Gruuthuse manuscript
The Gruuthuse manuscript is a medieval book from about 1395, with the youngest unfinished parts from around 1408. It is the only known source for many Middle Dutch texts. The manuscript contains 147 songs with simple one-voice notation, 18 poems, and 7 rhymed prayers. Among the songs are the Egidius song and the Kerelslied.
The manuscript is being studied by the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands in The Hague. The Royal Library of the Netherlands in The Hague digitised a facsimile in 2007. In cooperation with Huygens ING, the Library will provide a web transcription of all texts, with notes and some audio files.
The Dutch Royal Library bought the manuscript on 14 February 2007. It had previously belonged to the Van Caloen family at their castle Ten Berghe near Bruges. After the purchase it became public property and is now a highlight of the library’s collection, often shown at exhibitions. The Library launched a new website on 1 March 2007 that presents the manuscript online in full.
From March to June 2013 it was on display in Bruges at the Gruuthusemuseum. It was loaned to Sint-Janshospitaal in Bruges from October 2022 to February 2023.
The manuscript was discovered around 1840 and was for a while called Old Flemish songs and poems. In the 20th century it came to be known as the Gruuthuse manuscript, named after its first well-documented owner, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse (c. 1422–1492), whose coat of arms appears on the first page. Gruuthuse was a diplomat and collector of manuscripts, mostly illuminated French works. The Gruuthuse manuscript itself contains no French texts and is not illuminated, but it was an important part of his collection.
In the 17th or 18th century someone added his name, his coat of arms, his motto Plus est en Vous, and notes about his membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece. How the manuscript passed from the de Croeser family to van Caloen remains unknown.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:18 (CET).