Background
Dirck Coornhert was the youngest son of Volckert Coornhert, cloth merchant, was born at Amsterdam in 1522.
Dirck Coornhert was the youngest son of Volckert Coornhert, cloth merchant, was born at Amsterdam in 1522.
Dirck Coornhert settled in Haarlem, as engraver on copper, and produced works which retain high values. Learning Latin, he published Dutch translations from Cicero, Seneca and Boetius. He was appointed secretary to the city (1562) and secretary to the burgomasters J1564). Throwing himself into the struggle with Spanish rule, he drew up the manifesto of William of Orange (1566). Imprisoned at the Hague (1568), he escaped to Cleves, where he maintained himself by his art. Recalled in 1572, he was secretary of state for a short time; his aversion to military violence led him to return to Cleves, where William continued to employ his services and his pen. As a religious man, he wrote and strove in favour of tolerance, being decidedly against capital punishment for heretics. He had no party views; the Heidelberg catechism, authoritative in Holland, he criticized. The great Arminius, employed to refute him, was won over by his arguments. He died at Gouda on the 29th of October 1590. His Dutch version of the New Testament, following the Latin of Erasmus, was never completed. His works, in prose and verse, were published in 1630, 3 vols.
Dirck Coornhert had no party views.
