Brethren of the Common Life

Historical Origins and Organization

The Brethren of the Common Life were a late medieval religious reform movement that emerged in the Low Countries in the late 14th century. They are closely associated with the wider current known as the Devotio Moderna (“Modern Devotion”), which emphasized personal piety, interiority, and ethical reform within the established structures of Latin Christianity.

The movement originated around Geert Groote (1340–1384), a Deventer-born cleric and preacher who became disillusioned with clerical worldliness and urban moral laxity. After a religious conversion in mid-life, Groote began to preach repentance and practical devotion, attracting followers who were drawn to his call for an earnest, Christ-centered life. Around 1374–1379, his circle coalesced into a semi-organized group of laymen in Deventer who shared a “common life” under simple discipline, pooling goods and dedicating themselves to prayer, reading, and useful labor—especially copying manuscripts.

These communities were neither monastic orders nor fully secular associations. Members took no permanent vows and remained canonically laypeople or secular clerics. They lived in communal houses, owned property in common, and followed rules of obedience, chastity, and simplicity while retaining, in principle, the freedom to leave. Parallel houses of Sisters of the Common Life developed, offering a similar pattern for women.

From Deventer, the movement spread through the Low Countries and into northern Germany, with notable centers in Zwolle, Windesheim, and elsewhere. After Groote’s death, organizational development was guided by Florens Radewijns and others. A related but distinct branch, the Windesheim Congregation, formed a network of Augustinian canons who adopted many of the same spiritual emphases within a more traditional monastic framework.

Contemporaries and later historians often debated whether the Brethren constituted a quasi-monastic reform, a lay religious association, or an educational movement. Their own practice blurred these categories: they insisted on loyalty to the Church and its sacraments while experimenting with new, flexible forms of communal spirituality.

Spirituality, Education, and Practices

The heart of the Brethren’s vision lay in a style of devotion that was concrete, practical, and affective rather than speculative. Their spirituality is often summarized under the term Devotio Moderna, characterized by:

• Interior devotion and humility: Emphasis on inner conversion, self-knowledge, and humility before God, rather than external show or intellectual prestige.
• Imitation of Christ: A sustained focus on following Christ in daily life—patience, charity, obedience, and detachment from worldly honors.
• Regular spiritual exercises: Meditative reading of Scripture, frequent confession, mental prayer, and examination of conscience.

One of their defining contributions was to education, especially of boys and young men. The Brethren founded and staffed schools in cities such as Deventer, Zwolle, and later across the Rhineland. These schools combined:

• Solid Latin and grammatical training, enabling students to participate in the intellectual culture of their time.
• Moral and spiritual formation, shaping character through discipline, pious reading, and communal worship.
• Accessibility: They often welcomed students from modest backgrounds, thereby widening access to literacy and clerical or civic careers.

In their early decades, the Brethren made a living through manuscript production—copying devotional and scholastic texts with care. This labor had the dual purpose of supporting the community and spreading religious literature. With the rise of printing in the 15th century, their interest in texts dovetailed naturally with the new technology, and their favorite works—such as collections of sermons, meditations, and moral treatises—circulated broadly.

Their practices sometimes met with suspicion. Critics questioned whether quasi-monastic communities without formal vows undermined ecclesiastical order, or whether their educational work encroached on established clerical prerogatives. The Brethren responded by stressing obedience to local bishops and doctrinal orthodoxy, and over time they secured formal recognition and protection from ecclesiastical authorities.

Intellectual Legacy and Influence

Although not a philosophical school in the systematic sense, the Brethren of the Common Life contributed significantly to the religious and intellectual climate of late medieval and early modern northern Europe.

1. Formation of key figures: Their schools educated or influenced several later thinkers and reformers, including:

   • Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536), who studied at Deventer and absorbed the Brethren’s stress on moral reform, inner piety, and the close reading of texts.
   • Various future Reformers and Catholic humanists who passed through their schools or encountered their writings.

   Scholars often highlight affinities between the Devotio Moderna and later Christian humanism: both favored scriptural and patristic study, ethical reform, and a critical yet loyal attitude toward church institutions.

2. Devotional literature: The movement is closely linked to the milieu that produced Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471), traditionally regarded as the author of The Imitation of Christ. This work—one of the most widely read Christian devotional texts—reflects characteristic Brethren themes: contempt for worldly glory, concentration on Christ’s passion, and the cultivation of interior conversation with God. Whether or not the text is seen as “philosophical,” it shaped the moral and spiritual imagination of countless readers.

3. Alternative to scholasticism: In contrast to scholastic philosophy, with its intricate metaphysical and logical systems, the Brethren offered a mode of thought that subordinated speculative theology to practical spirituality. They did not reject scholastic learning outright; many members were well trained in it. However, their writings and educational ethos directed intellectual energy toward:

   • The ethical application of doctrine.
   • The pedagogy of virtue.
   • The refinement of conscience and affective life.

   In this way, they contributed to a broader late medieval trend that questioned the sufficiency of academic theology for guiding Christian life, without necessarily proposing an alternative metaphysics.

4. Continuities and transformations: The Brethren’s influence waned after the Reformation, as confessional divisions, political upheavals, and changing educational structures altered the religious landscape. Some houses declined or disappeared; others were absorbed into different ecclesiastical entities. Nevertheless, historians often see them as a bridge between:

   • High medieval monastic and scholastic traditions, and
   • Early modern movements of reform, both Protestant and Catholic, that prioritized preaching, catechesis, and lay engagement.

Modern scholarship evaluates the Brethren variously: some portray them as precursors of religious individualism and inner spirituality, others as agents of social discipline and moral regulation in urban settings. Still others emphasize their role in democratizing literacy and shaping a more text-centered religious culture.

Across these interpretations, the Brethren of the Common Life occupy a distinctive place in intellectual and religious history: a community experiment in communal living, education, and everyday holiness that subtly reoriented late medieval Christianity toward interior devotion and practical moral life, without explicitly challenging the overarching framework of Western Latin thought.