Research Michiel Vandenbroucke

Abstract

In the 14th century, the community of Groenendaal, in the Sonian Forest near Brussels, was home not only to the much-studied mystical author Jan van Ruusbroec, but also to three understudied Middle Dutch mystical writers: Jan van Leeuwen, Willem Jordaens, and Godfried Wevel. It is thus a unique hotspot of Middle Dutch mystical literature. Surprisingly, however, the (inter)relationships between these authors' texts have never been thoroughly researched. Since it forms the central 'crux' in Ruusbroec's works, this project will investigate the case study of deification in the four mystical writers from Groenendaal. The results of this study will shed new light on the degree to which these authors formed a 'textual community', as writers whose ideas were shaped and expressed in a dependent, vertical relation to Ruusbroec's, or whether they were an 'authorial community of practice', an interrelated network of authors between whom horizontal learning occurred and who did not necessarily share consensus. On the basis of traditional philology and computer assisted research, the project will probe the relationships between all four authors to establish the degree to which their writings exhibit consensus and/or dissent. It will thereby respond to repeated calls in the secondary literature and break new ground in the study of the authors in question, the history of vernacular mystical literature in the Low Countries, and late medieval (religious) communities as 'authorial communities'.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Arblaster John
• Co-promoter: Schepers Kees
• Fellow: Vandenbroucke Michiel

Research team(s)

• Research centre Ruusbroec Institute

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In the 14th century, the community of Groenendaal, in the Sonian Forest outside Brussels, was home not only to its much-studied first prior, the famous mystical author Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), but also to three lesser-known, understudied Middle Dutch mystical authors: Jan van Leeuwen (d. 1378), Willem Jordaens (d. 1372), and Godfried Wevel (d. 1396). Groenendaal thus constitutes a unique hotspot in Middle Dutch mystical literature, with four contemporaneous vernacular mystical authors writing in the same place at the same time. The (inter)relationships between these authors texts have never been thoroughly researched, and the type of "authorial community" they formed is therefore unknown. Were they a "textual community", as authors whose ideas were shaped and expressed in a dependent, vertical relation to Ruusbroec's writing, or were they an "authorial community of practice", an interrelated, transversal network of authors between whom horizontal learning occurred and who did not necessarily share consensus? To operationalize, test, and evaluate this question, the project focuses on the case study of deification, since this constitutes the thematic 'crux' of Ruusbroec's works. Investigating this case study will determine whether and to what extent the little-known Middle Dutch authors from Groenendaal shared this central theme with Ruusbroec and how it is articulated in and across their works, shedding new light on vertical and/or horizontal learning at Groenendaal. By means of a mixed methodology combining elements of traditional philology with Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis, the project will first identify the typology of deification in each author's individual works and oeuvre. It will then conduct comparative analysis between all four Middle Dutch mystical authors from Groenendaal and visualize the degree to which they exhibit consensus and/or dissent in their semantic and conceptual articulations of the theme in question. The results of this research will enable us to challenge the enduring perception of Jan van Leeuwen, Willem Jordaens, and Godfried Wevel as Ruusbroec's (literary) subordinates who were not transversely (inter)related with one another. The research thus breaks new ground in several fields, namely the study of the history of vernacular mystical literature in the Low Countries, horizontal learning in late medieval (monastic) communities, the three specific authors in question, and the field of deification studies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Arblaster John
• Co-promoter: Schepers Kees
• Fellow: Vandenbroucke Michiel

Research team(s)

• Research centre Ruusbroec Institute

Project type(s)

• Research Project