MS Marshall 29

Introduction

The Ms. Marshall 29 is held in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. In all probability, Thomas Marshall, rector of Lincoln College in Oxford, acquired the manuscript while he was in the Netherlands as a vicar in the years 1647-1672 (Deschamps 1972:119). The parchment manuscript is complete, comprising of 102 folios in 13 gatherings. According to Kienhorst (2005:799), the text in littera textualis in two columns of 49 lines each, is written by one hand. However, we have discovered that the text is written in two hands, although barely distinguishable (f.1r-68r and 68v-102v). Carefully comparing line initial capitals, we find that various letters including D, H, L and W are differently shaped from f.68v onwards. This change is sudden and takes place in the middle of Book III and each individual hand is consistent. We follow Kienhorst in dating the manuscript around 1375. A codicological description, an overview of the content and the authors of the various texts as well as a bibliography, are given below.

Codicological description

The manuscript is written on parchment, i+102 leaves, in two columns, modern folio numbering in pencil, 49 lines per column. The leaves measure 26x17.5cm. The binding is contemporary stamped brown leather on wooden boards, one of the two brass clasps is missing. The spine is restored.

The Summary Catalogue 5264 (Bodleian Library) provides a brief description of the manuscript. The text was previously published in a critical edition by F.A. Snellaert in Nederlandsche Gedichten. (Snellaert, 1869)

The manuscript was compiled as a codicological unity. Each of the four Books begins on the first folio of a new gathering; however, the tables of contents are written on the last folio of the previous gathering. This shows that the gatherings had not been circulated separately before binding, but were intended to be bound together in gatherings of 8 folios. Also, the manuscript is written by two hands, the second hand beginning in the middle of the 9^th gathering, which is the middle of Book III. f.1r-68r is from the first hand and f.68v-102v from the second. The rubrication is consistent throughout the manuscript, hence from one hand.

On f.i: (owner’s notation) Dit bouck behoert meester

Yoert borxhoren

1^st gathering	f.i-7v, flysheet inserted. (f.1r+v table of contents Book I; f.1b column b: start Book I)
2^nd gathering	f.8-15
3^rd gathering	f.16-23 (23r+v table of contents Book II)
4^th gathering	f.24-31 (f.24r start Book II)
5^th gathering	f.32-39
6^th gathering	f.40-47 (f.47r+v table of contents Book III)
7^th gathering	f.48-55 (f.48r start Book III)
8^th gathering	f.56-63
9^th gathering	f. 64-71
10^th gathering	f.72-79 (79r blank) (f.79v (in rubrics) Hier beghint dat vierde boecke + incomplete table of contents)
11^th gathering	f.80-87 (f.80r start Book IV)
12^th gathering	f.88-95
13^th gathering	f.96-102

Content

Ms. Marshall 29 contains the following four books from different authors.

Mellibeus het boec van troeste (by Jan van Boendale) is a didactic poem based on Liber consolationis et consilii by Albertanus van Brescia and completed in 1342. It is written as a dialogue between Melibeus and his wife Prudentia about a moral way of life.
Jans Teesteye (by Jan van Boendale) is a dialogue between Jan (van Boendale) and his friend Wouter about moral decline in society. This book can be dated between 1330-1334 (Van Anrooij 2002a, 13).
Boec vander wraken (by Jan van Boendale) is concerned about God’s wrath in the world. Boendale explains historical events as punishment from God. Part one gives examples of wrath from the bible, from lives of priest, prelates and governors and ends with the predictions of the eight sybilles, based on Sibylla Tiburtina. Part two is based on Revelationes Methodii. Boendale demonstrates the bad influence of governors (‘landsheren’) from Noah and Alexander the Great to king Philip VI of France who fought against Edward III of England, which must be the battle of Crézy in 1346. All of the wars that are described, hasten the coming of the anti-christ.Part III is mainly historical, about the role of individuals in wrath and punishment. The last chapters of Part III (3.50-3.53) are based on the 6^th version of Brabantsche Yeesten which was completed in 1351.Van Anrooij concludes that Boec vander wraken was written in two versions, the first of which was finished in 1346 and the second version as found in our manuscript in 1351 so the date of 1352 found in our manuscript cannot be correct.In the epilogue we find that Boec vander wraken is dedicated to Jan (III), Duke of Brabant.
This book contains various texts by different authors.
1. In Dit es van Maskeroen (by Van Velthem, cf. Besamusca et al. 2009, 12-13). Maskeroen, representing the devil, tries to resist God’s plan to save humanity but Mary intervenes. Maskeroen is based on the Latin Processus Satanae. (Kestemont 2013, 204).
2. In Van den coninc Saladijn ende van Hughen van Tabaryen (by Hein van Aken), from French Ordène de chevalerie, par Huc de Tabarie, the captured crusader Hughe van Tabaryen appears in front of King Saladijn and makes him a knight, thus securing his release. This ‘sproke’ or tale by Hein van Aken perhaps goes back to the late 13^th century. It cannot be younger than Jan van Boendale’s Der leken spieghel (1325-1330) since Van Aken’s death is mentioned in this work. It describes a dialogue between the crusader Hughe and the sultan Saladijn. First it relates how Hughe became a captive, then there is the dialogue in which Saladijn asks Hughe about knighthood, what makes a good knight and how to become a knight (Van Anrooij 2002b, 76). Since only a free man can grant knightood, Hughe is released so that he can make king Saladijn a knight. At the end of Book IV there are some lines about how Saladijn fared since, and how he died. These lines do not appear in the Comburg ms., which is the only other manuscript where the text survived, albeit in a Flemish version.
3. Die tien plaghen ende die 10 gheboden, the ten plagues and the ten commendments, and Dit is noch van salladine, concerning King Saladijn’s death.

