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Frederick de Marselaer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Frederick de Marselaer by Gaspar de Crayer (c.1625–1630)

Frederick de Marselaer (1584–1670) was a mayor of Brussels and the author of a treatise on diplomacy.

Life

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Marselaer was born in the city of Antwerp in 1584. He studied Law at the University of Leuven, graduating on 23 March 1611, and then made a tour of Italy.[1]

In 1613 he was admitted to the Roodenbeke lineage, one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, making him a patrician of the city of Brussels. Between 1614 and 1659 he served ten terms as an alderman of Brussels, and between 1623 and 1651 seven terms as mayor.[1]

In 1617 he was knighted, and in 1622 he organized local levies to repulse Dutch raiders from Vilvoorde. In 1659 he was raised to the rank of baron.[1]

The first edition of his treatise on ambassadors was published in 1618, under the title Khpykeion, sive legationum insigne. It went into a second edition in 1626 under the title Legatus libri duo, and further editions under this title in 1644, 1663 and 1666.

Marselaer died on 7 November 1670.[1]

Works

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Title page of Frederick de Marselaer's Legatus (1666), engraved by Cornelis Galle the Younger after a design by Peter Paul Rubens

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Alphonse Wauters, "Marselaer, Frédéric de", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 13 (Brussels, 1895), 854-860.