Voor de tijd van het jaar: Vervaardiging, organisatie en gebruikscontext van Middelnederlandse devote liedverzamelingen (ca.1470-1588)

Abstract

Collections of Middle Dutch religious songs belonging to Devotio Moderna convents are strongly influenced by the medieval annual festive cycle. Contrary to most liturgical manuscripts, song collections are not only organised according to the liturgical calendar, they also recall the changing cosmic seasons and the cyclic rhythms that structured social life. Therefore, devout song collections offered their users songs suited for every season in the word’s broadest sense. In most manuscripts, songs with similar themes are grouped into seasonal thematic clusters. All collections contain a Christmas or wintertime cluster and most contain a Lent and Passiontide or spring cluster. Some collections also contain clusters about Mary or specific saints. Corresponding clusters in different collections show great similarities. The interpretation of this seasonal organisation is supported in two ways. First, the organisation patterns of each collection were studied by investigating headings and rubrics and by interpreting the song texts. Secondly, codicological research revealed the scribes’ tendency to copy every thematic cluster on a separate codicological unit. This coincidence of the clusters with the material structure of the manuscript enabled users to continue the oral gathering of new songs that could later be added to the every thematic cluster of the collection.