Antonius Thysius
Encyclopedia
Antonius Thysius was a Dutch Reformed theologian, professor at the University of Harderwijk
and University of Leiden.
. In 1581 he followed his teacher to Leiden, where he studied theology under Lambertus Danaeus; Danaeus left for Ghent
after a year, and Thysius spent some years travelling, to Frankenthal
, Geneva
where he was taught by Theodore Beza
, then other Swiss cities, and Strasbourg
. He was for four years in Heidelberg
, and in 1589 went on to England, where he heard in Oxford and Cambridge William Whitaker
and John Rainolds
. On 12 August 1590 he returned to Leiden and briefly lectured in Haarlem
. There his father's death called him to Frankfurt
.
Then for a time Thysius travelled through northern Germany visiting scholars: Danzig, Rostock
, Stade
, Emden
and to Groningen. In 1594 coming to Amsterdam
, he worked as assistant preacher, but then again set off, this time to France. After several years away, particularly in Montpellier
and Toulouse
, he returned in 1600 to Leiden. There he renewed earlier friendships with Franciscus Gomarus
, Lucas Trelcatius, Franciscus Junius the Elder, Scaliger and Franciscus Raphelengius
.
With a recommendation from Gomarus, Thysius in 1601 was recruited for the theological faculty at the University of Harderwijk
, where he remained for 18 years as a moderate Calvinist teacher; though opposed to Jacobus Arminius
, he did not follow the hardline Gomarists. At the 1618 Synod of Dort
he was among the theological delegates, and appointed an examiner of the Bible translation and of Old Testament. Shortly after the Synod he received from the Curators of Leiden University a call as a professor for theology and began this post on 10 December 1619 with his Oratio de theologia ejusque studios capessendo.
He died on 7 November 1640.
. This publication was directed against Remonstrant claims that they had backing from the Church of England
's doctrinal formularies; it included works by Baro, Matthew Hutton, Laurence Chaderton
, Robert Some
, Andrew Willet
, George Estye
, William Whitaker
, and Johann Piscator. Johannes Arnoldi Corvinus
then disputed the interpretation, and pointed out that James I
had refused to put the resulting Lambeth Articles
on the same footing as the Thirty-Nine Articles
. Other works by Thysius from this tense period were Duyt as Wael Gereformeerden Kercken in een ligchaem vervat (1615) and Responsio in Remonstrantium remonstrantiam (1617).
With Johannes Polyander
, André Rivet
and Antonius Walaeus
, he published in 1625 a Synopsis purioris theologiae, long in use in the university. He wrote also De natura Dei et divinis attributis (1625).
.
Constantine L'Empereur married Catherine Thys, niece of Thysius; and his brother married one Thysius's daughters.
University of Harderwijk
The University of Harderwijk , also named the Guelders Academy , was located in the town of Harderwijk, in the Republic of the United Provinces...
and University of Leiden.
Life
He was born on 9 August 1565 in Antwerp, and received a classical education under Bonaventura VulcaniusBonaventura Vulcanius
Bonaventura Vulcanius was a leading personality in Dutch humanism of the 16th and 17th century....
. In 1581 he followed his teacher to Leiden, where he studied theology under Lambertus Danaeus; Danaeus left for Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
after a year, and Thysius spent some years travelling, to Frankenthal
Frankenthal
Frankenthal is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.- History :Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the Erkenbertruine — still stand today in the town...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
where he was taught by Theodore Beza
Theodore Beza
Theodore Beza was a French Protestant Christian theologian and scholar who played an important role in the Reformation...
, then other Swiss cities, and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
. He was for four years in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, and in 1589 went on to England, where he heard in Oxford and Cambridge William Whitaker
William Whitaker (theologian)
William Whitaker was a prominent Anglican theologian. He was Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, and a leading divine in the university in the latter half of the sixteenth century.-Early life and education:...
and John Rainolds
John Rainolds
John Rainolds , English divine, was born about Michaelmas 1549 at Pinhoe, near Exeter.He was educated at Merton and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, becoming a fellow of the latter in 1568. In 1572-73 he was appointed reader in Greek, and his lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric laid the sure basis of...
. On 12 August 1590 he returned to Leiden and briefly lectured in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
. There his father's death called him to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
.
Then for a time Thysius travelled through northern Germany visiting scholars: Danzig, Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
, Stade
Stade
Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . It is the seat of the district named after it...
, Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
and to Groningen. In 1594 coming to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, he worked as assistant preacher, but then again set off, this time to France. After several years away, particularly in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
and Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, he returned in 1600 to Leiden. There he renewed earlier friendships with Franciscus Gomarus
Franciscus Gomarus
Franciscus Gomarus , was a Dutch theologian, a strict Calvinist and opponent of the teaching of Jacobus Arminius , which was formally judged at the Synod of Dort .-Life:His parents, having embraced the principles of the Reformation, emigrated to the Palatinate in 1578, in order...
