Mathias Ouidi

by Anderz Piltz

Mathias Ouidi (Mats Övidsson, Övedsson), usually called Magister Mathias, born c.1300, dead probably in 1350 in Stockholm. Master of Arts, canon at the cathedral of Linköping (not later than 1333), Baccalarius of Theology, and rector of the parish church of Saint Giles (Egidius) in Söderköping (not later than 1343). According to tradition, he was also Master of Theology. A close friend and influential confessor of Saint Birgitta (see Sancta Birgitta) prior to her journey to Rome in 1349, Mathias was by far the most prolific and original of Swedish writers, let alone theologians, in the Middle Ages.

Biography

Information about Mathias is very sparse. His name cannot be traced in any university registers, but there is every reason to believe that he studied in the faculties of arts and theology at Paris. His earliest work, the Poetria, is dedicated to archbishop Olof Björnsson, who was the incumbent of the see of Uppsala between 1318 and 1332. In 1333, Mathias is mentioned four times in documents from Linköping and its vicinity. In all probability, he was living in Sweden when Ulf Gudmarsson, the husband of Birgitta, died on 12 February 1344; in Copia exemplorum, Mathias refers to an event which took place in the parish of Tåby outside Söderköping in late July of that year (see further Piltz 1974, 31 ff.).

In his theological works, Mathias is an inspired champion of orthodox Christianity. It is said that in his youth he was tempted by all the heresies in the world and thus suffered a serious religious crisis which, however, he overcame, and after which he was rewarded by God with an exceptional command of the Sacred Scriptures – a command that is amply demonstrated in his writings. Hence his interest in various heterodox tenets, which he attacks in the name of “true theology”, by which he means essentially the biblical texts in their original spiritual force, without too much academic glossing.

Like his famous confessant, Mathias was convinced that the world was ageing and close to its end, since love had grown cold and lawlessness was reigning. He stressed the Franciscan principle that Christians should imitate God’s humility, displayed in Christ’s Incarnation and Passion.

Mathias was the close witness of Birgitta’s early mystical experiences and miracles, and he was convinced that she was the authentic voice of God to her contemporaries. As an expert theologian, he wrote an enthusiastic introduction (Stupor et mirabilia) to the first collection of her Revelations (see below). For unknown reasons, they parted ways around 1346: Birgitta prepared herself to go to Rome, Mathias planned to participate in a “crusade” undertaken by King Magnus Eriksson against the Russians (June-October 1348, autumn 1350-spring 1351); it cannot be established whether he actually took part or not. Birgitta was in Rome when she learned that Mathias had died in Sweden.

According to tradition, Mathias was buried by the king himself in the Dominican conventual church “Helga Lösen” in the Old Town of Stockholm. He was famed for his saintliness, and miracles were attributed to his intercession. His tomb was destroyed during the Lutheran reformation in the sixteenth century.

Mathias is one of the candidates as author of the Old Swedish works Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and Mirror of Kings. But his main legacy comprises seven works in Latin. They all testify to his interest in rhetorics, profane as well as sacred, his scholarly ambitions as a theologian, and – at least as far as Homo conditus is concerned – his talent as a writer.

Birgittine sources state that Mathias was the author of the prologue Stupor et mirabilia to the Revelations of St. Birgitta (Rev. I, 3 declaracio; Rev. VI, 75; Acta et processus, 78, 477, 601), furthermore of an excellent gloss on the whole Bible (Rev. I, 3 declaracio; Acta et processus, 78, 477), that he had an exceptional knowledge of the Scriptures (Rev. V interrogacio 16, 36-37), and that he was a prolific writer (Acta et processus, 78, 477). A survey of Mathias’ writings is found in the Uppsala manuscript C 54 (fol. 60v), which originally belonged to the library of Vadstena Abbey:

Hic liber Subscriptus ... dicitur Copia exemplorum, quem fecit magister Mathias Canonicus lyncopensis et collegit. Hic venerabilis vir M. fuit primus confessor matris nostre gloriose Sancte birgitte quia vita et religione valde erat preclarus et tempore suo magistrorum omnium summus. Qui plures libros fecit, scilicet Concordancias super totam bibliam quem [sic] habemus in Watzsteno in tribus voluminibus magne quantitatis. Item vnum librum qui dicitur Homo conditus. Item super apokalipsim. Item tractatum de modo loquendi et quamplures alios.

(“This book which is written here below is called the Treasury of Examples and was written and compiled by Master Matthias, a Canon of Linköping. This venerable man M. was the first confessor of our glorious mother Birgitta, since he was particularly distinguished in piety and the most important Master of his time. He is the author of several books, namely, a Concordance over the whole Bible, which we have in Vadstena in three large volumes, further a book entitled Homo conditus, one on the Book of Revelation and a treatise on the Art of Rhetoric, and several others.”)

Works

Stupor et mirabilia

This introduction to the first collection of the Birgittine corpus is an expert opinion on the authenticity and orthodoxy of the “heavenly revelations” that Birgitta Birgersdotter claimed to have received and had successively edited with the help of her confessors. It is written in a lofty and excited style. Mathias claims in antithetical sentences that what happened through Birgitta is more remarkable than the revelation that took place in the Old Testament through Moses, and in a way it even goes beyond the incarnation of Christ himself: “Even I myself, who have written this, can scarcely grasp it, although the words and the deeds convince me entirely of the truth of this inspiration” (25).

Incipit

Stupor et mirabilia audita sunt in terra nostra. Mirabile siquidem

Explicit

(…) ab ipso factam ad verba eius ab ipso missa fatebuntur.

Size

Number of standard pages: 12.

