Hendrik van Veldeke

Heinrich von Veldeke is the first writer in the Low Countries known by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, which was a hamlet in what is now Spalbeek, part of the municipality of Hasselt in Belgian Limburg. The "Vel(de)kermolen", a water mill on the Demer River, is the only remainder of the hamlet. In Limburg, he is celebrated as a writer of Old Limburgish.