Janus Dousa
Encyclopedia
Janus Dousa [Jan van der Does] lord of Noordwyck (6 December 1545 – 8 October 1604), Dutch statesman, historian, poet and philologist, the first Librarian of Leiden University Library
and the defender of Leiden,
, in the province of Holland. Dousa's parents, Johan van der Does, lord of Noordwijk, and Anna van Nijenrode died when their son was only five years old. Dousa was placed under the guardianship of his grandfather Frans van Nijenrode until his death in 1560 and later of his uncle Werner van der Does, lord of Kattendijke. He began his studies at Lier
in Brabant
, became a pupil of Henry Junius at Delft
in 1560, and then passed on in succession to Louvain
, Douai
and Paris
. Here he studied Greek under Jean Dorat, professor at the College Royal, and became acquainted with the chancellor L'Hopital, Adrianus Turnebus
, Pierre de Ronsard
and other eminent men. On his return in 1565 he married Elizabeth van Zuylen.
Dousa was a member of the lower nobility. From his father he inherited the lordship of Noordwijk, from his uncle Werner the lordship of Kattendijke. He returned to his estates in 1566, the year of the iconoclastic fury, when the Low Countries
were on the threshold of a new period in their history: the Dutch Revolt
. He was not, however, at first very eager to commit himself to the fortunes of William the Silent
, Prince of Orange, but having once chosen his side, he threw himself heart and soul into the struggle for freedom from the Spanish yoke. In his lordships Dousa adopted a moderate policy of religious tolerance: both Catholicism
and Protestantism
were allowed. As a member of the nobility he joined the ‘Verbond der Edelen,’ the confederation of noblemen against the religious policy of Philip II of Spain
. In 1570 he became ‘hoogheemraad’ (inspector of the dikes) and a member of the States of Holland on behalf of the nobility. When in 1572 the Revolt formally began with the first independent meeting of the States-General, Dousa joined it. In the same year he participated in an embassy to queen Elizabeth I of England
to ask for support against Spain
.
Fortunately for Leiden, he was residing in the town at the time of the famous siege. He held no post in the government, but in the hour of need he, though not trained to arms, took the command of a company of troops. His own resolution encouraged the regents and citizens to prolong the defense. On the foundation of the Leiden University
by William the Silent, Dousa was appointed first curator, and he held this office for nearly thirty years. Through his friendships with foreign scholars, he drew to Leiden many illustrious teachers and professors. After the assassination of the Prince of Orange in 1584, Dousa undertook a private journey to England to try and persuade Queen Elizabeth to support the cause of the states, and in 1585 he went at the head of a formal embassy for the same purpose. She refused to accept the sovereignty of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, because she did not want to risk a war with Spain, but she was willing to send Robert Dudley
, earl of Leicester, with a small army, to lend support. About the same time Dousa was appointed keeper of the archive of Holland (registermeester van Holland), and the opportunities thus afforded him of historical research he turned to good account.
He died at Noordwijk and was interred at the Hague; but no monument was erected to his memory until 1792, when one of his descendants placed a tomb to his honour in the church of Noordwyck. There are good portraits of the Great Dousa, as he is often called, by Visscher
and Houbraken
.
In 1599 and 1601 Dousa’s historiographical works appeared. In 1603 a poetic volume called Echo and a collection of three odes was released. Some more works were issued posthumously. Apart from these literary works Dousa published collections of text-critical remarks on and editions of classical authors: Sallust
, Horace
, Catullus
, Tibullus
, Petronius
, Plautus
, Propertius, Lucilius
.
Dousa’s historiographical labour is especially relevant. In 1585, when Dousa was 40 years old, he became the first Librarian at Leiden University Library
with a special commission to write a history of Holland. At that moment however, he had been pursuing historical studies for several years. If one is to trust Heinsius
’ eulogy, Dousa had been studying history since the moment he returned from France
. Letters from the years 1582 and 1583 prove that Dousa had at least been deepening his knowledge of the history of Holland since 1577. In the letter from 1582 one even comes across a specimen of his Annales written in hexameters. In 1584 Dousa edited the work of Adrianus Barlandus
, a historiographer from Zeeland.
