A unique songbook (cabinet 6)
'Een schoon liedekens-boeck' or the 'Antwerps liedboek' (Antwerp songbook) is the oldest known secular songbook from the Low Countries. Despite, or perhaps because of, its listing on the index of banned books in 1546, it has been very popular. It has been reprinted at least four times, but only one complete copy from 1544 has survived. This type of printing was not usually the best quality and was so popular that it was almost literally read to death. This is the paradox of what we today label as valuable heritage.
To make his 'Schoon liedekens-boeck' commercially interesting, Jan Roelants selected both old and new songs that could appeal to a diverse audience. Older songs can be recognised by irregularities in style because they had been passed down orally. The newer songs conform to the stricter stylistic forms of the rhetoricians and explicitly target young people.
An Antwerp printer: Jan Roelants (cabinet 4)
Jan Roelants was active as a printer and book seller in Antwerp for over thirty years, during the period from 1537 until his death in 1570. His publishing list consisted mainly of practical manuals, religious works, legal texts and news reports. These were titles in Middle Dutch, usually in small format, which he regularly reprinted. In itself, nothing spectacular perhaps, but this kind of (cheap) printing was in great demand. 'Een schoon liedekens-boeck' was one of the few literary works in his list.
As a businessman, Roelants also dared to take risks regarding the content of the titles he published. As a result, several of his books ended up on the index of banned books, and he and other printers/book sellers in Antwerp were arrested in March 1569 on suspicion of Protestantism. Jan Roelants died in prison in March 1570, before the Council of Troubles pardoned the accused on 16 July 1570.
Popular song culture (cabinet 7)
Roelants' 'Schoon liedekens-boeck' from 1544 is an anthology of old and new songs circulating in the Low Countries around 1500. This songbook immortalised the traditional oral song culture of the time and thus constitutes an important source for Middle Dutch songs. It is the oldest secular songbook in print and contains mostly ballads, folk songs, drinking songs and historical songs. The songs deal with the universal themes of love, religion and politics. Because some of the songs criticise monks and other clergy, 'Een schoon liedekens-boeck' ended up on the Index of banned books as early as 1546.
Like other folk books, Roelants' songbook is printed in a handy size, without illustrations or musical notations. A tune indication sufficed, as most of the songs were contrafacts, i.e. new song lyrics for familiar melodies. The contrafact was mainly a product of the rhetoricians and formed the link between the literary culture of the elite and the street song.
Rhetoricians (cabinet 3)
The new songs from Roelants' 'liedekens-boeck' can be situated in rhetorical circles. For one song we know the poet, the Oudenaard rhetorician Mathijs de Castelein (ca. 1485-1550). He wrote a kind of handbook for rhetoric, 'De const van rhetoriken', which appeared in 1555. He explained poetry techniques and verse forms and, above all, invited the reader to experiment. The challenge was to formulate a message as 'artfully' as possible within the rules of rhetoric and the possibilities of language.
During the Renaissance in the Netherlands, chambers of rhetoricians emerged, where townsfolk, who referred to themselves as 'rhetoricians', came together to practice literature. They also organised annual amateur competitions, or literary contests, including the Ghent competition of 1539. The competition organised by the chamber of rhetoricians De Violieren in Antwerp in 1561 became the most famous of them all. For this event, the fourteen participating chambers held a celebratory march through the city with dozens of floats.
On the Index of banned books (cabinet 5)
In 1546, the theologians of the University of Leuven published an Index of banned books. All of Luther's books and numerous others of dubious content were declared banned, including Roelants' 'Liedekens-boeck' and the 'Nieuwe cluchtboeck', of which not one copy still exists. Revised editions of the Leuven Index followed in 1550 and 1558, each with Latin, Dutch and French versions.
From 1567, repression of the spread of Protestantism in the Habsburg Netherlands increased sharply. Control of the book business was tightened and compliance with the Leuven index was more strictly enforced. In 1569, 1570 and 1571, Christopher Plantin published revised lists of banned books, De Librorum prohibitorum Index. This also included some religious works that Roelants printed, such as 'Hoe Christus ons leert bidden' (1548) and 'Een suyverlijk boecxken' (1558).
In early 1569, the authorities held a major investigation of banned books at booksellers in Antwerp. The original inventory of confiscated books is kept in the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience and includes several books by Roelants, such as the 'Liedekens-boeck'. Five Antwerp booksellers were arrested, including Jan Roelants. He died in prison in early 1570, before the defendants were acquitted.