DOCSLIB.ORG

Download Download

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download Download Roelantslied Hans van Dijk Doen sprac hi [Olivier] openbaerre: “Lieve geselle, comt haerre. Wi moeten met rouwe sceden.” Doen ontvielen de tranen hem beden Uten ogen haestelike Ende weenden bitterlike. Olivier verseerden sine wonde, Dbloet ran hem uten monde. Hi wert bleec ende onghedaen Alse die ter doet wert gaen Ende viel in onmacht te hant. Doen sprac die grave Roelant: “Hulpt God! Edel here, Ic vruchte dat beten sere. Betic vanden orsse neder, Ic commer niet op weder. Ay lieve geselle Olivier, Moeten wi nu sceden hier? Dat es mi de droefste dach Die ic met oghen sach. Ay Vrancrike,” sprac Roelant, “Hoe seere sidi ghescant! Karel verliest heden sere; Dat hem gaet ane sijn ere.” Van den rouwe die hadde Roelant Viel hi in onmachte te hant. Maer schiere hi bequam. Doen sach hi ende vernam 26.2 36 Hans van Dijk Olivier ten wige gaen, Die vanden onmacht was opgestaen. Hem waren verdonckert daer Die ogen scone ende claer. Nochtan dedi groot genent Ende ghinc vechten al blent. Die edel grave Rolant Volgede Oliviere thant Ende nam sijns ware Inde Sarrasinen scare. Als Olivier vernam Dat Roelant bi hem quam, Gaf hem Olivier enen slach Dat hi en hoorde no en sach. Doen sprac den grave Roelant Tote Olivier thant: “Lieve gheselle, waer bi Soe hebdi geslagen mi? Ic ben doch dijn gheselle Roelant.” Olivier antwoerde te hant: “Lieve geselle, inne sie u niet. Mi es leet dat mi es gesciet. Verghevet mi dor Gods ere, Want het rouwet mi herde zere.” Doe sprac Roelant: “Olivier, Ic vergeeft u gerne hier.” Olivier neech hem dor dat Ende trac achter een luttel bat, Want hem porde die doot Die hem dede pine groot. (H, ll. 173-226)1 1 The cited text is based on the diplomatic edition in van Dijk, 1981, pp. 376-84. To increase readability some changes have been made: spelling Olifant Roelantslied 37 Then Olivier said in a clear voice: “Dear friend, come here. Sadly we need to say goodbye.” Then tears streamed from the eyes of both and they wept bitterly. The pain from Olivier’s wounds increased, blood ran from his mouth. He looked pale and unwell like someone about to die and soon he lost consciousness. Then count Roelant said: “May God help me. Noble lord, I am afraid to dismount. Once I get down from my horse, I’ll not get on it again. Ah, dear friend Olivier, are we to say goodbye now in this place? This is the saddest day of my life. Ah France,” Roelant said, “How you are disgraced! Charles now suffers a great loss; it will affect his honour.” The sadness he experienced caused Roelant to faint. But he quickly came to again. Then he saw Olivier, who had regained consciousness, make his way to the battle again. His eyes that once had been so beautiful and clear were obscured by a film. All the same he behaved bravely and, completely blinded, entered the fight. The noble count Roelant followed Olivier at once and watched him among the Saracen host. When Olivier noticed that Roelant was approaching him, he gave him such a blow with his sword that he [Roelant] could neither hear nor see. Then count Roelant said to Olivier: “Dear friend, why did you hit me? It’s me, your friend Roelant.” Olivier answered at once: “Dear friend, I cannot see you. I am sorry that this hap- pened. Forgive me, for God’s sake, for I regret it very much.” Then Roelant said: “Olivier, I forgive you whole- heartedly.” Olivier bent forwards [towards his friend] and and punctuation have been adapted, and emendations on the basis of other redactions have been made. 26.2 38 Hans van Dijk withdrew a little, for death overcame him, of which he was much afraid.2 This is how Roelant and Olivier say their final farewells in the Middle Dutch Roelantslied. Towards the end of the battle, Olivier is mortally wounded by a stab in the back delivered by the pagan com- mander Galifer (Marganice). Although severely weakened and near death, he continues to slash blindly at the enemy. In doing so he acci- dently hits Roelant. Deeply moved, the two friends say farewell. The scene is one of the high points in the narrative tradition of the Chanson de Roland. In the famous Oxford Version it is found in lines 1980-2010 of the second episode, which describes the actual battle near Roncevaux.3 Of the four episodes of which the Chanson de Roland consists, only the second has survived in Dutch.4 The Middle Dutch text begins with the preparations for battle by the