Catherine Thysmans alias Tishem (died 1595) was an erudite woman from

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,

who educated her son, the celebrated scholar

Jan Gruter Jan Gruter or Gruytère, Latinization of names, Latinized as Janus Gruterus (3 December 1560 – 20 September 1627), was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish-born philologist, scholar, and librarian. Life Jan Gruter was born in Antwerp. His fat ...

, while in exile in England. She was the one woman in England under the bourgeoisie to be known as a classical scholar. The principal source for Catherine Tishem's life is a worshipful tribute to her son, Jan Gruter, written by one of his pupils, Balthasar Venator.Foster, Leonard. ''Janus Gruter's English years: Studies in the continuity of Dutch literature in exile in Elizabethan England''. Oxford University Press, 1967. According to Venator, Tishem was a remarkably erudite woman, fluent in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and able to read

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...

's original text. In 1558 in

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,

, Tishem married a widowed and wealthy merchant and juror, Wouter Gruter (also "Walterus", "de Gruytere", etc.), originally from

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

. They had four children, Jan being born in December 1560. Her husband co-signed the

Compromise of Nobles The Compromise of Nobles ( nl, Eedverbond der Edelen; french: Compromis des Nobles) was a covenant of members of the nobility in the Habsburg Netherlands who came together to submit a petition to the Regent Margaret of Parma on 5 April 1566, wi ...

in 1566, and to flee prosecution in the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the Ha ...

, they moved to the Dutch Calvinist exile community of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. Some biographies of Jan Gruter claim that Tishem was originally from Norwich herself,Fuchs, Peter
Gruter, Jan
in ''

Neue Deutsche Biographie ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (''NDB''; literally ''New German Biography'') is a biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 26 volumes published thus far cover ...

'' 7 (1966), pages. 238-240 nline-Version/ref>Jan Gruter
at Early Modern Letters Online though Thijsmans/Thysmans was a regular Flemish

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

. When their son enrolled at the new

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 ...

in Holland in 1578/1579, Catherine and Wouter returned to Antwerp, but the Siege of Antwerp in 1584 made them flee again, this time to

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

and then

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. Wouter Gruter died in Gdańsk in 1588, and, according to Peter Fuchs, Catherine died in 1595.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tishem, Catherine 1595 deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain 16th-century Dutch women 16th-century Dutch people Emigrants from the Spanish Netherlands Flemish classical scholars People from Antwerp Women classical scholars People of the Protestant Reformation