Medieval literary works
Poetry and prose
The work of Heinrich von Veldeke, the earliest known poet to use a Dutch dialect, typified the age’s religious zeal, which emanated from the French centres of learning. In addition to his Eneit (c. 1185), a chivalrous rendering of Virgil’s Aeneid, and his love lyrics, which were important for German poets, Heinrich produced Servatius, a saint’s life written in the Limburg dialect. Dutch 13th- and 14th-century texts were generally written in the cultural centres of Flanders and Brabant, where, for reasons of trade, the prevailing influence was French. Throughout Europe the Crusades brought courtly romances into vogue, and Dutch romances, following French models, were written about events from Classical history, such as Segher Diergotgaf ’s Paerlement van Troyen (“Parliament of Troy”); about Oriental subjects; or, most popular of all, on themes from Celtic sagas, including the Arthurian cycle. But by the 1260s chivalry was on the decline; the titles of Jacob van Maerlant’s later works bear witness to a late 13th-century reaction against romance. Van Maerlant’s compendia of knowledge, including his Der naturen bloeme (“The Flower of Nature”) and Spieghel historiael (“The Mirror of History”), answered a demand for the kind of self-instructional literature that long remained a characteristic of Dutch literature. The change in social patterns at this time is also evident in two epic tales. Karel ende Elegast (“Charles and Elegast”), probably an original Flemish chanson de geste of the 12th or 13th century, describes with feudal reverence Charlemagne’s adventures in the magic world of folklore. Van den vos Reinaerde (c. 1240; “Reynard the Fox”) is the Flemish poet Willem’s version of a translation by another Fleming, Aernout, of the French Le Plaid, which, by contrast, brilliantly satirizes feudal society and the epic manner.
Mystical writing reached a remarkable lyrical intensity in the poetry and hortatory prose of a Brabantine laywoman, Hadewijch (late 12th to early 13th century), and this inspired later mystics, greatest of whom was Jan van Ruysbroeck, a disciple of the German mystic Meister Eckehart and the Netherlands’ greatest medieval prose writer. His most important work was Die chierheit der gheestliker brulocht (1350; The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, or The Spiritual Espousals), concerning the soul in search of God. His work was part of a renewed ecclesiastic concern to instruct the laity, which resulted in a wealth of Bible stories, legends, and didactic short stories. Of these, Beatrijs, an early 14th-century Flemish verse rendering of a popular legend, is told with such humanity and restraint that it still inspires modern versions (e.g., those by Maurice Maeterlinck and Pieter Cornelis Boutens).