ABSTRACT
“I am no writer”. 116 With these words, P.C. Hooft in 1609 started off his letter to the famous professor Daniel Heinsius and he added a laudatory poem which he hoped would be printed in the reprint of Heinsius’s play Auriacus, sive libertas suecia. Hooft expressed his wish that his poem would encourage a friendship with Heinsius, which was something that he “had wished for a long time”. 117 Even though Hooft in 1609 did not yet think of himself as a writer, or pretended not to as a matter of modesty, the written word played an important role in his life. He enjoyed reading and writing. Not only did he write the many letters that function as a source for this research, but he also wrote poetry, plays and historical works.
