Cornelius Grapheus (1482 – 19 December 1558), Latinized from Cornelis De Schrijver, was a secretary to the city of Antwerp and writer.

Cornelius Grapheus
Portrait of Cornelius Grapheus engraved by Philip Galle (1572)
Portrait of Cornelius Grapheus engraved by Philip Galle (1572)
BornCornelis De Schrijver
1482
Aalst, County of Flanders, Burgundian Netherlands
Died19 December 1558
Antwerp, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands
Occupationsecretary to the city of Antwerp
LanguageDutch
PeriodRenaissance
SpouseAdrienne Philips

Life

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Grapheus was born in Aalst, County of Flanders, in 1482. His brother was Joannes Grapheus, the printer who also settled in Antwerp.[1] As a young man Cornelius travelled in Italy. When Thomas More's Utopia was first printed in 1516, Grapheus provided some liminary verses.

 
Statue of Cornelius Grapheus, on the gebiedshuisje nearby the Belfry of Aalst.

By 1520 he was secretary to the city of Antwerp, writing a Latin panegyric to greet Charles V on his return to that city from Spain. In 1522 he was arrested on accusation of heresy, was taken to Brussels for questioning, and made a full recantation.[2] In 1523 he was set at liberty and returned to Antwerp, where he became a teacher. In 1540 he was reinstated as secretary to the city, and in 1549 he was again involved in the public welcome of a visiting prince, in this case Philip II of Spain. He died in Antwerp on 19 December 1558.

Works

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References

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  1. ^ Juhász-Ormsby, Ágnes (2003). "Nickolas Udall's "Floures for Latine Spekynge": An Erasmian Textbook" (PDF). Humanistica Lovaniensia. 52: 137–158. ISSN 0774-2908.
  2. ^ S.B.J. Zilverberg, "Grapheus, Cornelis", Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlands Protestantisme, vol. 4 (Kampen, 1998), 148-149.