Arjan C. van Dixhoorn
Winner Dissertation Prize 2006
Dissertation
Lustige geesten. Rederijkers en hun kamers in het publieke leven van de Noordelijke Nederlanden in de vijftiende, zestiende en zeventiende eeuw
Supervisors: Mw Prof. dr H. de Ridder-Symoens, Prof. dr K.Goudriaan, Prof. dr J.M. Koppenol
Nomination: Free University Amsterdam, Faculty of Arts
Report by the selection committee
The oeuvre of the amateur poets and actors who called themselves ‘Rederijkers’ is not part of the Dutch literary canon. These esthetical arguments do not take into account that members of the Rederijker societies were active in all towns and many villages in the Netherlands appealing to a large public and in some periods seen by the authorities as a danger to public order. By choosing a socio-historical approach the author has provided new insights into the spread of these voluntary cultural societies in space and time, the social status of their members, the civilizing role they played and the conjuncture of their success.
