Hendrik Mande was born in
Dordrecht,
Holland. While serving as a copyist in the court of Count Willem, he heard the preaching of
Geert Groote on the
Devotio Moderna, a movement seeking a return to an apostolic faith based on piety, humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. Mande became a convert and joined the
Brethren of the Common Life, a group devoted to the principles of Devotio Moderna. About 1382, he moved to
Deventer and then
Zwolle, centers for the Brethren of the Common Life. In 1395 he joined the
Congregation of Windesheim near Zwolle and became a
canon, remaining there the rest of his life. Mande wrote fourteen mystical treatises, such as
Book of Revelations (now lost),
A Love Complaint (about the absence and inaccessibility of God ) and
Apocalypse. His works drew heavily on those of
Hugh of Saint Victor,
Hadewijch and especially
John of Ruusbroec. ==Notes==