16 - The drama texts in the Van Hulthem manuscript

Summary

Ten plays, preserved in one and the same manuscript: that is about all that has survived of Middle Dutch secular drama. Four of these are serious, so-called abele spelen, the other six are sotternieën (farces). In the manuscript they are presented in pairs; every abel spel is followed by a farce: Esmoreit and Lippijn, Gloriant and Die buskenblaser, Lanseloet and Die hexe, Winter ende Somer and Rubben. The two remaining farces, Drie daghe here and Truwanten, make up the fifth pair.

The contents of the four abele spelen may be briefly summarized as follows. In the first Esmoreit is crown prince of Sicily. As a baby he is abducted by his evil cousin and sold to the king of Damiët. Years later he is told by the heathen princess Damiet, who has brought him up and who is in love with him, that he is a foundling. In pursuit of his parents he is recognized by his mother on Sicily. Esmoreit becomes king of Sicily and marries Damiët, while the treacherous cousin is hanged. The protagonist of the second abel spel, Gloriant, thinks no woman in the world to be worthy of him, but in spite of that he falls in love, after he has been shown a picture of her, with the Saracen princess Florentijn of Abelant. Having overcome many inward and outward obstacles he eventually succeeds in marrying Florentijn.