Editions

• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes. Lübeck: Bartholomeus Ghotan [for Vadstena Abbey], 1492
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sancte Birgitte [ed. Florian Waldauf von Waldenstein], Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1500
• Sancta Birgitta, Reuelationes celestes preelecte sponse Christi beate Birgitte … Nuremberg: Federicus Peypus, sumptibus Joannis Kobergers, 1517
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes [ed. Olaus Magnus], 2 vols., Romae, in aedibus diuae Birgittae viduae: Franciscus Mediolanensis de Ferrariis, 1557 [vol. 1, p. 24]
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sanctae Brigittae … nunc à Consalvo Dvranto a Sancto Angelo in Vado presbytero et sacrae theologiae professore notis illvstratae … Romae: Stephanus Paulinus, sumptibus Iulij Burchionij, 1606
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sanctae Brigittae … nunc à Consalvo Dvranto a Sancto Angelo in Vado presbytero et sacrae theologiae professore notis illvstratae … Antverpiae: Ioannes Keerbergius, 1611
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sanctae Brigittae … nunc à Consalvo Dvranto a Sancto Angelo in Vado presbytero et sacrae theologiae professore notis illvstratae … Antverpiae: apud viduam et haeredem P. Belleri, 1611
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sanctae Birgittae … a Consalvo Duranto a Sancto Angelo in Vado presbytero et sacrae theologiae professore notis illvstratae. Coloniae Agrippinae: ex off. Anthonii Boetzeri haeredum [typis Henricus Krafft], 1628
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes sanctae Birgittae … á Consaluo Duranto episcopo Ferettrano notis illustratae … Tomvs I. Romae: Ludouicus Grignanus, 1628
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes Caelestes seraphicae matris sanctae Birgittae Suecae … Munich: Sebastianus Rauch, sumptibus Joannis Wagneri et Joannis Hermanni à Gelder, 1680
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes S. Birgittae e codice membraneo fol. 21 Bibliothecae Universitatis Lundensis (“Cod. Falkenberg”), Suecice et Britannice praefatus. Facsimile ed. by Elias Wessén, 2 vols. (Corpus codicum Suecicorum medii aevi), Hafniae: Munksgaard, 1952–1956
• Sancta Birgitta, Revelaciones. Book I, with Magister Mathias’ Prologue, ed. by Carl-Gustaf Undhagen (Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet. Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter, 7:1), Uppsala [also Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Stockholm, and, extra series, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International], 1977 [printed 1978], pp. 227-240

Electronic texts

• St Birgitta of Sweden, Revelaciones, Book I, http://www.umilta.net/bk1.html
• Corpus Reuelacionum Sancte Birgitte, http://62.20.57.210/ra/diplomatariet/CRB/index.htm

Translations

• (English) Sancta Birgitta, The Revelations of St. Birgitta of Sweden, vol. I: Liber Caelestis, Books I-III, translated by Denis Searby, with introductions and notes by Bridget Morris, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006 [p. 47-52]
• (German) Sancta Birgitta, Das puch der Himlischen offenbarung der heiligen wittiben Birgitte von dem kunigreich Sweden [ed. by Florian Waldauf von Waldenstein]. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1502
• (German) Sancta Birgitta, Leben und Offenbarungen der heiligen Brigitta. Neu bearbeitet, übersetzt und herausgegeben von Ludwig Clarus, 4 vols. (Sammlung der vorzüglichsten mystischen Schriften aller katholischen Völker, 10-13), Regensburg: Verlag von G. Joseph Manz, 1856 [“Vorrede … vom Magister Matthias aus Schweden,” vol. IV, 345-53]
• (German) Sancta Birgitta, Leben und Offenbarungen der heiligen Birgitta. Neu bearbeitet, übersetzt und herausgegeben von Ludwig Clarus. Aufs neue durchgesehen und verbessert von einem katholischen Priester (Sammlung der vorzüglichsten mystischen Schriften aller katholischen Völker, 10-13), Regensburg, 1888 [microfiche ed.: Wildberg: Belser Wiss. Dienst (Edition St. Walburg), 1994 – 11 microfiches, 29x]
• (Polish) Sancta Birgitta, Skarby niebieskich taiemnic, [Zamosc], 1698
• (Spanish) Sancta Birgitta, Celestiales Revelaciones de Santa Brígida, Princesa de Suecia …, 4 vols., Madrid: [Tipografia del Sagrado Corazón], 1901
• (Swedish) Sancta Birgitta, Himmelska uppenbarelser, trans. by T. Lundén, 4 vols., Malmö: Allhem, 1957–1959; vol. 1, 57-60, contains a summary of and an excerpt from Stupor et mirabilia

Commentaries

• SUNDÉN, HJ. 1973: Den heliga Birgitta. Ormungens dotter som blev Kristi brud. Stockholm

Date and place

Written in Sweden, terminus post quem is the death of Ulf Gudmarsson, which is referred to in the text.

Purpose and audience

The purpose is obvious, since the authenticity of the Birgittine revelations was initially questioned and accused of being of demonic origin, especially since they had been addressed to a woman without theological training. Mathias, who was the country's foremost theological expert, vouches for their divine origin and insists that they should be read as instructions from Heaven and taken seriously by all Christians.

Medieval reception and transmission

Stupor and mirabilia came to be considered the preface of Birgitta's Revelations and is included in all editions since Bartholomeus Gothan's editio princeps, printed in Lübeck in 1492.

Testa nucis

This text is only preserved in a short fragment in the MS. C 521 (foll. 172v-173r), earlier pertaining to the monastery of Vadstena. It seems to convey traditional rhetorical doctrine.

Title

This tract is obviously identical with the Tractatus de modo loquendi mentioned in the same MS (see above).

Incipit

Incipit Testa nucis. Rethorica est potencia considerandi vnumquodque contingens persuasibile

Explicit

(…) vtrum in eo negocium expleri pot<u>erit, et partes temporis, mensis, dies (the fragment ends here).

Size

Number of pages: 6.

Editions

• Sawicki, S. 1936: “Poetria och Testa nucis av Magister Matthias Lincopensis,” Samlaren, 109-152 [not reliable]
• Bergh, B. 1996: Magister Mathias Lincopensis: Testa nucis and Poetria, edited and translated by Birger Bergh (Samlingar utgivna av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet. Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter, 9:2), Stockholm

Translations

• Bergh, B. 1996 (see above, under Editions).

Date and place

The dedication of Poetria (see below) to Archbishop Olaf Björnsson of Uppsala indicates that Testa nucis, to which several explicit references are made in Poetria, was written in the early 1320s, during Mathias' studies at the Faculty of Arts in Paris, in a period when he was obviously intensely interested in literary theory.

Summary of contents

The fragmentary character of the preserved text makes it impossible to have a more precise idea of its layout. The beginning of the fragment reproduces the main rules of classical rhetoric as the ability to persuade, in three areas: before a court of law, in a political assembly, and in ceremonial speeches (which should unite the audience around common values). An effective speech consists of five elements: inventory of arguments, outline, style, delivery, and memorization. The art of persuasion refers to obvious facts, or to confidence in the speaker's credibility, arouses emotions, provides examples, analogies, and probabilities, and discusses various types of mitigating or aggravating circumstances of an action.

Composition and style

The traditional scholastic style of definitions and distinctions of traditional rhetorical concepts is adopted.

Sources

Its principal source appears to be William of Moerbeke’s Latin translation of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, with occasional reminiscences from Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero’s De inventione (Bergh 1996, 8 f.).

Purpose and audience

The aim is to convey traditional rhetorical theory.

Medieval reception and transmission

The only extant manuscript is Uppsala University Library, C 521, fol. 172v-173r. The original text is reproduced in facsimile in the end of Berghs' edition.

