Deventer
Town on the IJssel in the diocese of Utrecht, home of Geert Groote, who died there in 1384. His disciple Florentius led a house of priests and clerks in the town who lived in common, and Thomas à Kempis went to school there.
Geert Groote was the son of a magistrate of Deventer, left his house there to a community of poor women, and died and was buried in the town in 1384 (Chronicle of Mount St Agnes, part 2, ch. 3 (Arthur, pp. 160–161)). A letter on the beginnings of Windesheim says that this house became the first of the congregations of women, and that the house named after Florentius was the first of the congregations of clerks (Chronicle of Mount St Agnes, appended letter of William Vornken, section 8 (Arthur, p. 214)). Thomas à Kempis came to Deventer to study and describes the priests and clerks of Florentius’s house, who held their goods in common and copied books (Thomas à Kempis, Life of John Gronde, ch. 1 (Arthur, pp. 169–171)). See the Devotio Moderna and the Imitation of Christ.
What happened here
- 1384 to 1441, firm dateThe Devotio Moderna and the Imitation of Christ
Geert Groote of Deventer gives up his benefices and preaches repentance. After his death in 1384 his followers form houses that live in common by copying books, and a monastery at Windesheim. In 1441 Thomas à Kempis, one of them, writes out the Imitation of Christ.