Description
Book SynopsisWithin the field of Dutch literature the Limburg Sermons constitute a unique collection of sermons from the thirteenth century. In addition to material translated from German it contains a unique series of vernacular sermons on the ‘Song of Songs’, which reveal unsuspected connections with the mystic authors Beatrijs van Nazareth and Hadewijch.
Trade Review"This excellent, thorough monograph provides the Anglophone world with a richly-detailed account of one of the earliest collections of Middle Dutch prose, The Limburg Sermons...To say the least, this is an exhaustive treatment of this corpus, and the translator is to be commended for making it available in English." – Steven Rozenski, Jr., Harvard University, in: Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2010, pp 307-9 "Scheepsma's study is a major contribution to sermon research. It can be viewed not only as an exceptionally diligent and learned book on one Middle Dutch sermon collection, but also as a history of religious literature in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the interfaces between the Dutch-, French-, and German-speaking areas." – Regina D. Schiewer, Universität Augsburg, in: Medium Ævum 77/2 (2008), pp. 358-60 "This meticulous, encyclopedic and minutely observed study elicits well-earned respect, and gratitude from English-speaking scholars for making this area of literary study accessible. [...] The insights Scheepsma's analysis of these sermons provides [...] will be of interest not only to literary historians but also to church historians, and art historians as well." – Judith Oliver, Colgate University, in: The Medieval Review, 16 July 2009
Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations I. Introduction 1. The Hague Manuscript 2. The Medieval Sermon 3. The St. Georgen Sermons and the Limburg Sermons 4. A Cistercian Literature in the Vernacular? 5. The Historical Context II. The Textual Corpus 1. The Table of Contents in MS H 2. The Translated St. Georgen Sermons 3. Dets dbuec van den palmboeme (Ls. 31) 4. Seven Passion Sermons (Ls. 32-38) 5. Dbuec van den boegaerde (Ls. 39) 6. Dbuec van den twelf frogten (Ls. 40) 7. Dit leert ons negenrehande minne (Ls. 41) 8. Det sin seven maniren van minnen (Ls. 42) 9. Dbuec van den gesteleken winkelre (Ls. 43) 10. Dets dbuec van heren Selfarts regelen (Ls. 44) 11. Dets van der heilger selen (Ls. 45) 12. Dets wie onse vrouwe een besloten boegaert es (Ls. 45) 13. Laudate dominum in sanctus eius (Ls. 48) 14. The Maastrichtse Passiespel 15. Preliminary Review III. Form and Function 1. An Example: The Spiritual Wine Cellar 2. The Fiction of the Sermon 3. Bible and Allegory 4. Damsels of Jerusalem 5. Memoria and Meditation 6. Rhyme, Prose and Rhyming Prose IV. Backgrounds 1. The Later Transmission 2. The Letters of Hadewijch 3. Minne and Mysticism 4. Old French Religious Literature 5. Connections in the Old French Transmission 6. Mystical Networks Appendices I. Codicological Description of Manuscript H II. The Limburg Sermons According to Manuscript H III. Concordance IV. ‘Brothers’ in Manuscript H V. Two Limburg Sermons in Translation Bibliography Index