Poetria

The Poetria is a treatise on poetry. It is partly written in hexameters in a rather abstruse style. It is not typical of the medieval tradition, which took a keen interest in technical matters such as tropes, figures of speech and other stylistic devices, but not in aesthetic theory. Mathias makes an effort to integrate Aristotelian theory into a treatise on poetry, a remarkable ambition in fourteenth-century Sweden. He uses examples from Avianus, Homer, Ovid, Persius and Virgil. The text is divided into three parts, representacio (visualization), tonus (intonation), and metrum (not on metrics but on the order in which things are to be presented in a poem).

Incipit

Maria Ihesus Christus. Incipit Poetria domini magistri Mathie. Cum plurima nostratum studia ante mentis oculos pertractarem  

Explicit

Eterni tecum mansuri solis ad ortum. Explicit Poetria magistri Mathie Lincopensis.

Metre/rhythm

The many metrical examples adduced are mostly hexametric. The treatise ends with a poem by Mattias himself, comprising 94 lines, which aims to illustrate various poetical tropes (mentioned in the margin) discussed in the previous theoretical part.

Size

42 pages.

Editions

• Sawicki, S. 1936: “Poetria och Testa nucis av Magister Matthias Lincopensis,” Samlaren, 109-152 [not reliable]
• Bergh, B. 1996: Magister Mathias Lincopensis: Testa nucis and Poetria, edited and translated by Birger Bergh (Samlingar utgivna av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet. Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter, 9:2), Stockholm

Note that Bergh in his critical and exegetical remarks (pp. 17-27) corrects Sawicki on many points; Sawicki's edition should therefore be avoided as misrepresenting the original text in a number of passages.

Translations

• Bergh, B. 1996 (see above, under Editions)

Commentaries

• BERGH, B. 1996, and his Introduction should be consulted first of all, since he points out the very obscurity of this text and consequently the difficulties implied in interpreting it.

Date and place

Poetria is obviously written in close connexion to Testa nucis (to which several references are made; see above) in Paris around 1320, during Mathias' studies in the Faculty of Arts, when he seemed intensely interested in literary theory. It is dedicated to Archbishop Olaf Björnsson of Uppsala, who was the incumbent from 1318 to 1332.

Summary of contents

Mathias wanted to find an aesthetic theory for poetry. The main theme of this treatise on poetry is representatio, which in this context means “visualizations”: representaciones tam certe et veraciter factas, ut non credatur res ficta esse (“so certain and plausible that the matter does not seem to have been made up”; 66).

Vnde merito similitudinem habet poeta cum pictore. Sicut enim pictor peritus rem, que in se delectabilis non esset aspicere, propter conuenienciam in disposicione partium picture et colorum delectabiliter inuenitur representare, sic poeta perfectus delectat animam in faciendo rem secundum suas proprietates imaginari

(“[T]he poet is rightly compared to the painter. For the skilful painter, by the harmonious arrangement of the different parts and colours of the picture, turns out to give an agreeable representation of something that would not in itself be agreeable to look at, and in the same way the perfect poet gives pleasure by making us imagine a thing in accordance to its characteristics”; 6-7).

In this view it is the most important of three components of poetry, the other two being tonus (rhytm) and metrum (the order in which things are to be presented in a poem). The text ends with a didactic poem in hexameters which intend to illustrate the poetic figures, terms, and techniques discussed in the theoretical part of the text.

Composition and style

The style is more personal than in Testa nucis (sicut credo, reor attendendum, ut michi videtur, etc). Mathias is fully aware of his own ability to judge and produce poetry, and also of his status as a pioneer in Sweden in literary theory. He speaks disparagingly of the creators of leonine verses of his time: aut leonina. Et hoc solum est, quod nostri metriste in versibus facere sciunt;” or the kind called ‘leonine’. "This is the only thing our poetasters are capable of in their verses” (79-80).

Sources

Mathias is dependent on Hermannus Alemannus’s Latin translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, a particularly obscure rendering of the original text, due to intermediary (Syrian, Arabic) versions. He is not unaware of his pioneer achievement (Bergh 1996, 9 ff.). Maybe the mature theologian Mathias felt uneasy about these juvenile exercises, judging from later warnings about the allurement of philosophy.

Purpose and audience

One can assume that the young Mathias, aware of his talent, wanted to gain a patron and benefactor in the (newly appointed?) Archbishop of Uppsala, and also, thereby, to gain a readership and intellectual reputation:

vt luce vestri nominis et gracie quam ex se et sui actoris sciencia famosius rutilans duracionem in tempore cum lectorum frequencia optima nancisscatur;

“so that it will gleam with greater renown through the light of Your name and grace than through itself and the knowledge of its author, and thus procure long duration and a great number of readers” (4).

Medieval reception and transmission

The only extant manuscript is Uppsala University Library, C 521, fol. 169r-172r. The original text is reproduced in facsimile in the end of Berghs’ edition.

Alphabetum distinccionum

Mathias' most comprehensive work is the Alphabetum distinccionum, a (selective) concordance to the biblical text combined with a kind of theological encyclopedia of so called distincciones between the different senses of Scripture, with special stress on the sensus moralis. The entries are small tracts of theological character, useful for homiletical purposes.

It is meant to be an encyclopaedia of the principal nouns, verbs, some few adverbs, and the most important proper names, along with some “natural things” (res naturales) mentioned in the Bible. It is in fact a systematic gloss on the Bible and comprises even terms not occurring in the Scriptures, such as Accidia, Actuosa deuocio, Condignum, Fomes (peccati), Scriptura sacra, Sinderesis, Syrena, Theologia, Trinitas. The reader may combine interpretations of separate words and so construct various expositions as required. However, the result must never contradict faith or morals: (sic) vt veritas fidei seruetur ex vno et honestas morum non ledatur ex altero.

Today, the text only survives as fragments of two parchment codices, and in quoted extracts in other works. The volumes were dispersed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when they were confiscated by the secular authorities and reused for various account books and legal records (domböcker). The surviving leaves are scattered across eight institutions in five cities: Stockholm, Vadstena, Helsinki, Oslo, and London, most of them available digitally.

By employing various methods and accounting for all pertinent evidence communicated by the extant witnesses, especially cross-references, roughly forty per cent of the original c.4000 headwords can be identified (according to SUPPONEN, 2023). The headwords survive at least partly in 603 entries. The cross-references provide 821 otherwise unknown headwords.

The book contributed to his reputation among the Birgittines that he knew the entire Bible inside out, “from Alpha to Omega”. It now exists only as fragments in the form of 326 preserved leaves of two manuscripts, apart from quotes in sermons by Vadstena brothers. It is an encyclopaedia of the most important nouns, verbs and proper names in the Vulgate. The concepts are explained, with descriptive applications and examples of the use of the word in question. A peculiarity is Mathias's strong interest in natural phenomena (res naturales), their definition and properties: the visible, material things are understood as references to the invisible. All of nature is a kind of allegorical rebus that illustrates spiritual truths and heavenly things, for those who have eyes with which to see it.

