Nicolaes Boddingius, Nicolaas Bodding van Laer or Bodding van Laer (2 August 1605 (baptised) – 1669) was a schoolmaster, writer and minister active in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Biography

He was born in

as the fifth child of Jacob Claesz Bodding and Magdalena Heyns. He came from a well to do family and his parents operated a private school in Haarlem started by Magdalena's father, the well-known writer and publisher Peeter Heyns. His older brothers were the Dutch painters

Roeland van Laer Roeland van Laer (1598 – after 1635), was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Biography Roeland van Laer was born in Haarlem. According to Houbraken who quoted the Haarlem writer Theodorus Schrevelius, Roeland and his brother Pieter tra ...

and Pieter van Laer.Nicolaes Bodding van Laer
in the RKD He became a calligrapher and teacher in Haarlem. For most of his life he lived in Haarlem, where after the death of his parents, sometime before 1628, he took over the school "inde Laurier Boom" which was founded by his grandfather Peeter Heyns around 1593. He also wrote several books about learning how to write, amongst them one called "Stightigh A.B.C.". In 1655 he was appointed as rector and principal of the Latin school in Helmond, Netherlands, which position he held until 1659. In that year, through a resolution by the "Raad van State", he was appointed as minister in Bakel, Netherlands. It is believed he studied theology in Leiden, Netherlands. He died in Bakel, Netherlands. Nicolaes Bodding van Laer-calligraphy in St Bavokerk Haarlem

Nicolaes Bodding van Laer-calligraphy in St Bavokerk Haarlem

In the Brouwerskapel of the "Grote Kerk", also named

St. Bavochurch The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Reformed Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square ( Grote Markt) in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Another Haarlem church called the Cathedral of Saint Bavo now serves ...

, in

, hangs a plaque with inscriptions of names of ministers who served the church since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The plaque was made and signed by Nicolaus Boddingius, "Anno 1652". The bottom of the plate contains two phrases, one in Greek and the other in Hebrew. The Greek text resembles Philippians 3:7, "but whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ", while the Hebrew text comes from Psalm 121:2, "My help comes from the Lord". The apparent essence of both phrases is to identify that the listing of names of ministers is not for the glory of them, but for their service to God.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boddingius, Nicolaes 1600s births 1660s deaths People from Haarlem Dutch Golden Age writers Dutch educators 17th-century Dutch educators Calligraphers from the Northern Netherlands