Dutch Literature - Old Dutch Texts (500-1150)

Old Dutch Texts (500-1150)

Around 500 AD, Old Frankish evolved to Old Dutch, a West Germanic language that was spoken by the Franks and to a lesser extent by people living in the regions conquered by the Franks. Until the end of the 11th century, Dutch literature - like literature elsewhere in Europe - was almost entirely oral and in the form of poetry, as this helped troubadours remembering and reciting their texts. Scientific and religious texts were written in Latin and as a consequence most texts written in the Netherlands were written in Latin rather than Old Dutch. Extant Dutch texts from this period are rare.

In the earliest stages of the Dutch language, a considerable degree of mutual intelligibility with most other West Germanic dialects was present, and some fragments and authors can be claimed by both Dutch and German literature. Examples include the 9th-century Wachtendonk Psalms (Dutch: "Wachtendonkse Psalmen"), a West Low Franconian translation of some of the Psalms on the threshold of what is considered Dutch, and the 12th-century County of Loon poet Henric van Veldeke (1150 – after 1184).