Aernout van Overbeke

He was born in Leiden, where his Antwerp-born parents had settled after marrying in Frankfurt and spending a period in Amsterdam.

His family was quite wealthy, with a townhouse on the Rapenburg and a country residence in Alphen aan den Rijn and receiving illustrious guests such as Vossius and Barlaeus.

Van Overbeke entered Leiden University aged eleven and completed his legal studies there on 10 March 1655 with a disputation or thesis entitled De transactionibus.

He incurred many debts around this time, for example by writing a translation of the psalms into poetry for the Lutheran church at his own expense and then distributing it for free.

It was probably his financial problems that led him to apply to work for the Dutch East India Company, becoming a fiscal lawyer for it and later becoming president of the Council of Justice for Batavia.