In the book of life: manuscript, memoria, and community in Eduard de Dene's Testament Rhetoricael (Bruges, 1562)

This essay investigates why the Testament Rhetoricael (Bruges, 1562), a large collection of poems and songs by Eduard de Dene, a prominent sixteenth-century rhetorician (rederijker) from the city of Bruges, has been preserved in manuscript instead of print. By discussing the links made by the poet between his text and the biblical image of the Book of Life, it is argued that for an early modern author like De Dene, the act of writing and its material result, the manuscript, could be a more than purely functional tool. By means of the Testament Rhetoricael the essay shows that the associations called up by the act of writing and the handwritten text could constitute an important motive for the use of the manuscript medium