The Multilingual Literary Dynamics of Medieval Flanders: Texts from Medieval Flanders

Project outline

The Multilingual Literary Dynamics of Medieval Flanders project is a large-scale investigation devoted to the multilingual literary culture in the county of Flanders from the thirteenth to the late fifteenth century. The project puts forward a multilingual perspective on the literary culture of medieval Flanders. It seeks to advocate for an innovative, European reshaping of literary historiography by studying this region between c. 1200 (when the spoken vernaculars were in teh process of establishing themselves as written languages) and c. 1500 (when the introduction of the printing press was beginning to change the production and reception of literature). Medieval Flanders, which corresponds with the modern-day provinces of West and East Flanders in Belgium, Zeelandic Flanders in the Netherlands and French Flanders in France, was in medieval times a highly influential principality of the Low Countries. Due to phenomena such as the strong presence of French culture and the exceptionally high degree of urbanization, this region is eminently suited for research that focuses on literary multilingualism. The project was divided into three subprojects.

Dataset

In one of the subprojects, we set up a dataset of 429 known literary texts that can be viewed as originating in Flanders or as being patronized by a Flemish resident between roughly 1200 and 1500. The texts are in French, Dutch and in Latin, and are attributed to genre categories (romance, epic, history and chronicle, satire and parody, poetry and song, didactic and fables, religious texts  travel, vitae and other biographical writings). Wherever possible specific data regarding the place and year or period of production is given, with a view to shedding some light on diachronic, diastratic and geographical trends in the prevalence of different genres and text types in the three principal languages of Flanders.

Content

The dataset includes data on Flemish literary texts dating between 1200 and 1500 focusing on 2 central topics: 

general information (title, genre, author, form, languages, source text)

provenance (milieu, patron/owner, composition date, location of origin) 

Each entry is completed with bibliographical information (text editions, sources of our information).

Disclaimer

Locating literary artefacts is a particularly difficult task. The information gathered in this dataset is drawn from databases and print dictionaries as well as individual studies. We have striven to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided. However, errors or inaccuracies may still occur, and users are advised to cross-reference information. As much of the information collected in the dataset is both subject to and sometimes also the fruit of interpretation, it cannot and does not make any claim to absolute accuracy or completeness.

Acknowledgments

The original Filemaker database was designed by Jenneka Janzen. Thanks to our other team members (Jelmar Hugen and Lisa Demets) for their fruitful suggestions and contributions during the process. We would like to thank

Funding

This work was funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) in the context of the project: 'The Multilingual Dynamics of the Literary Culture of Medieval Flanders (ca 1200 - ca 1500)', grant number VC.GW17.066. 

Bibliographical abbreviations used in the dataset

Arlima

Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge. Online at : www.arlima.net (2005-)

Caers 2011

Bram Caers, ‘Een buchelin inn flemische: Over ontstaan en verspreiding van de ridderepiek in de Nederlanden (ca. 1150-1450)’,  Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 127 (2011), 223-251

DBNL

De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren. Online at: https://www.dbnl.org/

DLF

Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Âge, rev. edn. by Michel Zink and Geneviève Hasenohr (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1992)

Hélin 1933

Maurice Hélin, ‘Index scriptorum operorumque latino-belgarum medii aevi’, Archivum latinitatis medii aevi, 8 (1933), 77-163. Accessible online at: https://www.persee.fr/issue/alma_0994-8090_1933_num_8_1

Mirabile

Mirabile: Archivio digitale della cultura medievale: DB Mediolatino Online at: https://www.mirabileweb.it/mediolatino

Narrative Sources

The Narrative Sources from the Medieval Low Countries/De verhalende bronnen uit de middeleeuwse Nederlanden/ Les sources narratives des Pays-Bas médiévaux. Online at : https://www.narrative-sources.be/about_en.php (2009-)

Perdrizet 1907

Paul Perdrizet, ‘Jean Miélot, l'un des traducteurs de Philippe le Bon’, Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France, 14 (1907), 472-482.

van der Poel 2001

Dieuwke van der Poel, ‘De voorstelling is voorbij. Vermeldingen van wereldlijk toneel en de casus van Strasengijs’, in Spel en spektakel. Middeleeuws toneel in de Lage Landen, ed. by Hans van Dij and Bart Ramakers, Nederlandse literatuur en cultuur in de Middeleeuwen 23 (Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2001), pp. 111-132.