Editing Constantijn Huygens

{{Short description|Dutch poet and composer (1596–1687)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = [[Sir]]
| name               = Constantijn Huygens
| image              = Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt.jpg
| alt                = A painted image of Constantijn Huygens, by Dutch painter Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt.
| caption            = Huygens, painted by [[Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt]] in 1641
| birth_name         = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1596|9|4}}
| birth_place        = [[The Hague]], [[Dutch Republic]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1687|3|28|1596|9|4}}
| death_place        = [[The Hague]], [[Dutch Republic]]
| resting_place      = [[Grote or Sint-Jacobskerk (The Hague)|Grote Kerk]], The Hague
| nationality        = Dutch
| spouse             = [[Suzanna van Baerle]]
| children           = [[Christiaan Huygens]], [[Constantijn Huygens Jr.]], [[Lodewijk Huygens]], [[Philips Huygens]], [[Susanna Huygens]]
| occupation         = [[Stadtholder]], [[poet]], [[composer]], [[architect]]
| education          = [[University of Leiden]]
}}

'''Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aɪ|ɡ|ən|z}} {{respell|HY|gənz}},<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Huygens |title=Huygens |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}{{dead link|date=September 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|USalso|ˈ|h|ɔɪ|ɡ|ən|z}} {{respell|HOY|gənz}},<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Huygens|accessdate=11 October 2020}}</ref><ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/huygens "Huygens"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{IPA|nl|ˈkɔnstɑntɛin ˈɦœyɣə(n)s|lang}}; 4 September 1596{{spaced ndash}}28 March 1687), was a [[Dutch Golden Age]] poet and [[composer]]. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: [[Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange|Frederick Henry]] and [[William II, Prince of Orange|William&nbsp;II]], and the father of the scientist [[Christiaan Huygens]].

==Biography==
Constantijn Huygens was born in [[The Hague]], the second son of Christiaan Huygens (senior), secretary of [[States General of the Netherlands|the Council of State]],<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Huygens, Sir Constantijn |volume=14 |page=22 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund Gosse}}</ref> and Susanna Hoefnagel, niece of the [[Antwerp]] painter [[Joris Hoefnagel]].

==Education==
{{Unsourced | section|date=February 2024}}
Constantijn was a gifted child. His brother '''Maurits''' and he were educated partly by their father and partly by carefully instructed governors. When he was five years old, Constantijn and his brother received their first musical education.

===Music education===
They started with singing lessons, and they learned their notes using gold-coloured buttons on their jackets. It is striking that Christiaan senior imparted the "modern" system of 7 note names to the boys, instead of the traditional, but much more complicated [[hexachord]] system. Two years later the first lessons on the viol started, followed by the lute and the harpsichord. Constantijn showed a particular acumen for the lute. At the age of eleven he was already asked to play for ensembles, and later—during his diplomatic travels—his lute playing was in demand; he was asked to play at the Danish Court and for [[James I of England]], although they were not known for their musical patronage. In later years he also learnt the more modern guitar. In 1647 he published in Paris his ''Pathodia sacra et profana'' with his compositions of [[airs de cour]] in French, [[madrigals]] in Italian and Psalms in Latin.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Art instruction===
They were also schooled in art through their parents' art collection, but also their connection to the magnificent collection of paintings in the Antwerp house of diamond and jewellery dealer, Gaspar Duarte (1584–1653), who was a Portuguese Jewish exile.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Language lessons===
Constantijn also had a talent for languages. He learned [[French language|French]], [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]], and at a later age [[Italian language|Italian]], [[German language|German]] and [[English language|English]]. He learned by practice, the modern way of learning techniques. Constantijn received education in [[maths]], [[law]] and [[logic]] and he learned how to handle a [[pike (weapon)|pike]] and a [[musket]].

