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Classical and Early Modern Sources of the Poetry of Jan Cruso of Norwich (1592-fl. 1655)

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Notes

  1. EPIGRAMMATA Ofte Winter-Avondts Tyt-korting (EPIGRAMS or Pastimes for a Winter’s Evening). The frontispiece includes the bibliographical details: TOT DELF Gedrukt by Arnold Bon, Boek-verkooper woonende Op t Mart-velt. Anno 1655.

  2. MS Norwich, Norfolk Record Office (NRO), NCR 16a, The Mayor’s Court Books (1595–1603), p. 583.

  3. Although it does an injustice to the Southern Netherlands it is common to group the various Germanic dialects spoken in the Low Countries as ‘Dutch’ and the people who spoke them as ‘Dutch’, in large part because they were referred to historically as neder-duytsch (Low German).

  4. L. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, London, 1967, p. 25; W. J. C. Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich: Their History and Registers 1565–1832, in two parts, Lymington, 1887–88, pp. 44–5.

  5. L. Hunt Yungblut, Strangers Settled Here Amongst Us: Policies, Perceptions and the Presence of Aliens in Elizabethan England, London, 1996, p. 30.

  6. Moens, The Walloons, pp. 207–16.

  7. O. P. Grell, ‘Cruso, John (fl. 1595–1655)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), Oxford, 2004. Consulted online at: http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=6852 on 7 February 2014; J. Venn, The Biographical History of Gonville & Caius College, I, Cambridge, 1901, p. 209.

  8. Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum, ed. J. H. Hessels, 4 Vols, Cambridge, 1887–97, III.i, pp. 1005–6.

  9. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, pp. 6–14.

  10. Timotheus was born in the parish of St George Colegate, the same parish as Jan/John, on 14 May 1594; Aquila in St Saviour’s parish on 21 January 1597; and Maria Cruso was baptized in the same church on 28 October 1599. MS NRO, NCR 16a.

  11. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, p. 41.

  12. Venn and Venn give Aquila’s school as ‘School, Norwich’ (J. and J. A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigiensis, 4 vols, Cambridge, 1922–7, I, p. 429). J. Venn (The Biographical History, p. 209) gives the details for Aquila’s secondary education as ‘School, Norwich, under Mr Stonham, four years’. See also Moens, The Walloons, p. 58.

  13. Venn, The Biographical History, p. 436.

  14. Moens, The Walloons, 190–3. This information comes from the Return for Strangers taken in June 1622. Here he is listed as living in the Ward of Middle Wymer under the section ‘Borne of Parents Strangers’.

  15. MS London Metropolitan Archives (henceforth LMA), 7402/10, 11v, ‘Register of Members of the London Dutch Church 1617 & c.’

  16. M. A. Schenkeveld-van der Dussen, Dutch Literature in the Age of Rembrandt: Themes and Ideas, Amsterdam, 1991, p. 169.

  17. J. Cool (Colius), Den staet van London in hare groote peste, ed. J.A. van Dorsten and K. Schaap, Leiden, 1962.

  18. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, p. 60.

  19. Ibid., p. 35.

  20. C. Joby, ‘A Dutchman Abroad: Poetry written by Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687) in England’, The Seventeenth Century, 28, 2013, pp. 187–206.

  21. Lodewijck Huygens, The English Journal, 1651–1652, transl. and ed. A. G. H. Bachrach and R. G. Collmer, Leiden, 1982, p. 37.

  22. For more on these visits to England and Huygens’s poem in the Epicedia, see Joby, ‘A Dutchman abroad’, p. 191.

  23. Epicedia in Obitum Reverendi Clarissimi Doctissimiq[ue] Viri D. Simeonis Rutingi fidelissimi verbi divini Dispensatoris in Ecclesia Londinensi Belgica, Diversorum, Leiden, 1622, pp. 29–33.

  24. One other work by Aquila survives. This is an oration entitled ‘Ευ’δαίμων Aristotelicus: Somnium’ (‘The Fortunate Aristotelian – Dream’). It was published posthumously in a collection of Latin works in 1665. It is possible that one other work in this collection, Antimachus Gigantum, was by Aquila, for in the contents page the letters ‘AC’ precede this title: Aquilæ Cruso, το μακαρίτου, Ευ’δαίμων Aristotelicus; Richardi Watson Ludio Paræneticus; orationes olim habitæ Cantabrigiæ … Prioris adhuc Antimachus Gigantum; posterioris alia, etc. London, 1665. See Venn, The Biographical History, p. 209.

