Janus Dousa - Publications

Publications

In 1569 Dousa published his first collection of poems (epigrams, satires, elegies, etc.). A new collection appeared in 1575. This collection contains (among other poems) five Odae Lugdunenses on the siege of Leiden. In 1584 a volume of epodes was issued. In 1585 Dousa wrote the Odae Britannicae. 1586 saw the release of a new book of elegies.

In 1599 and 1601 Dousa’s historiographical works appeared. In 1603 a poetic volume called Echo and a collection of three odes was released. Some more works were issued posthumously. Apart from these literary works Dousa published collections of text-critical remarks on and editions of classical authors: Sallust, Horace, Catullus, Tibullus, Petronius, Plautus, Propertius, Lucilius.

Dousa’s historiographical labour is especially relevant. In 1585, when Dousa was 40 years old, he became the first Librarian at Leiden University Library with a special commission to write a history of Holland. At that moment however, he had been pursuing historical studies for several years. If one is to trust Heinsius’ eulogy, Dousa had been studying history since the moment he returned from France. Letters from the years 1582 and 1583 prove that Dousa had at least been deepening his knowledge of the history of Holland since 1577. In the letter from 1582 one even comes across a specimen of his Annales written in hexameters. In 1584 Dousa edited the work of Adrianus Barlandus, a historiographer from Zeeland.

His first accomplishment after his commission in 1585 was the posthumous publication of the work of Hadrianus Junius in 1588. However, his political activities prevented him from finishing his own history within a few years. In 1593 two Epistulae apologeticae were published in which Dousa apologized for the fact that the commissioned work had still not appeared. However, the States of Holland had to wait for their history still longer when Dousa’s eldest son died in 1597. Sorrow kept Dousa from finishing his work until 1599. In this year the metrical Annales were published. Finally, the commissioned prose history (Bataviae Hollandiaeque Annales) was published in 1601. Dousa was rewarded by the States of Holland with a golden chain, a medal, and exemption from the obligation to appear in the Supreme Court. In 1604 Dousa intended to edit the works of the historians Johannes de Beka and Willem Heda, but on October 8 of the same year he died of the plague before he was able to realize this plan.

• Jani Dousae filii Poemata. - Roterodami : apud Adrianum van Dijk, 1704. digital