mysticism: adherents were said to believe that perfect union with God meant the usual moral norms did not apply and that they could do as they wished. Its account also notes that the group was often accused of sexual misconduct; this is presented as an accusation associated with the group, not as a detailed account of particular incidents.

The Climate Around Meister Eckhart

These teachings contributed to an atmosphere in which unconventional mystical language could provoke suspicion. When Meister Eckhart faced a heresy inquiry in Cologne in 1326, the concern that the Brethren of the Free Spirit taught freedom from sin formed part of the wider context. Eckhart had used a statement about a person in whom Christ was born in the soul being unable to commit mortal sin. The book distinguishes his intended meaning from the group’s position: he did not mean that mystical union dispensed with moral norms, but that such a person would naturally strive to avoid sinful activity. The resemblance between the claims made about union with God helped explain why his words could be misunderstood and why mysticism itself had become a source of alarm.

John of Ruusbroec’s Opposition

John of Ruusbroec addressed the group in The Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, a work concerned with the Eucharist that also attacked the Brethren of the Free Spirit. His criticism sets their asserted exemption from moral norms against his account of union with God through the practice of virtues. In this presentation, mystical union does not license arbitrary conduct: the group’s position represents a disputed and condemned claim, rather than the book’s account of the spiritual life.

Significance and Limits of the Account

The Brethren of the Free Spirit matter here chiefly as a point of contrast and a source of controversy. Their reported teaching made the consequences of claims about mystical union a pressing concern for church authorities and writers. The evidence does not provide a detailed account of the group’s organization, membership, or history; it establishes its role in the book as an example of radical mysticism against which Eckhart’s meaning and Ruusbroec’s emphasis on virtue are clarified.