Background
He was born at the château of Donstienne, near Liège, of an illustrious family to which several crowned heads were allied.
He was born at the château of Donstienne, near Liège, of an illustrious family to which several crowned heads were allied.
He was educated at the court of the Netherlands with the future emperor Charles V of Germany, who remained to the last his staunch friend.
At the age of fourteen he received the Benedictine habit in Liessies Abbey in Hainaut, of which he became Abbot in 1530. Charles V pressed in vain upon him the archbishopric of Cambrai, but Blosius studiously exerted himself in the reform of his monastery and in the composition of devotional works. He died at his monastery on 7 January 1566.
(Hardcover reprint of the original 1900 edition; hardbound...)