Abelespel

The Abelespelen ( Abele spelen ndl. Abel "clever, beautiful, artful" from Latin habilis "appropriate") are the first surviving evidence of the serious secular drama in Dutch literature . They are anonymously passed down in the Brussels manuscript Van Hulthem from the mid-14th century.

There are four pieces based on material from the court novel from the Brabant - Limburg region : Esmoreit , Gloriant , Lanseloet van Denemerken and the allegory of the seasons Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer . The last piece represents a debate between the personifications of summer and winter. What the Abelespels have in common is the simplicity in the sometimes naive, emotional language, in pairs of rhymes and actions. The scenes of the action are freely switched. The performance was usually followed by a gorge . In the 15th century this was superseded by the so-called morality (ndl. Zinnespel).

literature

• Rob Roemans, Hilda van Assche (ed.): Een abel spel van Lanseloet van Denemerken . 3. Edition. Amsterdam 1966, ISBN 90-289-9763-6 .
• Govert Stellinga: Het abel spel "Lanseloet van Denemerken" en de sotternie "The Witch" na volghende. Aantekeningen en some opmerkingen over de abele spelen en de sotternieën . Culemborg 1978, ISBN 90-11-91724-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Dinzelbacher : Abele Spelen. In: Peter Dinzelbacher (Hrsg.): Special dictionary of medieval studies (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 477). Kröner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-520-47701-7 , p. 1.