of the aristocracy, including Willem van Bornecolve,
alderman of Antwerp, Rogier van Leefdale, viscount
of Brussels, and Duke Jan III of Brabant.
Jan van Boendale is an example of what is called the
Antwerp School, a designation for the explosive literary
output of Antwerp in the fi rst half of the fourteenth cen-
tury. When cities began to emerge as centers of literary
activity in the late thirteenth century, Antwerp was the
third most culturally important town of Brabant (after
Brussels and Leuven). In Antwerp this increased literary
activity resulted in a rather homogeneous group of texts,
which included, besides Boendale’s works, the Sidrac,
the Melibeus, and the Dietsche doctrinale. The Sidrac
is an extensive encyclopedic and didactic dialogue in
prose, translated from French in 1318. The Melibeus
(1342) is a translation of the Liber consolationis et con-
silii (Book of Consolation and Counsel) by Albertanus
of Brescia (d. after 1246). In 3,771 lines, a moralizing
dialogue between allegorical characters is presented.
The Dietsche doctrinale (German Doctrine 1345) is
another translation of a misogynistic didactic text by
Albertanus of Brescia, De amore et dilectione Dei et
proximi et aliorum rerum et de forma vitae (On God’s
love...). This work of some 6,650 lines, divided in three
“books,” deals with love and friendship, virtues and
vices, and closes with an interesting section on the na-
ture of God. It thus presents a compendium of laymen’s
ethics. The thematic similarities between the Melibeus,
the Dietsche doctrinale, and Boendale’s oeuvre—that
history is a framework for laymen’s ethics as well as
the central concept of the “common good”—has some-
times led to the attribution of these two texts to Jan van
Boendale.
See also Jacob van Maerlant
Further Reading
Avonds, Piet. “Ghemeyn Oirbaer. Volkssoevereiniteit en politieke
ethiek in Brabant in de veertiende eeuw.” In Reynaert, Joris
et al. Wat is wijsheid? Lekenethiek in de Middelnederlandse
letterkunde. Amsterdam: Prometheus, 1994, pp, 164–180
and 405–411.
Gerritsen, Willem P., et al. “A fourteenth-century vernacular
poetics: Jan van Boendale’s ‘How Writers Should Write’.” In
Erik Kooper, ed. Medieval Dutch Literature in its European
Context. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp.
245–260.
De Vries, Matthijs, ed. Der leken spieghel, leerdicht van den jare
1330, door Jan Boendale, gezegd Jan de Clerc, schepenklerk
te Antwerpen. 3 vols. Leyden, Du Mortier, 1844–1848.
Heymans, Jo, ed. Van den derden Eduwaert. Nijmegen, Alfa, 1983.
Heymans, Jo. “Geschiedenis in Der Leken Spiegel.” In Geert R.
W. Dibbets and Paul W. M. Wackers, ed. Wat duikers van is
dit! Opstellen voor W.M.H. Hummelen. Wijhe: Quarto, 1989,
pp. 25–40.
Jonckbloet, Willem J. A., ed. Die Dietsche Doctrinale, leerdicht van
den jare 1345, toegekend aan Jan Deckers. The Hague, 1842.
Kinable, Dirk, Facetten van Boendale. Literair-historische
verkenningen van Jans teesteye en de Lekenspiegel. Leyden:
Dimensie, 1998.
Lucas, H.S. “Edward III and the poet chronicler John Boendale.”
Speculum 12 (1937): 367–369.
Reynaert, Joris. “Ethiek en ‘fi losofi e’ voor leken: de Dietsche
doctrinale.” In Joris Reynaert, et al. Wat is wijsheid? Lek-
enethiek in de Middelnederlandse letterkunde. Amsterdam:
Prometheus, 1994, pp. 199–214 and 415–419.
Snellaert, Ferdinand A., ed. Nederlandsche gedichten uit de
veertiende eeuw van Jan Boendale, Hein van Aken en anderen
naar het Oxfordsch handschrift. Brussels, Hayez, 1869 [Jans
teesteye; Boec van der Wraken; Melibeus].
Van Anrooij, Wim, ed. “Hoemen ene stat regeren sal. Een vroege
stadstekst uit de Zuidelijke Nederlanden.” Spiegel der Lettern
34 (1992): 139–157.
Van Anrooij, Wim. “Recht en rechtvaardigheid binnen de Ant-
werpse School.” In Reynaert, Joris et al. Wat is wijsheid? Lek-
enethiek in de Middelnederlandse letterkunde. Amsterdam:
Prometheus, 1994, pp. 149–163 and 399–405.
Van Eerden, Peter C. “Eschatology in the Boec van der wraken.”
In Werner Verbeke, Daniel Verhelst, and Andries Welkenhuy-
sen, ed. The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages.
Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988, pp. 425–440.
Van Tol, J. F. J., ed. Het boek van Sidrac in de Nederlanden.
Amsterdam: H. J. Paris, 1936.
Willems, Jan Frans, ed. De Brabantsche yeesten of rymkronyk
van Braband. 2 vols. Brussels: Hayez, 1839, 1843 and J. H.
Bormans, De Brabantsche yeesten, of rijmkronijk van Bra-
band, vol. 3. Brussel, Hayez, 1869 [with the Korte kronike
van Brabant].
Geert H. M. ClaassensJAN VAN RUUSBROEC (1293–1381)
Jan van Ruusbroec, a Brabantine mystic, was born in
1293 in the village of Ruisbroek southeast of Brussels.
When he was eleven, he went to live in the city with a
relative, John (Jan) Hinckaert (d. 1350/1358), who was
a canon of the collegiate church of St. Gudula. The boy
attended the school attached to the church, and after
the required studies, he was ordained a priest in 1317
and became a chaplain there. In Brussels he began to
compose his fi rst treatises on mystical life, among which
were some of his most important writings: Die geeste-
like brulocht (The Spiritual Espousals) and Vanden
blinkenden steen (The Sparkling Stone).
The Spiritual Espousals is the most famous and most
translated of his works. It describes the entire path to a
mystic life from a humble beginning to complete devel-
opment and indicates the risks and possible deviations at
each stage. According to Ruusbroec, the essence of mys-
tical life is the direct and passive experience of God. To
describe the different stages, he uses three terms in the
Espousals which recur in all his treatises: dat werkende
leven (the active life), dat innighe leven (the interior life),
and dat schouwende leven (the contemplative life). Each
is a way to live one’s relation with God. In the active life,
love manifests itself in the exercise of virtue; in the inte-
rior life, a new dimension of love is discovered: to adhere
intimately to the Beloved; fi nally, in the contemplativeJAN VAN BOENDALE