Roger Williams

Lore & Background

Tauler was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, the son of Nikolus Tauler or Taweler, of Finkweiler, who in 1304 was a member of the Strasbourg city council. He entered the Dominican order at about age eighteen and was educated at the Dominican convent in Strasbourg. Meister Eckhart, who greatly influenced him, was active in Strasbourg between about 1313 and 1326, though it is unclear what relationship they had. Around 1330 Tauler began his preaching career in Strasbourg. In 1338 or 1339 the Dominicans were exiled from Strasbourg due to tensions between Pope John XXII and Louis IV. Tauler spent his exile (c. 1339–1343) in Basel, where he became acquainted with the Friends of God. He returned to Strasbourg around 1343. The city experienced a devastating earthquake and fire in 1346, and from late 1347 until 1349 was ravaged by the Black Death. Tauler remained at his post, encouraging citizens with sermons and personal visits. He died on 16 June 1361 in Strasbourg and was buried in the Dominican church with an incised gravestone that still survives in the Temple Neuf.

Reader's Guide

Tauler left no formal treatises; his oeuvre consists of eighty sermons. His sermons began to be collected in his own lifetime, with three fourteenth-century manuscripts dating from around his return to Strasbourg after exile. They were first printed in Leipzig in 1498, with later editions in Augsburg, Basel, Halberstadt, Cologne, and Lisbon. A Latin translation was printed in Cologne in 1548 and 1553. Tauler's sermons were considered among the noblest in the German language—not as emotional as Henry Suso's, nor as speculative as Eckhart's, but intensely practical, touching on the deeper problems of the moral and spiritual life. He is credited with composing the words of the Advent song 'Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen,' with the oldest existing text source being a manuscript dated before 1450 found in the Strasbourg Dominican convent of St. Nicolaus in undis. The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by 'The Friend of God from the Oberland' cannot be regarded as historical.

Did You Know?

• Tauler was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, the son of Nikolus Tauler, who in 1304 was a member of the Strasbourg city council.
• He spent his exile (c. 1339–1343) in Basel, where he became acquainted with the Friends of God.
• Tauler is credited with composing the words of the Advent song 'Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen,' found in a manuscript dated before 1450.
• He died on 16 June 1361 in Strasbourg and was buried in the Dominican church; his incised gravestone still survives in the Temple Neuf.
• The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by 'The Friend of God from the Oberland' cannot be regarded as historical.