Research Catalog

Title

Court and culture : Dutch literature, 1350-1450 / Frits Pieter van Oostrom ; translated by Arnold J. Pomerans ; foreword by James H. Marrow.

Author

Oostrom, F. P. van.

Publication

Berkeley : University of California Press, c1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 373 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

Our common image of the Middle Ages, constructed partly from the popular accounts by Tuchman and Huizinga, is a period in European history when cultural activity was in decay. Van Oostrom's Court and Culture convincingly challenges this accepted notion by presenting for the first time evidence of a lively medieval court culture in the northern Netherlands. The first full-length study of Dutch aristocratic literature, Court and Culture explores both that literature's own remarkable identity and its many interrelations with the culture of other European courts, in effect putting Dutch aristocratic literature on the map of international medieval court culture. Thus, Van Oostrom not only writes a new chapter of Dutch literary and cultural history but also provides a new perspective on the larger court culture of medieval Europe. A ground-breaking study of Dutch court culture in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, this book also interweaves dynastic history, documentary evidence, art, architecture, and literature to produce a unique and persuasive analysis of the formative moments of that court. Van Oostrom takes examples of literature usually studied only in the context of individual genres and considers them together in light of the contemporary Dutch court life. At the same time, he integrates literary historiography with the history of society, culture, and mentality. An exemplary work of cultural history that expands and redefines our knowledge of the period, Court and Culture confronts as well the more fundamental questions of how cultures shape themselves and how we can effectively reconstruct and define our past. Van Oostrom's sensitive, skillful interpretations produce a book that is a pleasure to read and is sure to be considered one of the pivotal studies on the courtly life of the Middle Ages.

Uniform Title

Woord van eer. English

Alternative Title

Woord van eer.

Subject

• Geschichte 1350-1450
• To 1500
• Dutch literature > To 1500 > History and criticism

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• Translation of: Het woord van eer.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword / James H. Marrow -- I. Court and Literature -- 1. A New Court -- 2. Infrastructure -- 3. Court and Courtly Life -- 4. Literary Life -- II. William of Hildegaersberch -- 1. Marriage and Poetry -- 2. The Art of Truth -- 3. Truth and Disorder -- 4. A Poet Close to God -- III. The Hague Song Manuscript -- 1. Love Songs -- 2. Courtly Love -- 3. Poetry for Connoisseurs -- 4. The Court at Play -- IV. Bavaria Herald -- 1. A Servant with Authority -- 2. The Chronicle of the World -- 3. The Chronicle of Holland -- 4. The Waning of Chivalry? -- V. Dirk of Delft -- 1. A Monk at Court -- 2. The State of the World -- 3. Creation and Scholasticism -- 4. Piety at Court -- VI. Dirk Potter -- 1. A Courtier with a Criminal Record? -- 2. Lessons in Love -- 3. Virtue and Reason -- 4. Wisdom and Success -- VII. Court Literature -- 1. Balance and Perspective -- 2. Chaos, Text, and Honor -- 3. Lord and Author -- 4. The End.

ISBN

0520067770 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^91036301^

OCLC

• 24544820
• SCSB-12476290

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library