Title

Although this work is called Concordancie super totam bibliam in MS. C 54 of Uppsala University Library, the prologue, which is almost completely preserved, indicates the correct title:

“Distinguuntur ergo in hoc alphabeto textus et glose Biblie et naturales rerum, de quibus Scripture mencionem faciunt, proprietates per vocabula et sentencias figurales, misticas et historicas”

(“In this alphabetical register, the varied meanings of the texts of the Bible and the glosses are conveyed, as well as the natural phenomena that are mentioned in Scripture, [and] the properties that are demonstrated by their names, as well as their figurative, mystical and historical meanings”).

Size

The work is said to have filled three huge volumes in the Birgittine Abbey of Vadstena. Only 145 folios remain, scattered in different libraries (which makes them very difficult to read without modern technical devices).

Editions

• PILTZ, A. 1995: “Mathiæ canonici Lincopensis Alphabeti distinccionum sive Concordanciarum fragmenta selecta”, in Symbolae Septentrionales: Latin Studies Presented to Jan Öberg, ed. M. Asztalos & C. Gejrot, Stockholm, 137-171 [samples of the extant fragments]

Commentaries

• SUPPONEN, S. 2023: Alphabetum distinccionum of Master Mathias of Linköping. Its Composition, use and literary context. Helsinki

Date and place

It was likely composed after Mathias’ return to Sweden in 1344. According to the Birgittine Revelations (I 3, decl.) and Acta and processus, pp. 78, 477, and 601, Mathias glossavit totam Bibliam excellenter et composuit multa volumina librorum (“wrote an excellent gloss on the whole Bible and was the author of many volumes”). In the sixth book of the Revelations (VI 89), Christ himself testifies to Mathias’ divine inspiration and calls him magister Mathias, glosator Biblie.

Summary of contents

The Alphabetum is an alphabetically organised reference work that compiles materials from various preaching aids. It comprises a concordance for contextualising the themes and divisions of sermons, as well as devices for expanding upon sermons, such as distinctions, encyclopaedic descriptions, and biblical exempla. The text consists of two parts: the text proper and an interlinear reference apparatus, that provides commentaries on biblical verses in the text proper and citations of the verses and accompanying references in the apparatus. The headwords are described in their historical sense in the text proper, while the moral or allegorical readings are presented in the apparatus. The interlinear apparatus also contains cross-references to other entries.

Sources and literary models

Mathias owes much to St. Bonaventure OFM; he also echoes John Duns Scotus OFM. Inspired by principles set up by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, probably with Bartholomeus Anglicus (c.1250) as intermediary, Mathias refers, often in detail, to the facts, processes and events of nature as analogies of spiritual realities in the realm of grace. The book also conveys vitriolic criticism of the hierarchy and the religious orders (cf. Piltz 1986, 139 ff.; Piltz 1995, 137 ff.). SUPPONEN (pp.122-167) gives a thorough overview of the textual sources: the third concordance of St. Jacques, Glossa ordinaria, Bartholomeus Anglicus, etc.

Composition and style

The method applied in this concordance could best be demonstrated with a quotation from the entry Sensus Scripture:

Sensus hystoricus est, cum res quandoque secundum litteram vel facta vel dicta sit (vt saluacio filiorum Israel de Egypto), plano sermone refertur. Allegoria (Ysaie: egredietur virga de radice Iesse), cum verbis vel rebus misticis presencia Christi et Ecclesie sacramenta signantur (sanguis agni sanguinem Christi significat). Tropologia est moralis instructio (non diligamus verbo neque lingua) ad correccionem morum per aperta vel figurata verba (omni tempore sint vestimenta tua candida). Anagoge, id est ”ad superiora ducens loqucio”, est que de premiis (beati mundo corde) futuris apertis vel misticis verbis (beati qui lauant stolas suas, etc.) disputat.

(“The meanings of Scripture: (...) historical meaning is expressed when something is stated to have been done or said (for example, the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt) in clear words. Allegory (Isaiah: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse”) when the presence of Christ and the sacraments of the Church are signified (the blood of the lamb signifies the blood of Christ). Tropology is moral teaching (“Let us not love in word nor in tongue”) with the aim of improving our conduct through ordinary or figurative words (“Let your garments always be white”). Anagoge, that is, “speech that leads upward,” deals with rewards (“Blessed are the pure in heart”) in the future, presented in clear or mystical words (“Blessed are those who wash their robes.””)

Purpose and audience

The primary purpose is obvious: to provide preachers with all the scholarly tools they need to compose a sermon which is orthodox, instructive, and with a strong moral appeal to conversion and a striving for a virtuous life. Mathias' personal background may have contributed with an existential incentive: he took a special interest in the symbolic potency of the visible world. A passage in Birgitta's Revelations (V, int. 16:36-37) states that Mathias in his earlier life (in Paris?) had experienced the conflict between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. He had overcome this temptation by not trusting his own senses and judgement too much. He was rewarded with an exceptional knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. Mathias had been seriously attracted by the “second Averroism” which, while proclaiming the submission to the teachings of the Church, in reality professed a learned and more complicated form of incredulity, founded on the orthodox Aristotelian thesis that all knowledge must be based on sensual perception. This is precisely the argument of the Devil, Mathias contends in this commentary on the Apocalypse (12, 244-251), since he takes his subtle and sophistic reasons from the phenomena (ex apparenciis) in the visible world of the four elements: but with the help of grace the human mind is illuminated and can reach a spiritual understanding of corporal things in the visible world. Hence his interest in the natural and sensual phenomena: they are altogether symbols and vehicles of spiritual truths. What Mathias attacks, with strong anti-dialectical bias, is the separation of theology and exegesis. In connection with the greatest Franciscan theologian, St. Bonaventure, Mathias claims that theology should appeal to all human capacities and mentalities: its method (modus tradendi) is narrativus, preceptivus, excitativus, comminatorius, promissivus, precatorius, laudativus. The purpose of theology escapes the presumptuos, the unclean, the treacherous, the idle. All this explains why it is so obscure: it demands an intellectual and moral effort, in order not to become insipid. It aims at inclining our wills so that we want to be good, vt boni fiamus. All these statements in the entry Sacra Scriptura are paraphrazes on the Breviloquium of Bonaventure.