In 1614 Constantijn wrote his first Dutch poem, inspired by the French poet [[Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas]], in which he praises rural life. In his early 20s, he fell in love with Dorothea; however, their relationship did not last and Dorothea met someone else.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In 1616, Maurits and Constantijn started studies at [[Leiden University]].<ref name=EB1911/> Studying in Leiden was primarily seen as a way to build a social network. Shortly after, Maurits was called home to assist his father. Constantijn finished his studies in 1617 and returned home.<ref name=EB1911/> This was followed by six weeks of training with Antonis de Hubert, a lawyer in [[Zierikzee]]. De Hubert was committed to the study of language and writing, having held consultations with [[Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft]], [[Laurens Reael]] and [[Joost van den Vondel]] concerning language and orthography in 1623.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==Early career==
{{Moresources | section|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Jacob van Campen 002.jpg|thumb|right|[[Suzanna van Baerle|Susanna van Baerle]] (1599-1637), and her husband Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), painted by [[Jacob van Campen]]]]
In the Spring of 1618 Constantijn found employment with [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester|Sir Dudley Carleton]], the English envoy at the Court in The Hague.<ref name=EB1911/> In the summer, he stayed in [[London]] in the house of the Dutch ambassador, [[Noël de Caron]]. During his time in London his social circle widened and he also learned to speak English. In 1620, towards the end of the [[Twelve Years' Truce]], he travelled as a secretary of ambassador [[Francis van Aarssens|François van Aerssen]] to [[Venice]], to gain support against the threat of renewed war. He was the only member of the legation who could speak Italian.

===London===
In January 1621, he traveled to England as the secretary of six envoys of the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] with the object of persuading James I to support the [[German Protestant Union]]. They lodged in [[Lombard Street, London|Lombard Street]] and were taken by coach to [[Whitehall Palace]] to King James and then to [[Charles I of England|Prince Charles]] at [[St James's Palace]] where they realised they had delivered the letters for the prince to the king, and Huygens made an excuse of the poor light. On Shrove-Tuesday they saw a masque at Whitehall presented by the gentlemen of the [[Middle Temple]]. They returned in April of that year, Huygens with the king's gift of a gold chain worth £45.<ref>John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', (London, 1828), pp. 649, 653, 663, quoting from [[John Finet]], ''Philoxenis''.</ref> In December 1621 he left with another delegation, this time with the aim of requesting support for the United Provinces, returning after a year and two months in February 1623. There was yet another trip to England in 1624.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

===Muiderkring===
He is often considered a member of what is known as the [[Muiderkring]], a group of leading intellectuals gathered around the poet [[Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft]], who met regularly at the castle of [[Muiden]] near [[Amsterdam]]. In 1619 Constantijn came into contact with [[Anna Roemers Visscher]] and with Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. Huygens exchanged many poems with Anna. In 1621 a poetic exchange with Hooft also starts. Both would always try to exceed the other. In October of that year Huygens sent [[Jacob Cats]] a large poem in Dutch, entitled '' 't Voorhout'', about a woodland near the Hague. In December he started writing '' 't Kostelick Mal'', a satirical treatment of the nonsense of the current vogue. 

In 1623, Huygens wrote his ''Printen'', a description of several characteristics of people. This satirical, moralising work was one of the most difficult of Huygens' poems. In the same year [[Maria Tesselschade Visscher|Maria Tesselschade]] and Allard Crombalch were married. For this occasion verses were written by Huygens, Hooft and Vondel. During the festival, Constantijn flirted with Machteld of Camps. As a result of this he wrote the poem ''Vier en Vlam''. In 1625 the work ''Otia'', or ''Ledige Uren'', was published. This work showcased his collected poems.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===English knighthood and marriage===
In 1622, when Constantijn stayed as a [[diplomat]] for more than one year in England, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by [[King James I of England|King James I]].<ref name=EB1911/> This marked the end of Constantijn's formative years, and of his youth. During his time in England, in December 1622, he was robbed of his papers and £200 in gold from his coach as he set out on the way to [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]].<ref>John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', (London, 1828), p. 782.</ref>

Huygens was employed as a [[secretary]] to [[Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange]], who—after the death of Maurits of Orange—was appointed as ''[[stadtholder]].'' In 1626 Constantijn fell in love with [[Suzanna van Baerle]] after earlier [[courtship]] by the Huygens family to win her for his brother Maurits had failed. Constantijn wrote several [[sonnets]] for her, in which he calls her ''Sterre'' (Star). They wed on 6 April 1627.

