Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer is a

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarch ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

. It is the shortest of the four ''

abele spelen The abele spelen ({{IPA-nl, ˈaːbələ ˈspeːlə(n)) are a collection of four plays contained in the Van Hulthem Manuscript, which dates from 1410 and is in the collection of the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels (shelfmark hs. 15.589-623). T ...

'' ("able plays") contained in the

Van Hulthem Manuscript The Van Hulthem Manuscript is a masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature, probably compiled in the Duchy of Brabant. It contains over 200 stories from across the Low Countries. The manuscript is named after its last private owner, Charles van Hult ...

, comprising 625 lines in

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

. The other abele spelen are: ''

Esmoreit Esmoreit is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four ''abele spelen'' ("able plays") contained in the Van Hulthem Manuscript and consists of 1,018 lines in rhyme. The other ''abele spelen'' are: '' Gloriant'', ''Lanseloet van Denemerken'' and ' ...

'', ''

Gloriant Gloriant is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four ''abele spelen'' ("able plays") contained in the Van Hulthem Manuscript, and consists of 1,142 lines in rhyme. The other abele spelen are ''Esmoreit'', ''Lanseloet van Denemerken'' and ''Van ...

'' and ''

Lanseloet van Denemerken ''Lanseloet van Denemerken'' (Lancelot of Denmark) is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four ''abele spelen'' ("able plays") contained in the Van Hulthem Manuscript and consists of 925 lines in rhyme.Annelies van Gijsen,Love and Marriage: Fict ...

''. The play deals with the battle between Winter and Summer and their role in arousing erotic love. The play is followed by the ''sotternie'' (

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

) Rubben.

Roles

* Venus (goddess of love) * Die Winter * Die Somer * Loiaert (on Winter's side, ''lazy man'') * Moyaert (on Somer's side, ''dandy'') * Clappaert (on Winter's side, ''talks a mile a minute'') * Bollaert (on Somer's side, ''boaster'') * Die Cockien (''tramp'')

Plot

The main figures Winter and Somer and their companions have a fierce debate about which of the two is the most important season of the year for making love. Both are convinced they are: Winter because of the long nights indoors; Somer because of the "happy season for happy hearts". With tempers running high, they decide to have a duel to see who is right; they both expect to win to get rid of the other for all time. While both are preparing to fight, Moyaert runs to seek the intervention of the goddess Venus as the arbiter of questions of love. Venus separates the two, who after some reluctance yield out of respect for her. Venus points out the importance and equality of the two seasons and the fact that the one cannot be without the other. There is only one loser and the end of the play: Cockien had wanted Somer to win.

References

{{Reflist

External links

*
Vanden winter ende vanden somer
' (original text in Middle Dutch) at

Digital Library for Dutch Literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

15th-century plays Dutch plays Middle Dutch literature Plays set in the 15th century Plays set in the Middle Ages Plays set in the Netherlands