Franciscus Plante was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 poet and chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

.

Plante studied theology at Oxford. In October 1636 he traveled as personal chaplain with John Maurice of Nassau

John Maurice of Nassau

John Maurice of Nassau was count and prince of Nassau-Siegen.He was born in Dillenburg...

 to the Dutch colony in Brazil

Dutch colonization of the Americas

Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...

, returning together in 1644. In 1647 became a minister in Strijen

Strijen

Strijen is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality, covering an area of 57.72 km² , is located on the Hoeksche Waard island along the Hollands Diep estuary.Strijen hosts a public library, swimming pool, a small shopping centre and...

, in 1653 in Zevenbergen

Zevenbergen

Zevenbergen is a Dutch city which is a part of the municipality of Moerdijk. Zevenbergen is located in the northwest of the province of Noord-Brabant near Breda.-History:...

 and in 1657 in Breda, where he remained until his death.

In 1647, he finished a twelve-volume Latin epos called Mauritias (in Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Mauritiados), which in the first six volumes describes the activities of the Dutch West Indies Company from 1624 to 1634 and in the last 6 volumes praises John Maurice's leadership from 1634 to 1641. It was published in 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...

, and included twenty engravings that had already appeared in a work by Caspar Barlaeus

Caspar Barlaeus

Caspar Barlaeus was a Dutch polymath and Renaissance humanist, a theologian, poet, and historian.-Life:...

, which had been published in the same year. Four maps (Ceará

Ceará

Ceará is one of the 27 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is currently the 8th largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the main touristic destinations in Brazil. The state capital is the city of...

, Pernambuco

Pernambuco

Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...

, Paraíba

Paraíba

Paraíba Paraíba Paraíba (Tupi: pa'ra a'íba: "bad to navigation"; Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east...

, and Pernambuco Borealá) and a portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 of John Maurice were also incorporated from Barlaeus’ work. Plante later wrote Barlaeus' obituary

Obituary

An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 in 1648.

Sources

Obituary of Barlaeus, by Plante Historia naturalis Brasiliae

• W.A.P. Smit, Het Latijnse epos van Franciscus Plante, pp 238 - 241 of Kalliope in de Nederlanden. Het Renaissancistisch-klassicistische epos van 1550 tot 1850. Van Gorcum & Comp., Assen
  Assen
  Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...
  
  1975-1983. (Dutch)