Jaargang / Volume 21 (2014)

Nummer / Issue 1

Kees Schepers

Judgment, Damnation, and Salvation in Wech van Salicheit, Tael vanden kersten ghelove, and in Ruusbroec's Works. Apocalyptic Eschatological Concepts in Middle Dutch Texts and Their Latin Sources

1-22

In deze bijdrage worden de uitgebreide eschatologische scenario’s besproken die in enkele Middelnederlandse teksten uit de veertiende-eeuwse geestelijke letterkunde zijn ontvouwd, met name in Wech van salicheit, in Dirc van Delf ’s Tafel van den kersten ghelove en in twee van Ruusbroecs traktaten. Een dergelijk feitelijk overzicht van gangbare en representatieve voorstellingen van de gebeurtenissen rondom het Laatste Oordeel bestond nog niet. Deze eindtijd-voorstellingen worden geconfronteerd met de scenario’s die we aantreffen in twee invloedrijke en wijdverbreide Latijnse summae: Hugo Ripelin van Straatsburgs Compendium theologicae veritatis, en het Sententiën-commentaar van Petrus Lombardus. Deze summa’s zijn bovendien de belangrijkste bronnen van de Middelnederlandse teksten voor wat betreft de visie op de Eindtijd. Ten slotte wordt de verhouding geschetst tussen de eschatologische scenario’s in de Latijnse en Middelnederlandse teksten, waarbij verrassenderwijs blijkt dat het Compendium theologicae veritatis nauwer bij de informatieve volkstalige teksten aansluit dan bij het Latijnse scholastiek-academische discours. Opmerkelijk is ook dat Dirc van Delf uitgebreid gebruikt maakt van de Latijnse scholastieke conventies, als structuurprincipe van zijn literair gesofisticeerde tekst. Ruusbroec concentreert zich op de elementen die gerelateerd zijn aan zijn opvatting van het mystieke leven.

Joris Reynaert

Het 'Spel van Olivier van Leefdale'. Toneel en Brabantse geschiedschrijving in de vijftiende eeuw

23-55

In 1532 the Ghent guild of Sint-Kathelijne ter Hoeyen had a record made of its possessions, mainly, as it appears, liturgical and devotional objects. The inventory, however, a booklet of 12 pages (now ms. n° 2471 in the University Library in Ghent), also contains a list of ‘books’ which the society apparently had at its disposal. All of these ‘books’ turn out to be plays for the stage, partly of religious, partly with a secular character. The contents or at least the subjects of most of the nine secular plays in the list can be inferred from the title provided. An exception in this respect is the play to which we turn our attention in this article, the Play of Olivier of Leefdale. The hero of this play, Olivier of Leefdale, can be identified as a Brabant nobleman having lived at the turn of the twelfth century, a companion of count Godfrey I of Louvain, the first prince who also became duke of Lorraine. Olivier’s adventures are part of the ‘life’ of Godfrey in two chronicles of Brabant dating from the first part of the fifteenth century: Hennen van Merchtenen’s Cornicke van Brabant (1415) and Petrus de Thimo’s Brabantiae historia diplomatica (second quarter of the fifteenth century), both of which probably (directly or indirectly) depend on a fourteenth-century epic on Godfrey, which itself only has survived in a few small fragments. De Thimo’s work contains a vivid account of Olivier’s quest in the East for his prince, who is kept captive in a castle in Armenia, together with the Emperor’s son Henry. After their liberation Olivier victoriously takes part, siding with the emperor, in a war in Italy and becomes duke of Tuscany and capitaneus of the Empire in Italy. These episodes in the Brabantiae historia are written in a strikingly dialogical style. They probably give a good idea of what the Play of Olivier of Leefdale may have looked like. Hennen van Merchtenen on the other hand would seem to be a plausible candidate as a writer of the play in the Ghent list, especially if – in contrast to what is currently accepted, but as some aspects of versification would seem to indicate – he was indeed the Middle Dutch author who, under De Thimo’s supervision, wrote the ‘Continuation’ (parts 6 and 7) of the Brabantsche yeesten.

Naar aanleiding van ... / Apropos of ...

