Rule of Saint Benedict Middle Dutch transl.. Flanders... Lot 950

Rule of Saint Benedict [Middle Dutch transl.]. [Flanders end of 15th c.] Folio (33,5 x 25 cm): [52] ff., on vellum, in Middle Dutch, few words in Latin, two Gothic hands, brown ink, on 2 col., writting area: 28 x 18,5 cm, 29 ll., sign.: A-F8 G4 (some spotting and soiling). 17th-c. blind-ruled and -stamped calf, spine with raised bands, blue spr. edges (rubbed, corners bumped, turn-ins missing, spine with def., flyleaves missing). Good inside copy. Contains all the 73 chapters of the famous Rule. Incipit: "Inden name des heeren: Amen: Hier beghint de prologhe op den Regel van onsen heylighe[n] vad[er] den Abt sinte Benedict[us]"; explicit: "Hier voleynt dyen Regel van onsen heylighen vader Sinte Benedictus // Confiteantur tibi domine omnia opera tua: psal[mus]: 144". Ends with the "De forma visitationis", written by a later hand; a Cistercian legal text which regulates the visit of abbeys by an abbot. Numerous Cistercian manuscripts contain the Rule and the "De forma visitationis", sometimes together with Usuardus' "Martyrologium". Decoration: 2 fine three- and four-line floriate initials in the style of the Ghent-Bruges School, in vogue between 1475 and 1550, alternating two-line blue and red initials, headings in red, capitals touched in red. Localisation: Probably a Cistercian abbey in the County of Flanders. The use of a vernacular language to transcribe the Rule of Saint Benedict could be an indication that this manuscript was made for a women's abbey. The comparaison with other Middle Dutch translations of Benedict's rule could be interesting. Prov. C. Boomans, pastor, bought it from a dead pastor in Lovenjoel (ms. entry, 1829).