Middle Dutch Literature and Translations

Dating texts is one of the most important challenges for research into literary history. Only through a chronological ranking of texts, one can gain insight into the development of literature through time. Dating Middle Dutch chivalric epics is a complex issue, on which little agreement has been reached. Situating texts is often difficult because the original authors’ texts rarely survive and researchers have to work with much younger, often fragmentary copies. In this contribution, we present a critical state-of-the-art of recent research into dating
Middle Dutch chivalric epics. After a short discussion of the main dating methods, we present a chronological overview of Middle Dutch chivalric epics, based on a critical scrutiny of secondary literature. We hope to reach a synthesis as a point of reference for future research.

In two little-studied Middle Dutch texts, the authors present their readers with the distaff and the activities of spinning and cloth-making as a metaphor for Christ’s Passion, and, as such, as a meditative object and activity. These texts represent the ultimate conjunction of ora et labora, but their transmission suggests that the meditative practice was not limited to religious communities. This article explores these texts in their broader cultural and religious context as tools for meditation and expressions of (religious) power relations between men and women in the transitional age between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

In dit artikel wordt de opvatting naar voren gebracht dat de pays aan het slot van 'Van den vos Reynaerde' beschouwd moet worden als een echte verzoening is tussen koning Nobel en zijn baronnen Bruun en Isegrim. De zoen die gemaakt wordt, voorkomt een allesvernietigende vete tussen de koning en zijn machtige baronnen.
P.s Het exemplaar dat gebruikt is afkomstig uit de UB. De aantekeningen zijn niet van mijn hand.

This article presents new research on a Dutch prayer book from the collections of the University Library of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (BU KUL, Lublin, Ms. 2626). This codex, which transmits devotional texts in a translation by Geert Grote, a pioneer of the Modern Devotion movement, especially the Small Office of the Virgin Mary and the Middle Dutch adaptation of Heinrich Suso’s Hundert Betrachtungen und Begehrungen, offers valuable evidence of literary and religious culture in the late-medieval Netherlands. The article begins with a codicological description, followed by a preliminary analysis of the artistic program of the manuscript, a description of the structure of the codex and the identification of the most important texts. Textual evidence indicates that the codex most probably originated from the diocese of Utrecht.

“From ‘Diseases of Women’ to ‘Secrets of Women’: The Transformation of Gynecological Literature in the Later Middle Ages,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30 (2000), 5-39 – Abstract

This study documents a subtle but highly illuminating change that occurred in texts on women’s medicine over the course of the later Middle Ages: a change in title. Whereas all texts addressing the particular medical conditions of women’s bodies that circulated in the early and central Middle Ages had simple descriptive titles like “On the Conditions of Women” or “On the Sufferings of Women,” from the 13th century on we begin to see the word “secret” in the titles and in other rhetorical elements of these texts. It is argued that the language of secrecy comes particularly into play when the focus of such texts narrows from gynecological and obstetrical topics in their full range, to a more limited concentration on fertility and generation. This development is particularly interesting since, in earlier centuries, the topics of generation (i.e., the theoretical aspects) and gynecology and obstetrics (the practical descriptions of diseases and their cures) had been addressed in separate texts. Also addressed is the way texts on women’s medicine became juxtaposed to works on “generation,” or incorporated into codicological contexts that suggested that the works were being read for reasons other than therapeutics. A final sort of intervention was actual adaptation of texts on women’s medicine, omitting sections on, for example, uterine diseases and focusing only on reproduction.

Latin was the main language used for medical writing in the early Middle Ages, but from the late 12th century on, first Hebrew and then various European vernacular languages produce writings on women’s medicine, and these follow some of the same shifts seen in Latin works. (Languages covered include Hebrew, French, English, Dutch, Italian, and German.) The study is based on direct consultation of manuscripts in various languages from across Europe, including New York Academy of Medicine, MS SAFE; Oxford, Pembroke College, MS 21; and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 399. In addition, medieval library inventories are surveyed, including those of the Sorbonne and St-Victor in Paris. The Trotula texts make up the bulk of material surveyed, though there is also incorporation of other texts on women’s medicine.

Anthonis de Roovere, poet in Bruges, rhetorician, is discussed in this article which gives an overview of former research and tries to establish his place in Burgundian Flanders and Late Medieval Bruges. In delivers an inventory of his works and the sources in which they have come down to us. This publication is followed by part 2 (Jaarboek 1997)

Het gebeurt niet vaak dat er nog onbekende middeleeuwse culinaire recepten opduiken. Toch brengt dit artikel acht niet eerder gepubliceerde recepten onder de aandacht. Ze zijn afkomstig uit het tweede deel van het convoluut KANTL Gent 15. Twee ervan betreffen de bereiding van pauw.
Recently eight new recipes were discovered in the Middle Dutch convolute  KANTL Gent 15. Two of the recipes concern peacocks.