Saracens and ends with Charles’s return when the battle is already over (Roland, ll. 841- 2608). Details The Roelantslied belongs to the oldest remains in the vernacular lit- erature of the Low Countries. It may have been translated from French into Flemish as early as the twelfth century. Jacob van Maerlant refers to the work in his Spiegel historiael around 1285 (de Vries and Verwijs, 1857-63, IV, 1, 29, 51; vol. III, p. 204), but the work’s static versification suggests that by this time the Roelantslied had already been around for a century. As the research of linguist E. van den Berg has shown, the rela- 2 The English translation is provided by Thea Summerfield based on the author’s modern Dutch translation of the Middle Dutch text. 3 The Chanson de Roland is cited according to the Moignet edition. 4 The four episodes of the Chanson de Roland in the Oxford Version are: Prelude (ll. 1-840), Roncevaux (ll. 841-2608), Baligant (ll. 2609-3704) and Ganelon’s Punishment (ll. 3705-4002). Olifant Roelantslied 39 tionship between syntax and versification in Middle Dutch romances gradually increased in complexity (van den Berg, 2007). In the earliest period – that is to say, in the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth – sentences in general coincide with one rhymed couplet, as in Ay, lieve geselle Olivier / Moeten wi nu sceden hier? (H, ll. 187-88). From the beginning of the thirteenth century, versification becomes more dynamic and sentences more often extend beyond the limits of the cou- plet or even single lines. With its static versification, the Roelantslied belongs to the oldest category. As the language of the oldest surviving fragments has Flemish dialect characteristics, it may be assumed that the text was originally written in Flemish (van den Berg, 1985, p. 23). The county of Flanders was the only region in the Low Countries that was part of the kingdom of France. It is not, therefore, surprising that it was there that the French chansons de geste were known at an early date. The survival rate of the Roelantslied is poor.5 Four short, parchment fragments (R, H, Ro, and B) from the fourteenth century are extant as well as a number of paper leaves (L) from the 1480s. Moreover, large sections of the rhymed text have been integrated into two sixteenth- century printed editions (A from c. 1520 and B from 1576). These sources vary greatly in character and quality. The fourteenth-century fragments contain relatively few corrupt places, but as they number only a limited number of lines—from fewer than a hundred to no more than a few hundred lines—they are too small to carry much weight. They derive from manuscripts of the usual type for fourteenth-century romances (van der Have, 2011, pp. 14-15. The paper leaves of L date from the end of the fifteenth century. They once formed part of a miscellany that was proba- bly compiled by a private reader. This may be deduced from the unusual layout of the manuscript (one column in a careless italic hand) and the many errors that the text contains. The two printed editions are small, plainly executed books entirely in the style of the early Dutch printed 5 On this point see Kienhorst, 1988, pp. 180-85, ill. 126-29; Besamusca, 1983, pp. 115-25, pl. 17-18; van Dijk, 1981, pp. 30-43. 26.2 40 Hans van Dijk editions of romance adaptations. They contain a hybrid text of the Droef- liken strijt van Roncevale. The prose text alternates with considerable sections in rhyme which derive from a late fifteenth-century version of the Roelantslied. If, however, all the pieces are put together in the right sequence, an almost complete rendition in Middle Dutch of nearly 2000 lines of verse from the second episode of the Chanson de Roland appears. It should, however, be borne in mind that this rendition is extremely heterogeneous in origin. We follow now one, now another of the Middle Dutch sources, while sometimes the text is based on nothing more than emendations and guesses. The quotation at the beginning of this contribution derives mainly from the relatively reliable fragment H, but even so, it had to be supplemented in many places from other sources. The tradition How does the Middle Dutch text compare with the international transmission of the text of the Chanson de Roland? As we have seen, only fragments of the second episode (the description of the battle near Roncevaux) have come down to us. It may be that there never was more in Middle Dutch than this single episode, which is after all the core of the narrative. Comparisons with other texts in the Chanson de Roland tradi- tion show that the Roelantslied most resembles the Oxford Version of the French tradition. Many precise similarities between the two texts prove that it concerns a written process of transmission here, that is to say that a written French exemplar was translated by means of writing into Dutch.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Index of Manuscripts Cited
