Jacob Cruucke or Jacob van Cruyck, also known by his Latinized name Jacobus Cruquius and in French-language literature as Jacques de Crucque (Mesen, before 1520 - 22 June 1584) [1] was a Flemish humanist, philologist, and scholar of the 16th century. He is mainly known for his publications on the works of the Roman lyric poet Horace based on ancient manuscripts kept in the library of a local monastery, since lost to fire. [2]
Little is known about his early life and training. He enrolled in the Old University of Leuven on 29 August 1532 and graduated with the degree of magister artium on 18 February 1535. He afterwards studied law at the same university and obtained a licentiatus degree in canon law. While studying law, he also took courses with renowned humanists Conrad Goclenius and Petrus Nannius at the Collegium Trilingue, a college where Latin, Greek and Hebrew were taught. [1]
In 1542, Cruucke was teaching Latin and Greek in a convent in Leuven. He applied for a position at the Collegium Trilingue to replace Nannius who was planning to leave for Italy. While he did not get the position as Nannius had called off his Italy trip, his application had drawn the attention of the theologian Georgius Cassander, who recommended Cruucke as his successor for his own teaching position at the Cuba foundation in Bruges. Cruucke replaced Cassander starting from 8 February 1543 until his death on 22 June 1584. The Cuba foundation was named after its founder, Jan de Witte (1475-1540), who had been bishop of Cuba from 1528 to 1530 and willed his money to establish a chair of “bonae litterae” (established in 1541) and a chair of theology (established in 1545) in Bruges.
Cruucke became a prominent intellectual in Bruges, on account of his large collection of books, as well as his collection of ancient coins. He taught many notable humanists of the age, including Jacobus Raevardus, Lucas Fruterius, Victor Giselinus, Janus Lernutius and Franciscus Modius. [1] He was also in contact with leading humanists of his time such as Justus Lipsius who supported him in the publication of his books. Jacob van Cruycke also knew the Leiden University librarinan Janus Dousa in whose Album Amicorum he was asked to contribute a page in 1576. He added below his text a drawing of a jar, a reference to his Flemish name Cruucke or Cruycke which means 'jar'. [3]
Cruucke died in Bruges.[ citation needed ]
Cruucke is primarily known from his editions of the lyric poet Horace assembled from four ancient manuscripts in the library of the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter's Abbey, Ghent, which was located on top of a hill in the center of Ghent called the Blandijnberg. The monastery was colloquially called the " Blandijnklooster" and the manuscripts were thus referred to as the "Blandinian manuscripts". All four manuscripts were destroyed in 1566 in a fire at the monastery, leaving his edition as the sole surviving record of a number of commentaries not otherwise known, such as those made by the so-called "Commentator Cruquianus". [2]
Of special interest is Cruucke's access to an extremely rare and ancient manuscript of Horace now referred to as V, variously known otherwise as Blandinius, Blandinius vetustissimus, or codex antiquissimus Blandinianus. [4] [5]
Cruucke published several separate volumes of this work from 1565 to 1578—the first with Hubert Goltzius then all the remainder with Christophe Plantin—and then one complete edition in 1578, and ultimately a standalone edition of Commentator Cruquianus's scholia. [4] After his death, the editions were reprinted in 1597 with a small collection of notes from Janus Dousa.
While these editions were quite successful in their time, modern scholars question the merit of these works. Their popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries is attested to by the fact that all rare book collections in Western Europe hold at least one copy of one of Cruucke's editions, either in an original printing or one of the expanded versions from 1597. [1]
George Cassander was a Flemish Catholic theologian and humanist.
The Collegium Trilingue, often also called Collegium trium linguarum, or, after its creator Collegium Buslidianum, is a university that was founded in 1517 under the patronage of the humanist, Hieronymus van Busleyden. The three languages taught were Latin, Greek and Hebrew. It was the model for the Collège de France founded in 1530. It is located in Leuven, Belgium.
Jacobus Pamelius was a Flemish theologian who was named bishop of Saint-Omer.
Andreas Schott was an academic, linguist, translator, editor and a Jesuit priest from Antwerp in the Habsburg Netherlands. He was mainly known for his editions of Latin and Greek classical literature.