Anna Dlabačová

Conventspreken onconventioneel benaderd?Schrijven in commissie. De zusters uit het Brusselse klooster Jericho en de preken van hun biechtvaders (ca. 1456-1510). Patricia Stoop
56-57

Anna Dlabačová (University of Leiden), Universiteit Leiden, Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Centre for the Arts in Society, Oude Nederlandse l&c, Witte Singelcomplex, P.N. van Eyckhof 1, NL-2311 BV Leiden, [email protected]

Jozef Janssens

Over mooie ontrouwen …
Beatrijs de wereld in. Vertalingen en bewerkingen van het Middelnederlandse verhaal. Ton van Kalmthout, Orsolya Réthelyi & Remco Sleiderink (red.)
57-60

Jozef Janssens (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel), [email protected]

Wim Hüsken

Van Elckerlijc tot Jedermann
Elckerlijc – Jedermann. Clara Strijbosch & Ulrike Zellmann (ed./vert.)
60-64

Wim Hüsken (Museum Hof van Busleyden, Stedelijke Musea Mechelen in Mechelen), [email protected]

Ingrid Falque

Repenser le rapport texte-image dans la tradition du Speculum Humanae Salvationis
Een lekenboek in woord en beeld. De Spegel der minschliken zalicheid. Bernadette Kramer
64-67

Ingrid Falque (UCL), Université catholique de Louvain, INCAL / GEMCA, Place Blaise Pascal, 1, bte L3.03.21, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, [email protected]

Renée Gabriël

Als ich diß buch in flemsch fant / Da müst es mir gefallen
Bibliographie der niederländischen Literatur in deutscher Übersetzung I: niederländische Literatur bis 1550. Rita Schlusemann
67-69

Renée Gabriël (Radboud University of Nijmegen), Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Afdeling Nederlands, postbus 9103, NL-6500 HD Nijmegen, [email protected]

Nummer / Issue 2

Fred Lodder

Een erotische boerde

71-90

This article presents a new view on Ene boerde, text number 126 in the Van Hulthem manuscript (c. 1405-1408). This monorhyme is considered as a scatalogical joke, because the main action seems to be the throwing of a pot filled with urine at a man’s head by a woman. Nonetheless the text raises a lot of questions, which are left unanswered hitherto. However, the obscurities can be clarified when the text is conceived as a dramatic monologue performed by an actor. But which personage did he impersonate? An important clue for the solution of that mystery appears to be the statement of the man’s ‘sweetheart’. Her answer can be understood as an ambiguous one, consisting of a sequence of sexual metaphors. Because of this the narrated event can be (re)constructed as follows. The actor represents the well-known type of a cuckold. Presumably the man and the woman make up an unequal couple. The husband, who keeps an eye on his wife, threatens to catch her with a lover. Nevertheless she manages to work herself out of trouble. In his report the foolish husband makes himself the object of the spectators’ derision. It is reasonable that the monologue was performed especially – but not exclusively – during Shrovetide with the intention of confirming the urban conjugal ethics and deriding those who violate them. It is not inconceivable that for the sake of infilling the fifteen lines which constitute Ene boerde were extracted from a play in which stereotypes one after the other related their experiences with matrimonial affairs (Reihenspiel).

Lisanne Vroomen

Ick byn verdoelt op deser jacht

Gedachten over het publiek van Berlijn, SBB-PK, mgo 185 en de rol van de wereld

91-107

Lisanne Vroomen (University of Antwerp), Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen, Prinsstraat 13, GK 34.101, B-2000 Antwerpen, [email protected]

In previous research, it has been stated that vernacular religious songs could be targeted at and used by young women, e.g. since renunciation of the world is an important topic for this genre. This article explores the themes of conversion, repentance and renunciation of the world in the religious song manuscript Berlin, SBB-PK, mgo 185. Although these themes are often present in the songs, it is, based on solely this information, problematic to conclude that the codex was intended for young women who were at the beginning of their conversion. They could have used the songs, but nevertheless, the themes might also have been important for women who had been living a (semi)religious life for a while. In addition, this article shows that elements of secular songs were incorporated in the formal elements of the devout songs, even though the world is rejected in a lot of the songs. Melodies of worldly songs were adopted and elements from secular May songs were taken over. The so-called substitution motive cannot explain this intermingling of secular and religious songs.

Gerard Bouwmeester

Augustijnken primair

Over het feitelijke en geïntendeerde primaire publiek van Augustijnkens oeuvre

108-128

Gerard Bouwmeester (University of Utrecht), Universiteit Utrecht, Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen, Trans 10, NL-3512 JK Utrecht, [email protected]

Augustijnken is one of the most widely known medieval Dutch itinerant storytellers. Seven texts are commonly ascribed to him; all short and rhyming, but very diverse regarding their contents – from pun to gospel interpretation. Since the 1850s, Augustijnken has been mostly situated at the Court of Jean of Blois (Schoonhoven, Holland), but from the 1990s onwards, scholars have also argued and assumed that he worked in the Flemish city of Ghent. This article shows that the latter hypothesis is probably not true, mainly because the archival references to both Augustijnkens overlap. In addition, this contribution argues that it is impossible to derive an actual intended audience from Augustijnken’s oeuvre, as the texts lack factual evidence. Earlier claims regarding Augustijnken’s audience are based on references, which are rather vague and textually instable. In discussing these earlier suggestions, this article also rejects the idea that Augustijnken should be referred to as ‘van Dordt’, as there are no actual clues that he originated from that city.