Huygens describes their marriage in ''Dagh-werck'', a description of one day. He worked on this piece, which contains almost 2000 lines, during the entire time they were married. In one of the preserved manuscripts of this work it appears Suzanna transcribed (or wrote herself) a substantial portion of the work, suggesting a close collaboration between husband and wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Held|first=Julius S.|date=December 1991|title=Constantijn Huygens and Susanna van Baerle: A Hitherto Unknown Portrait|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=73|issue=4|pages=653–668|doi=10.2307/3045835|jstor=3045835}}</ref>

The couple had five children: in 1628 their first son, [[Constantijn Huygens, Jr.|Constantijn Jr.]], in 1629 [[Christiaan Huygens|Christiaan]], in 1631 [[Lodewijck Huygens|Lodewijk]] and in 1633 Philips. In 1637 their daughter Suzanna was born; shortly after her birth their mother died.

===Education of his sons and the new royal Prince===
In 1645, his sons Constantijn Jr. and Christiaan began their studies in Leiden. In these years Prince [[Frederick Henry of Orange]], Huygens' confidante and protector, became increasingly ill, and died in 1647.  The new [[stadtholder]], [[William II of Orange]], greatly appreciated Huygens and gave him the estate of [[Zeelhem]], but he died too in 1650.

The emphasis of Huygens' activities moved more and more to his presidency of the Council of the house of Orange, which was in the hands of the young Prince inheritor, a small baby. He traveled frequently during that time, in connection with his work. There were however strong disagreements between the baby's widowed grandmother [[Amalia of Solms-Braunfels|Amalia van Solms]], and its widowed mother (her daughter in law) [[Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange|Mary, Princess Royal]], (4 November 1631 – 24 December 1660, aged 29) on even the name for christening the Dutch-English Royal newborn.
 
In 1657, his son Philips died after a short sickness during his [[Grand Tour]] while in [[Prussia]]. In that same year Huygens became seriously ill, but healed in a miraculous manner.

In 1680, Constantijn Jr. moved with his family out of the house of his father. To stop the gossiping that started shortly afterwards, Huygens wrote the poem ''Cluijs-werck'', in which he shows a glimpse of the latter stages of his life.

==Later career and French knighthood==
[[Image:Adriaen Hanneman - Constantijn Huygens and his-five-children.png|thumb|right|Huygens and his children by [[Adriaen Hanneman]], [[Mauritshuis]], The Hague]]
Huygens started a successful career despite his grief over the death of his wife (1638). In 1630 he was appointed to the Council and Exchequer, managing the estate of the [[House of Orange|Orange family]]. This job provided him with an income of about 1000 [[Dutch gulden|florins]] a year. In that same year he bought the [[heerlijkheid]] [[Zuilichem]] and became known as '''Lord of Zuilichem''' (in Dutch: Heer van Zuilichem).<ref>[http://www.nationalgallery.ie/en/Conservation/Featured_Projects/Battle_Of_Boyne/Project_Blog/Blog13_30Sept.aspx The Lord of Zuilichem] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206105238/http://www.nationalgallery.ie/en/Conservation/Featured_Projects/Battle_Of_Boyne/Project_Blog/Blog13_30Sept.aspx |date=2017-02-06 }} - website of the National Gallery of Ireland</ref><ref>[http://www.essentialvermeer.com/history/huygens.html#.WJfHs1XhDIU Constantijn Huygens: Lord of Zuilichem] - website of Essential Vermeer</ref> In 1632, [[Louis XIII of France]] - the protector of the famous exiled jurist [[Hugo Grotius]] - appointed him as Knight of the [[Order of Saint-Michel]]. In 1643 Huygens was granted the honor of displaying a golden lily on a blue field in his coat of arms.

In 1634 Huygens received from Prince Frederick Henry a piece of property in The Hague on the north side of the [[Binnenhof]]. The land was near the property of a good friend of Huygens, [[Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen|Count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen]], who built his house, the [[Mauritshuis]], around the same time and using the same architect, Huygens' friend [[Jacob van Campen]].

