TAULER, JOHANN

born c. 1300, Strassburg, Bishopric of Strassburg [now Strasbourg, France] died June 16, 1361, Strassburg Dominican, who, with Meister Eckehart and Heinrich Suso, was one of the chief Rhineland mystics. Educated at the Dominican convent at Strassburg and the studium generale at Cologne, Tauler later became a lector at Strassburg. During a period of exile, he preached and lectured in Basel, Switz., returning again in 134748 to his birthplace. He was greatly influenced by Eckehart, though Tauler's teaching, based on St. Thomas Aquinas, stresses practical rather than speculative mystical theology. References to the Friends of God (Gottesfreunde) appear in his sermons, alluding to a circle of like-minded, devout Rhinelanders much influenced by Tauler, Eckehart, and Suso. Tauler's sermons, written in Middle High German, were valued highly by Martin Luther.