MEURSIUS, JOHANNES (JOHANNES VAN MEURS)

(1579–1639)

Historian. Meursius studied at Leiden and took his doctoral degree in law at the University of Orleans in France. In 1608, he was appointed professor of Greek and history at the Universityof Leiden. He published extensively on contemporary history, including Rerum Belgicarum libri IV (1615), Athenae Batavae (1625), and in the field of Greek studies Graecia feriata. Meursius fled to Denmark (and the Academy of Soro) because of the religiouspersecutions after the ex ecution of Grand Pensionary Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. After his death, the erotic Elegantiae latini sermones [Conversations of Aloisia Sigeae] was published in his name, although he was not the author.

See also Historiography.