Louis Carrion was a Flemish humanist and classical scholar. He is known for his precocious edition of the Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus, from 1565/6. This was printed from a manuscript now referred to as the Codex Carrionis, or C; which was later lost. Carrion's scholarship has regularly been challenged, ever since.
Dominicus Lampsonius was a Flemish humanist, poet and painter. A secretary to various Prince-Bishops of Liège, he maintained an extensive correspondence with humanists and artists at home and abroad. His writings on Netherlandish artists formed an important contribution to the formation of the so-called Netherlandish canon.
Bonaventura Vulcanius was a Flemish humanist who played a leading role in Northern humanism during the 16th and 17th century. He was a professor of Latin and Greek at Leiden University for 30 years and published various books in the Latin language. He was also a poet.
Otto van Veen, also known by his Latinized names Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius, was a painter, draughtsman, and humanist active primarily in Antwerp and Brussels in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is known for his paintings of religious and mythological scenes, allegories and portraits, which he produced in his large workshop in Antwerp. He further designed several emblem books, and was from 1594 or 1595 to 1598 the teacher of Rubens. His role as a classically educated humanist artist, was influential on the young Rubens, who would take on that role himself. He was court painter of successive governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, including the Archdukes Albert and Isabella.
Christoph Wilhelm Mitscherlich was a German classical scholar. He wrote several books on ancient Greek literature. He is best remembered for his edition of the Odes and Epodes by the Roman poet Horace.
Petrus Vulcanius otherwise Pieter De Smet was a humanist scholar and local government official of Bruges.
Hubert Goltzius or Hubertus Goltzius, latinized form of Hubrecht Goltz or Hubert Goltz was a Renaissance painter, engraver, publisher, printer and numismatist from the Habsburg Netherlands. He was also active as an art and antique dealer. He was the great-uncle of the now better known engraver and painter Hendrik Goltzius. He is now recognized mainly for his contribution to numismatics and has been referred to as the 'father of ancient numismatics'.
Cruquianus or Commentator Cruquianus was an anonymous writer of ancient Rome known primarily as a scholiast on the Roman lyric poet Horace.
Petrus Nannius was a Dutch poet, accomplished Latin scholar and humanist of the 16th century. A contemporary of Desiderius Erasmus, he was born in Alkmaar and was an important figure in the humanism of the time, having provided a foundation with his teaching for the later flowering of humanism in the region.
Julius Goltzius was a Flemish printmaker and publisher. He was probably born in Antwerp around 1555 as the son of the painter, printer, publisher and humanist Hubert Goltzius and his wife Elisabeth Verhulst. His mother came from a well-known family of painters and illuminators from Mechelen. Her sister Mayken Verhulst married Pieter Coecke van Aelst and became the mother-in-law of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Julius Goltzius married in 1587 in Antwerp and probably died in that city well after 1601.
Jacobus Marchantius (1537–1609) was a historian and poet from the County of Flanders during the period that it was part of the Habsburg Netherlands.
The Leuven Vulgate or Hentenian Bible was the first standardized edition of the Latin Vulgate. The Leuven Vulgate essentially served as the standard text of the Catholic Church from its publication in 1547 until the Sixtine Vulgate was published in 1590. The 1583 edition of the Leuven Vulgate is cited in the Oxford Vulgate New Testament, where it is designated by the siglumH.
Franciscus Lucas Brugensis or François Luc de Bruges (1548/49–1619) was a Roman Catholic biblical exegete and textual critic from the Habsburg Netherlands.
Jan Leernout, Latinized Janus Lernutius (1545–1619) was a Latin poet from the Habsburg Netherlands.
Lucas Fruytier, Latinized Fruterius (1541–1566) was a Neo-Latin poet from the Low Countries.
Jacob de Bie, known in France also as Jacques de Bie was a Flemish engraver, publisher and numismatist who worked in Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and Arnhem. As a reproductive artist he made engravings after designs of other artists of his generation. He was engaged in numismatic collecting and categorisation and was an official at the mint in Brussels. He is now mainly known for his publication of portraits of French kings.
