Komt het Deventer Liederenhandschrift wel uit Deventer?

Abstract

Ms. germ. oct. 185 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek – Preußischer Kulturbesitz) is the signature of a small, paper manuscript that is commonly known as the Deventer Song Manuscript. It is one of the most important sources of the late medieval devout song in the Low Countries, containing 92 song texts, some of which have been provided with melody references. Since the capital study of J.A.N. Knuttel (1906), the origin of the manuscript has been situated in the city of Deventer, where Sisters of the Common Life lived together in the Lamme van Diesen House. However, a reconsideration of the available material suggests the city of Zwolle to be the place of both origin and possession of the manuscript. This article therefore argues that the manuscript should be situated in the sister communion known as the ‘Kinderhuis’ in Zwolle.