Medieval reception and transmission

The Alphabetum has survived in fragments of two manuscripts, later reused for secondary purposes: MS Linköping (MS L), Stockholm, The National Archives, MPO, Fr 3, and Östergötlands handlingar 1539:3:1, second quarter of the fourteenth century, a bifolium; and MS Vadstena (MS V), written before 1381 in Linköping or Uppsala, and preserved in 88 fragments that comprise 163 leaves in total, in the Swedish National Archives, and seven other institutions (see above). It was in the possession of Birger Gregersson (Archbishop of Uppsala 1366-1383), who might have commissioned the copy. Quotations in sermons by the Vadstena preachers and frequent annotations in MS V demonstrate that the Birgittines used the book up to the early fifteenth century.

SUPPONEN (pp. 83-92) has furthermore identified extracts of Alphabetum in Uppsala, UUB, C 391, foll. 129v-131r, copied by Styrkarus Thyrgilli (d. 1416), which comprises a part of the entries Misericordia and Iudicare, Iudicium, but is missing in the MSS L and V. Another extract is found in UUB, C 3, a compendium from approximately 1447. Other traces of smaller excerpts from the fifteenth century have been discovered by other scholars.

Exposicio super Apocalipsim

The most influential work of Mathias was, without comparison, Mathias' commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, expounding the biblical text from the beginning to chapter 15, verse 5. In the traditional scholastic style, Mathias explains the literal and, above all, the allegorical and moral sense of the sacred text.

Mathias was more restrictive in identifying the agents of the Apocalypse with historical persons, events and periods than was Nicholas of Lyra or the writers in the Joachimite tradition. This Bible commentary follows the normal pattern for this genre, but it has a more personal tone through the constantly recurring polemic against contemporary theology, which, according to Mathias, has lost touch with exegesis and degenerated into an academic display where one constructs more and more theoretical problems around the biblical text, in order to escape its existential appeal. Mathias launches a vehement attack on the dialectic methods used in theology, i.e. the obsession with arguments for and against a given proposition, discussed not so much for its spiritual content as in order to discover its philosophical or logical implications, and thereby gain a reputation for shrewdness (scire volunt ut sciantur, a quote from St. Bernhard of Clairvaux). Mathias brands dyalectica as one of the Devil’s weapons to avert people from devotion and charity. Mathias here shows a strong anti-Aristotelian bias (perhaps all the more as Aristotle thought that metaphor and allegory are incompatible with “scientific” knowledge). In stark contrast to contemporary theology, Mathias directs his attention to the pre-scholastic methods of biblical exegesis, practised in monastic circles in the twelfth century, freely associating related words, detecting biblical analogies, and expounding the various senses of a given text; whatever is concluded must, however, be in perfect conformity with traditional morals. Thus, his interest remains the existential dimension of the Scriptures, explained according to rules set out once and for all by the four Doctors of the Church (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great). Probably inspired by the Franciscan rigorists, he insists on a thorough reform of the Church. The commentary on the Apocalypse was the main doctrinal source of St. Bernardino of Siena (d. 1444), who made a personal copy of it. Even Nicholas Cusanus, the most original thinker of the fifteenth century, acquired a copy of it and was impressed by Mathias as a spiritual writer (Piltz 1986, 143 ff.).

Manuscript tradition

The complete list of the 21 manuscripts in Billing-Ottosson's edition, pp. 18-22. They can be distributed in two main categories, the “Bernardino” MSS, and the “independent” MSS. The copy (N, kept in the National Library of Naples, Cod VI.A.19), produced by S:t Bernardino of Siena sometime between 1425 and 1434 served as the original text of all the other “Bernardine” manuscripts. The “independent” manuscripts are independent of N and represent another tradition.

Incipit

Beatus qui legit et qui audit verba prophecie huius et seruit ea, que in ea scripta sunt. Triplex gracia ad profectum in Scriptura Sacra requiri potest  

Explicit

Et hoc est quod saluator insinuat Luce vicesimo primo de illo tempore loquens: Virtutes, inquit, celorum mouebuntur. Et tunc videbunt Filium hominis venientem in nube.

Size

428 pages.

Editions

• Billing-Ottosson, A.-M. 2003: Exposicio super Apocalypsim (Samlingar utgivna av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet. Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter, 9:3), Stockholm

Commentaries

• PILTZ 1986: pp. 143-145
• ULFGARD 2021: pp. 676-741

Date and place

It was composed after Mathias’ return to Sweden in 1344. A passage in Birgitta's Revelations (I 3, decl., a collection compiled in Sweden 1344-1349) as well as in Acta and processus, pp. 78, 477, and 601, states that Tempore quo magister Mathias, glosator biblie, glossabat super Apocalipsim, ait Dominus ... (“at the time when Magister Mathias, the glossator of the Bible, wrote a gloss on the Book of Revelation, the Lord said ...”). In the sixth book of the Revelations (VI 89), Christ himself testifies to his divine inspiration and calls him magister Mathias, glosator biblie.

Summary of contents

The commentary intended to give a literal as well as spiritual exposition of the sacred text, but it is much more restrained in identifying historical events and persons than Mathias’ predecessors in this genre, e.g. Joachim de Fiore (d. 1202), the most influential apocalyptic thinker of the whole medieval period, or Nicolas of Lyra (d. 1349), the foremost medieval exegete. Mathias deals with timeless truths, virtues and vices, as incarnate in history, past, present, and future. The picture of Christendom is sombre. The seven Churches in chapter two symbolize the virtues of active life, the seven seals in chapter five symbolize seven kinds of tribulations: the suffering of the just, the prosperity of the evil, the fight against the heretics, false brethren and hypocrites, the impunity of evil men, and sins committed by just man, making them fall by their own feebleness. The seven-fold corruption of the Church is represented by the seven trumpets. The corruption of the masses calls for punishment: it will be inflicted by the grasshoppers and the scorpions of chapter nine, i.e. by the evil princes of this earth. But Christ watches over his Church and will assist it, especially in making Sacred Scripture more transparent by the proclamation of his word, and by the good pastors of his Church; these, however, will be rare, and their effort will, for the most part, remain without effect. Valde ergo prope est interitus mundi (“The end of this world is imminent”, 10,88).

Mathias insisted on a thorough reform of the Church, probably under the influence of the Franciscan rigorists. Such an influence explains his vehement accusations launched against the ignorance of the clergy, its worldly ambitions, the scandal of theology transformed into philosophy “with little sense and no affection” (tantum scire faciunt, vt non afficiant). The Roman Curia, where the origin of religion ought to be, was more rotten than any local church. One of the roots of this corruption was the transformation of theology into dialectical philosophy: experimento cotidie discimus videntes theologicam veritatem fere totam esse subuersam esse in philosophicam vanitatem (“From daily experience we see with our own eyes that theological truth has almost completely been transformed into philosophical vanity”; 12, 246).

