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).

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Famous Poets and Poetic Form

Songs, drama, and the rhetoricians

The earliest recorded songs suggest a Germanic rather than a Romance tradition. Because the first extant plays—the 14th-century Abele spelen (“seemly plays”)—were entirely secular (and may have been the first of such in Europe), incorporating romantic themes from the earlier songs, there is reason to attribute the emergence of drama in the Netherlands as much to mime and song as to liturgical action. The only evidence of early liturgical drama is the Latin Officium stellae of the 14th century, after which there is nothing until 1448–55, when a play cycle on the seven joys of Mary was first performed at Brussels. Of the many miracle and morality plays, two deserve special mention: Mariken van Nieumeghen (late 15th century; “Mary of Nijmegen”) and Elckerlyc (of about the same date). The first anticipates the Renaissance in its psychology and treatment; the second, entirely medieval in its conception, is the original of the English Everyman. Both were written by members of rederijkerskamers, or chambers of rhetoric, institutions that spread from the French border in the 15th century. Organized like guilds, with functions similar to those of the French medieval dramatic societies, the chambers were commissioned by the town protecting them to provide the ceremonial and entertainment at religious and secular festivals, and they were influential in popularizing art and morals. Drama by this time was in the hands of the laity rather than the church, and the introduction of secular themes made it necessary to perform outside of religious buildings, using stages or carts. The survival of the chambers depended on literary performance, and members organized national festivals and competitions. A record of one such festival, held in 1561, is the illustrated Antwerps landjuweel (1562; “Antwerp National Contest”).