Introduction:
The hoofse cultuur has evolved as a system of cultivated omgangsvormen since the second millennium. Literatuur plays an important role in propagating and spreading this message. ‘Would you like to sit hoofsheid here, Mevrouw. Because that’s how it sounds. It is one of the unwritten rules that allows communication between people to continue to be difficult in an increasingly crowd world. And this is nothing new: many of our current omgangsvormen are rather old.
Etiquetteboekjes:
You must learn proper behaviour. Most of the time, this is nonsense, but there have long been books written with rules about how people should behave. The oldest Dutch etiquette books were written around hoofsheid 1200 and are thus eight hundred years old. However, several of the voorschriften in those books appear to be slightly distorted:
Eere ne dine machte, vrouwen. No quaet, no lachter from him dune must not do anything with quaetheit, for we are all vrouwen. Saltu hoesten often spreken, nicht metter druust den dore up steken, eer du in welche dore sult gaen, die thou vints besloten staen. Swijch du wile datti spreket, dan dui best, di spreket an. Het is onhovesch that men breket Often scuert iemens story, Ars hise hevet ghehendt the man.
As an example, consider Arab culture:
In the last two centuries, both population and wealth in Western Europe have shifted dramatically. One of the consequences is that the bovenlaag of the populace, the adel, has more time to devote to the aforementioned responsibilities of life. During the Crusades, velen were create under the hoofsheid influence of Arab culture, where the art of living was develop much farther than in Europe. From that time forward, a ‘hoofse’ [= of the hof] cultuur begins to emerge, first in France. The word ‘hopelijk’ is use in this context.
This hoofsheid, which began as cultivated omgangsvormen within the adellijke elite, has quickly become the norm in the broad outlines of middeleeuwse samenleving: the previous entry hoort a je medemens encountered respectvolle gemanierdheid, je laat of ander to zijn waarde during plaatst deze never voor onaangename verrassingen. You are well-balance, gallant, and control your impulses and drifts; in a nutshell, you are hoofs.
Literature from the Netherlands:
Literatuur plays an important role in Dutch culture. The writing and performance of songs and poems about love appears to be fraught with peril. Luisteren van ridderverhalen is je geliefd tijdverdrijf uit hoofse edelen en ook al gauw burgers die zich aan hoe spiegelen. In many of these stories, the characters see how things work according to the rules of the game, while the schurks act on their own. Hendrik van Veldeke’s liederen en Eneasroman zijn vroege voorbeelden der hoofse literatuur. Diederic van Assenede’s story about Floris and Blancefloer is also a good example of a novel in which the protagonist knows exactly what he must do.
Conclusion:
The most well-known example of hoofse literature is the Arturromans. In this section, a school model of the hoofse ridderwereld is provided. Ridders are not just dapper vechtersbazen here, but also model minnaars. They enjoy their free time on their own terms, sharing it with exquisite women who enjoy music, wine, games, and love. In real life, this was just for those with time and money. They could eat, dance, speak, and dress themselves in tasty and inexpensive clothes. He gives a model to the characters from the hoofse verhalen.
