UBBO

EMMIUS (1547–1625)  , Dutch historian and geographer, was born at Gretha in East Friesland on the 5th of December 1547 . After studying at Rostock, he spent two years in Geneva, where he became intimate with Theodore Beza; and returning to the Netherlands was appointed the principal of a college at Norden, a position which he lost in 1587 because, as a Calvinist, he would not subscribe to the confession of Augsburg . Subsequently he was head of a college at Leer, and in 1594 became rector of the college at Groningen, and when in 1614 this college became a university he was chosen principal and professor of history and Greek, and by his wise guidance and his learning speedily raised the new university to a position of eminence . He was on friendly terms with Louis, count of Nassau; corresponded with many of the learned men of his time; and died at Groningen on the 9th of December 1625 . He was twice married, and left a son and a daughter . The chief works of Emmius are: Rerum Frisicarum historiae decades, in six parts, a complete edition of which was published at Leiden in 1616; Opus chronologicum (Groningen, 1619); Vetus Graecia illustrata (Leiden, 1626); and Historia temporis nostri, which was first published at Groningen in 1732 . An account of his life, written by Nicholas Mulerius, was published, with the lives of other professors of Groningen, at Groningen in 1638 . See N . G. van Kampen, Geschiedenis der letteren en wetenschappen in de Nederlanden (The Hague, 1821-1826) .