Over a period of two hundred years, between c. 1450 and c. 1650, the Catholic religious literature of Delft in the Netherlands underwent consecutive stages of growth, crisis and (to a certain extent) rebirth. All this occurred in the face of relentless social, political and cultural change, and amidst alternating periods of stability and turmoil. Yet despite a number of setbacks, Delft's Catholic religious literature displayed a surprising continuity, not only surviving, but even attaining a small 'Golden Age' of its own in the first decades of the 17th century. This study documents that 'struggle for survival' by presenting a broad synthesis of the production and reception of Catholic religious literature in Delft within a range of literary-historical and cultural contexts.

Sleutelwoorden: Delft, kerkgeschiedenis, religie en literatuur, middeleeuwen, vroegmoderne periode.

(French and Dutch below)

ABSTRACT - The report of the voyage undertaken by the Flemish nobleman Joos van Ghistele at the end of the fifteenth century, is considered to be one of the most valuable European travel narratives. The text is unique, not only because of the voyage it contains – a four-year expedition that brought the travellers to the far north of Iran and to the southernmost point of the Red Sea – but especially due to the enormous amount of information it offers, and thanks to its critical character. The manuscript Brussels, RMAH, ms. 55.473, containing the narrative, is chronologically close to the text’s time of emergence. One would expect the identity and status of the noble traveller to be used as a way of authenticating the narrative. Surprisingly, the travellers remain anonymous in this manuscript. This is the case as well in the two other known manuscripts, while the status of the traveller could have caused for a considerable increase in the text’s credibility. It is not the social position, but the literary knowledge of the traveller and his capacity for empirical observation that are placed central. When the text is printed seventy years later, the traveller’s identity and status are elaborately used to promote the travel narrative. The analysis of this issue is followed by a guided tour of the voyage and of the narrative.

RÉSUMÉ – Le récit qui raconte le voyage du noble flamand Joos van Ghistele à la fin du quinzième siècle, est estimé être un des récits de voyage européens les plus riches. C’est un texte exceptionnel, non seulement en raison du voyage qu’il raconte – une épopée de quatre ans qui va mener les voyageurs jusqu’au nord de l’Iran et au sud de la Mer Rouge – mais surtout à cause de l’énorme quantité d’informations qu’il contient, et de sa nature critique. Le manuscrit Bruxelles, Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, ms. 55.473 contenant le récit du voyage de Joos van Ghistele a été copié peu de temps après la rédaction du Voyage, probablement dans la même décade. Contre toute attente, les voyageurs restent anonymes tout au long du texte, et ce en dépit du fait que la mention de la position sociale des voyageurs aurait pu renforcer la crédibilité du récit. Au lieu de son statut, c’est la connaissance littéraire et la capacité d’observation des voyageurs qui sont mis en avant. À l’inverse, quand le récit sera imprimé un demi-siècle plus tard, l’imprimeur ne cachera ni l’identité de joos van Ghistele, ni celle de ses compagnons : il utilisera le prestige du noble voyageur pour promouvoir son livre. Faisant suite à l’analyse de ce problème, cet article esquisse un aperçu du récit, tout en offrant un l’éclaircissement sur le contexte historique
et les objectifs des voyageurs.

SAMENVATTING – Het verslag van de reis die de Vlaamse edelman Joos van Ghistele aan het einde van de vijftiende eeuw ondernam, wordt beschouwd als een van de meest waardevolle Europese reisverhalen. De tekst is uniek, niet alleen omwille van de reis die hij verhaalt – een expeditie van vier jaar die de reizigers tot in het verre noorden van Iran, en het zuidelijkste punt van de Rode Zee bracht – maar bovenal dankzij de enorme hoeveelheid informatie die hij biedt, en dankzij zijn kritische karakter. Het handschrift Brussel, KMKG, hs. 55.473 staat chronologisch dicht bij het ontstaan van de tekst. In tegenstelling tot de te verwachten aandacht voor de status van joos van Ghistele blijven de reizigers in dit handschrift voor de lezer onbekend. Dat is eveneens het geval in de twee andere bekende handschriften. Nochtans had de status van de reiziger de geloofwaardigheid van de tekst aanzienlijk kunnen versterken. In de plaats van maatschappelijk aanzien wordt de literaire kennis en de capaciteit van de reiziger voor empirische waarneming in de schijnwerpers gezet. Bij de uitgave in druk van de tekst een halve eeuw later, wordt de identiteit van joos van Ghistele en van zijn reisgenoten wel meegedeeld; er wordt van zijn status zelfs uitgebreid gebruikt gemaakt om het reisverhaal te promoten. Volgend op de analyse van dit vraagstuk schetst dit artikel een beeld van het reisverhaal, vergezeld van toelichting over de historische context en de ideeën en intenties van de reizigers.

