Van Hulthem Manuscript Explained

The Van Hulthem Manuscript is a masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature, probably compiled in the Duchy of Brabant.^[1] It contains over 200 stories from across the Low Countries.

The manuscript is named after its last private owner, Charles van Hulthem of Ghent. It is in the collection of the Royal Library of Belgium.^[2]

This manuscript contains the only known versions of the famous abele spelen ("able plays"), some of the earliest secular drama surviving from medieval Europe.

External links

• Volume 1 of a 1999 edition of the manuscript (online scans at the Digital Library for Dutch Literature).

Notes and References

1. [Frits van Oostrom]
2. Karen Pratt, "The Dynamics of the Pyramus and Thisbe Story in its Manuscript Context", in The Dynamics of the Medieval Manuscript, edited by Karen Pratt, Bart Besamusca, Matthias Meyer and Ad Putter (Göttingen, 2017), p. 270.