Poets

Nicolaas Beets

Nicolaas Beets is born in Haarlem on September 13, 1814. He was the son of a pharmacist and studied theology from 1833 till 1839 at the University of Leiden, where he was graduated as a doctor. He became minister at the Dutch-Reformed church in Heemstede. In the same year he married Aleida Van Foreest. In Heemstede he founded the city school that still bears his name. In 1854 he was called to Utrecht and became a professor of church history at the University of Leiden. Using his own name he wrote poems, sermons and literary texts. He also published using an alias: 'Crito', 'a gospel servant' and 'Hildebrand'. He died on March 13, 1903 in Utrecht as a result of a brain haemorrhage.