His first accomplishment after his commission in 1585 was the posthumous publication of the work of Hadrianus Junius
in 1588. However, his political activities prevented him from finishing his own history within a few years. In 1593 two Epistulae apologeticae were published in which Dousa apologized for the fact that the commissioned work had still not appeared. However, the States of Holland had to wait for their history still longer when Dousa’s eldest son died in 1597. Sorrow kept Dousa from finishing his work until 1599. In this year the metrical Annales were published. Finally, the commissioned prose history (Bataviae Hollandiaeque Annales) was published in 1601. Dousa was rewarded by the States of Holland with a golden chain, a medal, and exemption from the obligation to appear in the Supreme Court. In 1604 Dousa intended to edit the works of the historians Johannes de Beka and Willem Heda, but on October 8 of the same year he died of the plague before he was able to realize this plan.
Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment...
and the defender of Leiden,
Biography
He was born at NoordwijkNoordwijk
Noordwijk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 51.53 km² and had a population of 24,707 in May 2006....
, in the province of Holland. Dousa's parents, Johan van der Does, lord of Noordwijk, and Anna van Nijenrode died when their son was only five years old. Dousa was placed under the guardianship of his grandfather Frans van Nijenrode until his death in 1560 and later of his uncle Werner van der Does, lord of Kattendijke. He began his studies at Lier
Lier, Belgium
Lier is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the city of Lier proper and the village of Koningshooikt. On January 1, 2010 Lier had a total population of 33,930. The total area is 49.70 km² which gives a population density of 669 inhabitants per...
in Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
, became a pupil of Henry Junius at Delft
Delft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
in 1560, and then passed on in succession to Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Here he studied Greek under Jean Dorat, professor at the College Royal, and became acquainted with the chancellor L'Hopital, Adrianus Turnebus
Adrianus Turnebus
Adrianus Turnebus was a French classical scholar.-Life:Turnebus was born at Les Andelys in Normandy. At the age of twelve he was sent to Paris to study, and attracted great notice by his remarkable abilities...
, Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard was a French poet and "prince of poets" .-Early life:...
and other eminent men. On his return in 1565 he married Elizabeth van Zuylen.
Dousa was a member of the lower nobility. From his father he inherited the lordship of Noordwijk, from his uncle Werner the lordship of Kattendijke. He returned to his estates in 1566, the year of the iconoclastic fury, when the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
were on the threshold of a new period in their history: the Dutch Revolt
Dutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
. He was not, however, at first very eager to commit himself to the fortunes of William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, Prince of Orange, but having once chosen his side, he threw himself heart and soul into the struggle for freedom from the Spanish yoke. In his lordships Dousa adopted a moderate policy of religious tolerance: both Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
were allowed. As a member of the nobility he joined the ‘Verbond der Edelen,’ the confederation of noblemen against the religious policy of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
. In 1570 he became ‘hoogheemraad’ (inspector of the dikes) and a member of the States of Holland on behalf of the nobility. When in 1572 the Revolt formally began with the first independent meeting of the States-General, Dousa joined it. In the same year he participated in an embassy to queen Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
to ask for support against Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Fortunately for Leiden, he was residing in the town at the time of the famous siege. He held no post in the government, but in the hour of need he, though not trained to arms, took the command of a company of troops. His own resolution encouraged the regents and citizens to prolong the defense. On the foundation of the Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
by William the Silent, Dousa was appointed first curator, and he held this office for nearly thirty years. Through his friendships with foreign scholars, he drew to Leiden many illustrious teachers and professors. After the assassination of the Prince of Orange in 1584, Dousa undertook a private journey to England to try and persuade Queen Elizabeth to support the cause of the states, and in 1585 he went at the head of a formal embassy for the same purpose. She refused to accept the sovereignty of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, because she did not want to risk a war with Spain, but she was willing to send Robert Dudley
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
, earl of Leicester, with a small army, to lend support. About the same time Dousa was appointed keeper of the archive of Holland (registermeester van Holland), and the opportunities thus afforded him of historical research he turned to good account.
