Adrian or Adriaan Damman of Bysterveldt a native of
Ghent,[1] He was a diplomatic agent of the
Dutch Republic in Scotland in the 1590s.[2] Damman was an author, and taught at the
University of Edinburgh.[3]
In February 1598, Damman became involved in controversy when he contributed to a succession tract, a pamphlet arguing that
James VI of Scotland should become King of England. The English diplomat
George Nicholson reported that
David Foulis had directed the printer
Robert Waldegrave to publish a
Latin succession tract written by Walter Quinn, a tutor to
Prince Henry and corrected and edited by Damman. Such works argued that
James VI should be Elizabeth's successor. Waldegrave was reluctant to print it. No copies of this work are known to have survived.[6] This work was A Pithie Exhortation to her Majesty for Establishing a Successor to the Crown, printed by Waldegrave in 1598.[7]
Schediasmata Hadr. Damanis a Bisterveld gandavensis (Edinburgh, Robert Waldegrave, 1590), a description of the voyages of
James VI of Scotland and
Anne of Denmark and their wedding.
Bartasias; de mundi creatione (Edinburgh, Robert Waldegrave, 1600), a translation of works by
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, a poet admired by James VI.
References
^Jacques Alexandre de Chalmot, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden, vol. 5 (Amsterdam, 1800), pp. 206-8.
^Esther Mijers, 'Diplomatic Visit', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2014), 266.
^James Maidment, Letters and State Papers during the Reign of James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1838), p. 23.
^'Extracts from the Register of Baptisms', Edinburgh', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 174: Michael Apted & Susan Hannabuss, Dictionary of Painters in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 98, citing National Records of Scotland, Old Parish Records, Edinburgh, vol. 1, fols. 9, 32, 59, 101.
^John Duncan Mackie, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1597–1603, 13:1 (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 167: Nicholas Tyacke, 'Puritan Politicians and King James VI and I', Thomas Cogswell, Richard Cust, Peter Lake, Politics, Religion and Popularity in Early Stuart Britain: Essays in Honour of Conrad Russell (Cambridge, 2002), p. 35.
^Tara L. Lyons, 'Male Birth Fantasies and Maternal Monarchs', in Helen Ostovich, Holger Schott Syme, Andrew Griffin, Locating the Queen's Men, 1583–1603 (Ashgate, 2009), pp. 196, 259.
^Peter Auger, 'Translation and Cultural Convergence', Tracey A. Sowerby & Joanna Craigwood, Cultures of Diplomacy and Literary Writing in the Early Modern World (Oxford, 2019), p. 125.