Het zakboekje van Piero: profiel van een rederijker.

Abstract

Pieter Cornelisz van der Mersch (ca. 1545-1629), also known as Piero, was active as a rhetorician (rederijker) for more than half a century, not only as the so called 'fool' of the Leiden chamber De Witte Acoleyen, but also as a serious poet. This article presents several corrections and additions on his biographical sketch as given by Pieter van Thiel. Then it focuses on two manuscripts by Piero, a collection of songs and a - until now hardly noticed - personal notebook, containing over forty refrains and other texts. Piero was not a very talented poet. His work nevertheless provides new information on the activities of the Dutch rhetoricians during the years 1600-1620. It also enables us to reconstruct Piero's political and religious thoughts. He converted from a supporter of the war against Spain into an advocate of peace during the Twelve Year Truce (1609-1621). As far as his religion is concerned, Piero was a protestant who supported the Erasmian ideal of tolerance.