  25. A manuscript of the play is preserved in the Library of Emmanuel College, Cambridge: MS III I 17. For a description of it, see The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Emmanuel College: A descriptive catalogue, ed. M. Rhodes James, Cambridge, 1904, item 185. For a published reproduction of the manuscript, see Pseudomagia William Mewe. Euribates Pseudomagus Aquila Cruso. Susenbrotus, or Fortunia John Chappell (?). Zelotypus, ed. J. C. Coldewey and B. P. Copenhaver, Hildesheim, 1991. This edition also includes a short overview of Aquila’s life and a synopsis of the play (pp. 6–12). The manuscript has the colophon ‘Authore Mr. Cruso Caii Colle. Cantabr.’, with the ‘M’ being written over a ‘D’. J. Venn (The Biographical History, p. 304) states that Aquila’s nephew, John Cruso (i.e., the son of the poet, Jan), was the author of Euribates. Forster (Janus Gruter’s English Years, p. 67, n. 1) agrees. However, more recent commentators attribute authorship to Aquila. See, for example, Grell, ‘Cruso, John’, and Pseudomagia William, p. 12.

  26. Grell, ‘Cruso, John’.

  27. J. van Dorsten, ‘I.C.O.’: The Rediscovery of a Modest Dutchman in London’, in The Anglo-Dutch Renaissance. Seven Essays, Leiden, 1988, pp. 8–20.

  28. Horace, Odes, IV.8, line 28 (some sources have line 29). The next half line: caelo Musa beat ([and] the Muse blesses [him] with heaven) may also have played a part in the choice of this line.

  29. J. Smit, De Grootmeester van Woord- en Snarenspel: Het Leven van Constantijn Huygens, The Hague, 1980, pp. 43–4.

  30. J. N. Adams, Bilingualism and the Latin Language, Cambridge, 2003, pp. 21–4.

  31. Grell, ‘Cruso, John’. Cruso was also one of the supervisors of Elison’s will. E. A. Kent, ‘Notes on the Blackfriars’ Hall or Dutch Church, Norwich’, Norfolk Archaeology, XXII, 1926, pp. 86–108 (100).

  32. Leonard Forster provides a useful survey of wills from the Anglo-Dutch communities in England. These mention books in Latin and Dutch as well as English and French (Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, pp. 125–39).

  33. ‘The East Anglian, or Notes and Queries’, (New Series), xiii, pp. 167 and 179. J. C. Arens cannot have been aware of any of the records relating to Cruso from before 1621, for he writes: ‘tussen 1606 en 1621 komt de naam Jan Cruso niet in de bescheiden voor’ (‘between 1606 and 1621, the name Jan Cruso does not appear in the records’). J. C. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten van Jan Cruso uit Norwich’, Spiegel der Letteren, 8, 1964–5, pp. 132–40 (133). Grell (‘Cruso, John’) simply writes: ‘…John took over the family business in Norwich some time after 1613’.

  34. Cruso is listed in the militia list ‘All the names of the Companie of the Dutch Congregation of Norwich, this 22 of May 1621’. See Moens, The Walloons, pp. 225–26.

  35. Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae, ed. Hessels, III.i, p. 1285.

  36. MSS Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shelfmarks: V.a.245, fol. 23; and V.a.245, fol. 22v.

  37. Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae, ed. Hessels, III.ii, p. 1873.

  38. Cf. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, p. 135.

  39. Both paintings are now owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

  40. I reproduce the first eight lines of the poem together with a translation of them in the Appendix, 2. Here, Cruso sets out his theme and praises the traditional author of the Psalms, David (Jesse Soon), whose poetry inspired his work.

  41. C. Huygens, De Gedichten, ed. J. A. Worp, 9 vols, Groningen, 1892–99, I, p. 59.

  42. Cf. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, p. 135.

  43. J. Cruso, Uytbreydinge Over den Achtsten Psalm Davids, Amsterdam, 1642, p. 31.

  44. Cruso, Uytbreydinge, p. 52. Moens (The Walloons, p. 315) gives the dates of Elison’s ministry as ‘Circa 1609-1631’. However, in a memorial to Elison in Blackfriars’ Hall in Norwich, he is said to have been the Minister of the Dutch Church in Norwich for Circiter XXXVI Annos, i.e., around 36 years

  45. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, pp. 52 and 118–23.

