Johan van Heemskerk

Johan van Heemskerk (* 1597 in Amsterdam ; † February 27, 1656 ibid) was a Dutch Baroque writer , lawyer and politician .

Life

Johan van Heemskerk came from the Van Heemskerck family . He attended school in Bayonne until he moved to Leiden University in 1617 . In 1621 he went on a four-year grand tour and published his first volume of poetry, Minnekunst , which appeared in 1622. He acquired the title of Magister Artium in Bourges in 1623. The following year he visited Hugo Grotius in Paris.

On his return to Amsterdam in 1625 he published Minnepligt and began working as a lawyer in The Hague . In 1628 he was entrusted with legal tasks for the Dutch East India Company in England to settle the dispute over the island of Ambon . In the same year he published the volume of poetry Minnekunde .

He returned to Amsterdam in 1640, where he married Alida, a sister of the influential patrician and mayor Geurt van Beuningen . In 1641 he published a Dutch version of Pierre Corneilles Cid , a tragic comedy . His best-known work, the shepherd's novel Batavian Arcadia , appeared in 1647. However, he had already written it ten years earlier.

During the last twelve years of his life, Heemskerk sat in the Upper Chamber of the States General .

plant

Heemskerk's poetry fell into oblivion during the 18th century, but is now more widely received again. His famous Batavian Arcadia was an adaptation of Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1590). It enjoyed great popularity for over a hundred years and reached twelve editions. This is also evidenced by the many imitation writings, such as the Dordrechtsche Arcadia (1663) by Lambert van den Bos and the Rotterdamsche Arcadia (1703) by Willem den Elger .

literature

• Ernst Martin:  Heemskerk, Johan van . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 234.