Jan van Vliet (April 11, 1622 – March 18, 1666), also known as Janus Ulitius, was one of the 17th-century pioneers of Germanic

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

Biography

Van Vliet was probably born in Middelburg, but grew up 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 ...

. From 1637 to about 1641 he studied at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

, where he read first

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and then law. After completing his studies, he went on a grand tour, travelling in Britain and France, where he collected material for his first publication, the ''Venatio novantiqua'' (1645), an edition of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

poetry on the subject of hunting. He also kept a diary of his travels, which testifies to his having been fluent in six languages at the time. On his return to the Netherlands in 1643, Van Vliet began to practice as a lawyer, and the following year he married. His legal career was not a great success, and after some years he left the capital and took up residence 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. ...

. Here he achieved some measure of prosperity, ultimately becoming the town registrar under the patronage of the house of Orange. In the 1650s, his two great interests, ancient languages and the history of the Netherlands, led him to begin to study the histories of first the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

, and then the

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

in general. This was not a popular field of study at the time, the historical languages deemed most worthy of academic attention being Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This shift in interests led to some tension between Van Vliet and several of his old friends, who were not best pleased to see a man they esteemed as a Latinist turn to study lesser things; a letter survives from Nicholas Heinsius, who had been a fellow student at Leiden, addressed "to Vlitius, the authority on antiquities both barbarian and scholarly", a veiled criticism which appears not to have gone unnoticed. Despite this tacit disapproval, however, Van Vliet began to study ancient books and manuscripts in various Germanic languages, including English. It was in 1659 that he began to correspond regularly with his more famous contemporary Franciscus Junius, who was then resident in England, but visiting the Netherlands frequently. Their common interest in the study and collection of manuscripts led them to become firm friends, and Van Vliet appears to have made considerable use of Junius' library in his studies in his final years. Van Vliet died in Breda in March 1666. He had run up considerable debts towards the end of his life, and as a result many of his possessions were auctioned at The Hague to pay these off; these included his library, which according to the auction catalogue contained some 1,249 books, including eight manuscripts. At least one of these was purchased by Junius: this was the unique manuscript of the '' Ormulum''. It is as the first known owner of this manuscript in modern times that Van Vliet is primarily remembered today.

Notes

# ''"Vlitio antiquitatis utriusque, tam barbaræ quam eruditæ, peritissimo"''. Quoted by Holt (1878:lv).

References

* Dekker, Cornelis (1999). ''The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries''. Leiden, Boston: Brill. * Holt, Robert, ed (1878). ''The Ormulum: with the notes and glossary of Dr R.M. White''. Two vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vliet, Jan Van 1622 births 1666 deaths 17th-century philologists Linguists from the Dutch Republic Linguists of Germanic languages People from Middelburg, Zeeland Leiden University alumni