Frits van Oostrom, born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1953. Ph.D. from Utrecht University. Professor of Historical Dutch literature at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 1994 – 30 June 1995)
The aim of my stay at NIAS was simple: the writing of a book to be entitled “Maerlants wereld. Literatuur en leven in de middeleeuwse lage landen”. The material for this book was collected in the past six years. The book focuses on Jacob van Maerlant, the most prolific and influential poet of medieval Dutch literature, and in fact a pioneering author of European importance when it comes to making available the treasures of Latin science and scholarship to a thirteenth-century lay audience. An important element in my book will be the relationship between Jacob van Maerlant and the entourage of Floris V, the young count of Holland. I hope to finish this book before 1 October 1995. It will have about 500 pages and forty illustrations.