Coornheert, Dirck Volckertszoon (1522-1590)

Dutch humanist, scholar, and engraver. From 1566 he was a keen supporter of William the Silent in the political struggle against Spain, and had to withdraw into exile in 1568, acting as the prince's political agent in Cleves, in France. A Catholic, he argued in favour of religious toleration, and his views on free will strongly influenced the development of Arminianism. His own writings, as well as his translations of Boccaccio, Homer, and Latin authors, played an important role in the development of Dutch literature.

He drew up the manifesto of William the Silent, and in 1568 he was imprisoned in The Hague by the Spanish. He escaped to Cleves, where he was taught engraving by Goltzius. He returned from exile in 1572 and from 1577 he was a notary at Haarlem; he later moved to Delft and finally, in 1588, to Gouda.

On his return to the Netherlands he became embroiled in a serious theological controversy with orthodox Calvinists, largely because of his views on free will. His writings influenced the young Arminius (appointed to refute Coornheert but in large measure persuaded by him), and he is consequently seen as one of the forebears of Arminianism. His humanist-inspired defence of religious toleration found little favour with either Catholics or Calvinists.

In his writings - he wrote poetry, plays, and treatises, many of them polemics against the Calvinists - he strove to improve the literary quality of Dutch. Zedekunst (1586) is modelled on the ethical treatises of the ancient Stoics. He also began, but left incomplete, a Dutch version of the New Testament (from the Latin of Erasmus).

Coornheert was also an engraver and book illustrator, illustrating Das Buch Extasis (1576) by Noot. He translated works by Cicero, Boethius, and Seneca, Homer's Odyssey, various tales from Boccaccio's Decameron, and Boethius.