Leuven, KU Leuven Bibliotheken Bijzondere Collecties, Ms. 1489

Jacob van Maerlant, Historie van Troyen (fragment)

The kidnapping of Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world. A siege of a city that lasts more than ten years. Victory via a ruse with a wooden horse… The history of Troy has appealed to the imagination through the ages. Thirteenth-century writer Jacob van Maerlant found the saga so impressive that he devoted more than forty thousand lines to it. For his greatest chivalric novel, he drew upon the Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte Maure. Only one complete manuscript of Van Maerlant’s work has survived, dating from the fifteenth century. We only have a few fourteenth-century fragments, including the one from Leuven seen here. [Flandrica]

Manuscript description

Manuscript ID

mmfc-15573

Title

Jacob van Maerlant, Historie van Troyen (fragment)

Collection

Leuven, KU Leuven Bibliotheken Bijzondere Collecties

Shelfmark

Leuven, KU Leuven Bibliotheken Bijzondere Collecties, Ms. 1489

Manuscript Category

narrative literature

Document type

library book / reference book

Provenance

Owner
Jozef-Maria De Smet (b. 1916, d. 1996)
Date
mid 20th century
Evidence type
Secondary source
Description
KU Leuven library catalogue

Acquisition

Collection of Jozef-Maria De Smet was transferred to KU Leuven Bijzondere Collecties after his death in 1996.

References

Online catalogue record

KU Leuven Libraries Catalogue

Digital reproduction

Teneo
Fragmentarium (digital reproduction)

IIIF Manifest

https://lib.is/IE2238093/manifest
https://fragmentarium.ms/metadata/iiif/F-d5u4/manifest.json

Other online data sources

NaSo (manuscripts)
Flandrica.be (collection item)
Fragmentarium
BNM-I (manuscripts)

Fragment container

UNIT ID

mmfc-15574

Leaf count

2 fol. (two strips from the same doubleleaf)

Remaining fragments

UNIT ID

mmfc-15576

Page range

fol. [1]-[2]

Form

Codex

Integrity

Fragment: Two strips from same bifolium. Strips do not fit each other.

Language

Middle Dutch (main)

Origin

Date
second half 14th century (Jan Willem Klein)
Evidence
Klein 1995, p. 16.
Place
Brabant, Low Countries
Evidence
Language

Support

Material

Parchment

Number of leaves

2

Page dimensions

h: 116 mm x w: 149 mm (fol. [2]) , leaves trimmed

Fragment dimensions

h: 59 mm x w: 147 mm

Layout

Section 1
fol. [2]r-v (fol. [2]r)
Description
Estimations by A. Van Elslander 1987, p. 177-178.
Columns
2
Lines
50; lines ruled: 51
Layout formula
|| T || || T ||
Ruling
Full ruling, Lead-point ruling
Prickings
no prickings visible in outer margin
Intercolumnar space
13 mm

Writing

Script

Northern gothica textualis (Northern gothica textualis libraria)

Decoration

Type

plain initials, versals

Description

Plain initials, alternately in red and blue ink.

1. Jacob van Maerlant, Historie van Troyen

UNIT ID

mmfc-15575

Page range

fol. [1]r-[2]v (defective)

Title

Jacob van Maerlant, Historie van Troyen

Historie van Troyen

Contributors

Jacob van Maerlant (author)

Language

Middle Dutch (main)

Incipit

Noch op den lande oec mesvaren […] (Fragm. A, fol. [1]r)

Explicit

[…] Hi conste wel dingen ende talen (Fragm. B, fol. [2]v)

Notes

Textual content
Fragments contain 229 verses in total, divided over 16 groups of 13-15 verses.
Textual content
  • Fragm. A, [1]r, Col. A: v. 6562-6576.
  • Fragm. B, [1]r, Col. A: v. 6593-6604.
  • Fragm. A, [1]r, Col. B: v. 6609-6623.
  • Fragm. B, [1]r, Col. B: v. 6640-6653.
  • Fragm. A, [1]v, Col. A: v. 6659-6673.
  • Fragm. B, [1]v, Col. A: v. 6690-6703.
  • Fragm. A, [1]v, Col. B: v. 6709-6723.
  • Fragm. B, [1]v, Col. B: v. 6740-6753.
  • Fragm. A, [2]r, Col. A: v. 6759-6773.
  • Fragm. B, [2]r, Col. A: v. 6791-6803.
  • Fragm. A, [2]r, Col. B: v. 6809-6823.
  • Fragm. B, [2]r, Col. B: v. 6841-6853.
  • Fragm. A, [2]v, Col. A: v. 6859-6873.
  • Fragm. B, [2]v, Col. A: v. 6891-6903.
  • Fragm. A, [2]v, Col. B: v. 6909-6923.
  • Fragm. B, [2]v, Col. B: v. 6941-6953.

Verse numbers correspond to the edition by De Pauw and Gaillard: de Pauw, Napoléon, and Edward Gaillard, eds., Die History van Troyen van Jacob van Maerlant, naar het vijftiendeeuwsche handschrift van Wessel van de Loe (Gent: Siffer, 1889), p. 192-203. <https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/maer002npau01_01/>

Manuscript description
  1. Fragment container
    1. Remaining fragments
      1. 1. Jacob van Maerlant, Historie van Troyen