Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert

Dirck Volkertszoon Coornhert (* 1522 in Amsterdam, † October 29, 1590 in Gouda ) was a Dutch poet, scholar and politician.

Coornhert lived since 1542 in Haarlem, where he worked with the painter Maarten van Heemskerck. 1561 Coornhert notary and was town clerk in 1562. When he (Spanish Netherlands see ) was arrested in 1568 in the Hague for resistance against the Spanish rule of the Netherlands, he fled into exile in Kleve and later to Xanten. In 1572, he joined as Secretary of State in the service of William of Orange during the Eighty Years' War. From 1577 to 1587 Coornhert lived again as a notary in Haarlem, then until his death in Gouda.

Coornhert regarded as an opponent of Calvinism, and as a pioneer of classical literature in the Netherlands. He translated works of Cicero, Seneca and Erasmus ' and created with " Dolinghe van Ulysse " a major epic of Dutch literature.