Relatively little is known about Mechthild of Magdeburg from a biographic perspective: no Vita was ever written about her, there is no surviving epistolary correspondence for her, and there was no canonization trial after her death. Only one text by Mechthild remains: her book of mystical devotions and visions, Das Fliessende Licht der Gottheit ( The Flowing Light of the Godhead). It is from this text, its translations, and mentions of Mechthild in the devotional works of the Helfta mystics that scholars have attempted to construct an idea of Mechthild’s life. Even the name “Mechthild” ( Mehthilt) is only recorded once in the main text of the whole work. Because everything that we think we know about Mechthild of Magdeburg derives from her mystical text, her literary self and her historical self are functionally indivisible. And yet, Mechthild cannot be called an obscure medieval writer; indeed, hers is among the better-known names of late medieval women mystics, and the narrative of her life—such as it has been transmitted until recently—is quite well constructed for a mystic without a Vita.