Composition and style

This exposition follows the models of the genre but is more personal in tone than what was usual. His strong condemnations of the dialectical methods in theology might have something to do with his early years in Paris. Did he, as a mature man having gone through a spiritual crisis, have reasons to look at his own interest in literal theory (and quotes of Averroes) with strong disapproval? A significant passage (13, 197-198) illustrates what may be the essence of his strong stance against contemporary philosophy, as it was practiced in Paris: the Averroists taught in the Aristotelian spirit that knowledge can only be based on the testimony of the senses. From this they had drawn conclusions contrary to essential Christian dogmas. One of Mathias’ main concerns was to show the opposite:

Sicut nempe per sensibiles apparencias elementorum mundi astucia dyaboli raciones contra diuinam sapienciam confingit, sic econtra diuina veritas per sensibilia se defendit. Multas enim raciones nec minus probabiles sancti doctores ex sensibilibus adinuenerant, quam falsi mundi sapientes contra sanctam fiden adinuenerunt. Non enim pauciores nec minus probabiles raciones beatus doctor Augustinus adinuenit pro sancta Christi fide quam Auerroes et Porphyrius heretici contra sanctam fidem confinxerunt.

(“Just as the Devil's cunning has invented rational arguments from the appearances of the elements of this world against divine Wisdom, so divine Wisdom also defends itself with the help of these testimonies of the senses. The holy doctors of the Church have found no less credible arguments from what the senses can perceive than the false wise men of the world have found against the holy faith. The blessed teacher Augustine has found no fewer or less credible arguments for the holy faith of Christ than the heretics Averroes and Porphyry have invented against the holy faith.”)

Medieval reception and transmission

The manuscripts of this text are scattered in Italy, Germany, France, and Spain. There is reason to believe that Birgittine religious from Vadstena brought a copy to the convent al Paradiso in Florence, and all foreign manuscripts have been reproduced from a common hyparchetype there. St. Bernardino of Siena made a copy of the Exposicio for his own use, in 1413 at the latest, and he used as master copy in al Paradiso. Later on, he made a second copy with his own hand. Possibly, this is the original of a manuscript which belonged to Cardinal Nicolas Cusanus and of other manuscripts in Germany. Bernardino used Mathias’ commentary as one of three principal sources for his famous sermons, and Cusanus wanted a personal copy of it after having heard Bernardino's impressive Lenten sermons in Padua in 1423. According to a notice in three MSS. in Munich, Bernardino was moved by the exceptional spiritual sweetness (singularem dulcedinem spiritus) of Mathias’ exposition. He is even reported to have sent two friars to Sweden in order to retrieve its final part, but they returned empty-handed. Cusanus warned that the copy was defective: exemplar fuit corruptum, sitis cauciores! He professed himself to be a great admirer of the Swedish master, whom he affirmed to be truly illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Even in the fifteenth century, Mathias’ treatment of the last book of the Bible was obviously perceived and appreciated as fresh, original and profound.

As BILLING-OTTOSSON has shown in the list (pp. 18-35) of manuscripts preserved, the Uppsala manuscript C 126 is the one that is closest to the archetype and consequently offers the most reliable version of the text. All other manuscripts are dependent on a hyparchetype that has been lost.

Homo conditus

For the benefit of parish priests in the diocese of Linköping, Mathias composed Homo conditus (named after its incipit), a handbook in narrative style, which avoids technical terminology and encompasses all of Christian doctrine, from Creation to the Last Judgement and Heaven and Hell, according to the general plan of Peter Lombard’s Sentences. It is supplemented with detailed treatises on the apostolic Creed, the virtues and vices, the seven sacraments, the five senses, the ten commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the Ave Maria, and what should be hoped for and feared in the afterlife. A series of sermon introductions are added, conforming to the Gospel readings at Mass through the liturgical year in the Diocese of Linköping. Using this book, a priest could explain the whole of Catholic dogma in the course of one year (it goes without saying that it was meant to be translated into the vernacular by the preacher). Mathias’s concern about religious and philosophical heresies (residual paganism, superstitious practices, astrology, fatalism) is of great interest as one of the rare sources for medieval Nordic mentality. Homo conditus is written in a vital, spontaneous prose style, saturated with metaphors and biblical allusions.

Incipit/explicit

Principal text: Homo conditus in omnibus bonis habundabat. Erat nempe perfectus in natura (...) cum nichil aliud iam poterunt nisi proprias penas cogitare, ne vacent amplius peccandi libertate.

Sermon introductions: Dominica prima Aduentus. Semper debet homo salutem suam operari (...) Castitas nempe, specialiter virginea, est celestis conuersacio. Require septimo capitulo, littera k, et de luxuria littera i.

Size

206 standard pages.

Editions

• Piltz, A. 1984: Magistri Mathiae canonici Lincopensis opus sub nomine Homo conditus vulgatum (Samlingar utgivna av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet. Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter, 9:1), Stockholm

Translations

• Piltz, A. 1986: Vägen till Jerusalem: Valda texter ur Homo conditus i översättning och med kommentar, Uppsala [partial translation]

Commentaries

• Piltz, A.1974: Prolegomena till en textkritisk edition av magister Mathias’ Homo conditus (Studia latina Upsaliensia, 7), Uppsala
• Piltz, A. 1986a: Magister Mathias. Vägen till Jerusalem. Valda texter ur Homo conditus. Inledning, översättning och kommentar. Uppsala
• Piltz, A.1986b: pp. 146-149

Date and place

A linguistic comparison with the other works ascribed to Mathias (Piltz, A.1974, pp. 47-52) proves that Homo conditus is written by him. The presence or absence of saints in the sermon draft de sanctis shows that the text fits into the liturgical situation in the diocese of Linköping during the period 1330-1350. It is therefore edited after Mathias’ return to Sweden (after a second period of studies in Paris 1333-1342/43) in 1344, when he was a canon in Linköping, and in 1343 he was provided with a rectorate in Söderköping in the same diocese.

Summary of contents

The author himself has written a short summary of the whole book (Piltz, A. 1984, R:1-R:3):

In hoc opusculo vndecim capitula sunt. Primum continet mala et dampna, que peccatum facit in natura racionali. Secundum est de fide, spe et karitate, quibus sanantur mala peccati. Tercium est de generali informacione fidei per breuem exposicionem simboli apostolici. Quartum disserit diuisim de articulis simboli cum septem sacramentis. Quintum habet generaliter de preceptis et preuaricacione eorum, virtutibus et viciis et donis Spiritus Sancti cum immissionibus dyaboli et beatitudinibus et miseriis et sensuum regimine. Sextum continet specialiter de decem preceptis et penis preuaricatorum. Septimum habet specialiter de septem viciis capitalibus et de virtutibus illis oppositis. Octauum continet de septem donis Spiritus Sancti et immissionibus dyaboli illis oppositis et beatitudinibus. Nonum de tribus partibus emendacionis peccatorum et triplici satisfaccione per elemosinam, ieiunium et oracionem, in qua oracio dominica et salutacio angelica exponuntur. Decimum de quinque per ordinem, que speranda sunt. Vndecimum de quinque per ordinem, que timenda sunt.

