Franciscus Haraeus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franciscus Haraeus (Latinised form of Franciscus Verhaer; also known as Frans Verhaer),[1] (Utrecht 1555? - Leuven, 11 January 1631), was a theologian, historian, and cartographer from the Low Countries. He is best known for his history of the origins of the Dutch Revolt, written from a Catholic perspective but without polemical bias. He was one of the first cartographers to make thematic maps and globes.
Haraeus first attended the Latin school of the Brethren of the Common Life in Utrecht and subsequently studied theology at the University of Louvain under Thomas Stapleton and Joannes Molanus.[2] He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest at an early age, probably in 1578. He was appointed as a professor of rhetoric at the recently established University of Douai where he also obtained a Licentiate of Theology. In 1581 he accompanied the papal legate Antonio Possevino on an embassy to John III of Sweden and Ivan the Terrible.[3][4]
Back in the Dutch Republic he became a canon at St. John's Cathedral ('s-Hertogenbosch), later dean in Dunkirk and professor of theology at Tongerlo Abbey. In 1604-1609 he worked as a priest in Utrecht where he was in contact with Buchelius. After 1609 he moved permanently to the Spanish Netherlands where he became the rector of a nunnery in Antwerp, before becoming a canon in Namur in 1617, and after 1621 in Leuven.[2] He died in the latter city on 11 January 1631,[5] and was buried in the St. Peter Church in Leuven, near the tomb of Thomas Stapleton.[3]
