Georgius Macropedius

Georgius Macropedius was born in 1487 in Gemert (Brabant, the Netherlands) as Joris van Lanckvelt. He was one of the most famous Dutch 16th century humanists and he died in 1558 the town of 's-Hertogenbosch.

In 1502 Joris van Lanckvelt became a member of the Brothers of the Common Life in the community of 's-Hertogenbosch. Some years after, the was teaching at the municipal grammar school. He started writing Latin textbooks and plays, and he became a priest. About 1524 he was sent to Liège in the southern part of the Netherlands (now Belgium), to become headmaster of St. Jerome's. He then probably translated his Dutch name Joris van Lanckvelt into the Greek Georgius Macropedius.

In 1530 he was sent to Utrecht, at the time the largest city in the northern part of the Netherlands. Here he was appointed headmaster at St. Jerome's, the most famous school in the country. He taught Latin, Greek, mathematics, rhetoric, music and possibly Hebrew too. He published twelve plays: comedies and dramas. In 1539 his masterpiece Hecastus, a Latin version of the well-known Dutch morality play Elckerlijk (Everyman) was published. The play was performed and translated numerous times in the Netherlands, in Germany and in Scandinavia.

Macropedius wrote about ten textbooks. Epistolica (Antwerp 1543), on rhetoric and the art of writing letters, was his most successful textbook. It was used at many schools not only in the Netherlands, but in Germany and in England as well. He built organs and composed both the text and music of lengthy schoolsongs which were performed by his Utrecht schoolboys.

In 1557 or shortly after, Macropedius returned to 's-Hertogenbosch to live in the house of the fraternity. Here he died during a period of the plague in July 1558. After his death, grateful former students erected a monumental tomb in the church, with an epitaph and a painted portrait of their master, which was hung over it. All of this has disappeared. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Macropedius and his works sank into oblivion.

By the end of the 19th century, Macropedius and his works were rediscovered in Belgium and in Germany. The 20th century saw numerous books and articles about the humanist. In 1972 the American Thomas W. Best published his book on Macropedius in the New York Twayne World Authors Series. In 1996 the English translations of two plays were presented on the Internet.

For a portrait see:[1] For a website see: [2]