Heinrich von Veldeke

Heinrich von Veldeke (aka: He(y)nric van Veldeke(n), Dutch Hendrik van Veldeke, born before or around 1150 – died after 1184) is the first writer in the Low Countries that we know by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, a hamlet on the territory of Spalbeek, which has been a community of Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium, since 1977. The ‘Vel(de)kermolen’, a water mill on the Demer river, is the only remainder of this hamlet. In Limburg he is celebrated as a writer of the Old Limburgish.

Veldeke’s years of birth and death are uncertain. He must have been born before or around 1150, as he was writing in the early 1170s. There is no evidence that Veldeke was born in 1128, as is often suggested. He certainly died after 1184, because he mentions in his Eneas that he was present at the court day that emperor Frederik Barbarossa organised in Mainz at Pentecost of that year. He must have died before Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote his Parzival, which was completed between 1205 and 1210. Wolfram mentions in that work that Veldeke died prematurely. Veldeke probably was a member of a ministerial class (unfree nobles) family. The existence of such a family is mentioned in deeds from the thirteenth century. It may be concluded that he received a thorough education, as he used Latin sources in his works.

There are two forms of the poet's name that are commonly encountered in modern scholarship, Hendrik van Veldeke or Heinrich von Veldeke. The choice is usually indicative of whether Veldeke is (anachronistically) thought of writing in a "Dutch" or a "German" literary tradition. The Servatius gives his name as "Heynric van Veldeken", whereas the Berlin manuscript of the Eneasroman calls him "uon Ueldiche Heinreich", with the first name also variously spelled "Hainrich" or "Hainreich". Other manuscripts give the place name "Veldeke" variously as "Veldekin" "Veltkilchen" or "Waldecke". The Dutch scholar Jan van Goossens has proposed using the form "Heinric van Veldeken" as a compromise in the introduction to his bilingual Old Limburgs/German edition of the Servatius, however this suggestion does not appear to have gained much traction, with German scholars continuing overwhelmingly to use "Heinrich von Veldeke" and Dutch scholars preferring "Hendrik van". The choice by English language writers varies according to discipline, but as more Germanists work on Veldeke than Netherlandists, the form "Heinrich von" is more commonly encountered in English. Sometimes the poet's place of origin "Veldeke" is also used to denote the author without taking a side in the dispute (though it primarily serves to differentiate Heinrich/Hendrik from others with his name, e.g. Heinrich von Morungen).

...
Wikipedia