===Correspondence===
Aside from his ''membership'' in the Muiderkring (which was not as formerly supposed, an official club), at the start of the 1630s he was also in touch with [[René Descartes]],<ref name=":0">Sanford Budick, “Descartes’s Cogito, Kant’s Sublime, and Rembrandt’s Philosophers: Cultural Transmission as Occasion for Freedom,” from A Journal of Literary History (Washington: Modern Language Quarterly, 1997), 38.</ref> with [[Rembrandt]],<ref name=":0" /> and the painter [[Jan Lievens]]. He became friends with [[John Donne]],<ref name=EB1911/> and translated his poems into Dutch. He was unable to write poetry for months because of his anguish over his wife's death, but eventually he composed, inspired by [[Petrarch]], the sonnet ''Op de dood van Sterre'' (On the death of Sterre), which was well received. He added the poem to his ''Dagh-werck'', which he left unfinished: the day he has described has not ended yet, but his Sterre is already dead. After sending the unfinished work to different friends for approval, he eventually published it in 1658 as part of his ''Koren-bloemen''.

Huygens also corresponded with [[Margaret Croft]] and [[Elizabeth Dudley, Countess of Löwenstein]], ladies in waiting to [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia]], and [[Mary Woodhouse]], a friend made in London in 1622.<ref>Lisa Jardine, [https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/temptation-in-the-archives ''Temptation in the Archives'' (UCL: London, 2015)], pp. 1-17.</ref>

==Hofwijck==
{{main|Hofwijck}}
[[File:Hofwijck westkant.JPG|thumb|Hofwijck, the country retreat of Huygens and his family.]]
After a couple of years as a widower, Huygens bought a piece of land in [[Voorburg]] and commissioned the building of [[Hofwijck]].<ref>[http://www.hofwijck.nl/en/ Official website of Huygens' Hofwijck]</ref> Hofwijck was inaugurated in 1642 in the company of friends and relatives. Here Huygens hoped to escape the stress at court in The Hague, forming his own "court", indicated by the name of the house which has a double meaning: Hof (=Court or courtyard) Wijck (=avoid or township). In that same year, his brother Maurits died. Due to his grief Huygens wrote little Dutch poetry, but he continued to write [[epigrams]] in Latin. Shortly afterwards, he began writing Dutch pun poems, which are very playful by nature. In 1644 and 1645 Huygens began more serious work. As a new year's present for Leonore Hellemans, he composed the ''Heilige Daghen'', a series of sonnets on the Christian holidays. In 1644, a garlanded portrait of Huygens was painted by [[Daniel Seghers]] and [[Jan Cossiers]]: it is now in the [[Mauritshuis]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Acquisitions of the month: October 2018 |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/acquisitions-of-the-month-october-2018/ |website=Apollo Magazine|date=9 November 2018 }}</ref> In 1647 he published another work, in which play and seriousness are united, ''Ooghentroost'', addressed to Lucretia of Trello, who was losing her sight and who was already half-blind. The poem was offered as consolation.

From 1650 to 1652 Huygens wrote the poem ''Hofwijck'' in which he described the joys of living outside the city. It is thought that Huygens wrote his poetry as a testament to himself, a ''memento mori'', because Huygens lost so many dear friends and family during this time: Hooft (1647), Barlaeus (1648), Maria Tesschelschade (1649) and Descartes (1650).{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==Writing==
He still tried to find time to publish more of his work. In 1647 a number of Huygens' musical creations, ''[[Pathodia sacra et profana]],'' was published in Paris. It contained vocal compositions in Latin (Psalms), French, and Italian (secular texts). The work was dedicated to Utricia Ogle, a niece of an English diplomat.

In 1648 Huygens wrote ''Twee ongepaerde handen'' for harpsichord. This work was dedicated to Marietje Casembroot, a twenty-five-year-old harpsichord player, with whom he shared his love of music.

In 1657 the collected work of his Dutch poems, the ''Koren-bloemen'' appears. Some of its contents contain: ''Heilighe Daghen'' (1645), ''Ooghen-troost'' (1647), ''Hofwijck'' (1653) and ''Trijntje Cornelis'' (1653). This last work, ''Trijntje Cornelis'', is an explosion of Huygens' creativity. It testifies to the rare language - and expressive capacity - of the author. Considering that the piece was written in a rather short time, it can be considered work of an enormous performance. Since his mother Suzanna was from [[Antwerp]], he visited there often and ''Trijntje Cornelis'' takes place in Antwerp.

In 1660 his daughter Suzanna married her cousin, Philips Doublet, son of Huygens' sister Geertruijd. In 1661, a grandfather by now, Huygens was sent to France by the circle of tutors of William III, to recover possession of the county of Orange. The county was returned to the family of Orange-Nassau in 1665 and Huygens returned to the Netherlands.

