Georgius Macropedius

Georgius Macropedius (1487, possibly 23 April, to the end of July 1558), also known as Joris van Lanckvelt, was a Dutch humanist, schoolmaster and 'the greatest Latin playwright of the 16th century'.

Macropedius was born as Joris van Lanckvelt in Gemert (Northern Brabant, the Netherlands) in 1487. Little is known about his boyhood. After having attended the parish school, Joris van Lanckvelt moved to 's-Hertogenbosch. Here, he attended the local grammar school. Joris lived in one of the boarding-houses of the Brothers of the Common Life, who were followers of the Modern Devotion. In 1502, at the age of fifteen, he became a member of the fraternity and prepared for a career in teaching. About ten years later he was ordained and started teaching Latin at the municipal grammar school. In the years 1506–1510 he had already started writing Latin plays for his students. The first drafts of his drama Asotus (The Prodigal Son) date from this period. He took on a classic name, as was the custom among sixteenth century humanists. Joris became Georgius and Van Lanckvelt was translated into Macropedius.

In 1524 he was appointed headmaster of St. Jerome's in Liège. The Liège grammar school flourished due to activities of both Macropedius and others. In 1527 Macropedius returned to 's-Hertogenbosch and by the end of 1530 Macropedius had already moved to Utrecht, at the time the largest city in the northern part of the Netherlands. Macropedius, who apparently enjoyed some fame at the time and was reputed to be a loyal Roman Catholic, was appointed headmaster. He transformed St. Jerome's in Utrecht into the most famous school in the country. He taught Latin, Greek, poetry, rhetoric, and possibly Hebrew, mathematics and theory of music, too. Every year he composed both text and music of a lengthy Latin school song. At St. Jerome's he wrote most of his Latin textbooks and plays, which were published not only in Utrecht, but also in Antwerp, Basel, Cologne, Frankfurt, 's-Hertogenbosch, Paris and in London.

In the years 1552–1554 his collected works were revised and edited in two volumes in Utrecht: Omnes Georgii Macropedii Fabulae Comicae. The songs were now printed together with their music. Afterwards, he only wrote one more play: Jesus Scholasticus.

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