Dirc van Delf, sometimes anglicized Dirk of Delft (fl. c. 1365 – c. 1404), was a Dutch Dominican theologian. Dirc was probably born at

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

in the County of Holland around 1365 and education from youth by the Dominicans in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. He earned a

doctorate of theology Doctor of Theology ( la, Doctor Theologiae, abbreviated DTh, ThD, DTheol, or Dr. theol.) is a terminal degree in the academic discipline of theology. The ThD, like the ecclesiastical Doctor of Sacred Theology, is an advanced research degree equiva ...

. On 17 December 1391, he was hired as a chaplain at the court of

Albert I, Duke of Bavaria Albert I, Duke of Lower Bavaria (german: Albrecht; 25 July 1336 – 13 December 1404), was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries. Additionally, he held a portion of the Bavarian province of Strau ...

and Count of Holland, in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. He was a lecturer (''magister'') and regent (''regens'') of the universities of

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

and (from 1403)

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. The last record of a payment to Dirc from the duke is dated July 1404, and he was certainly not kept on after Albert's death in December 1404. One of the most learned men of his time, Dirc wrote at least two books. The first, completed by 1401, is now lost. It was dedicated to Albert's wife, Margaret of Cleves, and is known only from a reference in the ducal accounts. The second, the ''Tafel van den Kersten Ghelove'' (Handbook of the Christian Faith), was begun around 1403 for Albert. It is an encyclopedia of scholastic theology written for a lay audience in the local vernacular, Middle Dutch. Its prose style is highly regarded. Two partial contemporary

illuminated manuscripts An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

made for Albert survive: Baltimore,

Walters Art Gallery The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

, MS W.171 and New York,

Pierpont Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th ...

, MS M.691. Dirc's main sources were

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, the most important being

Hugh Ripelin Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg (c. 1205 – c. 1270) was a Dominican theologian from Strasbourg, Alsace. He is now considered to be the author of the ''Compendium theologiae'' or ''Compendium theologicae veritatis''. On account of its scope and style, ...

's 13th-century ''Compendium theologicae veritatis''. The ''Tafel'' is divided into two parts: the ''Winterstuc'' (Winter Part) and the ''Somerstuc'' (Summer Part). The first concerns the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, angelology,

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

, demonology, hamartiology and the birth and

ministry of Jesus The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with his baptism in the countryside of Roman Judea and Transjordan, near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples.''Chri ...

. The second concerns the passion of Jesus, the hierarchy of angels, the works of mercy, the

sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the real ...

, the Antichrist, the

four last things In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things or four last things of man ( la , quattuor novissima) are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife. They are often commended as a collective t ...

and

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

. Between the sections on the sacraments is a hodge-podge of less theological topics. These include chapters on

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

virtues; on saint's lives taken from the '' Vitae Patrum'' (in Dutch, ''Vaderboec''); on the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

and

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

; on

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

; on the Queen of Sheba. A ''morgenspraec'' (morning conversation) between Jesus and a sinner ends this section and leads into the section on the Antichrist. __NOTOC__

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, MS W.171
(digitized)
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.691
(digitized) {{Authority control 1360s births 15th-century deaths Middle Dutch writers Dutch Dominicans Dominican theologians People from the county of Holland

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links