This article studies a set of rather enigmatic small woodcuts depicting scholars in 'Chyromantia Ioannis Indagine', a handbook on chiromancy, physiognomy and astrology published in Dutch by the Utrecht-based printer Jan Berntsz in 1536. In contrast to the illustrations of hands and face types that Berntsz copied after the Latin editio princeps of 1522, the scholar figures’ functions and their relations to the text are not evident. Why did Berntsz add them, and how did they affect the reading experience? I argue that new insights can be gained if we approach such ‘stock images’ from the perspective of information design and multimodality.
    The case study of the 'Chyromantia' exemplifies how even illustrations that are not required for understanding the text, contribute to the book’s visual rhetoric. The scholar figures invoke trust and active engagement with the knowledge presented in the book. This rhetoric is also reflected in other books from the Low Countries in which the scholar images are used in similar ways.
    I also demonstrate how the scholars’ mise-en-page crucially shapes their meanings. To understand the effects of the page layout, I apply the concepts of text-flow and page-flow, introduced in 2008 by applied linguist John A. Bateman. Although text-flow may be regarded as the dominant mode in the 'Chyromantia', an element of page-flow is at work as well. It is realized through the combination of the scholars’ orientation towards the text, their gestures of conversation, their arrangement on the page, and their recurrence across pages. Together, these spatial characteristics endow them with layers of meaning which are not achieved by the text or by a single scholar image alone.
    The concepts of text-flow and page-flow turn out to be useful analytical tools for understanding the dynamics of the early modern page. I propose, however, to conceive them not as strictly distinct modes, but rather as a continuum that might be extended to include ‘document-flow’.

Tijdens de opstand tegen de Habsburgse aartshertog Maximiliaan van Oostenrijk (1482-1492) schreef Bruggeling Jacob van Malen vlijtig aan een eigen versie van de Excellente Cronike van Vlaenderen. Deze kroniek verhaalt de geschiedenis van Vlaanderen vanaf het legendarische ontstaan met de eerste Vlaamse woudmeesters tot aan de regering van de Bourgondische her togen. De Excellente Cronike werd overgeleverd in negentien zeer uiteenlopende handschriften. De kroniek werd gedurende de vijftiende eeuw door verschillende Vlaamse stadsbewoners zoals Jacob herschreven. Sommige handschriften vertonen een uitgesproken 'Gentse' of 'Brugse' blik op het Vlaamse verleden. Lisa Demets reconstrueert de verschillende sociale, politieke en culturele netwerken van scribenten en eigenaars van deze handschriften.

Review of Andrea van Leerdam, Orlanda Lie, Martine Meuwese & Maria Patijn (red.), Kennis in beeld. Denken en Doen in de Middeleeuwen. Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum, 2014, Artesliteratuur in de Nederlanden 8.

Published online on https://nederl.blogspot.be/2014/09/seks-is-soms-gezond.html (30/09/2014)

Between 1477 and 1479 two printers from Delft, Jacob Jacobszoon van der Meer and Mauritius Yemantszoon van Middelborch, published a collection of exempla about the Virgin Mary’s miraculous intercession in the lives of ordinary people under the title Boeck van Onser Liever Vrouwen miraculen (Book of Miracles of the Virgin Mary). The present publication,contains a critical edition of eight exemplary stories from the Delft collection together with translations in Polish and modern Dutch. This edition is based on a copy from the collections of the National Library of the Netherlands at The Hague (shelfmark KB 169 G 44). The introduction explains genre-related questions, the origins of the incunable, and its historical background. Detailed commentary on the individual stories, offering interpretations from a literary-historical, theological and cultural perspective, is also provided.

