Adolf van Meetkercke

Adolf van Meetkercke[1] (1528–1591) (Latin: Adolphus Mekerchus) was a Flemish diplomat and humanist.

Adolf van Meetkercke, engraving by James Basire.

Life

He was born in Bruges, into a wealthy family of the nobility.[2]

In 1577, after the Pacification of Ghent, he travelled to England on a diplomatic mission concerned with the First Union of Brussels, with the Marquis of Havrech (Havré), Charles Philippe de Croÿ (1549-1613).[2]

In 1580, he became a Protestant convert.[3] He accompanied Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde to France, to negotiate the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours with François of Alençon. He was then appointed as chairman of the Flemish governing council.[2] His support for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in 1587 led to his becoming an exile in England, leaving with Hadrian Saravia. This followed a failed plot to mount a coup in Leiden on behalf of Leicester.[4][5][6]

He died in London.

Works

Hubert Goltzius published his translations of Moschus and Bion of Smyrna in 1565.[7]

He wrote a commendatory poem for the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of Abraham Ortelius.[8]

Family

He married the widow of Jean Wijts of Bruges.[9] With Jacoba Cerbina he had four sons: Adolf, Nicolaas, Anthony, and Baldwin.[4] Nicolaas and Baldwin were killed at the siege of Deventer, Anthony at Zutphen.[10]

Margaret, daughter of John Lichtervelde, was his second wife; Edward Meetkerke, an English clergyman, was his son with her.[4] His daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Westfield.[11] There was another daughter of this marriage, Salome.[2]

References

  1. ↑ There are numerous variants, in particular found in the English State Papers; Meetkerke, Meetkerk, Meetkirk, Meddykyrk, Medekerk, Medkerke, Midkerke, Meetkerque, Meetquerque, Metkerke, Mettkerke, Mekerke, Merkerke etc.; Mekerchus, Medkerkius, Metkerkius. Also Adolph or Adolphus.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 (German) de:s:ADB:Meetkercke, Adolf van
  3. ↑ Willem Nijenhuis, Adrianus Saravia (c. 1532-1613): Dutch Calvinist, first reformed defender of the English episcopal church order on the basis of the ius divinum (1980), p. 102; Google Books.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Larminie, Vivienne. "Meetkerke, Edward". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18512. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ↑ C. C. Barfoot, Richard Todd, The Great Emporium: the Low Countries as a cultural crossroads in the Renaissance and the eighteenth century (1992), p. 88; Google Books.
  6. ↑ Randolph Vigne, Charles Littleton, From Strangers to Citizens: the integration of immigrant communities in Britain, Ireland, and colonial America, 1550-1750 (2001), p. 72; Google Books.
  7. ↑ Werner Waterschoot, Schouwende Fantasye (2002), p. 205; Google Books.
  8. ↑ Denis E. Cosgrove, Apollo's Eye: A Cartographic Genealogy of the Earth in the Western Imagination (2003), p. 130; Google Books.
  9. ↑ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=f59h2ooQGmcC&pg=PA297
  10. ↑ Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic history of the Landed Hentry of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2 (1894), p. 1373; archive.org.
  11. ↑  "Westfield, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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