On his return, Huygens designed the new sand road in The Hague, running through the dunes to [[Scheveningen]]. He had already planned this road in 1653, and wrote about it in his work the ''Zee-straet''. The road was made according to Huygens' design.

In 1676 the second edition of the ''Koren-bloemen'' appeared, a collected work containing 27 books. New in this edition were the ''Zee-straet'', the ''Mengelingh'' (a section of serious poems written after 1657) and seven books with ''snel-dichten'' (quick poems). As he was older now, Huygens found refuge in music. He wrote around 769 compositions during his lifetime.

==Legacy==
[[Image:Scheveningse-zee-straet.jpg|thumb|Drawing of the ''Zee-straet'']]
Constantijn Huygens died in [[The Hague]] on Good Friday, 28 March 1687 at the age of 90. A week later he was buried in the [[Grote or Sint-Jacobskerk (The Hague)|Grote Kerk]] in the Hague. His son, the scientist [[Christiaan Huygens]] was later buried with his father.

In 1947 a literary award was created, the [[Constantijn Huygens Prize]], to honor his legacy.

==Constantijn Huygens in fiction==
Constantijn Huygens plays a major part in Brian Howell's novel, [[Zagava#Bibliography|''The Curious Case of Jan Torrentius'' (Zagava, Düsseldorf, 2017)]], an expanded edition of his previous collection of novellas, [[Zagava#Bibliography|''The Stream and The Torrent: Jan Torrentius and The Followers of the Rosy Cross: Vol.1'' (Zagava/Les Éditions de L'Oubli, 2014)]]

== Bibliography ==
*''Spaense wijsheit'' (without year)
*1621 ''Batava Tempe, dat is 't Voor-hout van 's-Gravenhage''
*1623 ''De uytlandighe herder''
*1622 ''Kerkuria mastix, satyra, Dat is, 't costelick mal''
*1624 ''Stede-stemmen en dorpen''
*1624 ''Zedeprinten''
*1625 ''Otiorum libri sex''
*1638 ''Dagh-werck''
*1641 ''Ghebruyck en onghebryck van 't orgel''
*1644 ''Momenta desultoria (republished in 1655)''
*1647 ''Eufrasia, Ooghentroost. Aen Parthenine, bejaerde maecht, over de verduysteringh van haer een ooghe''
*1647 ''Heilighe daghen''
*1647 ''Pathodia sacra et profana''
*1653 ''Trijntje Cornelis''
*1653 ''Vitaulium. Hofwijck, Hofstede vanden Heere van Zuylichem onder Voorburgh''
*1656-1657 ''translated proverbs''
*1658 ''Korenbloemen (republished in 1672)''
*1667 ''Zee-straet''
*1841 ''Cluys-werck''<ref name=EB1911/> (published by [[W. J. A. Jonckbloet]])

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
*[[Hofwijck]]
*[[Constantijn Huygens, Jr.]]
*[[Christiaan Huygens]]
*[[Sutherland Loan]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020804122608/http://www.etcl.nl/goldenage/huygens.stm The Constantijn Huygens Web] - collection of poems
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Huygens,+Constantijn | name=Constantijn Huygens}}
* [http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/blog/?catalogue=constantijn-huygens The Correspondence of Constantijn Huygens] in [http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home EMLO]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Constantijn Huygens}}
* [http://www.hofwijck.nl/en Hofwijck]
* [http://www.dbnl.nl/auteurs/auteur.php?id=huyg001 Portraits of Constantijn Huygens]
* [http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/Huygens Correspondence of Constantijn Huygens]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huygens, Constantijn}}
[[Category:1596 births]]
[[Category:1687 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch poets]]
[[Category:17th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Dutch Baroque composers]]
[[Category:Dutch male classical composers]]
[[Category:Dutch classical composers]]
[[Category:Dutch Golden Age writers]]
[[Category:Dutch male poets]]
[[Category:Dutch lutenists]]
[[Category:Muiderkring]]
[[Category:Recipients of honorary British knighthoods]]
[[Category:17th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:Writers from The Hague]]
[[Category:Huygens family|Constantijn]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch musicians]]
[[Category:Scholars of Dutch art]]
[[Category:Rembrandt scholars]]