Authors

Jan van Boendale

Jan van Boendale (1279-1351), also known as Jan de Clerc after his profession of city clerk, makes himself known in the prologue to Jans Teesteye.

Alle die ghene die dit werc
Sien lesen ende horen
Die gruetic Jan gheheten clerc
Vander vueren gheboren
Boendale heetmen mi daer
Ende wone tandwerpen nv
Daer ic ghescreuen hebbe menech jaer
Der scepenen brieue dat seggic v[1]

(Book II, paragraph 2.1)

Born in Tervuren, not far from Antwerp, probably in 1279, he spent most of his life in Antwerp where he was a clerk of the city magistrates and in between the pressures of his professional life, he found some time to write literary works (Van Anrooij 2002a, 12). Although no author is mentioned in Boec vander wraken, the book is dedicated to Jan (Jan III), Duke of Brabant, in whose service the author was employed.

Want ict tot hier heb besuyrt
In eren eens goeds mans ende vermoghen
Van brabant des hertoghen
Jans die ic altoos sculdich
Te dienen gheweest menichfuldich
Dit boecsken wilic hem laten[2]

(Book III, epilogue)

Equally, in Melibeus no author is mentioned. This work is also dedicated to the authors’ master the Duke of Brabant as appears from the prologue

Dat ic gherne gheuen soude
Op dats mi god onnen woude
Minen lieuen here den hertoghe
Van brabant dien god verhoghe
Beyde aen ziele ende liue
Want al dat ic hier scriue
Dats troest ende raet wtuercoren
Die den lants here toe behoren[3]

(Book I, prologue)

and the author lived in Antwerp

Al tandwerpen daer ic wone
Maecte ic dit boexken scone[4]

(Book I, prologue)

Also in Boec vander wraken, the author refers to Antwerp as his base, e.g.

Ic hoorde tantwerpen daer ic sat[5]

(Book III, paragraph 3.51)

In the 20^th century researchers have shown reluctance to attribute these texts to Jan van Boendale and have therefore introduced the term ‘Antwerpse School’, to indicate that Jan van Boendale may not have been the only author in Antwerp in the first half of the 14^th century. However, J.Reynaert convincingly demonstrated that all of these books can be attributed to Jan van Boendale. He consequently no longer adheres to the notion of the ‘Antwerp School’ (Reynaert 2002). Kestemont’s computer based stylometric analyses confirm that Melibeus and Boec vander wraken were written by Jan van Boendale (Kestemont forthc., 199-200). In the light of these convincing results, we will also assume that Melibeus and Boec vander wraken were written by Jan van Boendale. For a list of Boendale’s texts, see Appendix.

Hein van Aken

Hein van Aken (ca.1250-1330) is the author of Saladijn in book IV as appears in the last sentence of this text

Dit heeft ghedicht te loue ende teren
Allen riddren . heyne van aken.

(Book IV, paragraph 4.02)

Saladijn is the only work that can be attributed with certainty to this author. Hailing from Brussels, Hein van Aken is a Brabant author like Jan van Boendale. Jan van Boendale knew him, he even remembers two verses from Hein van Aken in his Lekenspiegel

Van Bruecele Heine van Aken
Die wel dichte conste maken
God hebbe die ziele sine
Maecte dese twee versekine
Vrient die werdet langhe ghesocht
Selden vonden ende saen verwrocht

(De Vries 1844–1848, 183 boek iii, kap. 17, vs. 91-96)

It has been suggested that both authors attended the capittelschool in Brussels.

Lodewijk van Velthem

A contemporary of Jan van Boendale, Lodewijk van Velthem worked in Zwichem (near Leuven) before being appointed in Veltem-Beisem. He states in Spieghel Historiael that he comes from Brabant. Van Velthem finished the fourth part (Vierde Partie) of Jacob van Maerlant’s Spieghel Historiael in 1315. The Maskeroen text which he used in the Vierde Partie he then integrated in Jacob van Maerlant’s Boec van Merline. (Besamusca et al 2009, 12-15). Since Van Velthem integrated this text into Van Maerlants work, he is possibly the one who reworked the latin text into Middle Dutch and may be regarded as the author of Maskeroen.

