‘Dat romen van troyen quam’: Liefde en translatio imperii in de Aeneis-bewerking in Maerlants Historie van Troyen

Abstract

Jacob van Maerlant concludes his Historie van Troyen (HvT, ‘History of Troy’, ca. 1264) with an adaptation of Virgil’s Aeneid. De Ceukelaire (1991, 1996) has demonstrated the importance of translatio imperii in understanding Maerlant’s decision to follow book II of the Aeneid for the fall of Troy rather than the trusted Roman de Troie (ca. 1165) by Benoît de Sainte-Maure. In this paper, I further explore translatio imperii in Maerlant’s adaptation through a comparative close-reading with Aeneid books IV and XII (HvT vs. 36.826-37.065 and vs. 40.035-40.795). I find that in HvT the transfer of empire is driven by a conception of love which pushes Aeneas away from Dido in book IV and pulls him towards Lavinia in book XII. A dynamic of amour and chevalerie notably coincides with the fulfilment of Aeneas’ translatio imperii. HvT follows the development of chivalric romance and confirms the historical importance of the Trojan matter in Maerlant’s time, thus strengthening the place of the Low Countries in these European traditions.