Heinrich von Veldeke

Who was Heinrich von Veldeke?

Heinrich von Veldeke 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 ‘Velkermolen’, 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 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.