Queeste - Current Issue

Dit artikel onderzoekt het gebruik van Franse benamingen voor dobbelworpen in het veertiende-eeuwse Middelnederlandse satirische nonsensgedicht Dit es de frenesie. In plaats van de ‘codeswitch’ van Nederlands naar Frans in de tekst te verklaren als een middel voor de ik-verteller om te pronken met zijn Franse taalvaardigheden, stelt deze studie dat het gebruik van de Franse taal in dobbelspellen onderdeel is van een breder cultureel fenomeen dat tot uiting komt in verschillende middeleeuwse teksten. Door de vergelijking aan te gaan met deze teksten, in het bijzonder Middelengelse gedichten, draagt dit artikel bij aan een rijker begrip van de tekst, waarin de dobbeltermen in de Frenesie gebruikt worden in een spreekwoordelijke zin om enerzijds commentaar te geven op de handelingen van de hoofdfiguur van de tekst en anderzijds te reageren op een middeleeuwse literaire traditie waarin gokken, gekken en geluk met elkaar verbonden waren.

This article discusses the authorship of the Roman van Limborch, an early fourteenth-century Dutch epic romance. A recent reconsideration of the historical references in the text allows us to connect the Limborch to (the interests of) the dynasty of Luxemburg, in particular the emperor Henry VII and his sister Felicitas. Within the entourage and literary culture of the Luxemburg family the jurist, secretary and diplomat Hendrik van Geldenaken (Henri de Jodoigne or Hendricus de Geldonia) can be singled out as a familiaris that shares important characteristics with the author of the Limborch (who introduces himself only as ‘Heinriic’). A detailed discussion of Geldenaken’s biography, his attachment to the Luxemburg dynasty and his familiarity with Dutch and Francophone literature provides a corpus of (circumstantial) evidence to identify him as the Limborch author and to introduce a new name and a new individual in the history of medieval Dutch literature.

Die Rose is one of two Middle Dutch adaptations of the Old French Roman de la Rose (c. 1278). It was written before 1325 in the Duchy of Brabant by an author named Heinric van Brussel. Divergences from the French source text primarily occur in the translation of the second part of the romance, attributed to Jean de Meun.

This article focuses on a section of the adaptation of Jean de Meun’s sequel: the sermon of Vrient, which is based on the speech of Ami. First, the current editions of both the French and Brabantine Rose are examined to decide on the most suitable edition for this comparative analysis. Variant readings in the manuscripts of the French Rose are compared with the text of the Brabantine Rose, in order to determine the manuscript family to which the French source text may have belonged.

Second, the hypothesis that Die Rose was (partially) retranslated in the Comburg manuscript (ms. C) is tested. For this purpose, the sermon of Vrient in Die Rose as found in ms. C is compared to the corresponding passages in the other Middle Dutch manuscripts and in the French Rose.

Finally, the stylistic and thematic shifts introduced by Heinric in his translation of Ami’s sermon are described and discussed.