Anna Bijns

Anna Bijns (* 1493 in Antwerp, † 1575 same place ) was a Dutch writer.

Life

Anna Bijns was the eldest daughter of a tailor. After the death of her father and her sister's wedding, she opened with her brother Martin a school in Antwerp. 1536, after the marriage of her brother, she taught until her 80th year on in their school. Anna Bijns was one of the few women that belonged to a teachers union. The Franciscans encouraged her, her work Chambres de Rhétoriques to publish. Her work is made up of religious and moralizing poems on the one hand and polemical refrains against Luther, on the other, but also love poems and various satirical verses can be found in her work. Considered to be the spearhead of the Counter-Reformation in the Netherlands, we compared them with Philippe de Marnix de Sainte- Aldegonde, a polemical poet who opposed the Reformation thought of Calvin.

On today still reminds of Anna Bijns Prijs (Anna - Bijns price).

Works

• Choruses, three collections of poems, written in the years 1528, 1548 and 1567