recentf-mode works 'by hand' but not if started from .emacs

[roland.rau@gmail.com]

Dear all,

I wanted to enable the recentf-mode in GNU Emacs.
If I do
M-x recentf-mode
it works fine.
If I write down
(recentf-mode t)
in a Lisp Interaction Bufffer and 'C-x,C-e' it, it also works.

If I put, however, the same code at the end of my .emacs file
(recentf-mode t)
I get an error (without it, I have no errors during startup).

Can somebody tell me what I did wrong?
Thanks,
Roland

As usual, I guess the following information is required:
a) Emacs version
(version)
"GNU Emacs 22.0.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2006-08-30 on W2ONE"
b) Error Protocol (from *Messages*)
(C:\rolandprogs\Emacs\emacs\bin\emacs.exe
--load=C:/rolandprogs/Emacs/EmacsW32/bin/gnuservauto.el)
Loading encoded-kb...done
Adding c:/rolandprogs/Emacs/EmacsW32/lisp/ to load-path
Loading c:/rolandprogs/auctex/auctex-11.14/tex-site.el (source)...done
Loading c:/rolandprogs/ess/ess-5.3.1/lisp/ess-site.el (source)...
Loading regexp-opt...done
enabling speedbar support
Loading c:/rolandprogs/ess/ess-5.3.1/lisp/ess-site.el (source)...done
Loading pc-select...done
Loading delsel...done
Loading time...done
Loading c:/HOME/nc.el (source)...
Loading advice...done
Loading c:/HOME/nc.el (source)...done
Loading paren...done
Loading c:/HOME/haskell-site-file.el (source)...done
Loading c:/HOME/recentf.el (source)...done
Loading c:/HOME/.recentf...done
Cleaning up the recentf list...
Loading cl-macs...done
Cleaning up the recentf list...done


An error has occurred while loading `c:/HOME/.emacs':

Wrong type argument: keymapp, nil

To ensure normal operation, you should investigate and remove the
cause of the error in your initialization file.  Start Emacs with
the `--debug-init' option to view a complete error backtrace.