De chronologie van Ruusbroecs werken volgens de Groenendaalse codex

This article is the fourth in a series dedicated to the major manuscripts of Ruusbroec's works. The present publication was preceded by: 'Corpusvorming van Ruusbroecs werken', in: Ons Geestelijk Erf 72 (1998), pp. 3-53; 'Fragment van een onbekend Ruusbroec-verzamelhandschrift', in: Ons Geestelijk Erf 72 (1998), pp. 164-172; 'Een studiereis naar Groenendaal. De Nacomelinc en de totstandkoming van Ruusbroechandschrift D', in: Ons Geestelijk Erf 72 (1998), pp. 221-245. This contribution deals with the table of contents, the pro- and epilogues, the head-ings, and the running titles in the manuscript usually referred to as 'A'. MS A is the surviving part of the once bipartite Groenendaal codex, which contained all of Ruusbroec's works, except for his letters, and was written ca. 1365. Of particular interest is the table of contents in MS A, which not only provides information concerning the treatises, but also determines the periods in which Ruusbroec 'published' them. As we will show, MS F transmits a copy of the table of contents in accordance with the lost part of the Groenendaal codex. Thus it is possible to make a reconstruction of the original table, that enables us to distinguish three periods in Ruusboec's life to which the publication of his works can be related, i.e.: [1] as a secular priest in Brussels (1317-43), [2] as a hennit in the woods near this town (1343-50), and, finally, [3] as the prior of the Groenendaal monastery (1350-81). The reconstruction, however, poses a major problem for the chronology of Ruusbroec's works. According to the reconstructed table of contents of the Groenendaal codex, Die geestelijke brulocht saw the light when Ruusbroec was the prior of the Groenendaal monastery, whereas the communis opinio among Ruusbroec experts to date has been that it belongs to the Brussels' period. There is, however, much more evidence dating from the fourteenth century, which shows that the Brulocht has to be postdated. Most likely, it was written in