Life

He was born at Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 and brought up a Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

. Early civic fame as a poet came to him in Amsterdam, when he was rewarded by his with a laurel crown and a silver dish for a poem in honour of the new town hall. A poem inscribed to Queen Christina of Sweden

Christina of Sweden

Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...

, a literary patron, entitled De Zweedsche Pallas ("The Swedish Pallas"), brought him a golden chain.

In 1651, he was received into the Catholic Church, together with forty-three others, as is shown by manuscript records of the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 (Lit. annuae Soc. Jes., in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, VI, No. 21818b fo 300, ao 1651). He proceeded to Rome, where he became secretary to Cardinal Luigi Capponi

Luigi Capponi

Luigi Capponi was an Italian Catholic Cardinal who became Archbishop of Ravenna.-Biography:Capponi was born in 1582, the son of Senator Francesco Capponi and Ludovica Macchiavelli. The Capponi family had extensive links to Italian political circles and to senior members of the Catholic Church...

, and received from Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...

 a gold medal for his poetical labours. In 1655 he was presented to Queen Christina, to whom he dedicated new poems. He died at Perugia

Perugia

Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....

.

Works

His collected works were published in 1713. They include a tragedy, "The Parisian Blood-Bridal" (De parysche bloed-bruiloff), dealing with the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. He wrote an epic on The Plague at Naples.