Monday, May 28, 2007


Anna Bijns

Anna Bijns is born in 1493 in Antwerp, Belgium and died in Antwerp too, in 1575. She was a Dutch writer.

Biography

Anna Bijns was the elder daughter of a tailor (someone who makes men clothes), she opened a school in Antwerp together with her brother Martin, following the death of her father and marriage of her sister. She taught until she was 80 years old.

Anna Bijns was the first Dutch independent writer, she also wasn’t married. The time she lived in were big changes. In 1425 the book printing was invented, what was used more and more. The Renaissance came too, beginner of the individualism. And the (Protestant) Reformation made it very busy and she didn’t like that.
Anna Bijns was one of the rare women to be part of the brotherhood of instructors. The Franciscans encouraged her to publish her work. (Chambres de Rhétoriques (French, literally chambers of rhetorics). She is often recognized by the Renaissance Humanists, who consider her the bestselling Dutch author of the 16th century.
Her work consists of religious and moralizing poems and polemic refrains against Martin Luther, who she considered an instrument of evil, but also of love poems and various satires.

Joris Vroegop, T2A

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