The Dutch poet and dramatist Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) ranks as the greatest of all Dutch writers. He achieved his status of national poet during the period when the Netherlands was emerging as a national state.

Joost van den Vondel was born in Cologne, Germany, on Nov. 17, 1587. His father, a hatter, had been forced to flee from Antwerp because of his Anabaptist convictions. Between 1582 and 1596 his parents, as persecuted members of the Anabaptist sect, were intermittently compelled to flee from the inquisitorial reign of terror instituted in the Lowlands by its Spanish regent and governor general, the Duke of Alba. In 1597, a year after his arrival in Amsterdam, Vondel's father acquired Amsterdam citizenship, enabling the family to settle in the "Venice of the North."

During this period Amsterdam was the commercial and cultural capital of northern Europe. The senior Vondel established a hosiery business and expected his...