Samuel Ampzing (24 June 1590 – 29 July 1632) was a Dutch minister,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and

purist Purism is an arts movement that took place between 1918 and 1925. Purism may also refer to: * Purism (Spanish architecture) (1530–1560), a phase of Renaissance architecture in Spain * Purism (company), company manufacturing Librem personal comp ...

Biography

Born to the minister Johannes Ampzing in Haarlem, in 1616 Samuel became a minister himself at

Rijsoord Rijsoord is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 10 km southeast of the city of Rotterdam, in the municipality of Ridderkerk. Rijsoord was a separate municipality until 1855, when it merged with Ridderkerk. ...

Strevelshoek Strevelshoek is a hamlet (place), hamlet in the Netherlands, Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 1 km northwest of the village of Rijsoord, on the south bank of the Waaltje. The hamlet is not mentioned on recent topographical ...

, and in 1619 at the

Sint-Bavokerk The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Reformed Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square ( Grote Markt) in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Another Haarlem church called the Cathedral of Saint Bavo now serves as ...

in Haarlem.

Description and praise of Haarlem

In 1617, he began writing a description of Haarlem in poetic form, aided by

Petrus Scriverius Petrus Scriverius, the latinised form of Peter Schrijver or Schryver (12 January 1576 – 30 April 1660), was a Dutch writer and scholar on the history of the Low Countries. He was born at Haarlem and was educated by Cornelis Schoneus at t ...

. Its poetry was printed and published in 1628. This history of the city was not superseded until

Pieter Langendijk Pieter Langendijk ( Haarlem, 25 July 1683 – Haarlem, 9 or 18 July 1756) was a damask weaver, city artist, dramatist, and poet. Life Pieter was the son of Arend Kort, a mason born in Langedijk. His father died in 1689 so he temporarily came und ...

's nearly a century later. As a foreword to this book, Ampzing wrote a dissertation on the Dutch language, in which he also wrote about the rules of rhetoric; this foreword was also sold separately in 1628 under the title ""Taelbericht der Nederlandsche spellinge" ("Treatise on Dutch spelling"). Later he also wrote an extra "Laurel Wreath to Laurens Janszoon Koster" at the end of it. The book includes some plates by Willem Outgertsz Akersloot after designs by

Pieter Saenredam Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (9 June 1597 – buried 31 May 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as ''Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem'' and '' Interior of the S ...

and

Jan van de Velde Jan van de Velde the younger (1593 – ca. 1 November 1641) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver of animal, landscape and still-life subjects. He was the son of Jan van de Velde the Elder and the father of the still life painter Jan ...

: File:Pieter Saenredam - Berkenrode.jpg, Print of the old castle at

Berkenrode Berkenrode, or Berckenroode is a former 'Heerlijkheid' in the Dutch province of North Holland, situated on the southwest side of Haarlem on the leidsevaart, north of Iepenrode and west of Heemstede. The original castle Berkenrode in the center ...

, Heemstede. File:Het beleg van Haarlem in 1572 (Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 1628).jpg, Print of the siege situation sketch at Haarlem in 1572, a bird's eye perspective from the North.

Legacy

Apart from the historical importance of his writing, his poetry was not considered quite lyrical, but it was striking in its groomed linguistic usage. Ampzing was notably and carefully different from his contemporaries in his choice of words, and fervently opposed to using words from different languages, such as Latin and French, in Dutch texts. He considered the influence of these languages as pernicious, and as polluting the pure Dutch language. One suspects that he was also driven to this point of view since these languages were being used by his 'religious competitors'. Ampzing's lingual struggle was reignited in 1999 by the foundation of the Ampzing Society, whose members fight - like Ampzing - against the superfluous use of English loan-words in the contemporary Dutch language. On 26 November 2006, on the Oude Groenmarkt at Haarlem, they unveiled a bust of Ampzing.

Works

*Bijbel-poezije (1624) - the Bible translated into poetry *Rijm- catechismus (1624) - the catechism translated into poetry
Beschrijvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland: in Rym bearbeyd
(1628) - Description and praise of the city Haarlem in Holland in poetry, available in

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

.
Taelbericht der Nederlandsche spellinge
(1628) *Eerverdediginge tegen de Arminiaensche grimmigheijd (1629) - Apologia against the

Arminian Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...

heretics *Naszousche lauren-kranze (1629) - laurel wreath *Westindische triumphbazuin op de verovering van de zilveren vloot (1629) - west Indies triumphal ode on the defeat of the silver fleet

External links

Ampzing SocietySamuel Ampzing
in the DBNL {{DEFAULTSORT:Ampzing, Samuel Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands Linguists from the Netherlands Dutch Golden Age writers 17th-century Dutch historians 1590 births 1632 deaths Writers from Haarlem Frans Hals