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86578-4 - An Introduction to the Medieval Bible Frans Van Liere Index More information Index of Manuscripts Cited Cambridge, Trinity College Oxford, Bodleian Library R.17.1: 32 Auct. D.4.10: 106, 169 Junius 11: 185–186 Chicago, Newberry Library Case 19.1: 231 Paris, Bibliotheque` Nationale Case 203: 25 Lat. 9380: 35 Lat. 11,937: 94 Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana 1 5 7 9 12 21 25 27 41 54 64 Amiatinus : – , , , , – , , , , Saint Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 72 94 211 246 , , , MS 913,fol.148ff.: 151 Freiburg, University Library 334 252 Stuttgart, Wurttembergische¨ Landesbibliothek MS : n HB.II.16: 94 London, British Library Vatican Library Add. 10,546: 35–36, 95, 242–243 Vat. gr. 1209: 24 Add. 15,253: 33 Vat. lat. 1027: 170 Add. 24,142: 73, 94 Add. 43,725: 24 37 777 9 46 Verona, Biblioteca capitolare Add. , : , 6 91 181 182 Add. 40,006: 47–48 MS : , – Add. 45,025: 9, 24, 46 ¨ Cotton Nero D. IV: 107, 189 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek Egerton 3031: 47 MS 1179: 248 Harley 2805: 35 MS 2554: 248 Royal 1.B.X: 24, 47, 169 Royal 1.D.V-VIII: 24 York, Minster Library Add. 2: 213 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library XVI.D.13: 47 M.240: 249 XVI.K.6: 253 M.719-720: 252n XVI.N.6: 97 M.962: 154 XVI.Q.3: 97, 105 303 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86578-4 - An Introduction to the Medieval Bible Frans Van Liere Index More information Index of Biblical References Genesis 11:5105 1:1131–132 15:3125 1:2171 15:11 110 1:31 44 17 168 2:344
    [Show full text]
  • Index Nominum
    Index Nominum Abualcasim, 50 Alfred of Sareshal, 319n Achillini, Alessandro, 179, 294–95 Algazali, 52n Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio, Ali, Ismail, 8n, 132 205n Alkindi, 304 Adam, 313 Allan, Mowbray, 276n Adam of Papenhoven, 222n Alne, Robert, 208n Adamson, Melitta Weiss, 136n Alonso, Manual, 46 Adenulf of Anagni, 301, 384 Alphonse of Poitiers, 193, 234 Adrian IV, pope, 108 Alverny, Marie-Thérèse d’, 35, 46, Afonso I Henriques, king of Portu- 50, 53n, 93, 147, 177, 264n, 303, gal, 35 308n Aimery, archdeacon of Tripoli, Alvicinus de Cremona, 368 105–6 Amadaeus VIII, duke of Savoy, Alberic of Trois Fontaines, 100–101 231 Albert de Robertis, bishop of Ambrose, 289 Tripoli, 106 Anastasius IV, pope, 108 Albert of Rizzato, patriarch of Anti- Anatoli, Jacob, 113 och, 73, 77n, 86–87, 105–6, 122, Andreas the Jew, 116 140 Andrew of Cornwall, 201n Albert of Schmidmüln, 215n, 269 Andrew of Sens, 199, 200–202 Albertus Magnus, 1, 174, 185, 191, Antonius de Colell, 268 194, 212n, 227, 229, 231, 245–48, Antweiler, Wolfgang, 70n, 74n, 77n, 250–51, 271, 284, 298, 303, 310, 105n, 106 315–16, 332 Aquinas, Thomas, 114, 256, 258, Albohali, 46, 53, 56 280n, 298, 315, 317 Albrecht I, duke of Austria, 254–55 Aratus, 41 Albumasar, 36, 45, 50, 55, 59, Aristippus, Henry, 91, 329 304 Arnald of Villanova, 1, 156, 229, 235, Alcabitius, 51, 56 267 Alderotti, Taddeo, 186 Arnaud of Verdale, 211n, 268 Alexander III, pope, 65, 150 Ashraf, al-, 139n Alexander IV, pope, 82 Augustine (of Hippo), 331 Alexander of Aphrodisias, 311, Augustine of Trent, 231 336–37 Aulus Gellius,
    [Show full text]
  • 9 Texts, Images and Sounds in the Urban Environment, C.1100– C.1500
