Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575), also known as Adriaen de Jonghe, was a Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, antiquarian, historiographer, emblematist, school rector, and Latin poet.

In his letters, he reports on his visits to the famous legal humanist Andrea Alciato, his attendance at an interrupted Greek-orthodox liturgical service in Venice, and on an experiment with glow-worms in the Bolognese countryside.

Meanwhile, he also praised Charles V in his edition of Curtius and perhaps he tried his luck, through Van der Dilft, at the Habsburg court as well, since he did not feel entirely comfortable witnessing the conversion of the English Church to Protestantism.

In his letters, he describes the stripping of the altars as a result of the Edwardian injunctions In 1550 Junius left for Holland to marry and take up a post as rector of the Latin School in Haarlem.

Meanwhile, he had not given up on the English and the Habsburg courts, for he dedicated the published version of his book on calendars to Edward VI (1553) and the revised edition to his successor, the Catholic Mary Tudor (1556).

But the clean copies he prepared for the press were never printed and attempts to enter the inner circle around the Spanish throne through the intervention of, amongst others, bishop Stephen Gardiner and the future Cardinal Granvelle, faltered as well.

To the Animadversa was appended a long treatise De coma commentarium (Commentary on hair), a paradoxical encomium, purportedly written in defiance of critique on the short Italian haircut which he had adopted in Italy.

The commentary was crushed under its own weight as a result of its endless strings of quotations and lack of humour, but it demonstrates his antiquarian interests and his ability to group together hundreds of fragments.

Junius became well integrated into the cultural élite of the Haarlem, which included the philosopher Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert, the engraver Philips Galle, the painter Maarten van Heemskerck, and, later, the school rector and Latin playwright Cornelius Schonaeus.

He also set up a private school in his own house, to teach the sons of the élite he knew so well and to secure himself a stable income in addition to the salary he gained from his post as a physician.

An expedition to Copenhagen in 1564, answering the call to become professor of medicine and royal physician, resulted in disillusion after just three months, due to lack of payment, bad weather and his unconfident speech (Junius stammered).

Junius cashed in on his by now firmly established fame by striking a deal with Europe's leading printer Christopher Plantin, who published his religious poem Anastaurosis, his influential Emblemata[1] and his edition of the lexicographer Nonius Marcellus.

Some of the Emblems are dedicated to representatives of the Spanish crown (including Granvelle and some Dutch administrators), but Junius also managed to secure the support of William the Silent in his bid to be appointed as historiographer of the States of Holland and Westfrisia.

But he first asked the Queen's direct permission to export sixty dickers of cow's skins, presumably destined for Christopher Plantin, who needed parchment to print a number of luxurious editions of his famous Antwerp polyglot bible.

Nevertheless, indices purgatorii continued to instruct Catholic readers to remove dedications to Protestant princes in Junius' works and cross out passages which could be interpreted as critical of Catholicism.

Yet, there is very little politics in Junius' Batavia: it is more a loosely organised overview of all sorts of individual histories and antiquarian aspects of 'Batavia' (i.e. Holland, the territory roughly coinciding with the modern westernmost part of The Netherlands).

The Batavia was eventually printed in 1588, long after the Dutch Revolt had developed into a full blown war following the Act of Abjuration in 1581, the murder on William in 1584, and the failed attempts, in 1585-87, to have Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, rule the rebellious provinces.

Yet, Junius also carried out research away from his books, as is demonstrated by his mushroom-treatise, the glow-worm story and his enquiries from chariot drivers concerning the technical terms of their trade, for the benefit of his hugely successful Nomenclator.

Many of his poems, and his Batavia, were posthumously published by his friend Janus Dousa, who contributed to establishing Junius' reputation for future generations as 'the most learned man in Holland after Erasmus'.

On 1 July 2011, his 500th anniversary is celebrated in his native town of Hoorn, an occasion at which three books, including a biography, a Dutch translation of his Batavia and a volume of scholarly articles will be published (see references below).