![Sigilla comitum flandraie - de Wree 1639](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Sigilla_comitum_flandraie_-_de_Wree_1639.jpg)
Olivier de Wree (1596–1652),
pen name Latinized as Olivarius Vredius, was a
new Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
poet and historian from the
Habsburg Netherlands
Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austr ...
.
Life
Born in
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population.
The area of the whole city a ...
on 28 September 1596, De Wree was educated at Jesuit schools there and at Douai. After trying his vocation in the Jesuit novitiate, he studied at the
University of Douai
The University of Douai (french: Université de Douai) ( nl, Universiteit van Dowaai) is a former university in Douai, France. With a medieval heritage of scholarly activities in Douai, the university was established in 1559 and lectures started ...
, graduating
Licentiate of Laws
Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Camb ...
.
[ Aug. Vander Meersch, "De Wrée, Olivier", '']Biographie Nationale de Belgique
The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (French; "National Biography of Belgium") is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ' ...
''
vol. 6
(Brussels, 1878), 22-24. He went on to become a member of the city council of Bruges, serving as alderman, treasurer and mayor. At the expiry of the
Twelve Years' Truce
The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like France began treating the Republic as a soverei ...
in 1621 he was instrumental in putting the city into a state of preparedness to prevent Dutch incursions into the
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries.
From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Yp ...
.
[
He induced the printer Jan Baptist van den Kerchove to relocate from Ghent to Bruges. Kerchove, whose father Jan had printed De Wree's early poems, was granted the freedom of the city and registered with the guild of booksellers in 1639.
De Wree died in Bruges on 21 March 1652.
]
Works
* ''Den oorspronck, ende voort-ganck der Carmeliten ofte onse L. Vrovwe-broeders, ende des H. Scapuliers'' (Ghent, Jan van den Kerchove, 1624).
* ''Venus-ban'' (Bruges, Nicolaes Breyghel
Nicolaes Breyghel (died 1669), Latinized Nicolaus Breyghelius, was a leading printer and bookseller in 17th-century Bruges in the Habsburg Netherlands. He was the first publisher of a weekly newspaper in the city.
Career
Breyghel, originally from ...
, 1625).
* ''De vermaerde oorlogh-stucken vanden wonderdadighen velt-heer Carel de Longueval'' (Bruges, Nicolaes Breyghel, 1625).
* ''Sigilla comitum Flandriae'' (Bruges, Jan Baptist van den Kerchove, 1639).
* ''Historiae Flandriae christianae'' (1640)
* ''Genealogia Comitum Flandriae'' (2 vols, Bruges, Jan Baptist van den Kerchove, 1642–1643).Vol. 1
an
vol. 2
on Google Books.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Wree, Olivier
1596 births
1652 deaths
Writers from Bruges
17th-century historians from the Holy Roman Empire
17th-century Latin-language writers
Poets of the Spanish Netherlands
17th-century male writers
Mayors of Bruges