The abele spelen are a collection of four plays contained in the Van Hulthem Manuscript, which dates from 1410 and is in the collection of the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels (shelfmark hs. 15.589-623). The word ‘abele’ means ‘noble’, and the ‘spelen’ means ‘plays’. In this sense the word ‘noble’ is used as the opposite of ‘religious’, i.e. 'profane'. The "noble plays" date from around 1350. They are the oldest plays of a worldly, non-religious nature known in the Dutch language, and among the oldest known in West-European theatre. The four abele spelen are: