Anna Dlabačová
Winner Dissertation Prize 2016
Dissertation
Literatuur en observantie. De Spieghel der volcomenheit van Hendrik Herp en de dynamiek van laatmiddeleeuwse tekstverspreiding.
Supervisor: Professor W. van Anrooij
Co-supervisor: Dr. G. Warnar
Nomination: Leiden University, Faculty of Humanities
Report by the Selection Committee
This works brings together a number of domains and approaches, among them literary history, religious history, history of the book and philosophy, to offer a fresh perspective on developments in religion, literature and intellectual exchange in the Netherlands on the eve of the Reformation. And all of this on the strength of a study of the mystical treatise ‘Spiegel der volcomenheit’ – from c. 1460 – by the Franciscan Hendrik Erp. The method followed is remarkable. The author combines Frits van Oostrom’s model of the three chronological phases of text reception with Daniel Hobbins’ concept of ‘distribution circles’, complemented with information about the origin of a signature or printed manuscript (also referred to as ‘Mituberlieferung’). In the eyes of the jury, the broad cultural-historical perspective, which is also of international significance, and the exciting way it is written make this dissertation worthy of a prize.
