Middelnederlands

Middelnederlands, or Middle Dutch, denotes the form of the Dutch language spoken and written roughly between the 12th and the end of the 15th century. It was used across the northern and central Low Countries, in present-day Netherlands and Belgium, and encompassed several regional varieties, including Hollandic, Brabantian, Flemish, and East and West Flemish.

It evolved from Old Dutch and bridges the transition to Early Modern Dutch. The period is characterized by a shift from a highly inflected Old Dutch grammar to a more analytic system, with reduced case endings and greater reliance on prepositions and word order. The verb system preserved strong and weak conjugations and used auxiliaries to form perfect tenses. The lexicon absorbed many French and Latin loanwords through trade, religion, and administration.

Textual culture was diverse: legal documents, chronicles, religious writings, and an increasingly abundant body of vernacular literature. Middle Dutch literature includes poetry and prose; notable works include Reynard the Fox (Van den vos Reynaerde), the religious poem Beatrijs, and various chivalric and didactic texts. Spelling and syntax varied widely by region and manuscript, as there was no standardized orthography.

Legacy: Middle Dutch served as the direct ancestor of Modern Dutch and Flemish. The transition to Early New Dutch (around the 16th century onward) and the advent of printing helped standardize writing, but regional varieties persisted for centuries. It preserves valuable insights into medieval Dutch society, culture, and daily life.