W latach 1477-1479 delfccy drukarze Jacob Jacobszoon van der Meer oraz Mauritius Yemantszoon van Middelborch opublikowali księgę noszącą tytuł Boeck van Onser Liever Vrouwen miraculen (Księga cudów Najświętszej Maryi Panny), która zawierała szereg exemplów poruszających temat cudownego wstawiennictwa Maryi w życiu zwykłych osób. Niniejsza publikacja zawiera edycję krytyczną ośmiu tekstów źródłowych wraz z ich przekładami na język polski i nowoniderlandzki. Edycja została sporządzona w oparciu o egzemplarz znajdujący się w zbiorach Biblioteki Królewskiej w Hadze (sygn. KB 169 G 44). Edycję poprzedzono wprowadzeniem, w którym omówiono zagadnienia genologiczne, genezę inkunabułu oraz kontekst historyczno-literacki. Tekstom źródłowym towarzyszą również szczegółowe komentarze interpretacyjne ukazujące znaczenie utworów z perspektywy historycznoliterackiej, teologicznej i kulturowej.

Christina of Hane is a unique and little-known mystic. This is the very first comprehensive study on the late medieval text transmitting her Life. Adopting a multi-perspective approach, the first part of the study considers the handwritten manuscript while also discussing performative aspects of the mystic text. The second part of the study offers a new edition of the Life.

Als  un  vervolg  op  mijn  Reactie  op [:]  Hoe een ridderroman eindigt in een sprookje :: [ → https://www.academia.edu/42287697/Reactie_op_artikel_Eline_van_Onzenoor t_Hoe_een_ridderroman_eindigt_in_een_sprookje ]  is  het  niet  mis-plaatst  juist  op  deze  Konings-dag  (-  ¿ waarom ? ,  dat  is  aan  de  lezer  -)  verheldering  te  geven  over  wie  – naar  ik  meen –  zich  achter  Fergus  ( uit  de  Roman  de  Fergus )  schuil-houdt .

Reisverslagen  kennen  een  immer  toenemende  populariteit binnen de mediëvistiek en de studie van de vroegmoderne tijd. Er is ook een groeiende aandacht voor reisverslagen uit de Nederlanden, waar ze rijkelijk zijn overgeleverd. In dat kader is een bloemlezing van reisverslagen van de Jeruzalemgangers uit de Nederlanden als die van Ben Wasser  welkom. De teksten worden gepresenteerd in een origineel  opzet  waarbij  een  collage  van  kenmerkende passages uit de geselecteerde reisverhalen in dertien delen de gangbare structuur van een pelgrimsverslag  volgt:  de  inleiding  (I),  de  weg  van  huis  tot  Venetië  (II),  het  oponthoud  te  Venetië (III), praktische raad (IV), de overtocht van Venetië naar Jaffa (V), de aankomst te Jaffa (VI), het bezoek aan Jeruzalem (VII), overige pelgrimages  en verdere reizen in het Heilig Land, Hebron en Galilea (VIII), Syrië (IX), Egypte (X), de Sinaï  (XI),  Arabië,  Perzië  en  India  (XII),  en  tot  slot de terugreis en thuiskomst (XIII). In de inleiding geeft de auteur een beknopte geschiedenis  van  het  pelgrimsverslag  in  twaalf  bladzijden  (p.  13-24) met veel aandacht voor de historische context.  Daarop  volgt  de  bloemlezing  in  dertien delen, en tot slot volgt een korte karakterisering  van  elk  van  de  opgenomen  reisverslagen  (p.  231-241). (...)

A great many epic texts from the Low Countries, also those contained in non-Flemish manuscripts, seem to have been written in Flanders. At the same time, texts written in Brabant or further eastward in the Rhine-Meuse area, seem not to have been read or copied in Flanders. This article combines data on the origin in time and place of manuscripts and auctorial texts, in order to provide an empirical base for these assumptions. It proves that epic literature moved from west to east, and attempts to place this conclusion in a historical context.

The public library of Valenza, in the Italian region of Piedmont, holds two parchment fragments of Jacob van Maerlant's Spiegel historiael which are used to protect other documents. The present paper is the first study dedicated to them. The leaves are first described separately, highlighting their shape as well as the text which has been handed down to us. Taking into account paleographical, ortho-graphical and linguistic aspects, the author tries to reconstruct the original manuscript from which both fragments derive, reaching the conclusion that it was written in the first quarter of the 14th century in the area of (South-)Eastern Flanders or Western Brabant. Furthermore, special attention is paid to the hypothesis that the fragments reached Piedmont because of the strong presence in the Low Countries of Italian money lenders, the so called 'Lombards', who came exactly from that region. The complete edition of the Middle Dutch text, followed by notes, concludes the study.