Hein van Aken

Who is Hein van Aken?

Hein van Aken, also called Hendrik van Aken or van Haken, was the parish priest in Korbeek-Lo, between Leuven and Brussels. He was born in Brussels, probably in the thirteenth century. He translated the Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun to Dutch, with the title Het Bouc van der Rosen, and is probably also the poet of the Historie van Saladyn. With less reason, some also attribute the Natuurkunde van het Geheel-al to him, but a poem by him must be kept in the Comburger manuscript. In the Leeckenspeigel, some work by him has been intertwined, amongst others his rhymed essay Over de Dichtkunst, which has been called remarkable by skilled reviewers because of the common sense that prevails in it.