, Lucas Trelcatius, Franciscus Junius the Elder, Scaliger and Franciscus Raphelengius
Franciscus Raphelengius
Frans van Ravelingen, latinized to Franciscus Raphelengius, , was a Flemish-born Dutch scholar, printer and bookseller, based in Leiden. He held the chair in Hebrew at Leiden from 1587, and also had knowledge of Arabic and Persian. He wrote an Arabic-Latin lexicon, which was published posthumously...
.
With a recommendation from Gomarus, Thysius in 1601 was recruited for the theological faculty at the University of Harderwijk
University of Harderwijk
The University of Harderwijk , also named the Guelders Academy , was located in the town of Harderwijk, in the Republic of the United Provinces...
, where he remained for 18 years as a moderate Calvinist teacher; though opposed to Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius , the Latinized name of the Dutch theologian Jakob Hermanszoon from the Protestant Reformation period, served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden...
, he did not follow the hardline Gomarists. At the 1618 Synod of Dort
Synod of Dort
The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618-1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy initiated by the rise of Arminianism. The first meeting was on November 13, 1618, and the final meeting, the 154th, was on May 9, 1619...
he was among the theological delegates, and appointed an examiner of the Bible translation and of Old Testament. Shortly after the Synod he received from the Curators of Leiden University a call as a professor for theology and began this post on 10 December 1619 with his Oratio de theologia ejusque studios capessendo.
He died on 7 November 1640.
Works
In 1613 Thysius edited Scripta Anglicana, a collection of documents from the Cambridge disputes of the 1590s, around Peter BaroPeter Baro
Peter Baro was a French Huguenot minister, ordained by John Calvin, but later in England a critic of some Calvinist theological positions. His views in relation to the Lambeth Articles cost him his position as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge...
. This publication was directed against Remonstrant claims that they had backing from the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
's doctrinal formularies; it included works by Baro, Matthew Hutton, Laurence Chaderton
Laurence Chaderton
Laurence Chaderton was an English Puritan divine, and one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible.-Life:...
, Robert Some
Robert Some
Robert Some was an English churchman and academic. Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge from 1589, Some played a prominent part in the ecclesiastical controversies of his time, taking a middle course, hostile alike to extreme Puritans and Anglicans.-Life:He was born at Lynn Regis in 1542...
, Andrew Willet
Andrew Willet
Andrew Willet was an English clergyman and controversialist. A prolific writer, he is known for his anti-papal works. His views were Calvinist, conforming and non-separatist, and he appeared as a witness against Edward Dering before the Star-chamber...
, George Estye
George Estye
-Life:Estye was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, proceeding B.A. in 1580–1. He was afterwards elected a fellow of his college, graduated M.A. in 1584, and proceeded B.D. in 1591. In 1598 he was chosen preacher of St. Mary's, Bury St Edmunds....
, William Whitaker
William Whitaker (theologian)
William Whitaker was a prominent Anglican theologian. He was Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, and a leading divine in the university in the latter half of the sixteenth century.-Early life and education:...
, and Johann Piscator. Johannes Arnoldi Corvinus
Johannes Arnoldi Corvinus
Johannes Arnoldi Corvinus was a Dutch Remonstrant minister and jurist.-Life:He was born in Leiden, and in 1606 was a Calvinist preacher there. A pupil of Jacobus Arminius, he took up the Arminian views, he was a public supporter of them by 1609, and in 1610 signed the Five Articles of Remonstrance...
then disputed the interpretation, and pointed out that James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
had refused to put the resulting Lambeth Articles
Lambeth Articles
The Lambeth Articles were a series of nine doctrinal statements drawn up by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift in 1595, in order to define Calvinist doctrine with regard to predestination and justification....
on the same footing as the Thirty-Nine Articles
Thirty-Nine Articles
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...
. Other works by Thysius from this tense period were Duyt as Wael Gereformeerden Kercken in een ligchaem vervat (1615) and Responsio in Remonstrantium remonstrantiam (1617).
With Johannes Polyander
Johannes Polyander
Johannes Polyander van den Kerckhoven was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, a Contra-Remonstrant but considered of moderate views.-Life:...
, André Rivet
André Rivet
André Rivet was a French Huguenot theologian.-Life:He was born at Saint-Maixent, 43 km southwest of Poitiers, France. After completing his education at Berne, he studied theology privately at Berne and La Rochelle, and from 1595 to 1620 was at Thouars, first as chaplain of the duke of La...
and Antonius Walaeus
Antonius Walaeus
Antonius Walaeus was a Dutch Calvinist minister, theologian, and academic.-Early life:...
, he published in 1625 a Synopsis purioris theologiae, long in use in the university. He wrote also De natura Dei et divinis attributis (1625).
Family
In Harderwijk in 1602 Thysius married Johanna de Raadt. Their son Antonius Thysius the Younger (1613?-1665) was from 1637 professor of poetry at the university, and later state historiographer in place of Daniel HeinsiusDaniel Heinsius
Daniel Heinsius was one of the most famous scholars of the Dutch Renaissance.-His youth and student years:...
.
Constantine L'Empereur married Catherine Thys, niece of Thysius; and his brother married one Thysius's daughters.