The fragment is a remnant of a large manuscript containing the Spiegel historiael, a comprehensive rhymed world history based on the Speculum historiale written by the thirteenth-century Flemish poet Jacob van Maerlant and completed by Philip Utenbroeke and Lodewijk van Velthem. The Antwerp fragment is the only textual witness of the final part of the Second Partie of the Spiegel historiael. The manuscript to which the fragment belonged is one of the two only known manuscripts of the Spiegel historiael with a four-column layout, a layout that is very rare for Middle Dutch manuscripts. Another fragment from the same original manuscript is now kept at Leiden, University Library, Ltk. 177 (fragment-Serrure).

• Laurent Breeus-Loos, Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken, 2021
  → Show description