    390 9 Texts, Images and Sounds in the Urban Environment, c.1100– c.1500 Maximiliaan P.J. Martens , Johan Oosterman , Nele Gabriëls , Andrew Brown , and Hendrik Callewier No single event in medieval Bruges was recorded by so many as the marriage festivities of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York in 1468; and no event brought so much artistic talent together. More than 150 artists (painters, sculptors, embroiderers and others), including some of the most celebrated of the day, were draft ed in from all over the duke’s territories to work on the decoration and staging of the pas d’armes on the Markt and the banquet entertainments in the Prinsenhof that took place between 3 and 12 July. Th e singing sirens who emerged during the last banquet from the jaws of a 60 foot model whale – which had mirrors for eyes and moved to the sound of trumpets and shawms – were among the countless singers and musicians who performed during the event. Th e cost to the ducal household of these expenses (which included building work on the duke’s residence) came to more than 13,000 pounds (of 40 groten), the equivalent of paying a daily wage to 52,000 skilled craft smen. Local artists were also employed by the city aldermen for the couple’s entry into the city. Th e rhetorician Anthonis de Roovere was paid for staging the dumbshows forming part of the entry ceremony, of which he also wrote the most detailed account.1 Th e festivities of 1468 illuminate several aspects of ‘cultural’ activity in Bruges that form the themes of this chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature of the Low Countries
    Literature of the Low Countries A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium Reinder P. Meijer bron Reinder P. Meijer, Literature of the Low Countries. A short history of Dutch literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague / Boston 1978 Zie voor verantwoording: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/meij019lite01_01/colofon.htm © 2006 dbnl / erven Reinder P. Meijer ii For Edith Reinder P. Meijer, Literature of the Low Countries vii Preface In any definition of terms, Dutch literature must be taken to mean all literature written in Dutch, thus excluding literature in Frisian, even though Friesland is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the same way as literature in Welsh would be excluded from a history of English literature. Similarly, literature in Afrikaans (South African Dutch) falls outside the scope of this book, as Afrikaans from the moment of its birth out of seventeenth-century Dutch grew up independently and must be regarded as a language in its own right. Dutch literature, then, is the literature written in Dutch as spoken in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the so-called Flemish part of the Kingdom of Belgium, that is the area north of the linguistic frontier which runs east-west through Belgium passing slightly south of Brussels. For the modern period this definition is clear anough, but for former times it needs some explanation. What do we mean, for example, when we use the term ‘Dutch’ for the medieval period? In the Middle Ages there was no standard Dutch language, and when the term ‘Dutch’ is used in a medieval context it is a kind of collective word indicating a number of different but closely related Frankish dialects.
    [Show full text]
  • Frits Van Oostrom, Stemmen Op Schrift
    Review A Reference Book, but also a ‘Good Read’. Frits van Oostrom, Stemmen op Schrift: Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse literatuur vanaf het begin tot 1300 (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2006) Elisabeth Meyer, University of Amsterdam Frits van Oostrom is one of the most renowned experts in the field of Middle Dutch literature. He has been a professor at the University of Utrecht since 2002 and prior to that he spent almost two decades at the University of Leiden. In 1999 he spent a year as a visiting professor at Harvard University. Yet he is also well known in the Netherlands as a bestselling author in the field of medieval studies, which he has opened up to a large readership. In 1996 he was awarded one of the most important Dutch literature prizes, the AKO- Literatuurprijs (now ECI-Literatuurprijs) for his study Maerlants Werelt, which deals with the life and times of the thirteenth-century Flemish poet Jacob van Maerlant. Although non-fiction books are hardly ever awarded this prize, Van Oostrom succeeded once more in being nominated for it in 2006 with his literary history Stemmen of Schrift: Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse literatuur vanaf het begin tot 1300 (Voices on Paper: The History of Dutch Literature from the Beginning until 1300). This book is the first of two volumes about medieval Dutch literature, the second of which, also authored by Van Oostrom, is devoted to the fourteenth century.1 Upon publication Stemmen op Schrift received many enthusiastic reviews in national and regional Dutch newspapers, and was critically received by experts in the field.
