View source for Elckerlijc

{{short description|15th century morality play from the Low Countries}}
{{italic title}}
'''''Elckerlijc''''' (also known as '''''Elckerlyc''''') is a [[morality play]] from the [[Low Countries]] which was written in [[Dutch language|Dutch]] somewhere around the year 1470.  It was first printed in 1495.  The play was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the [[English language|English]] play ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]'', as well as many other translations for other countries. The authorship of ''Elckerlijc'' is attributed to [[Peter van Diest]], a [[medieval]] writer from the Low Countries. 
[[File:Hecastus Goeteborg 1681.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Swedish edition of [[Macropedius]]' ''Hecastus''. Göteborg 1681. Courtesy of the [[National Library of Sweden|Royal Library, Stockholm]]]]

The play won the first prize in a theater contest in [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]; it is uncertain whether it won at the [[Antwerp]] Landjuweel in 1496.<ref name=Davidson />  As a morality play, it stresses the [[didactic]] message. It uses [[allegory]] of the hero as an "everyman" (a typical human person) and is written in moderately elevated [[Rederijker]] style.

Dutch and English historians argued for decades over whether the English play ''Everyman'' was based on ''Elckerlijc'' (or vice versa). The most convincing evidence that ''Elckerlijc'' was the original was provided by the English historian E. R. Tigg, who showed how many rhymes and literal translations were copied from the Dutch language play into the English ''Everyman''.{{sfnp|Meijer|1971|p=55|ps=: quoting of ''Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy,'' 1939}} On the other hand, an English translator should have added a rhyming tag to each of a pair of words that rhyme in Dutch but not in English.<ref>[[A. C. Cawley]] (1989). "Everyman". ''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]''. {{ISBN|0-684-17024-8}}.</ref>  The prevalent view is that the Dutch-language version was the original.<ref name=Davidson>{{Cite web|title = Introduction|url = http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/davidson-everyman-introduction|website = Everyman and Its Dutch Original, Elckerlijc|access-date = 2016-02-19|publisher = Robbins Library Digital Projects, University of Rochester|editor-last = Davidson|editor2-last = Walsh|editor3-last = Broos|editor-first = Clifford|editor2-first = Martin W.|editor3-first = Ton J.|date = 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://www.dbnl.org/thema/elckerlijc.php Geert Warnar, ''Elckerlijc, Toneel, tekst en beeld van ca. 1500 tot nu''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103225250/https://www.dbnl.org/thema/elckerlijc.php |date=2023-01-03 }} {{in lang|nl}}</ref>

==Translations and adaptations==
* ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]'', in English (16th century)
* ''Homulus'', translation in Latin (1536) by Christianus Ischyrius<ref name=Davidson />
* ''Hecastus'', adaptation in Latin (1536) by [[Macropedius]]
* ''[[Jedermann (play)|Jedermann]]'' (1911), [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]]'s German adaptation of ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]''
* ''[[Elckerlyc (film)|Elckerlyc]]'', 1975 film directed by [[Jos Stelling]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmfestival.nl/publiek/films/elckerlyc|title=Elckerlyc|language=nl|work=filmfestival.nl|publisher=[[Netherlands Film Festival]]|access-date=2015-08-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052124/https://www.filmfestival.nl/publiek/films/elckerlyc|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |author-last=Meijer|author-first=Reinder|title=Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium|place=New York|publisher=[[Twayne Publishers]]|date=1971|pages=55–57, 62}}

==Further reading==
* "Is ''Elckerlyc'' prior to ''Everyman''?" ''Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy'' 1939, pp.&nbsp;568–96.

==External links==
* [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_elc001elck01_01 Online version of ''Elkerlijc''] {{in lang|nl}}
* [http://cf.hum.uva.nl/dsp/ljc/dorlandus/elcker.html Online version of ''Elkerlijc''] {{in lang|nl}}

{{Interludes}}

[[Category:15th-century plays]]
[[Category:1495 plays]]
[[Category:Everyman]]
[[Category:Middle Dutch literature]]


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