Editing Dutch-language literature (section)

==Old Dutch texts (500–1150)==
{{see also|Old Dutch}}
Around 500 AD, [[Old Frankish]] evolved to [[Old Dutch]], a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic language]] that was spoken by the [[Franks]] and to a lesser extent by people living in the [[Frankish empire|regions conquered by the Franks]]. Until the end of the 11th century, Dutch literature - like literature elsewhere in Europe - was almost entirely [[Speech communication|oral]] and in the form of [[poetry]], as this helped [[troubadour]]s 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 [[Germans|German]] literature. Examples include the 10th-century ''[[Wachtendonck Psalms]]'', 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).

===The Leiden Willeram===
The ''[[Leiden Willeram]]'' is the name given to a manuscript containing a Low Franconian version of the Old High German commentary on [[Song of Solomon]] by the German abbot [[Williram of Ebersberg]] (ultimately by [[Isidore of Seville]]). Until recently, based on its orthography and phonology the text of this manuscript was believed by most scholars to be Middle Franconian, that is Old High German, with some Limburgic or otherwise Franconian admixtures. But in 1974, the German philologist [[Willy Sanders]] proved in his study ''Der Leidener Willeram'' that the text actually represents an imperfect attempt by a scribe from the northwestern coastal area of the Low Countries to translate the [[East Franconian]] original into his local vernacular. The text contains many Old Dutch words not known in Old High German, as well as mistranslated words caused by the scribe's unfamiliarity with some Old High German words in the original he translated, and a confused orthography heavily influenced by the Old High German original. For instance, the grapheme <z> is used after the High German tradition where it represents Germanic ''t'' shifted to {{IPA|/ts/}}. Sanders also proved that the manuscript, now in the University Library of [[Leiden University]], was written at the end of the 11th century in the Abbey of [[Egmond Abbey|Egmond]] in modern North Holland, whence the manuscript's other name ''Egmond Willeram''.

===Hebban olla vogala===
The oldest known poetry was written by a West-Flemish [[monk]] in a [[convent]] in [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], [[England]], around 1100: ''[[hebban olla vogala|hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan  hinase hic enda thu wat unbidan we nu]]'' ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"). According to professor [[Luc de Grauwe]] the text could equally well be [[Old English]], more specifically [[Kentish dialect (Old English)|Old Kentish]], though there is no consensus on this hypothesis. At that time, [[Old Dutch|Old (West) Dutch]] and Old English were very similar.

===The Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible===
Another important source for Old Dutch is the so-called [[Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible]] (Dutch: ''Rijnlandse Rijmbijbel'' and German: ''Rheinische Reimbibel''). This is a verse translation of biblical histories, attested only in a series of fragments, which was composed in a mixed dialect containing [[Low German]], Old Dutch and High German (Rhine-Franconian) elements.<ref>David A. Wells, ''The "Central Franconian Rhyming Bible" ("Mittelfränkische Reimbibel"): An early-twelfth-century German verse [[homiliary]].'' Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004.</ref> It was likely composed in north-west Germany in the early 12th century, possibly in [[Werden Abbey]], near [[Essen]].