    [Show full text]
  • Georges Declercq, “Rijmkroniek Van Vlaanderen”, Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, R.G. Dunphy Ed. (Brill, Leiden and Boston 2010), 1280–1281
    Georges Declercq, “Rijmkroniek van Vlaanderen”, Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, R.G. Dunphy ed. (Brill, Leiden and Boston 2010), 1280–1281 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 EMC rijmkroniek van vlaanderen 2 Rijmkroniek van Vlaanderen Baldwin V (v. 551–998). A third author, who lived and worked in Ghent shortly after 1415 (or 1419) 13th–14th centuries. Low Countries. A 10571- is responsible for the remaining text (v. 4762– line verse chronicle containing a dynastic history 10571). For the period ca 1180–1347, his text is of the county of Flanders, from the legendary Lie- based successively on two Latin sources (the two derik of Harelbeke (792) until the beginning of continuations of Clairmarais to the Flandria gen- the reign of John the Fearless (1405). Written in erosa) and a French chronicle (the continuation all probability by three anonymous poets (rather of the so-called → Chronique dite de Baudouin than six as Pirenne assumed). d’Avesnes ). From 1347 (v. 8840) onwards the The work of the first author, which can be dated work of this poet is independent of any known to the second half of the 13th century (probably source and from ca 1380 he is an eyewitness of ca 1260–80), covers the period until the reign of the events he describes. Although this third poet Philip of Alsace, ca 1180 (v. 1–550 and 999–4761). appears to have been an inhabitant of Ghent, he It is essentially a somewhat shortened rendering shows himself very critical of the leaders of the in vernacular verse of a French prose translation Ghent revolt of 1379–85 and was clearly a parti- of the B-version of the → Flandria generosa ( Anci- san of the Burgundian duke Philip the Bold.
    [Show full text]
  • Rug01-001414758 2010 0001 Ac
    Inhoudsopgave Inhoudsopgave .................................................................................................................. 1 1. Inleiding ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.1. Het onderwerp ..................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Vraagstelling ......................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Structuur .............................................................................................................. 7 1.4. Praktische opmerkingen ....................................................................................... 7 2. De Spiegel Historiael en haar auteurs ........................................................................ 10 2.1. De hoofdbron: het Speculum Historiale van Vincentius van Beauvais .................. 10 2.2. De opbouw van de Spiegel Historiael .................................................................. 11 2.3. Jacob van Maerlant ............................................................................................. 12 2.4. Philip Utenbroeke ............................................................................................... 13 2.5. Lodewijk van Velthem ......................................................................................... 14 3. Het primaire publiek: de opdrachtgevers in beeld ....................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Jacob Van Maerlant Zijn Leven -Zijn Werken Zijn Beteekenis
    Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal & Letterkunde Reeks III, nr 25. JACOB VAN MAERLANT ZIJN LEVEN -ZIJN WERKEN ZIJN BETEEKENIS DOOR Dr. J. Van Mierlo, S. J. 1946 DRUKKERIJ J. VAN MIERLO-PROOST — TURNHOUT JACOB VAN MAERLANT Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal & Letterkunde Reeks III, nr 25. JACOB VAN MAERLANT ZIJN LEVEN - ZIJN WERKEN ZIJN BETEEKENIS DOOR Dr. J. Van Mierlo, S. J. 1946 DRUKKERIJ J. VAN MIERLO-PROOST — TURNHOUT Ter verantwoording Ik had mij voorgenomen, af en toe voor de commissiën van Mid- delnederlandsch of van cultuurgeschiedenis van onze Academie voor Taal. en Letterkunde een of ander der vraagstukken te be handelen, die in verband met Jacob van Maerlant werden gesteld. Doch in plaats van een reeks kleinere of grootere bijdragen, die Maerlandiana konden heeten, gaf ik liever -een doorloopend over zicht van het leven en de werken van onzen dichter, waarin- die vraagstukken werden opgenomen, naarmate er aanleiding toe was. Daaruit verklaart zich de aard van dit werk : dat beknopt samenvat wat als algemeen aanvaard wordtbeschouwd, terwijl het langer verwijlt bij soms ondergeschikte zaken, die echter een onderzoek noodzakelijk maakten. Zoo hopen wij toch, met deze bladzijden te gemoet te komen aan het verlangen van een ruimeren kring van belangstellenden, die er wel eens over klagen, dat er, sedert het nu eenigszins verouderde, nog weinig toegankelijke en trouwens ook wel eenzijdige werk van Te Winkel over Van Maerlant's werken beschouwd als spiegel van de dertiende eeuw (2e' uitg. 1892), geen samenvattend werk over onzen dichter verschenen is 1 ). 1) Vóór enkele jaren werd ik door den heer Am.
