During the Middle Ages and early modern period, a dramatic culture of astonishing vitality developed in the Low Countries. Owing to the activities of organisations known as rederijkerskamers, or "chambers of rhetoric", drama became a central aspect of public life in the cities of the Netherlands. The …

During the medieval and early modern periods, the mock sermon was one of the most widely staged festive rituals. There are records of its performance in most European countries and cultures. But despite its clear popularity in England, few of these texts are extant in English. Fewer still have been translated …

This article offers the first substantial survey of the Middle Dutch satire Dit es de Frenesie since the work of C.P. Serrure in the mid nineteenth century. It contests much of the conventional wisdom surrounding De Frenesie, challenging the poem's usual classification as an early boerde or fabliau. …

Een schoone ende wonderlijcke prognosticate (1560) is one of many Dutch texts dealing with the trickster Till Eulenspiegel, known as "Tijl Uilenspiegel" in the Low Countries and "Owlglass" in England. The poem differs from most Eulenspiegel literature in two key respects. First, it treats the figure …

Jan Van der Noot (c.1540-c.1601) is a central figure in Dutch literature, widely regarded as the first true Renaissance poet in the Netherlands. He was the earliest Dutch poet to imitate Ronsard, Baïf, and Petrarch, and the first to use the sonnetform. Van der Noot also has vital links with sixteenth-century …

The wide diffusion of the "Entrapped Suitors" story-type has often been observed: examples are found in a remarkable number of literatures, ranging from English, French and Greek in the West, to Persian, Arabic and Kashmiri in the East. However, a text of this type that is often overlooked is the Middle …

In dit artikel vertalen de auteurs vier liedjes uit het Antwerps Liedboek (1544) in rijmend hedendaags Engels.

Mariken van Nieumeghen is one of the best known plays in Dutch literary history, but has found little fame outside the Netherlands. Although an early modern English translation does exist, this was evidently based on a lost prose version. The original play contains numerous verse-passages. There are …

In c.1330 the Antwerp public servant Jan van Boendale composed Der Leken Spieghel (The Layman's Mirror), a free adaption of several earlier Latin treatises on education. Van Boendale evidently wanted to ensure that a clear and reliable handbook was available to the laity, who lacked sufficient training …

Binnen de kamers van retorica namen de refereinen een aparte plaats in. Goede refereinen waren gebonden aan strikte regels en werden op de juiste manier voorgedragen op festivals waar de beste refereinen werden bekroond met een prijs. In dit artikel worden de drie prijswinnenende refereinen van het Rotterdamse …