Janus Lernutius

Jan Leernout, Latinized Janus Lernutius (1545–1619) was a Latin poet from the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).

Life Leernout was born to a wealthy family in Bruges on 15 November 1545. He was educated in Ghent and Antwerp, and then at the University of Leuven. Around 1565 he travelled to Paris, where he became friends with Janus Dousa and Lucas Fruytier. The three encouraged one another in writing poetry, particularly translating epigrams from book 7 of the Greek Anthology into Latin. He wrote a farewell elegy when Giselinus returned to the Low Countries, then himself travelled to Italy. Encomiastica ordinibus Mandria universim et singillatim consecrata (Bruges, P. Soutaert, 1604) Epinicia honori et virtuti ducis Ambros. Spinulae dicata (Antwerp, Hieronymus Verdussen, 1607) Epicedia, sive funus Lipsianum immortalitati sacr. (Antwerp, Hieronymus Verdussen, 1607) Idyllia Filio Dei et magnae Matri Virgini sacra (Leuven, Sassius, 1612) Initia, basia, ocelli et alia poemata ab ipso auctore publicata (Leiden, Lodewijk Elzevir, 1614) De natura et cultu Karoli I, comitis Flandriae (Bruges, Guillaume de Neve, 1621)