Aernout van Overbeke (15 December 1632 – 19 July 1674) was a Dutch writer and humorist. His works include burlesque letters detailing his travels and a collection of jokes. His ''Rym-wercken'' was very popular and was reprinted nine times after his death.

Life

He was born in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, where his

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

-born parents had settled after marrying in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and spending a period in Amsterdam. His family was quite wealthy, with a townhouse on the Rapenburg and a country residence in Alphen aan den Rijn and receiving illustrious guests such as

Vossius Vossius may refer to: * Gerardus Vossius (1577–1649), a Dutch humanist * Dionysius Vossius (1612–1633), a Dutch translator, son of Gerardus Vossius * Isaac Vossius (1618–1689), a Dutch scholar, son of Gerardus Vossius * Vossius Gymnasium ...

and

Barlaeus Caspar Barlaeus (February 12, 1584 – January 14, 1648) was a Dutch polymath and Renaissance humanist, a theologian, poet, and historian. Life Born Caspar (Kaspar) van Baerle in Antwerp, Barlaeus' parents fled the city when it was occupied by Spa ...

. However, Aernout's father later got into financial difficulties, which seem to have affected his health - he died in 1638. Van Overbeke entered

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

aged eleven and completed his legal studies there on 10 March 1655 with a disputation or thesis entitled ''De transactionibus''. On 23 January 1659 he became a lawyer for the Court of Holland. He incurred many debts around this time, for example by writing a translation of the psalms into poetry for the Lutheran church at his own expense and then distributing it for free. It was probably his financial problems that led him to apply to work for the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

, becoming a fiscal lawyer for it and later becoming president of the Council of Justice for

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

. Van Overbeke returned to the Netherlands in 1672 and little is known of his life and work after that date. He died in Amsterdam on 19 July 1674 and was buried in his family vault at Leiden a week later.

Works

*''De psalmen Davids in Nederduytsche rymen gestelt''. Amsterdam : Borrit Jansz. Smit, 1663. *''Geestige en Vermaeckelicke Reys-beschryvinge Van den Heer Aernout van Overbeke Naer Oost-Indiën gevaren, ten dienste van de E.E. Heeren Bewinthebberen van de Oost-Indische Compagnie, Voor Raet van Justitie, in den Jare 1668. Vervattende verscheyde kluchtige voorvallen, en koddige gedachten op de selve, geduerende sijn Reyse van Amsterdam tot Batavia.'' Amsterdam: Jan Joosten, 1671. *''De rym-wercken''. Amsterdam, Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn, 1678. *''Anecdota sive historiae jocosae''.A handwritten collection of jokes and anecdotes, first published in 1991.

References

External links

*
His life, works and texts
on the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (dbnl) *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Overbeke, Aernout van 17th-century Dutch poets 17th-century Dutch writers 17th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights Leiden University alumni Dutch East India Company people 17th-century Dutch East Indies people Dutch people of Belgian descent People from Leiden 17th-century Dutch judges 1632 births 1674 deaths Dutch travel writers Dutch letter writers Dutch humorists