Research project MO/31/001 (Research action MO)
The Royal Library possess the world's largest collection of manuscripts in Middle Dutch (about 950). The only instrument by which the public could have had access to these manuscripts has been developed by Dr. Jan Deschamps, who was forced to stop his activities in 1966. His work offers an inventory of 60% of this collection as well as a survey of the sources in which each manuscript is mentioned or analyzed. The purpose of this project is to complete the existing notices, i.a. by entering new specialist literature in the bibliographies of each manuscript but mainly by inventorying for the first time ever 40% of the collection - still unknown texts. The publication of this work is of incomparable interest to all scientific disciplines in need of knowledge about the Middle Ages.
