In Ecclesia Nostra: The Collatiehuis in Gouda and Its Lieux de Savoir

Pieter H. Boonstra

doi:10.16995/lefou.93

Abstract

This article will show how the concept of lieux de savoir as theorized by Christian Jacob provides an intriguing framework from which to examine the interactions between laypeople and religious professionals and the transmission of knowledge in the late medieval city, by applying it to the Collatiehuis in Gouda. Here, religious knowledge was shaped and communicated in the interaction between the Brothers of the Common Life and visiting laypeople. The separate rooms in which these interactions took place, as well as the location of the house within the city, influenced the circulation of knowledge. Aside from this spatial approach, the article will also propose that the texts used during these meetings can be considered their own lieux de savoir as they played an important role in shaping and communicating religious knowledge between the lay and religious participants of the collatio.

Highlights

INTRODUCTIONThe name 'Collatiehuis' reveals a strong connection between the location and the meetings that took place there, a prime example of what Christian Jacob has termed lieux de savoir.[3] The term lieux de savoir strongly lends itself to a spatial approach: the space in which knowledge was constructed, circulated, and communicated, and the locations where such processes took place
To explore these three levels of lieux de savoir, the present article will open with a short history of the Collatiehuis as an institution, stressing the importance of the collationes to the building—even before the Brothers of the Common Life established themselves in Gouda, and even when the house was uninhabited
The article will close with a consideration of the books of collations as lieux de savoir, as these were the instruments with which laypeople were engaged with the devotional knowledge of the Brothers of the Common Life

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The name 'Collatiehuis' reveals a strong connection between the location and the meetings that took place there, a prime example of what Christian Jacob has termed lieux de savoir.[3] The term lieux de savoir strongly lends itself to a spatial approach: the space in which knowledge was constructed, circulated, and communicated, and the locations where such processes took place In his Qu'est-ce qu'un lieu de savoir, Jacob emphasises the importance of location and physical context for the translation of knowledge, most tellingly in his chapter on "The spatial turn". The private conversations between the Brothers of the Common Life and visiting laypeople were for the most part oral communication, though the religious texts through which the Brothers constructed their spirituality would always form part of the context being present

The Brothers drew up several inventories of the books found in the house

HISTORY OF THE COLLATIEHUIS

INSIDE THE COLLATIEHUIS

THE COLLATIEHUIS IN THE CITY

THE TEXTUAL COLLATION AS A PLACE OF KNOWLEDGE

58 As is prescribed in the consuetudines or customs of Zwolle

CONCLUSION