Johannes Narssius (9 November 1580 – 1637) was a Dutch physician and

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

poet, initially a

Remonstrant The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ori ...

minister.

Life

He was born Johan van Naars(s)en in

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 ...

on 9 November 1580, and studied philosophy and theology at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

. :de:s:ADB:Narsius, Johannes He may have lived in the house of

Gerardus Vossius Gerrit Janszoon Vos (March or April 1577, Heidelberg – 19 March 1649, Amsterdam), often known by his Latin name Gerardus Vossius, was a Dutch classical scholar, theologian, and polymath. Life He was the son of Johannes (Jan) Vos, a Protestant ...

in 1602.''Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577–1649)'' by C. S. M. Rademaker
(1967). A disciple of

Jacobus Arminius Jacobus Arminius (; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Jakob Hermanszoon'' ; 10 October 1560 – 19 October 1609) was a Dutch Reformed Christianity, Reformed minister and Christian theology, theologian during the Protestant Reformation period whose views ...

, his theological beliefs came into question in 1605. In one of the early Leiden debates involving Arminius, he responded to Johannes Kuchlinus. Narssius was a subscriber to the ''Confessio orthodoxa'' of

Conrad Vorstius Conrad Vorstius (; ; 19 July 1569 – 29 September 1622) was a German-Dutch controversial Remonstrant theologian, successor to Jacobus Arminius in the theology chair at Leiden University, and—as a theologian—second to Johannes Uytenbogaert in ...

, successor to Arminius at Leiden, and was strongly reprimanded for that by the Synod of

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The south ...

. He was pastor at

Grave A grave is a location where a cadaver, dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is burial, buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of buria ...

and then

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

, but lost his posts because of his combative

approach. He reportedly travelled to England to present Arminian documents to Archbishop George Abbot, meeting a very hostile reception. After the general exile of Remonstrants from the Netherland he was at the Arminian colony of

Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; ; ; ; ) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km (7 miles) south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Duk ...

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

. He spent time in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, where he was court poet. In

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

he knew Rütger Hemsing (1604–1643), another physician-poet, and an associate of

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

. Gero von Wilpert, ''Deutschbaltische Literaturgeschichte'' (2005), p. 79
Google Books
He corresponded with

Ole Worm Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin ...

on archaeology. Under the name Hans van der Ast he took letters from

Frederick V, Elector Palatine Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

in Germany to his wife

Elizabeth of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. The couple's selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the po ...

, who was 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 ...

. Returning to the Netherlands, he took a position with the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

. He travelled to the Indies, where he died.

Works

Narssius belonged to the "Dordrecht School" of Latin poets, which included also the Remonstrant Samuel Naeranus. He is remembered for ''Gustavidos sive de bello Sueco-austriaco libri tres'' 1632) and ''Gustavidos liber quartus'' (1634), published in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, which were Latin

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

s. He also wrote a

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

''Gustavus saucius'' (1629 and 1632) on

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

, for whom he was physician and historiographer, from 1625 or 1626. Other poetical works were: *''Prosopopoeia Hamburgi'' (1623) *''Poëmata septentrionalia aliaque nonulla miscellanea'' (1624) *''Fides et humanitas Polonica erga delegatos regios Suedorum'' (Riga, 1625) *''Riga devicta ab Augustissimo principe Gustavo Adolpho'' (Riga, 1625) *''Meva Pomerelliae obsidione Polonorum liberata ductu augustissimi Sueciae &c. regis Gustavi Adolphi'' (Stockholm, 1627) An epitaph of his was collected in

Robert Monro Robert Monro (died 1680) was a Scottish general from the Clan Munro of Ross-shire, Scotland. He held command in the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus during Thirty Years' War. He also fought for the Scottish Covenanters during the Bishop's Wa ...

, ''Monro his Expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment''. It was for John Sinclair, third son of George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness, killed at Newmarke in the Palatinate, in 1632.''Scotsmen Serving the Swede'' (PDF)
p. 51.

Notes

External links

WorldCat pageCERL page

Biography

''Biografisch lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands protestantisme''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narssius, Johannes 1580 births 1637 deaths 17th-century Dutch physicians 17th-century Dutch poets Dutch male poets Neo-Latin poets Remonstrants Arminian writers Arminian ministers Leiden University alumni People from Dordrecht 17th-century male writers