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Medieval Narrative Elements In 18th Century Historic Songs

In 1760-70's Amsterdam one is able to buy cheap 8 page leaflets at Barent Koene's on which long, ballad-like songs are printed. Those contain edited epic tales of Medieval origin. Little is known of how and why these stories have been put to music and who wrote these lyrics.

Interesting also is the question if these leaflets were commercially successful.

And: were all people in 18th century Amsterdam as Enlightened as we think them to be?

 

(Foto: uncut copy of a Barent Koene leaflet. KB 11B12, Royal Library, The Hague, Netherlands)

  
     

(Foto: KB 1072 G17, Royal Library, The Hague, Netherlands)		   Barent Koene (I) was a bookprinter and -seller whose base of operation was in the Goudsblomstraat in Amsterdam (1765) and the Lindengracht (1766-1780). In 1781 he released at least 3 books as Barent Koene & Comp. before passing the printing house to his brothers S & W Koene. Barent Koene was the first of a family of printers, who were best known for their songbooks, prose romances and leaflets with religious or pro-family of Orange texts.

Barent Koene's leaflets containing historic songs with medieval narrative elements include:

  • De verduldige Helena van Constantinopel
    (La Belle Hélène de Constantinople)
  • De hertog van Brunswijk (Duke of Braunschweig)
  • Mariken van Nieumeghen (Mary of Nimmegen)
  • Margrietje van Limborgh
  • Floris en Blanchefleur (Floris and Blancheflour)
  • Urbanus & Isabelle
  • Frederik van Genua
  • De verduldige Griselda (Boccaccio's Griselda)
  • Valentijn & Oursson

 
Barent Koene I was not the first to print historic songs based on prose romances with medieval stories. For instance, there is a leaflet with a historic song of the Swan Knight from 1710.

It is my intention to research how the stories mentioned above develop from the beginning, to prose romance, and, ultimately, in the historic songs on the leaflets of Koene. With this I hope to contribute to a greater understanding of the Enlightenment in 18th century Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Europe as well as to our views on the ever present popularity of medieval stories. 

 

(Illustration from G.J.Boekenoogen, [...] Ridder metter Swane [...]. Leiden 1931)

  
 
 

 

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