Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero

Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero was born in Amsterdam on 16 March 1585 and died there on 23 August 1618, at thirty-three. A poet and playwright of the Dutch Golden Age, he knew no Latin or Greek, and wrote in the speech of his own city: his farces and comedies, such as De Spaanschen Brabander, brought the talk of Amsterdam's lower classes to the stage.

His songs were collected after his death and printed in 1622 as the Boertigh Liedt-Boeck (Facetious Song-Book), the Groote Bron der Minnen (The Great Fountain of Love) and the Aendachtigh Liedt-Boeck (Meditative Song-Book). The English versions here come from John Bowring's Batavian Anthology (1824), written with Harry S. van Dyk, where he is spelled 'Brederode'.