Description

More than forty years ago, during an Arbeitsgespräch at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Barbara Becker-Cantarino presented a thorough analysis of the many inscriptions by the Ghent poet and Leiden professor Daniel Heinsius (1585–1655). In the proceedings of this Arbeitsgespräch, she added an impressive list of more than sixty of these inscriptions. The aim of this contribution is to settle in favour of Heinsius the question raised a few years ago, viz. whether to consider Justus Lipsius or Heinsius the most prolific contributor to alba amicorum in the Netherlands. Therefore, we present a new list here containing more than a hundred inscriptions by Daniel Heinsius; we examine their Greek and Latin components and explore the circumstances in which they were written. Furthermore, we provide an answer to several questions raised in Becker-Cantarino’s list, which concern the actual whereabouts or ownership of some alba.