Marcus van Vaernewijck (1518–1569) was a historian in 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 ...

. Two of his works, ''Van die beroerlicke tijden in die Nederlanden en voornamelick in Ghendt 1566-1568'' and ''De historie van Belgis'', are listed in the Canon of Dutch Literature compiled by the

Digital Library for Dutch Literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

Life

Van Vaernewijck was born in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

on 21 December 1518, to Marcus van Vaernewijck and Catharina van Steenhaut. A.J. van der Aa, '' Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden'', vol. 19 (Haarlem, 1876), 2-5. After travels to Italy (1550) and throughout the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

(1556), he returned to Ghent and settled down. In 1558 he married Levina Hallijns, in 1563 he served as commissioner of the poor of the city, and in 1564 and 1568 as alderman. He was also an active member of the

chamber of rhetoric Chambers of rhetoric ( nl, rederijkerskamers) were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members were called Rederijkers (singular Rederijker), from the French word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly inte ...

Maria t'eeren. He died in Ghent on 20 February 1569.

Writings

*''Vlaemsche audvremdigheyt, inhoudende veel wonderlicke antiquiteiten'' (Ghent, Geraert van Salensen, 1560) *''Nieu tractaet en corte beschrijvinghe van dat edel Graefschap van Vlaenderen'' (Ghent, Geraert van Salensen, 1562) *''De cronijcke van Vlaenderen in 't corte'' (Ghent, Geraert van Salensen, 1563) *''Den spiegel der Nederlandtsche oudheyt'' (Ghent, Geraert van Salensen, 1568) *''De Historie van Belgis'' (Ghent, Widow of Geraert van Salensen, 1574) His unpublished chronicle, ''Van die beroerlicke tijden in die Nederlanden'' was edited by Ferdinand Vanderhaeghen for publication by the Maetschappy der Vlaemsche Bibliophilen in five volumes (1872–1881). Alphonse Roersch, "Haeghen (Ferdinand François Ernest van der)", ''

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. 29
(Brussels, 1956), 635-641.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaernewijck, Marcus van 1518 births 1569 deaths Writers from Ghent 16th-century antiquarians Middle Dutch writers Writers of the Habsburg Netherlands