A cookery book from northern Europe may have originated in Provence. Known from its "incipit" as "Libellus de arte coquinaria", it is the Codex K version of the Harpestraeng Cookbook, which is part of a collection of medical papers written by, or belonging to, Dr. Henrik Harpestraeng. It is currently housed in the Royal Library of Copenhagen (Ny samling Nr. 66, 8 vo.). Food historian Dr. Rudolf Grewe proposed a NW Mediterranean origin for this book based on the recipes and their ingredients, such as saffron. Since Harpestraeng studied medicine in Provence, probably at Montpellier, he may have obtained the book during that time. Harpestraeng may have brought the book to Denmark, where he was the physician to King Valdemar II. Codex K is believed to have been copied into Danish from an earlier Low German original, or copy. This would have happened before 1244, the year Harpestraeng died. If so, "Libellus de arte coquinaria" is the earliest Western European cookery book, since Apicius' De re coquinaria.