Theodorus Van Kooten

Dr. Theodorus van Kooten (Leeuwarden, 22 October 1749 – Bennebroek, 1 February 1813) was a Dutch poet, professor and politician. Van Kooten was the son of the sexton at

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

, and amazed all visitors to his father's house by translating randomly selected pieces from the Greek bible into Dutch. Van Kooten became Kampen's rector in 1772. From 1784, he was professor of Latin language and history at the College of

Franeker Franeker (; fry, Frjentsjer) is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about 20 km west of Leeuwarden. As of 1 January 2014, it had 12, ...

. He had to take forced redundancy from there in 1787 due to his

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

sympathies. He remained he in exile in

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...

until 1795, where he wrote Latin poems. Van Kooten was - together with

Wybo Fijnje Wybo Fijnje (24 January 1750 in Zwolle – 2 October 1809 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch Mennonite minister, publisher in Delft, Patriot, exile, coup perpetrator, politician and - during the Batavian Republic and Kingdom of Holland - manager of the pr ...

and Samuel Iperusz Wiselius - a member of the committee for the deconstruction of the VOC (

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 ...

). On the recommendation of Johannes Henricus Nieuwold, in 1798 Van Kooten became the first minister of education ("Agent for National Education"). A year later he was replaced by Johannes van der Palm. He traveled to Madrid as secretary to

Johan Valckenaer Johan Valckenaer (Franeker, 21 January 1759 - Bennebroek, 1821) was a Dutch professor who specialized in Roman law. He was a passionate and combative patriot who promoted the right to bear weapons. In 1787 he went in exile in France and in 1793 h ...

, who had become the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

's extraordinary ambassador to Spain. In 1801 they returned, but van Kooten remained Valckenaer's housemate in

Bennebroek Bennebroek () is a village and former municipality in the northwest Netherlands, now part of Bloemendaal, North Holland. Before its merger, it was the smallest municipality in the Netherlands, covering an area of only 1.75 km². History Be ...

, while his wife and children lived in Kampen. "Dorus Droefheid" died aged 63. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kooten, Theodorus Van 1749 births 1813 deaths People from Leeuwarden Dutch male poets Dutch East India Company people Dutch politicians Members of the Dutch Patriots faction Dutch academics