Coster, Samuel (1579–1665)

Dutch dramatist and surgeon. One of the leading Dutch writers of his day, he is remembered for his violent tragedies modelled on those of Seneca, and for farces that develop the traditional Dutch forms. He is also remembered as the founder of an important humanist academy, the Duytsche Academie, in his native Amsterdam.

Among his best-known tragedies is Iphigenia (1617). Its implicit satire against the Calvinists brought his academy into disfavour with the Amsterdam authorities. His other tragedies, which include Ithys (1615) and Polyxena (1619), are bloodcurdling horrors inspired by Seneca's tragedies. Coster's farces, including Teeuwis de Boer (first performed in 1612), are written in the old rederijker style (chambers of rhetoric) and show little awareness of Renaissance trends.