  46. Numbering systems for Ausonius’s epigrams vary. In a recent edition of his work edited by N. M. Kay, the epigram in which these lines appear is No. 1. See Ausonius, Epigrams, ed., introd. and comment. N. M. Kay, London, 2001.

  47. In Epigram Book I.v Martial has the emperor address him, i.e., the poet, as ‘Marce’. ‘Marcus’ was also one of the addressees of a number of epigrams by John Owen. That said, he wrote ‘In Marcum’ and also addressed a number of other ‘imaginary’ characters.

  48. P. Burke, ‘Cultures of Translation in Early Modern Europe’, in Cultural Translation in Early Modern Europe, ed. P. Burke, R. Po-Chia Hsia, Cambridge, 2007, p. 32.

  49. Huygens, De Gedichten, III, p. 46.

  50. One commentator notes that the position, whereby the poet (feigns to) avoid publicity, adopted by Horace and copied by Cruso is ‘the Callimachean position’. See Horace, Satires Book I, ed. E. Gowers, Cambridge, 2012, p. 333. Another Latin author who is not concerned if only a few people read his work is Persius. See the opening lines of his Satyra Prima.

  51. Thomas More, The Complete Works, ed. Clarence Miller, Leicester Bradner, and Charles A. Lynch, III.ii, New Haven and London, 1984, pp. 158–9 (E102).

  52. Huygens, De Gedichten, VIII, p. 32.

  53. For the catalogue of Huygens’s library made after his death, visit http://adcs.home.xs4all.nl/Huygens/varia/catal.html.

  54. Marcial, Epigramas Completos, ed. D. Estefanía, Madrid, 1991, p. 61, n. 2.

  55. Thomas More wrote an epigram inspired by the same couplet from the Greek Anthology. More’s epigram is entitled ‘In Digamos, E Graeco’ and runs, ‘Qui capit uxorem defuncta uxore secundam, / Naufragus in tumido bis natat ille freto’: ‘On Twice Married Men, from the Greek. The widower who marries again is a shipwrecked sailor / Who sails the threatening sea a second time’: More, The Complete Works, III.ii, pp. 176–7 (E138).

  56. More, The Complete Works, III.ii, pp. 160–1 (E106).

  57. Erasmus, Adages II.vii.1 to III.iii.100, transl. and ed. R. A. B. Mynors, Collected Works of Erasmus 34, Toronto etc., 1992, p. 136.

  58. Ausonius, from whom Cruso quotes in the coda to his Epigrammata, also refers to this adage in the second preface to his Monosyllaba. See Erasmus, Adages I.vi.1 to I.x.100, transl. M. M. Phillips, annotated R. A. B. Mynors, Collected Works of Erasmus 32, Toronto etc., 1989, p. 125.

  59. Erasmus, Adages III.iv.1 to IV.ii.100, transl. D. L. Drysdall, ed. J. N. Grant, Collected Works of Erasmus 35, Toronto etc., 2005, pp. 399–440.

  60. Moens, The Walloons, p. 83.

  61. Cf. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, p. 136, n. 1.

  62. If, as is reasonable to assume, Cruso was inspired to write this poem by seeing a picture of Elison, then it would not be the one Rembrandt painted of him, as that is a full length painting of Elison seated.

  63. Vondel’s biographer, Geeraardt Brandt, also made a translation of Beza’s poem into Dutch, so it would be interesting to compare his version with that of Cruso. See Brandt, Poëzy, Amsterdam, 1688.

  64. A variant reading for line 2 is ‘haec tibi’

  65. Cf. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, pp. 139–40.

  66. Another reason may be that St Paul, as the author of much of the New Testament, has often been held in high regard in the Protestant tradition, and so Cruso may have wanted him not to be associated with Rome.

  67. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, p. 140.

  68. More, The Complete Works, III.ii, pp. 134–5 (E61).

  69. More, The Complete Works, III.ii, pp. 206–7 (E167).

  70. J. C. Scaliger, Poemata in duas partes divisa. Pleraque omnia in publicum jam primum prodeunt … Sophoclis Ajax Lorarius stylo tragico a Josepho Scaligero … translatus. Ejusdem epigrammata quaedam, tum Græca tum Latina, cum quibusdam a Græco versis, Heidelberg, 1591, p. 356.

  71. L. Febvre, The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century: The Religion of Rabelais, transl. B. Gottlieb, London, 1982, p. 89.