    [Show full text]
  • NIEDERDEUTSCHE STUDIEN Schriftenreihe Der Kommission Für
    NIEDERDEUTSCHE STUDIEN Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Mundart- und Namenforschung des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe BEGRÜN DET VO N WILLIAM FO ERSTE HERAUSGEGEBEN VO N ]AN GOOSSEN S BAN D 26 JACOB VAN MAERLANT HISTORIE VAN DEN GRALE und BOEK VAN MERLINE Nach der Steinfurter Handschrift herausgegeben von TIMOTHY SüDMANN 1980 BÖHLAU VERLAG KÖLN WIEN CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Jacob ( van Maerlant) : [Sammlung] Historie van den grale und Boek van MerlinejJacob van Maerlant. Nach d. Steinfurter Hs. hrsg. von Timo­ thy Sodmann. - Köln, Wien: Böhlau, 1980. NE: Sodmann, Timothy [Hrsg.] ISBN 3-412-03480-0 (Niederdeutsche Studien; Bd. 26) Copyright © 1980 by Kommission für Mundart- und Namenforschung Westfalens, Magdalenenstraße 5, 4400 Münster Alle Rechte vorbehalten Ohne schriftliche Genehmigung desVerlages ist es nicht gestattet, das Werk unter Verwendung mechanischer, elektronischer und anderer Systeme in irgendeiner Weise zu verarbeiten undzu verbreiten. Insbesondere vorbehalten sind die Rechte der Vervielfältigung - auch von Teilen des Werkes - auf photomechanischem oder ähnlichem Wege, der tontechnischen Wiedergabe, des Vortrags, der Funk­ und Fernsehsendung, der Speicherung in Datenverarbeitungsanlagen, der Üb er­ setzung und der literarischen oder anderweitigen Bearbeitung. Printed inGermany Typoskript-Herstellung: Kommission fürMundart-und NamenforschungWestfalens, Münster Druck und buchbinderischeVerarbeitung: Aschendorff, Münster ISBN 3-412-03480-0 D6 FÜR IRMGARD 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 INHALT Vorwort ........•........................................ XI Einleitung.................... ......................... 1. Die mittelniederländischen und mittel­ niederdeutschen Graal- und Artusromane ....•.... 1.1 Die mittelniederländischen Graal- und Artusromane................................... 1.2 Graal- und Artusepen in der mittelnieder­ deutschen Literatur. • . • . 2 1.3 Die His torie van den grale und das Boek van me rline...................................
