Education
At the age of 18 Despauterius went to the humanistic college De Lelie in Leuven where he studied for three years. In Leuven he became a Master of Arts: which meant he had studied and mastered Latin grammar, rhetorica, dialectica, musica, arithmica, geometrica and astronomica.
Career
His name was Latinized to Johannes Despauterius as was common in the Middle Ages. After his studies he started teaching. At the end of the 17th century, James Kirkwood was asked what he thought of the Latin grammar of Despauter.
He replied that if some defects were remedied, it could be made excellent.
He was commissioned to make a revision, which appeared as Grammatica Despauteriana in 1695, followed by several later editions. Thomas Ruddiman"s grammar of 1714 is considered to have superseded lieutenant