#thestoryofFlanders

Tom Waes, together with historians, archeologists and other experts takes us back to our past in the documentary 'Het verhaal van Vlaanderen'. Episode three focuses on the dark Middle Ages and brings one of the masterpieces of our collection into the spotlight.

The rise of christianity and the christening of Flanders is illustrated by a famous medieval manuscript, the Vita Sancti Amandi. The text, written in Latin, dates back to the beginning of the 8th century and is attributed to a monk from the north of France, Baudemundus. He tells the story of Saint Amandus, apostle of Flanders. At the request of the Frankish king, Amandus traveled to Ghent, to preach among the pagans. With little succes at first, but after performing a miracle, Amandus succeeded in winning the confidence of the locals. He founded a number of churches and monasteries along the Schelde, a few who later became known as the Sint-Pieters and Sint-Baafsabdij.

The Booktower collection holds a version of the life of Amandus from the 9th century. Handschrift 224 is a unique piece, one of the oldest books in Flanders. The manuscript was kept at the Sint-Pieters abdij since the 12th century, but found at the port of Amsterdam in the suitcases of Nicolas Marie Songis des Courbons (1761-1810), a Frenchmen who returns to Paris after the French Revolution. Confiscated, the manuscript returns to Ghent, and makes it way to the newly founded Bibliothèque Publique.

This piece belongs to the Mmmonk collectie, a project that unites 820 Medieval manuscripts from the abbey of Sint-Baafs, Sint-Pieters (Ghent), Ten Duinen (Koksijde) and Ter Doest (Lissewege).

The Boekentoren holds more than six thousand manuscripts, from precious illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages to single-edition typescripts from the twentieth century. Almost two thousand manuscripts can be consulted online.