The authors of the various texts hail from Brabant. Jan van Boendale (1279 – 1351) was a clerk in Antwerp; his contemporary, Lodewijk van Velthem, worked in Zwichem and in Velthem and the author of Saladijn Hein van Aken (ca.1250-1330) was born in Brussels. Thus, one can assume that their original dialect was that of Brabant, and the manuscript as a whole can be regarded as a Brabant manuscript. This is important to note for our phonological research.

References

ANROOIJ, W.VAN. 1994. Boek van de wraak Gods. Amsterdam, Querido.

ANROOIJ, W.VAN. 1995. Boendales 'Boec van der wraken': datering en ontstaansgeschiedenis. Queeste. Tijdschrift over middeleeuwse letterkunde in de Nederlanden, 2, pp. 40-52.

ANROOIJ, W.VAN. 2002b. ‘Poenten’ in de Middelnederlandse letterkunde. Een geledingssysteem in het zakelijke en discursieve vertoog. In: Wim van Anrooij e.a. Al t'Antwerpen in die stad : Jan van Boendale en de literaire cultuur van zijn tijd. Amsterdam: Prometheus. 65-80

ANROOIJ, W. VAN et al. 2002a. Literatuur in Antwerpen in de periode ca.1315-1350, een inleiding. In: Al t'Antwerpen in die stad : Jan van Boendale en de literaire cultuur van zijn tijd. Amsterdam: Prometheus. 9-16.

BESAMUSCA, B., R. Sleiderink and G. Warnar. 2009. Ter inleiding. In De boeken van Velthem. Auteur, oeuvre en overlevering, Middeleeuwse studies en bronnen 119, 7-30. ed. B.Besamusca, R.Sleiderink and G. Warnar. Hilversum: Verloren

DESCHAMPS, J. 1972. Middelnederlandse handschriften uit Europese en Amerikaanse bibliotheken. Tweede herziene druk (second revised version). Leiden: Brill.

KESTEMONT, M. Forthcoming. Het gewicht van de auteur; een onderzoek naar stylometrische auteursherkenning in de Middelnederlandse epiek.

KIENHORST, H. 2005. Hoe moet zo’n boek genoemd worden? Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis 83: 785-817

KINABLE, D. 1995. Boendales Jans teesteye: een structurele analyse. Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 111(4), pp. 323-345.

KINABLE, D. 1998. Facetten van Boendale : literair-historische verkenningen van Jans Teesteye en de Lekenspiegel. Leiden: Dimensie.

REYNAERT, J. 2002. Boendale of 'Antwerpse school'? Over het auteurschap van Melibeus en Dietsche doctrinale. Amsterdam, Prometheus.

SNELLAERT, F.A. 1869. Nederlandsche gedichten uit de veertiende eeuw van Jan Boendale, Hein van Aken en anderen. Brussel.

Appendix

Cluster of texts that referring to ‘Antwerp’. We assume with Reynaert that these can be attributed to Jan van Boendale. The list was compiled by Van Anrooij (Van Anrooij 2002a,13)

Brabantsche yeesten, first version	ca.1316
Brabantsche yeesten, second version	1318
Korte kroniek van Brabant, first version	1322
Brabantsche yeesten, third version	ca. 1324
Sidrac	1329
Der leken spiegel	ca. 1325-1330
Korte kroniek van Brabant, second version	1332/33
Jans teesteye	between 1330-1334
Brabansche yeesten, fourth version	ca. 1335
Van den derden Eduwaert	just after 1340
Melibeus	1342
Boec exemplaar	before Dietsche doctrinale
Dietsche doctrinale	1345
Boec vander wraken, first version	1346
Brabansche yeesten, fifth version	ca. 1347
Hoemen ene stat regeren sal	before ca. 1350
Brabantsche yeesten, sixth version	1351
Boec vander wraken, second version	1351

[1] All those who will see, read or hear this work I greet, I Jan, called clerk, born from Vueren. I’m called Boendale there, and now live in Antwerp where I wrote the letters of the magistrates many a year, so I tell you.

[2] …to the honour of a good man and his power, Jan duke of Brabant who I have been obliged to serve many times. I want to leave this book to him.

[3] …that I would readily give …to my dear lord the duke of Brabant. May God elevate both his soul and his body because all I write here is excellent comfort and advice that the lord of the land is worthy of.

[4] In Antwerp where I live, I made this beautiful book

[5] I heard in Antwerp where I sat

Jan Van BoendaleMS Marshall 29

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