At the close of the early period, Anna Bijns (c. 1494–1575) stands as a transitional figure. Bijns was an Antwerp schoolmistress and lay nun whose main targets were the faith and character of Luther. In her first volume of poetry (1528) the Lutherans are scarcely mentioned and focus lies on her personal experience of faith, but in that of 1538 one finds sharp words for the Lutherans on every page. With the writings of Bijns, the period of Middle Dutch closes and the modern Dutch begins (see also History of the Dutch language).