Brave burgers dankzij de Bijbel - Leesaanwijzingen in Jacques Legrands Livre de bonnes meurs (c. 1404/1410 | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 126, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 0040-7518
  • E-ISSN: 2352-1163

Abstract

The succesful vernacular work Le livre de bonnes meurs (c.1404/1410) by the Augustinian monk Jacques Legrand undermines several historical commonplaces about the late Middle Ages: it made parts of the Bible accessible to laypeople in the vernacular (laypeople are even strongly encouraged to read the Bible); and the author openly criticizes the behaviour of the religious and political authorities. Le livre de bonnes meurs has often been characterized as a mirror of princes, but this article argues that it should rather be considered as a civic mirror, because it helped its readers to improve their personal lives, and it provided them with directions as to how they should behave in society. The author gives advice to all three orders of society (clergy, nobility, and working people), and, consequently, provides a mirror in which the reader can judge his or her own behaviour and that of others. Because of the central role of the vernacular Bible as a spiritual, moral, and practical guide, sacred scripture itself is also turned into a civic mirror.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/TVGESCH2013.2.HOOG
2013-05-01
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/TVGESCH2013.2.HOOG
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error