    [Show full text]
  • Jacob Van Maerlant
    Jacob van Maerlant Zijn leven, zijn werken, zijn beteekenis Jozef van Mierlo bron Jozef van Mierlo, Jacob van Maerlant. J. van Mierlo-Proost, Turnhout 1946 Zie voor verantwoording: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/mier004jaco01_01/colofon.php © 2011 dbnl / erven Jozef van Mierlo 5 Ter verantwoording Ik had mij voorgenomen, af en toe voor de commissiën van Middelnederlandsch of van cultuurgeschiedenis van onze Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde een of ander der vraagstukken te behandelen, die in verband met Jacob van Maerlant werden gesteld. Doch in plaats van een reeks kleinere of grootere bijdragen, die Maerlandiana konden heeten, gaf ik liever een doorloopend overzicht van het leven en de werken van onzen dichter, waarin die vraagstukken werden opgenomen, naarmate er aanleiding toe was. Daaruit verklaart zich de aard van dit werk: dat beknopt samenvat wat als algemeen aanvaard wordt beschouwd, terwijl het langer verwijlt bij soms ondergeschikte zaken, die echter een onderzoek noodzakelijk maakten. Zoo hopen wij toch, met deze bladzijden te gemoet te komen aan het verlangen van een ruimeren kring van belangstellenden, die er wel eens over klagen, dat er, sedert het nu eenigszins verouderde, nog weinig toegankelijke en trouwens ook wel eenzijdige werk van Te Winkel over Van Maerlant's werken beschouwd als spiegel van de dertiende eeuw (2e uitg. 1892), geen samenvattend werk over onzen dichter verschenen is1). 1) Vóór enkele jaren werd ik door den heer Am. Arents om een inleiding verzocht voor zijn ontworpen bibliographie van Jacob van Maerlant. Ik zou hier het onderwerp nog eens willen opnemen, om het wat uitvoeriger, dan daar mogelijk was, wat grondiger ook, naar ik hoop, uit te werken.
    [Show full text]
  • Siege of Thebes by John Lydgate
    Richard III’s Books: 11. A Collection of Romances and Old Testament Stories: 2 Old Testament Stories 3 The Siege of Thebes by John Lydgate ANNE F. SUTTON AND LIVIA VISSER-FUCHS 1 2. Old Testament Stories. The Author and his Purpose. The Bible stories in Richard of Gloucester’s anthologyl consist of a metrical paraphrase of a large part of the Old Testament and no less than the Ipomedon they were meant to hold the reader’s attention as well as edify him. The Flemish author Jacob van Maerlant who composed a “Rhyming Bible’ in the vernacular in 127] , had complained that people would rather listen to the stories .of Tristan and Lancelot, Percival and Galahad, and that ‘all over the wide world, people read trifles of love and war, but the Gospel is too much for us, because it is so right and true’.2 Both his work and this metrical paraphrase were written to circumvent this difficulty and ease the way of the lazy and illiterate layman towards the Word of God. Van Maerlant, as well as the unknown author of this paraphrase, relied heavily on a twelfth-century Latin prose adaptation of the Bible that appears to have been acCepted by the clerical authorities as less dangerous, that is, less likely to tempt the reader to a personal interpretation of God’s Word — and thus to heresy —, than reading the Bible itself. Even so van Maerlant’ s translation, and his criticism of the clergy, was not welcomed 1n his day. 3 How the author of the paraphrase fared' 1n this respect is not known, the fact that Richard of Gloucester apparently possessed a copy suggests that by the 1460’ , at least, the work was considered safe.
    [Show full text]
  • Continuities and Discontinuities in the Production and Reception of Middle Dutch Narrative Literature
    Bart Besamusca and Frank Willaert Continuities and Discontinuities in the Production and Reception of Middle Dutch Narrative Literature Abstracts: In this article, we argue that in the development of Middle Dutch narrative liter- ature three stages can be distinguished. In the first phase, indicated in this contribution as ‘Middle Dutch narrative literature in manuscripts’, authors of romances stuck to verse instead of prose, and stopped writing these texts after the middle of the fourteenth cen- tury. Between c. 1400 and c. 1470, Middle Dutch romances were only read in the eastern part of the Low Countries, in aristocratic circles, and not in Flanders or Brabant, the cen- tral parts of the region. The second phase, indicated as ‘Holland’, witnessed the reintro- duction of Middle Dutch narrative literature by means of the printing press around 1470. In small towns located in the northern parts of the Low Countries, early printers produced prose narratives that had a strong didactic bias. These texts were adaptations of both Latin sources and Middle Dutch verse texts available in manuscript copies. The output of these printers included, in addition, editions of well-known verse narratives. The third phase, indicated as ‘Antwerp’, started with the shift of the production of printed texts from Holland to the metropolis of Antwerp in the 1480s. Antwerp printers looked for ap- pealing sources outside of the Low Countries and adapted their material in order to attract both readers who were interested in new texts and readers who preferred texts which be- longed to an established literary tradition. Dans cet article, nous tâchons de démontrer que la littérature narrative en moyen néerlandais s’est développée en trois étapes.
    [Show full text]