Joost van den Vondel
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"De wereld is een schouwtoneel. Elk speelt zijn rol en krijgt zijn deel" --Joost van den Vondel |
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Joost van den Vondel (17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch writer and playwright, known for such plays as Lucifer.
Biography
Joost van den Vondel was born on 17 November 1587 in the Große Witschgasse in Cologne, Holy Roman Empire. His parents were Mennonites from Antwerpian descent. In 1595, probably because of their religious conviction, they fled to Utrecht and from this town they went to tolerant Amsterdam in the newly formed Dutch Republic.
At the age of 23 Vondel married Mayken de Wolff. Together they had four children, of which two died at a very young age. After the death of his father in 1608, Vondel managed the silk shop the Vondels had in Amsterdam. In the meantime, he began to learn Latin and became acquainted with famous poets such as Roemer Visscher.
Around the year 1641 he was converted to Catholicism. This was a great shock to most of his fellow countrymen, because the main conviction and de facto state religion in the Republic was Calvinist Protestantism. It is still unclear why he became a Catholic, although his love for a Catholic lady may have played a role in this (Mayken de Wolff had died in 1635).
During his life he became one of the main advocates for religious tolerance. After the arrest, trial and the immediate beheading of the most important civilian leader of the States of Holland Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1619) at the command of his, by then, enemy Prince Maurits of Nassau, and the Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619), the Calvinists had become the decisive religious power in the Republic. Public worship of Catholicism, Anabaptism and Arminianism was from then on officially forbidden; although worship in hidden houses of prayer was not persecuted. Vondel wrote many satires criticising the Calvinists and extolling Oldenbarnevelt. This, together with his new faith, made him an unpopular figure in Calvinist circles. He died a bitter man - though he was honoured by many fellow poets - on February 5, 1679.
As a legacy, Amsterdam's biggest park, the Vondelpark, bears his name, as well as his statue in the northern part of the park. The Dutch five guilder banknote bore Vondel's portrait from 1950 until its discontinuation in 1990.
See also
- [[Ovidius' Herscheppinge [[
