Frontispiece for 'Theatrum Vitae Humanae' MET DP874047

Lawrence Beyerlinck (April 1578,

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,

– 22 June 1627, Antwerp) was a Belgian theologian and ecclesiastical writer and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

Life

The son of a pharmacist, he prepared at

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

for the same profession but, deciding to enter the priesthood, he was ordained June, 1602. While a theological student he taught poetry and rhetoric at the college of Vaulx and as pastor of

Herent Herent () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the villages and former municipalities of Herent proper, Veltem-Beisem and Winksele. On January 1, 2016, ...

was professor of philosophy at a nearby seminary of

canons regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

. In 1605 he came to the ecclesiastical seminary of Antwerp, taught philosophy and theology and later became superior. In 1608 he was canon, censor, and theologian of the church of Antwerp; in 1614 he was made

protonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

. Beyerlinck was a priest, a rhetorician, orator, and administrator, and engaged continually in preaching and writing.

Works

His works are mainly encyclopedic. He wrote, e.g. a second volume (Antwerp, 1611) of the ''Opus Chronographicum orbis universi a mundi exordio usque ad annum MDCXI'' (first volume to year 1572 by Opmeer), a collection of lives of popes, rulers, and illustrious men; and the ''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'' (Cologne, 1631, 7 vols; Lyon 1665-6, 8 vols; Venice, 1707, 8 vols), an encyclopedia of information on diverse subjects arranged in alphabetical order. Its scope ranges from theological dissertations to trivialities. It includes articles on beards, and on games. Much of its material was gathered by others, most notably

Theodor Zwinger Theodor Zwinger the Elder (2 August 1533 – 10 March 1588) was a Swiss physician and Renaissance humanist scholar. He made significant contributions to the emerging genres of reference and travel literature. He was the first distinguished repre ...

's ''Theatrum Humanae Vitae'', but Beyerlinck gave the work its final form. Other publications are listed in bibliographies.

References

External links

*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 1 (A-B), 1665
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 1 (A-B), 1707
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 2 (C-D), 1631
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 2 (C-D), 1656
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 3 (E-G), 1678
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 5 (M-O), 1665
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 6 (P-R), 1707
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 7 (S-Z), 170
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 8 (index), 1631
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 8 (index), 1665
on Google Books
*''Magnum Theatrum Vitae Humanae'', vol. 8 (index), 1707
on Google Books
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Beyerlinck, Lawrence 1578 births 1627 deaths Roman Catholic theologians of the Spanish Netherlands Flemish encyclopedists Writers from Antwerp Clergy from Antwerp Old University of Leuven alumni Clergy of the Spanish Netherlands