  72. Huygens, De Gedichten, VIII, p. 29.

  73. Arens, ‘Nederlandse Gedichten’, p. 139.

  74. See, for example, Owen’s epigrams I.6 and I.269, both titled ‘In Zoilum’ in the 1607 edition of his Epigrams (EEBO).

  75. Der Weesen Vader ofte de Hope der Weesen des Eerweerdighen M r. Symeon Ruyting Zal. Ghedachtenis (‘Father of the Orphans or the Hope of the Orphans, to the memory of the late Reverend Mr. Symeon Ruyting’).

  76. J. B. Wilterdink, ‘Martialis bij Huygens’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 84, 1968, pp. 93–106.

  77. J. B. Wilterdink, ‘Huygens als navolger van John Owen’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 84, 1968, pp. 53–92.

  78. L. Strengholt, ‘Over Huygens’ Epigrammen’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 97, 1981, pp. 192–204 (202).

  79. Forster, Janus Gruter’s English Years, p. 104.

  80. R. Sowerby, The Classical Legacy in Renaissance Poetry, London, 1994, pp. 156–62.

  81. Ibid., pp. 352–3.

  82. In 1635 the number of members of the Dutch Church in Norwich was 363, compared to well over 1,000 in the final decades of the sixteenth century. Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae, ed. Hessels, III.ii, p. 1690.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr Ton Harmsen for reading an earlier version of this article and providing comments on some of the Dutch and Latin translations presented in it.

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    Christopher Joby

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Appendix

Appendix

1. Op Het Overlyden van den Eerweerdighen, Gheleerden, Godtsalighen D. Simeon Ruytingius Ad defunctum.

Den Eeren-Krans die ons ghemoet

Hier vlechtet uyt dees’ Bloemkens soet,

End’ die men dus vercieren tracht

Door veler arbeyt, ‘tsaem ghebracht,

(O saligh Man!) bereydtmen niet

Dijn ziel ter eeren; (Sy gheniet

Alreed’ een Kroon der heerlijckheyt

Vergoddet met onsterf’lijckheyt:)

Maer om dijn lichaem: dat het sy

Door sulck soet-geurich salven vry

Van onderganck, end’ wel bevrijdt

Voor’tlastrich bijten van de Nijdt.

End’ dat dijn Naems verdienden Lof

Niet liggh’ begraven in het stof,

Maer ons gheslacht gheduerich mach

Van dijn voor-treffen doen ghewagh,

End’ segghen (t’komstich eeuw’ te pass’)

Wat voor een Man dat Ruyting was.

[1. On the Death of the Reverend, Learned, Pious Revd. Simeon Ruytinck: to the deceased

We do not prepare the wreath of honour,

Which our hearts weave together, using these sweet flowers here,

And which we thus try to decorate

With much work, braided together,

(O blessed man!) to honour your soul;

(She already enjoys a Crown of glory

Made divine with immortality:)

But [to honour] your body: so that it,

By such sweet-scented salves, is freed

From decay, and truly liberated

From the slanderous bites of Malice;

And so that the deserved praise of your Name

Does not lie buried in the dust,

But our people may perpetually

Mention your excellence

And say (for the benefit of future ages)

What a [great] man that Ruytinck was.]

2. Uytbreydinge Over den Achtsten Psalm Davids (lines 1–8)

Een heyligh Lof-gesang (niet van geringe dingen

Maer) van hoogh-weerde stof bestaet mijn geest te singen:

Een Psalm, een Danck-ghedicht, een eer-geschalligh Liedt,

Gelijck ons Jesse Soon tot less’ en voor-schrift liet.

Dien Herder onvertsaeght, die Beir-en-Leewen-dwinger,

Die d’onbesneden Reus versloegh met sijnen slinger,

Die on-verwonnen Heldt was konstigh evenwel

In heyl’ge Poësy, Gesang, en Snaren-spel.

[2. Amplification of the Eighth Psalm of David

A holy Song of Praise (not of trifling things

But) of most worthy matter, my spirit undertakes to sing:

A Psalm, a Poem of Thanks, a Song, which rings with honour,

As Jesse’s Son taught and prescribed to us.

That inexhaustible Shepherd, that Bear and Lion tamer,

Who vanquished the uncircumcised Giant with his sling,

That unconquered Hero was just as artful

In holy Poetry, Song, and Playing strings.]

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Joby, C. Classical and Early Modern Sources of the Poetry of Jan Cruso of Norwich (1592-fl. 1655). Int class trad 21, 89–120 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12138-014-0336-0

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