Reyer Anslo

Dutch poet

Reyer Anslo

Born	1626 Amsterdam, County of Holland, Dutch Republic
Died	10 May 1669 Perugia, Italy
Citizenship	Netherlands
Occupation(s)	poet, dramaturgy

Reyer Anslo (1622 or 1626 – 16 May 1669) was a Dutch poet.

Life

Anslo was born at Amsterdam and brought up a Mennonite.His family originated from Christiania, now Oslo (Norway). His mother remarried in 1631. He was baptized in 1646. 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 foundation stone of the new town hall in 1648.^[1] In 1649 he travelled to Rome with Arnout Hellemans Hooft (1629-1680), the son of P.C. Hooft; they arrived in November 1651.^[2]

In December 1651 he was received into the Catholic Church, together with forty-three others, as is shown by manuscript records of the Society of Jesus.^[3] He proceeded to Rome, where he became secretary to Cardinal Luigi Capponi, and received from Pope Innocent X a gold medal for his poetical labours. In 1655 he was presented to Queen Christina of Sweden, to whom he dedicated new poems. A poem entitled De Zweedsche Pallas ("The Swedish Pallas"), brought him a golden chain. He died at Perugia.

Works

Anslo's collected works were published in 1713. They include a tragedy, "The Parisian Blood-Bridal" (De parysche bloed-bruiloff, 1649), dealing with the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. He wrote an epic on The Plague at Naples (1656).^[4]

Notes

^ "K. ter Laan, Letterkundig woordenboek voor Noord en Zuid · dbnl". DBNL. Retrieved Sep 4, 2020.
^ "Een naekt beeldt op een marmore matras seer schoon - Boeken - Verloren". Uitgeverij Verloren. Retrieved Sep 4, 2020.
^ (Lit. annuae Soc. Jes., in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, VI, No. 21818b fo 300, ao 1651)
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dutch Literature" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Reyer Anslo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
- Peter Paul Maria Alberdingk Thijm in Kirchenlexikon;
- ____, in the Dietsache Warande (Amsterdam);
- ____, Spiegel van Nederlandsche Letteren (Louvain, 1877, II, III).