TNTL 112

Rob Resoort

Jonathas ende Rosafiere: een religieuze roman?

Abstract - Although the Middle-Dutch romance Jonathas ende Rosafiere (fragments from c. 1500) has not received much attention from literary scholars, there did seem to be some agreement about the influence of the Beatrijs miracle. In 1988 Cathy Dobson concluded that Jonathas ende Rosafiere was not merely influenced by Beatrijs, but could probably be seen as an answer to this text. This article disputes Dobson's claim that in Jonathas ende Rosafiere courtly love is praised, even to the point of being considered a key to Heaven. Its affinities are with the so-called 'Schicksalromane' rather than with the courtly love tradition. The main subject is religious: how to deal with misfortune, afflictions and sin. There is some evidence that the work may have played a role in the urban Holy-Blood festivities, especially in Bruges.