(“This work consists of eleven chapters. The first deals with the misfortunes and injuries which sin causes in the rational soul. The second deals with faith, hope, and charity, by which the misfortune of sin is cured. The third contains a general review of the faith in the form of a brief explanation of the Apostles’ Creed. The fourth reviews the articles of faith in order, together with the seven sacraments. The fifth is a general survey of the commandments and the punishment of transgressors. The seventh is a special review of the seven capital vices and the virtues which are their opposites. The eighth contains the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the devilish inspirations which are their opposites, as well as the Beatitudes. The ninth focuses on the expiation for sin and the threefold expiation of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, including an explanation of the Lord's Prayer and the Angel’s greeting. The tenth concerns the order of the five things in which we should hope. The eleventh deals in turn with the five things that we should fear.”)

There is a detailed summary in Piltz 1974,14-28.

Composition and style

The general outline is determined by the catechetical categories (the Creed, the common prayers, sins and vices, the sacraments) and corresponds in content to the traditional presentation in the Sentences of Peter Lombard, the obligatory basic text in theological studies from the twelfth century until the Protestant Reformation.

Mathias’ interest in the art of oratory, which he documented in his youth through the tract Testa nucis (see above), must have been evident when he, as a preacher, addressed a congregation in their own language. Homo conditus is a compendium of Christian doctrine, written in Latin but meant to be translated into Swedish by the priest. It avoids theological jargon as much as possible. The address is directed at the individual listener and appeals to his own ability to reason:

Omnia animalia creata sunt ad aliquam vtilitatem, vermes auibus in cibum, aues et pecora hominibus. Si ergo homo moreretur in corpore et anima, ad quem vtilitatem esset ipse creatus? Numquid creasset ipsum Deum racionalem ad nichil aliud nisi scire et intelligere et sufferre calamitates huius mundi et deinde mori sicut aliud brutum? Quis vel demens hoc credere posset? Nonne vides malos homines prosperari in hoc mundo, et bonos aduersitates et tribulaciones pati? Hoc numquam iustissimus Deus faceret, nisi bonis hominibus in alia vita meliora reseruaret. Crede ergo firmiter sacre fidei promittenti tibi aliam vitam. An non actor fidei Christus Iesus adeo fide dignus est, quod mentiri non potuit? (II:10-11).

(“All living things are created for some use, worms for food for birds, birds and cattle for people. Now if man died body and soul, for what use was he created? Would God have created his reason for no other purpose than to know and realize and suffer the misfortunes of this world, and then die like another beast? Who is so mad as to believe such a thing? Do you not see that the wicked live well in this world and the good suffer adversity and hardship? God would never do so in his supreme justice, if he had not reserved something better for the good in another life. Therefore, believe firmly in the holy faith, which promises you another life. Or is not the author of faith Christ Jesus trustworthy enough to escape suspicion of lying?”)

Christian faith must be expressed in concrete action, a theme that this guide constantly insists on. No one is so poor that he cannot do good to his neighbour through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy:

Est enim elemosina spiritualis, que fit de possessione anime, corporalis vero, que fit de possessione corporis. Si ergo velis elemosinam spiritualem facere, ora ad Deum pro omnibus, conpatere afflictis, instrue ignorantes, corrige errantes, dimitte in nomine Christi inimicicias. Frequenter enim nobis bona temporalia deficiunt nec sufficimus elemosinam facere, licet velimus. Numquam tamen nobis tantum deficit numquam tam pauperes sumus, quod non possimus orare non solum pro Christianis sed pro omni humano genere; pro iustis, vt Deus det eis perseueranciam in bono, pro peccatoribus, vt Deus concedat eis veram penitenciam, pro paganis et Iudeis, vt concedat eis veram Dei et Christi recognicionem. (IX:227-228).

(“There is a spiritual almsgiving, when one gives away the property of the soul; there is a bodily almsgiving, when one gives away the property of the body. If you want to give a spiritual almsgiving, then pray to God for all, have compassion on the unfortunate, teach the ignorant, correct the erring, forgive the unkind deeds, in the name of Christ. Often temporal possessions fail us and we are unable to give alms, although we would like to. But we never suffer such a lack, we are never so poor that we cannot pray, not only for Christians, but for the whole human race: for the righteous, that God may give them perseverance in good, for sinners, that God may give them true repentance, for the Gentiles and the Jews, that He may make them recognize God and His Anointed.”)

Sources

There is no general relationship of dependence between Homo conditus and any predecessor in the genre of sermon manuals, even if individual details may correspond to other authors. Rather, all of them seem to have sought to produce their own variations and to vary the given catechetical categories in new ways. See Piltz,1974, pp. 59-76.

Purpose and audience

The purpose is to provide a practical and easily accessible handbook for the ordinary parish priest in the Diocese of Linköping in his task of delivering a sermon that is doctrinally sound, rhetorically effective, and refers to the biblical texts read in mass on Sundays and holidays, i.e. on the mandatory sermon days.

Medieval reception and transmission

The text is preserved in its entirety in two manuscripts from the library of Vadstena Monastery, now in Uppsala University Library, there with the designations C 217 and C 387 (both written in the late fourteenth century century). The latter had previously been owned by the priest Johannes Johannis from Kalmar, who entered the monastery in 1404, when it was incorporated into the monastery library. There are a few quotes from Homo conditus in diverse sermon collections from Vadstena.

Copia exemplorum

Perhaps as a supplement to Homo conditus, Mathias compiled an alphabetical collection of anecdotes, Copia exemplorum (633 entries from Absolucio to Vxor).

Title

There is only one copy preserved of this text, Uppsala University Library, C 54, foll. 60v-110r. Fol. 60v has the following notice, written by a fifteenth-century hand: Hic liber subscriptus qui incipit absolucio multum etc. dicitur Copia exemplorum quem fecit magister Mathias canonicus lincopensis pro exemplis habendis.

Incipit

Istum librum collegit magister Mathias canonicus lincopensis pro exemplis habendis. Absolucio multum beneficium confert morituris, ualet eciam defunctis

Explicit

frequenter maritus malus lucrifit per bonam uxorem, R. amor carnis. Explicit copia exemplorum propter simplices collecta.

