Contenu du sommaire : Les librairies aristocratiques dans les anciens Pays-Bas au Moyen Âge

From “manuscrit de jongleur” to “aristocratic collection” : thoughts on the first French anthologies One of the main difficulties inhibiting the study of manuscripts prepared between the first quarter of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century and designed to pass on evidence of vernacular literature of the time and of previous decades is the lack of any certainty as to the way they were received. How indeed can we understand the criteria behind their dissemination and especially interpret the often disconcerting organization of our oldest literary collections without the benefit of clues to enlighten us on their original purpose ? The notion that they were intended for the aristocracy or at least that they were linked to the highest strata of medieval society is the most frequent and most natural explanation of this production. But this does not mean we can explain the diversity and singularity that strike us about them. On the other hand, no doubt we must abandon the “classic” hypothesis of “manuscrits de jongleurs”, which is very problematic. Based on two examples well known to medievalists, collections BnF, fr. 837 and 1553, this paper attempts to further illuminate this question, in the light of both the physical reality and the content of these two specimens, and thanks to comparison with other copies, in particular from collections of the nobility, and of what they allow us to guess about the preferences of their owners.

The manuscript Paris, Bn
F, fr. 571 and the library of the Count of Hainaut-Holland. Towards an Anglo-Hainaut alliance This contribution aims to study the ms BnF, fr. 571, in the light of our knowledge of the literary culture of the court of Hainaut-Holland at the time this collection of texts was assembled. The original content of the compilation – known from a table of contents at the front of the volume – will first be compared to the inventory of books William I had towards the middle of the 1320s. This evaluation will include references brought by other sources, both documentary and literary. A remarkable case that deserves greater attention is that of intertextual references to the Roman de Fauvain by Raoul le Petit – a story told in “comic strip” mode, included at the end of ms BnF, fr 571 – in the work of Jean de Condé and Jean de le Mote.

In between Flanders and Hainaut : Godefroid de Naste (died 1337) and his books The inventory of personal effects made after the death of Godefroid de Naste contains a list of 24 books constituting one of the oldest aristocratic libraries of the Southern Low Countries. This well documented lord owned property in Imperial Flanders (the domain of Rode, until 1320) as well as in Hainaut (Naste, Hansuelles, Biévène, a mansion in Mons) and assiduously frequented the court of Hainaut. Delicate problems of interpretation arise in the reading of this document, especially in the identification of the works listed. It also raises more general questions. Does such an inventory represent all of its owner's books ? How was this library formed ? Is it a reflection of the tastes of one individual or rather of an era or a milieu ? To what extent does accessibility – used books, models that could be copied – play a role in the formation of such a collection ?

R. SLEIDERINK, « Une si belle histoire de nos propres seigneurs. » The nobility of Brabant and literature in Dutch (first half of the 14th Century) To what extent did the aristocracy of Brabant contribute to the blossoming of literature in Dutch during the first half of the 14th Century ? In an attempt to answer this question, the article first of all examines the form and content of some 50 manuscripts (the list of which is provided in an annex) written in the Duchy during that period. Moreover, new texts were being composed in Brabant at that time. The circumstances of their drafting demonstrate that from then on all strata of the nobility in Brabant regarded Dutch as a literary language. Dutch literature was actively encouraged by the bourgeoisie, but also by aristocratic circles. Because of the Duchy's growing political isolation, the influence of French literature declined while interest for local history was aroused.

The iconography of the heart and the cross in René d'Anjou's Mortifiement and George Chastelain's Douze Dames the Rhétorique. A dialogue with Jean Gerson This study considers the relationship between Gerson's spirituality and certain ideological and iconographic elements (the heart and the crucifixion) of the Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance by René d'Anjou (1455) and the Enseignes des Douze Dames de Rhétorique by George Chastelain (1463), from the perspective of an examination of some Burgundian manuscripts of the works in question. It sheds light on the place of Gerson in the literary and aristocratic culture of the 15th Century and attempts to show the role played by spirituality in the life of the court and in the representations of authority.

The reception of the poem Les Eschés amoureux and of the Livre des Eschez amoureux moralisés in the Burgundian States in the 15th Century Towards 1400, Évrart de Conty, Charles V's doctor, wrote the Livre des Eschez amoureux moralisés from a text in verse, Les Eschés amoureux, which he himself had written some thirty years earlier. Évrart's undertaking consisted of converting his long poem into prose and moralizing it. In both its versions, the work circulated in France, between Paris and Cognac, but also in Burgundian circles where it received a most favorable reception. Focusing our attention on the Duchy of Burgundy, we went in search of archival documents, of codicological, artistic and heraldic clues, enabling us to be more specific about the place where the illuminated specimens were produced, to track lost copies and to link a lost manuscript with the “témoin gamma” said to be the source of the Burgundian family of prose commentary.

The manuscripts of Pierre de Luxembourg (c. 1440-1482) and the libraries of the nobility in the Burgundian Low Countries in the second half of the 15th Century This article proposes an initial reconstruction of the library of Pierre de Luxembourg (c. 1440-1482), offspring of one of the most powerful noble families of the Burgundian court and Knight of the Golden Fleece from 1478. This high ranking individual must have owned at least thirty manuscripts. He acquired a third himself and inherited the other two thirds. From the methodological point of view, this is an interesting case. Indeed the cross-checking of leads – heraldic, emblematic, written ex-libris (sometimes later scratched out), inheritances and provenance – enabled links to be made between manuscripts. The reconstruction of the manuscript collection of one individual, who has up to now been completely ignored by studies on the history of libraries, constitutes one more argument in support of the thesis that forming a library was a social duty at the Burgundian court between 1450 and 1490. A nobleman who had spent his youth in the bibliophilic atmosphere of the court of Philip the Good between 1445 and 1467 was duty bound to collect beautiful manuscripts containing texts that were in vogue at the court. If we have little information about many of them, this is due more to a lack of sources rather than any lack of interest in this fashion on their part.