He died at Noordwijk and was interred at the Hague; but no monument was erected to his memory until 1792, when one of his descendants placed a tomb to his honour in the church of Noordwyck. There are good portraits of the Great Dousa, as he is often called, by Visscher
Visscher
-People:* Visscher families of Amsterdam:** Claes Janszoon Visscher , Dutch cartographer and publisher** Nicolaes Visscher I. , Dutch cartographer and publisher*** Nicolaes Visscher II...
and Houbraken
Houbraken
Houbraken may refer to:*Arnold Houbraken , Dutch biographer of artists, and engraver*Jacobus Houbraken , Dutch engraver, son of Arnold Houbraken...
.
Family
He had twelve children, but only nine of them, seven sons and two daughters, reached adult age. All his sons acquired a reputation for learning, especially Janus Dousa Filius ('the son'), but he died in 1596 at the age of 25, well before his father.Publications
In 1569 Dousa published his first collection of poems (epigrams, satires, elegies, etc.). A new collection appeared in 1575. This collection contains (among other poems) five Odae Lugdunenses on the siege of Leiden. In 1584 a volume of epodes was issued. In 1585 Dousa wrote the Odae Britannicae. 1586 saw the release of a new book of elegies.In 1599 and 1601 Dousa’s historiographical works appeared. In 1603 a poetic volume called Echo and a collection of three odes was released. Some more works were issued posthumously. Apart from these literary works Dousa published collections of text-critical remarks on and editions of classical authors: Sallust
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust , a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines...
, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
, Tibullus
Tibullus
Albius Tibullus was a Latin poet and writer of elegies.Little is known about his life. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to Tibullus are of questionable origins. There are only a few references to him in later writers and a short Life of doubtful authority...
, Petronius
Petronius
Gaius Petronius Arbiter was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian age.-Life:...
, Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, Propertius, Lucilius
Lucilius
Lucilius is the nomen of the gens Lucilia of ancient Rome.*Gaius Lucilius, satirist 2nd century BC. Lucilius was credited by Horace and others with originating the genre of satire.*Lucilius Junior, friend and correspondent of the younger Seneca....
.
Dousa’s historiographical labour is especially relevant. In 1585, when Dousa was 40 years old, he became the first Librarian at Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment...
with a special commission to write a history of Holland. At that moment however, he had been pursuing historical studies for several years. If one is to trust Heinsius
Daniel Heinsius
Daniel Heinsius was one of the most famous scholars of the Dutch Renaissance.-His youth and student years:...
’ eulogy, Dousa had been studying history since the moment he returned from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Letters from the years 1582 and 1583 prove that Dousa had at least been deepening his knowledge of the history of Holland since 1577. In the letter from 1582 one even comes across a specimen of his Annales written in hexameters. In 1584 Dousa edited the work of Adrianus Barlandus
Adrianus Barlandus
Adriaan van Baarland or Adrianus Barlandus was a Dutch historian of merit. He was born in the village of Baarland, from which he took his name. He studied at Ghent and Leuven, at which latter place he was elected professor of eloquence in 1526, after a stay of some years in England...
, a historiographer from Zeeland.
His first accomplishment after his commission in 1585 was the posthumous publication of the work of Hadrianus Junius
Hadrianus Junius
Hadrianus Junius , also known as Adriaen de Jonghe, was a Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, antiquarian, historiographer, emblematist, school rector, and Latin poet. He is not to be confused with several namesakes...
in 1588. However, his political activities prevented him from finishing his own history within a few years. In 1593 two Epistulae apologeticae were published in which Dousa apologized for the fact that the commissioned work had still not appeared. However, the States of Holland had to wait for their history still longer when Dousa’s eldest son died in 1597. Sorrow kept Dousa from finishing his work until 1599. In this year the metrical Annales were published. Finally, the commissioned prose history (Bataviae Hollandiaeque Annales) was published in 1601. Dousa was rewarded by the States of Holland with a golden chain, a medal, and exemption from the obligation to appear in the Supreme Court. In 1604 Dousa intended to edit the works of the historians Johannes de Beka and Willem Heda, but on October 8 of the same year he died of the plague before he was able to realize this plan.
- Jani Dousae filii Poemata. - Roterodami : apud Adrianum van Dijk, 1704. digital