Ridder

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

 Jacob Westerbaen (7 September 1599 – 31 March 1670), heer (squire) of Brantwyck-en-Ghybelant, was a Dutch poet.

Life

Westerbaen was born in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, the son of a rope maker, and was initially schooled in the Staten-College, then as secretary and preacher of the Remonstrants

Remonstrants

The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement from Calvinism.-History:The five...

 of the 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...

. There he studied medicine, after which he established himself in 1623 as a physician in the Hague. Two years later he married Anna Weytsen, the widow of Reinier van Groenevelt

Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt

Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Groeneveld, was the son of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. In 1607 he visited Paris with his brother Willem van Oldenbarnevelt as part of their Grand tour, and they were received at the court of king Henry IV of France. He married Anna Weytsen, lady of Brandwijk and...

, despite opposition from her noble family.

He was a good friend of Constantijn Huygens

Constantijn Huygens

Constantijn Huygens , was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.-Biography:...

. Later he came into contact with Jacob Cats

Jacob Cats

Jacob Cats was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books.-Early years:...

, Blasius

Joan Leonardsz Blasius

Joan Leonardsz Blasius was a Dutch poet, playwright, translator and lawyer. Born near Cadzand in Oostvliet, a village now lost to the North Sea, he was the younger brother of the famous doctor Gerhard Blasius....

 (1639—1672) and Jan Vos

Jan Vos (poet)

Jan Jansz. Vos was a Dutch playwright and poet. A glassmaker by trade , he also played an important role as stage-manager and director of the theatre...

 (ca. 1610—1667), becoming good friends with all three. When Oldenbarnevelt

Oldenbarnevelt

* Johan van Oldenbarnevelt* Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, a ship* Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt...

 was executed for political reasons, Westerbaen retained possession of the victim's walking stick, inspiring the Republic's great poet, Vondel

Joost van den Vondel

Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...

, to his famous poem t Stockske ("The Little Walking-Stick").

Westerbaen wanted to apply for work elsewhere: Ockenburgh near Loosduinen, where he lived from 1652 until his death. He described it in a poem imitating the style of Huygens.

He fought fiercely against orthodox preachers, for instance in writings such as Krancken-Troost voor Israel in Holland ("Comfort for a Sick Israel in Holland") and wrote and translated plays, mostly comedies.

Ick doe hier 's avonds de Comedianten spelen,

En vreese Haeg, noch Hof, en oock de Preekstoel niet:

De Schou-burgh is hier vrij.

Works

• t Noodsaeckelycke Mal (de Liefde) (1624) [on love]
• Minnedichten (1624) [love poetry]
• Gedichten (1644) [poetry]
• Davids Psalmen in Nederduytsche rijmen gestelt (1655 and 1656) [the Psalms translated]
• Gedichten, verdeylt in vijf boecken (1657 and 1672) [five books of poetry]
• Seneca's Troas (1658) (adapted and translated)
• Erasmus' Lof der Zotheid (1659) (adaption and translation of The Praise of Follie)
• P. Terentius' De ses comedien (1663) (adapted and translated)
• Kracht des geloofs van den voortreffelijcken ende vermaerden Nederduytschen poeet Joost van Vondelen (1648) [a eulogy of Vondel]
• Laurier-krans
• Herstellinge van Karel II [on King Charles II]
• Zege-Zangh op de Verovering van Funen [triumphal ode]

He also worked on the Heroides

Heroides

The Heroides , or Epistulae Heroidum , are a collection of fifteen epistolary poems composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets, and presented as though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology, in address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated,...

of Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

 and the Basia of Janus Secundus.

Quote

ARBEID

De wetenschap steeckt in geen bed met pluymen.

Wie leeren wil, moet vroegh de veeren ruymen;

Wie eert ¹ noch eght, die heeft geen kans van graen;

Wie dorschen wil, moet eerst de ploegh doen gaen;

Wie niet en turft, kan zich daer nae niet warmen;

Wie winst wil doen, die reppe hand’en armen;

Wie prijs begeert, die stelle zich te loop:

Voor arbeyd heeft God alle dingh te koop.

1. eren = ploegen.

External links

• On DBNL