Manfred Groten: Der Kölner Bürger Heinrich Haich (gest. 1454) – ein großer Freund und Förderer der Brüder vom gemeinsamen Leben

The founders of the late medieval reform movement known as modern devotion advocated a strict and demanding way of religious life. In its purest form this way of life required to join religious communities in formally established monasteries and was not able to be practiced within the boundaries of the world of lay people. If applicable for lay people, some of the strictures of the devout life style had to be mitigated. This process of adaptation of the devout life also for lay people is still unexplored in many facets.

The Cologne citizen Heinrich Haich (d. 1454) is described in his obituary as a great friend and supporter of Weidenbach, the house of the brethren of the common life in Cologne. This articles examines how Haich aspired to respond to the demands of the devout way of life. His will reveals a set of compromises between the civic values of the urban elite, to which Haich belonged, and the positions of the protagonists of the modern devotion. The results invite to further investigate and determine the relationship between influential lay men and religious houses of the modern devotion movement and its consequences for the transformation of lay religiosity on the threshold to the modern period.

Keywords: Modern devotion – lay piety – Cologne in the 15th century – Weidenbach (convent of the brethren of the common life in Cologne)