Fulco the Minstrel: A Historical Story from the Time of Count Jan I

Kieviet, Cornelis Johannes, 1858-1931Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
300K words
Chapters
30

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Fiction Dutch HistoryCourt IntrigueBoy HeroRomantic AdventureChivalric LegendPatriotismLoyalty and ValorHistorical TalesMedieval LifeNoble World

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Fulco de Minstreel: Een historisch verhaal uit den tijd van Graaf Jan I voorAuthor: Kieviet, Cornelis Johannes, 1858-1931,Language: Dutch, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jun 16, 2005

Editor's review

Kieviet was a well-known Dutch author of historical stories for young readers, and Fulco the Minstrel, set in the fourteenth century during the time of Count Jan I of Holland, is a historical novel for young people. Its strength lies in weaving the court, town, and guild life of the medieval Low Countries into an adventure narrative; the minstrel's role naturally provides a perspective that travels widely and encounters different social classes, letting historical information unfold through the plot. The language is Dutch, and the length suits young readers with some patience, as well as intermediate learners of Dutch seeking extensive reading material. Note that the book presents history as understood by the author at the end of the nineteenth century, with characterization and causation shaped by the educational aims of that era; today's readers should treat it as an entry point to historical imagination rather than a source of historical fact. The Project Gutenberg electronic edition has no illustrations, so readers may wish to supplement it with maps and background material on the medieval Low Countries.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First find a map of the fourteenth-century county of Holland and match the place names in the book to real geography.
  2. Treat the minstrel's journey as a thread, noting as you read the social classes and settings he encounters.
  3. Dutch learners might read a chapter through first, then look up unfamiliar words, so as not to break the plot's rhythm by stopping at every word.
  4. After finishing, compare with a concise history of the medieval Low Countries to distinguish fictional imagination from recorded fact.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for? As a historical novel for young people, it suits teenagers with some reading stamina and an interest in historical stories; the specific age depends on language ability. For non-native readers of Dutch, an intermediate reading level is advisable, or they may lose interest due to unfamiliar words and old-fashioned expressions.
Is the historical content reliable? The author uses a historical setting as the framework for a youthful adventure narrative; it is a historical novel, not a work of history. The characters and plot include fictional elements, and the understanding of history reflects a late-nineteenth-century perspective. Readers may treat it as an entry point to the medieval Low Countries, but historical details require separate specialized sources.
Does the electronic edition have illustrations or annotations? According to Project Gutenberg's record, this electronic edition is plain text without illustrations or modern annotations. When encountering personal names, place names, and historical events, readers will need to consult maps or background material themselves; preparing a brief history of medieval Holland in advance is recommended.

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About the author

Kieviet, Cornelis Johannes, 1858-1931 Author

Kieviet, Cornelis Johannes (1858–1931) was a Dutch author of children's literature; details of his life are limited in publicly available sources, and nine of his works are held in this collection. He is best known for the series of stories about the boy Dik Trom, including Uit het leven van Dik Trom, De Zoon van Dik Trom and Dik Trom en zijn Dorpsgenooten, which portray village boyhood and mischief in a humorous tone. He also wrote books for young readers set in older Holland, such as Jongens van Oudt-Holland, as well as historical tales including De Kennemer Vrijbuiter, De Twee Broeders and Fulco de Minstreel, many drawing on medieval legends and events around Kennemerland. Writing for young readers in a lively, accessible style, he combined local colour with adventure and is a notable figure in Dutch children's literature on regional and historical themes.