THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE in Dutch begins with a poet who is known to us only from secondary sources, who belonged to both the pagan and Christian cultures, and who sang both psalms and epic verse. That this first-known poet from the Low Countries, Bernlef, was afflicted with blindness endows him with a certain Homeric quality — so there is every reason to choose him as the starting point of this literary history.

Bernlef

In his hagiographical life of the eighth-century Christian preacher Liudger, who died while doing God's work in 809, the Frisian bishop Altfried (died 849) relates that this man of God, while traveling through Friesland to spread the gospel, was once invited to share a meal with a noblewoman in a village near Delfzijl. “And behold: while he and his followers were seated at the table, a blind man, one Bernlef, was brought before him, who was much loved by all the neighbors for his striking good nature, and for the marvelous way in which he sang about the heroic deeds and the wars of the Frisian kings. But this man had been struck down three years earlier with total blindness, which deprived him permanently of even the smallest ray of light.” Naturally, Saint Liudger was able to restore Bernlef's sight, and he explained that this blessing was in fact God's doing. For the rest of his life, Bernlef would place his charisma in the service of his Christian mission, teaching, performing baptisms, and chanting psalms.