Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands

WINSEMIUS, PIERIUS

(1586–1644)
Historian. Winsemius studied law at Franeker and Leiden and obtained his degree in Caen, France, in 1611. He was admitted to the bar as barrister at the Court of Frisia in Leeuwarden. In 1616, Winsemius was appointed by the States of Frisia as historiographer of that province. He published Annales (1617), Chronique van Vrieslandt (1622), and a Historia of Frisia after 1616 (several editions since 1629). In 1636, Winsemius was appointed professor of rhetoric and history at the University of Franeker.