Size

118 pages.

Editions

Copia exemplorum is edited in the form of a reproduction of the final rough drafts of an edition prepared by Lars Wåhlin in 1901:

• Wåhlin, L. & Andersson-Schmitt, M. 1990: Magister Mathias: Copia exemplorum. Herausgegeben von Lars Wåhlin†. Mit Einleitung und Indizes von Margarete Andersson-Schmitt (Studia seminarii Latini Upsaliensis, 2), Uppsala

Commentaries

• STRÖMBERG, B. 1944: Magister Mathias och fransk mendikantpredikan. (Samlingar och studier till Svenska kyrkans historia. 9. Stockholm

This doctoral dissertation is a thorough study of the book's genre and sources. In the Introduction (Einführung) of Wåhlin's edition there is an updated overview of the sources.

Date and place

The text recounts an event that occurred in Tåby outside Söderköping in the Diocese of Linköping on July 24/25, 1344. It is obviously compilated in Linköping.

Sources and literary models

Mathias is drawing mostly from French sources, above all the Alphabetum narracionum by Arnould of Liège OP (d. after 1310) and Miracula beate Marie virginis (Strömberg 1944, 36 ff., Andersson-Schmitt, ix-xvii).

Purpose and audience, composition and style

For obvious reasons, the presentation is considerably more vivid and lively in this compilation, which was made propter simplices, for common people, than in any other of Mathias’ works, which were intended for a clerical readership. The purpose of these examples is to arouse the audience’s curiosity and interest, which is why purely burlesque elements are not avoided. Here is a passage under the entry Adulterium (6,1):

Vxor Gengulphi adultera cum ab eo argueretur et negaret, iussa est in purgacionem sceleris brachium in fontem frigidum mittere, quod uelut igne adustum retraxit, et mox ab ea se separauit. unde et cum ab adultero Gengulphus occisus miracula faceret, adultera ei detrahens dicebat: “Sic Gengulphus facit miracula sicut anus meus cantat.” unde et mox uellet nollet turpes sonos emisit, et extunc omni uita sua sextis feriis, quando uir eius occisus fuit.

(“Gengulf’s wife was unfaithful, and when he accused her of this and she denied it, she was asked to put her arm in a cold spring to cleanse herself of this crime. She withdrew her arm, as if it had been burned by fire, and he immediately separated from her. But when Gengulf had been murdered by the adulterer and was performing miracles, the adulteress mocked him and said: “Gengulf performs miracles as well as my ass sings.” After that, she let out shameful sounds, whether she wanted to or not, and this happened every Friday after that, the day her husband had been murdered.”)

Medieval reception and transmission

73 exempla from Copia exemplorum have been excerpted in the Vadstena manuscript in Uppsala University Library C 181, fols. 163r-168r.

Bibliography

• ANDERSSON-sCHMITT, M. 1990: see Copia exemplorum, Edition, above.
• BERGH, B. 1996: see Poetria and Testa nucis, Editions, above.
• CARLSSON, G. 1949: “Mäster Mathias från Linköping. Ett bidrag till hans biografi,” Samlaren, ny följd, 29.
• FERM, O, 2021: “Magister Mathias Ouidi Lincopensis,” in O. Ferm & É. Monet (edd.), Swedish Students at the University of Paris in the Middle Ages I (Runica et Mediævalia), Stockholm.
• KILSTRÖM, B. I. 1958: Den kateketiska undervisningen i Sverige under medeltiden (Bibliotheca theologiae practicae, 8), Uppsala.
• KLOCKARS, B. 1971: Birgitta och hennes värld (Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Historiska serien, 16), Uppsala.
• LIEDGREN, J. 1961: Magister Mathias’ svenska kungörelse om Birgittas första stora uppenbarelse: Ett förbisett dokument i Riksarkivet (Riksarkivets meddelanden, 1958), Stockholm.
• MALM, M. 1997: “Uppenbarelse och poetik: Magister Mathias om effektiv framställning,” Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 26:3/4, 61-80.
• MALM, M. 2012: “The Soul of Poetry Redefined. Vacillations of Mimesis from Aristotle to Romanticism.” Tusculanum (Copenhagen).
• MALM, M. 2021: “Magister Mathias on Literary Representation,” in O. Ferm & É. Monet (edd.), Swedish Students at the University of Paris in the Middle Ages I (Runica et Mediævalia), Stockholm.
• PACETTI, D. 1961: “L’Expositio super Apocalypsim di Mattia di Svezia (c. 1281-1350) precipua fonte dottrinale di S. Bernardino da Siena,” Archivum Franciscanum historicum 54.
• PILTZ, A. 1974: Prolegomena till en textkritisk edition av magister Mathias’ Homo conditus (Studia latina Upsaliensia, 7), Uppsala.
• PILTZ, A. 1986a: Magister Mathias. Vägen till Jerusalem. Valda texter ur Homo conditus. Inledning, översättning och kommentar. Uppsala.
• PILTZ, A. 1986: “Magister Mathias of Sweden in his Theological Context: A Preliminary Survey,” in M. Asztalos (ed.), The Editing of Theological and Philosophical Texts from the Middle Ages (Studia latina Stockholmiensia, 30), Stockholm.
• PILTZ, A. 1995: see Alphabetum distinccionum, Editions, above.
• SAVICKI, S. 1936: see Poetria and Testa nucis, Editions, above.
• SCHÜCK, H. 1959: Ecclesia Lincopensis: Studier om Linköpingskyrkan under medeltiden och Gustaf Vasa (Stockholm Studies in History, 4), Stockholm.
• STRÖMBERG, B. 1943: “Magister Mathias’ ställning till tidens heretiska strömningar,” Svensk teologisk kvartalskrift 19, 301-322.
• STRÖMBERG, B. 1944: Magister Mathias och fransk mendikantpredikan (Samlingar och studier till Svenska Kyrkans historia, 9), Stockholm.
• SUPPONEN, S. 2023: Alphabetum distinccionum of Master Mathias of Linköping. Its Composition, use and literary context. Helsinki.
• ULFGARD, H. 2005: “Från Paris till Linköping: akademiska bibelstudier och kyrklig bibelutläggning i medeltidens Europa belysta utifrån Magister Mathias Apokalyps-kommentar,” in K. O. U. Lejon (red.), Diocesis Lincopensis, 2: Medeltida internationella influenser (Linköpings stiftshistoriska sällskaps skriftserie, 2), Skellefteå, 141-167.
• ULFGARD, H. 2021: “Magister Mathias of Linköping. Exegete and Theologian”, in O. Ferm & É. Monet (edd.), Swedish Students at the University of Paris in the Middle Ages I (Runica et Mediævalia), Stockholm, 676-741.