A Dominican of Constance and a pupil of Meister Eckhart, he defended his teacher after his propositions were condemned, and was in turn denounced before his own order for his books. He wrote in German, for the nuns and laypeople who read no Latin, and in those books he calls himself, in the third person, the servant.
In their own words
First, receive each person kindly; second, settle the matter briefly; third, let them go consoled; fourth, come back in with nothing left hanging on you.
Life, ch. XIV, in Heinrich Seuse, Deutsche Schriften, ed. Karl Bihlmeyer, Stuttgart, 1907, p. 38; Middle High German « des ersten, einen ieklichen menschen gütlich ze enpfahen ; daz ander, kürzlich us ze rihten ; daz dritte, tröstlich ze lassen ; daz vierde, unbehenket wider in ze gene », translated by the Manna team