The Arthur of the Low Countries

The Arthurian Legend in Dutch and Flemish Literature

Editor(s) Bart Besamusca,Frank Brandsma

Language: English

Genre(s): Medieval

Series: Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages

  • January 2021 · 256 pages ·244x172mm

  • · Hardback - 9781786836823
  • · eBook - pdf - 9781786836830
  • · eBook - epub - 9781786836847

About The Book

In the medieval Low Countries (modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands), Arthurian romance flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Middle Dutch poets translated French material (like Chrétien’s Conte du Graal and the Prose Lancelot), but also created romances of their own, like Walewein. This book provides a current overview of the Dutch Arthurian material and the research that it has provoked. Geographically, the region is a crossroads between the French and Germanic spheres of influence, and the movement of texts and manuscripts (west to east) reflects its position, as revealed by chapters on the historical context, the French material and the Germanic Arthuriana of the Rhinelands. Three chapters on the translations of French verse texts, the translations of French prose texts, and on the indigenous romances form the core of the book, augmented by chapters on the manuscripts, on Arthur in the chronicles, and on the post-medieval Arthurian material..

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
The Contributors
Abbreviations
Guidelines for the Reader
Introduction - Bart Besamusca and Frank Brandsma
1 The Cultural and Historical Context of the Low Countries -Bram Caers and Mike Kestemont
2 French Arthurian Literature in the Low Countries - Keith Busby and Martine Meuwese
3 The Manuscripts - Bart Besamusca
4 King Arthur in the Historiography of the Low Countries - Thea Summerfield
5 Translations and Adaptations of French Verse Romances: Tristant, Wrake van Ragisel, Ferguut, Perchevael, Torec - Marjolein Hogenbirk and David F. Johnson
6 Indigenous Arthurian Romances: Walewein, Moriaen, Ridder metter mouwen, Walewein ende Keye, Lanceloet en het hert met de witte voet - Simon Smith and Roel Zemel
7 Translations and Adaptations of French Prose Romances, Including the Lancelot Compilation - Frank Brandsma
8 Arthurian Literature of the Rhineland - Jürgen Wolf
9 The Arthurian Legacy - Geert van Iersel
General Bibliography
Index of Manuscripts
General Index

About the Editor(s)

Author(s): Bart Besamusca

Bart Besamusca is Professor of Middle Dutch Textual Culture from an International Perspective in the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies at Utrecht University.

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Author(s): Frank Brandsma

Frank Brandsma is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature (Middle Ages) in the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies at Utrecht University.

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