PROJECTS OF THE IUA

The French fabliaux of the XIIIth and XIVth centuries are humorous narratives in verse, on average 300 octosyllabic lines long, of which 127 are known, most of them from more than one manuscript source. The New Complete Collection of Fabliaux, which is the object of this project, comprises ten volumes. The NRCF will replace the earlier collection in six volumes edited by Anatole de Montaiglon and Gaston Raynaud (1872-1890) under the title Recueil Général et Complet des Fabliaux des XIIIe et XIVe siècles. In spite of its undoubted merits and its usefulness in the past, that publication must now be regarded as defective and obsolete.

The new edition will provide a sound basis for all kinds of research into medieval literature, ranging from a study of language, grammar or dialect to an approach conceived in historical or sociological terms, or a concern with literary theory or the history of ideas.

It is intended to be comprehensive, and in particular to present the texts in such a way as to make further reference to the manuscripts unnecessary.

There is a glossary designed to make the texts accessible to readers who may have little previous acquaintance with medieval French.

The NRCF began in 1972 from an initiative by L. Geschiere (Free University of Amsterdam), N.H.J. van den Boogaard (University of Amsterdam) and W. Noomen (University of Groningen). After the retirement of L. Geschiere (1979) and the decease of N.H.J. van den Boogaard (1982), W. Noomen was left in sole charge of the project. Vol. 1 was published in 1983 ; volumes II-VIII have appeared from 1984 onwards at intervals of eighteen months or two years. Volumes I-IV and volume VI received publication grants from the ZWO (NWO) in Holland (Central Research Funding Organization) ; volumes V, VII and VIII from the NWO and from the CNRS.

Volume III received the Prix de La Grange (1988) of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

The project was adopted by the UAI in Category C in 1990 on the initiative of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.

Director : W. Noomen 1972-1998.

The project was achieved in 1998.