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Title: Overgezet voor Ruusbroecs 'lieve suster' en haar zusters?
Subtitle: De oudste Middelnederlandse vertaling van de Mariagetijden
Author(s): DESPLENTER, Youri
Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf
Volume: 93    Issue: 1   Date: 2023   
Pages: 3-34
DOI: 10.2143/OGE.93.1.3292002

Abstract :
This article is a continuation of the edition of the oldest Middle Dutch version of the Hours of the Virgin, according to MS St.-Petersburg, Biblioteka Akademii Nauk, O 257 (1325-1350). It discusses the structure of those Hours, its composition out of existing next to new material, and its place into the group of textual witnesses as defined by Deschamps and especially Marrow. The last part of the article offers a hypothesis of the Sitz im Leben of the translation on the basis of all the data on hand: when and for whom was it made, what was its primary function? The Hours of the Virgin as they can be found in MS St.-Petersburg, BAN, O 257 seem to be destined for use in a Franciscan female community in Brabant, which at that time could only be the ‘Coudenklooster’ (°1345) in Brussels. The first cantrix of the community, Margriet van Meerbeke, is believed to have been a relative of John of Ruusbroec (†1381), the later prior of Groenendaal. As other data, such as the translation itself and the manuscript, also point into the direction of his community, the Coudenklooster-hypothesis seems a fairly possible one.

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