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In any definition of terms, Dutch literature must be taken to mean all literature written in Dutch, thus excluding literature in Frisian, even though Friesland is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the same way as literature in Welsh would be excluded from a history of English literature. Simi larly, literature in Afrikaans (South African Dutch) falls outside the scope of this book, as Afrikaans from the moment of its birth out of seventeenth-century Dutch grew up independently and must be regarded as a language in its own right. . Dutc:h literature, then, is the literature written in Dutch as spoken in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the so-called Flemish part of the Kingdom of Belgium, that is the area north of the linguistic frontier which runs east-west through Belgium passing slightly south of Brussels. For the modern period this definition is clear anough, but for former times it needs some explanation. What do we mean, for example, when we use the term 'Dutch' for the medieval period? In the Middle Ages there was no standard Dutch language, and when the term 'Dutch' is used in a medieval context it is a kind of collective word indicating a number of different but closely related Frankish dialects. The most important of those were the dialects of the duchies of Limburg and Brabant, and of the counties of Flanders and Holland.
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LITERATURE OF THE LOW COUNTRIES For Edith LITERATURE OF THE LOW COUNTRIES A SHORT HISTORY OF DUTCH LITERATURE IN THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM BY REINDER P. MEIJER PROFESSOR OF DUTCH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MARTINUS NIJHOFF THE HAGUE/BOSTON 1978 First published in 1971 by Van Corcum & Compo N.V., Assen New edition with corrections and additional material, 1978 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague/Boston © Reinder P. Meijer, 1978. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. ISBN-13: 978-90-247-2100-9 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-9734-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-9734-9 Reproduced and printed by photolithography and bound in Great Britain at The Pitman Press, Bath CONTENTS Preface vii Preface to the Second Edition ix I. The Early Stages Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries II. Instructors and Entertainers 25 Fourteenth Century III. Rulers and Rhetoricians 47 Fifteenth Century IV. Reformers and Humanists 72 Sixteenth Century V. The Golden Age Seventeenth Century 104 VI. Classicists and Romanticists Eighteenth Century 152 VII. Moralists and Anti-Moralists Nineteenth Century 193 VIII. The Modern Period Twentieth Century 260 Select Bibliography 376 Index 381 PREFACE In any definition of terms, Dutch literature must be taken to mean all literature written in Dutch, thus excluding literature in Frisian, even though Friesland is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the same way as literature in Welsh would be excluded from a history of English literature. Similarly, literature in Afrikaans (South African Dutch) falls outside the scope of this book, as Afrikaans from the moment of its birth out of seventeenth-century Dutch grew up independently and must be regarded as a language in its own right. . Dutc:h literature, then, is the literature written in Dutch as spoken in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the so-called Flemish part of the Kingdom of Belgium, that is the