Abstract
OVER A PERIOD of about twenty years, Jan Deschamps had bought so many Middle Dutch manuscripts that I kiddingly told him that he should get ready for a large exhibition. A good occasion presented itself sooner than expected when a local Flemish literary and historical society wanted to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary. Over the years this society had done a tremendous job in re-evaluating Flemish literature of the Middle Ages, which from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century had an importance equal to French, German or English literature. All over Europe similar societies, which based their interest on a romantic view of the national past (which was always glorious) were active in reviving popular, vernacular literature of a given region. Never was I so much aware of the international impact of this movement as during my visit to the Matica Slovenska at Martin, a small city between Bratislava and the Tatra mountains. This national library started modestly in 1863 as a local society interested in Slovak language, literature, history and culture.
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