Jacob Cats
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist,
jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...
and politician. He is most famous for his
emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...
s.


Early years

Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven. Having lost his mother at an early age, he and his three brothers were adopted by his aunt Anna Breyde, sister of his mother and his uncle Doen Leenaerts. Cats was sent to school in
Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
. He then studied law in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
and Paris, and, returning to Holland, he settled in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, where he began to practice as a lawyer. His pleading in defense of a person accused of
witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
brought him many clients and some reputation. He had a serious engagement about this time, which was broken off on the very eve of marriage by his catching a tertian fever (a form of
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
) which defied all attempts at cure for some two years. For medical advice and change of air Cats went to England, where he consulted the highest authorities in vain. He returned to Zeeland to die, but was cured mysteriously with the powder of a travelling doctor (later sources claim he was a quack). He married on 26 April 1605 a lady of some wealth, Elisabeth van Valckenburg, and thenceforward lived at Grijpskerke in Zeeland, where he devoted himself to farming and poetry.


Diplomatic career

In 1621, on the expiration of the twelve-year truce with Spain, the breaking of the dykes drove him from his farm. He was made pensionary (stipendiary magistrate) of Middelburg; and two years afterwards of
Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...
. In 1627 Cats came to England on a mission to Charles I, who made him a
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
. In 1636 he was made Grand Pensionary of Holland, and in 1648 keeper of the
great seal A great seal is a seal used by a head of state, or someone authorised to do so on their behalf, to confirm formal documents, such as laws, treaties, appointments and letters of dispatch. It was and is used as a guarantee of the authenticity of ...
; in 1651 he resigned his offices. Cats held this office for 15 years, but without putting his stamp on it. Cats turned out to be a rather colorless statesman. During his tenure, Andries Bicker and his cousin
Cornelis de Graeff Cornelis de Graeff (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664), often named ''Polsbroek'' or ''de heer van (lord) Polsbroek'' during his lifetime, was an influential regenten, regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, statesman and diplomat of Holland an ...
of Amsterdam took over the leadership of the republican-leaning Dutch
regents In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
. In 1657 he was sent a second time to England on what proved to be an unsuccessful mission to
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
.


Poetry

Cats retired to the seclusion of his palatial villa " Sorghvliet" ("Fly From Worry"), which was surrounded by a vast and sumptuous formal garden; the garden (now a park) became internationally famous and featured in 17th-century collections of engravings of famous European gardens. (Located near the Hague, and now known as "Catshuis", the house has survived and is now the official residence of the Dutch Prime Minister). Here he lived from this time until his death, occupied in the composition of his autobiography (''Eighty-two Years of My Life'', first printed at Leiden in 1734) and of his poems. He became famous in his own lifetime from his moralistic
Emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...
s, most notably ''Sinne en Minnebeelden'', for which Adrian van der Venne cut the plates. He died on 12 September 1660, and was buried by torchlight, and with great ceremony, in the Kloosterkerk at the Hague. He is still spoken of as "Father Cats" by his countrymen. Cats was contemporary with Hooft and Vondel and other distinguished Dutch writers in the golden age of Dutch literature, but his Orangist and
Calvinistic Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...
opinions separated him from the liberal school of Amsterdam poets. He was, however, intimate with
Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...
, whose political opinions were more nearly in agreement with his own. Although hardly known outside of Holland, among his own people for nearly two centuries he enjoyed an enormous popularity – the complete collection of his poems is said to have sold around 50,000 copies, and was reputedly the only book, other than the Bible, to be found in many Dutch homes. His diffuseness and the antiquated character of his matter and diction, have, however, come to be regarded as difficulties in the way of study, and he is more renowned than read. A statue to him was erected at Brouwershaven in 1829.


Works

See Jacob Cats, ''Alle de wercken, so ouden als nieuwe'' (complete works, old and new), published by Jan Jacobsz. Schipper, Amsterdam 1655, or: Jacob Cats, ''Complete works'' (1790–1800, 19 vols.), later editions by van Vloten (Zwolle, 1858–1866; and at Schiedam, 1869–1870): Pigott, Moral Emblems, with Aphorisms, etc., from Jacob Cats (1860); and P. C. Witsen Geijsbeek, ''Het Leven en de Verdiensten van Jacob Cats'' (1829). Southey has a very complimentary reference to Cats in his Epistle to Allan Cunningham. * ''Emblemata or Minnebeelden with Maegdenplicht'' (1618) * ''Selfstryt'' (1620) * ''Houwelick'' (1625)
''Proteus Ofte Minne-Beelden Verandert In Sinne-Beelden.'' (1627)
* ''Spiegel van den ouden en nieuwen Tyt'' (1632) * ''Ouderdom, Buytenleven en Hofgedachten op Sorgvliet'' (1664) * ''Gedachten op slapelooze nachten'' (1661) His work ''Houwelick'' features the garden of his neighbour Hortensia del Prado.


Legacy

Cats' moralistic poems were told and retold like nursery rhymes over several generations. Even today many of his coined phrases are still colloquialisms in everyday Dutch. Many of Cats' moral poems were set to music. A selection of these, ''Klagende Maeghden en andere liederen'', was recorded in 2008 by the Utrecht ensemble Camerata Trajectina. A copper statue of him is displayed in the market of his birth town Brouwershaven, the original sandstone one was removed due to damage and is on display in the town's church.


References


Sources

*
Facsimiles of Emblems from ''Sinnebeelden'' at the Emblem Project Utrecht


External links

* * *
Vermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Jacob Cats
Spiegel van den ouden ende nieuwen tijdt
A complete set of emblems from his Spiegel van den ouden ende nieuwen tijdt. edition 1632 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cats, Jacob 17th-century Dutch poets 1577 births 1660 deaths Dutch Golden Age writers Dutch male poets Grand Pensionaries Muiderkring People from Schouwen-Duiveland Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces)