(Re)Writing history in early modern Mechelen: genesis of text and gradations of authorship in an urban chronicle tradition.

In medieval and early modern times, chronicles were the way of choice to remember the days gone by. The proposed research focuses on a Mechelen city chronicle that is especially interesting because of two aspects. 1) It does not provides merely short events listed in chronological order, but also a comprehensive history of Mechelen drawn from literary sources (among which chivalric epic, lyric etc.). 2) The text has been preserved in distinctly different versions containing additions, alterations and deletions. Three of these heavily altered manuscripts are autographs, which allow the reader a rare look in the mind of an early modern author. This research will shed light on how the author and the subsequent altering scribes dealt with the text, and how each version can be read within the historical context of early modern Mechelen.

Keywords:WRITING RESEARCH, ROAD HAULAGE, LOW COUNTRIES, GENESIS OF THE TEXT

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies