Melis Stoke ( 1235 – c. 1305) was a Dutch writer who lived in the 13th century.

Biography

Melis Stoke was probably born in the Dutch province of

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

around 1235. He died somewhere around 1305. He started writing in 1290 in

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...

on the countship of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

. His most famous work was the ''Rijmkroniek'', the ''chronicle in rhyme'', among the first books written in the Dutch language. In it is the account of the murder of count

Floris V Floris V (24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modern ...

. Stoke found his information from written sources, eyewitness accounts and his own observations. Melis Stoke was a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

in Floris V's service. He probably learned to read and write in a monastery. Sources do not mention whether Stoke was a monk himself. There is evidence he had been in the service of the city of

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

External links

Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, Rijmkroniek van Holland on-line
Dutch * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoke, Melis 1230s births 1300s deaths Middle Dutch writers People from Zeeland People from the County of Holland Chroniclers from the Holy Roman Empire