Abstract
The majority of multi-text codices preserving Middle Dutch texts have come down to us without any concrete information about their intended users or intended functions. We do not know for whom they were made, or how they had to be used. In this research I show that based on a
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thorough analysis of the codices well founded conclusions can be reached about the so-called function/user profiles of the multi-text codices. The analysis of the codices is based on a systematic approach hitherto not used in Middle Dutch studies, consisting of five components: (1) the material aspects of the codex, (2) the contents of the codex, (3) a comparison between the texts and their parallel versions, (4) a comparison of the material and textual contexts in which the texts in the multi-text codex at hand and the parallel versions of these texts can be found, and (5) the dating and localizing of the codex. This approach is tested on three multi-text codices with Middle Dutch texts: the Oudenaarde Verse Book (Ms Oudenaarde, Stadsarchief, 5576), the Oxford Boendale-manuscript (Ms Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marshall 29) and the Vanden Stock-manuscript (Ms Brussels, Royal Library, II 116). These systematically analysed case studies allow us to evaluate the search for function/user profiles from a comparative point of view.
The case studies resulted in the following conclusions. The Oudenaarde Verse Book is a manuscript that has grown quire by quire over a short period of time, and was made by a scribe/illuminator who knew what manuscripts looked like but did not have much experience in making one. The codex was meant to be read aloud to an audience of lay listeners who were part of a community of some kind (religious or non-religious). The Oxford Boendale-manuscript was a commercial product made by two professional scribes. The intended owner of this sober, but neatly written book was probably an urban, lay man from higher social circles, who could find much useful (worldly and religious) information in this book. The Vanden-Stock manuscript is a small codex made by the intended user for private use. He combined two small booklets and a single bifolium, each with its own function/user profile, to form a new codex with a new function/user profile. The result was a book with useful (mainly religious) information.
This research has shown that any researcher who wishes to formulate conclusions about the intended user and intended function of a multi-text codex has to keep several important research elements in mind. The two most important being: it is impossible to use only material aspects or only contents to come to a well founded conclusion, and: it is fundamentally wrong to base conclusions about the intended function or intended user of a multi-text codex on the intended function or intended user of a single text in that codex.
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