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Who was Cellarius?

Fact or fable: what is said about Cellarius

A great deal circulates about Cellarius that is not in the sources, and much in the sources differs from one source to the next. Here we put the best-known claims next to what we found, with the page where we found it.

What the sources say

  • ‘He was rector of the Latin School in Amsterdam.’ Not found. The marriage record of 1625 calls him a thirty-year-old schoolmaster; that he belonged to the Latin School in the Koestraat is Van Gent’s inference from the presence of its rector, Matthew Slade, as a witness. In The Hague he was fourth master. His only documented rectorate is that of Hoorn, from 1637. [1], [3]
  • ‘The Latin School stood in the Cellaria monastery.’ There was no Cellaria monastery in Hoorn. The school stood in the former Cecilia convent; ‘Cellarius’ is the Latinised family name of the rector. [1], [3]
  • ‘Cellarius was cosmographer of the VOC.’ We found no support. In the pages of Van Gent’s article that we read (pp. 9, 10, 13, 14) the VOC does not appear. Where the confusion may come from: the southern constellations on his charts were formed by Plancius from the observations of the sailors Keyser and De Houtman. [1]
  • ‘Valk and Schenk bought the plates at an auction in 1694.’ Van Gent’s website says Gerard Valk and Petrus Schenk reprinted the plates in 1708 ‘after acquiring the copperplates of Janssonius in 1694’. The word auction is not there. [2]
  • ‘German’ or ‘Dutch’ cosmographer? Born in the Palatinate (Neuhausen, near Worms), and on the title page he calls himself ‘Palatinus’; his whole documented career lies in Holland, and Van Gent’s article is titled ‘the masterpiece of a forgotten Hollandic cosmographer’. Both labels are partly right. [1]
  • ‘Plancius added nine constellations in 1612.’ Van Gent lists nine names for eight constellations: the Euphrates and Tigris are one figure. [1]
  • His birth: about 1596 (Van Gent), or probably 1595 (Van Zoonen), at Neuhausen. His wife is called Catharina Eltmans by Van Gent and Corine Eltmans by Van Zoonen. [1], [3]
  • His death and grave: three accounts, see the page about his rectorate. The best-documented date of his burial is 30 December 1664, in rented grave 61; Van Gent’s article and website differ. The burial of 21 November 1665 that circulates comes from Van Gent’s article; in Van Zoonen’s account the two burials are 30 December 1664 (the father) and 21 October 1665 (the son). [3], [1], [2]
  • Hendricus Cellarius: a brother of Andreas, appointed his successor on 22 November 1665 (Van Gent’s article), or a younger brother of the son Andreas junior, who succeeded him as a master (Van Zoonen). [1], [3]
  • Henricus Bruno: conrector from April 1649 (Van Zoonen) or from 1650 to 1660 (Van Gent); died in 1664 according to Van Gent, in 1665 according to Van Zoonen. [1], [3]
  • The gate of the school: the entrance was Kruisstraat 28, photographed in November 1893. It stands since 1956 at Klaes Stapel’s Hof, Munnickenveld 15, a national monument (no. 22487). [4], [5]

What we do not know

  • Whether the ‘auction’ of 1694 existed: we found only the acquisition of the plates, not the way it happened.
  • Which of the sources on his death is right: see the page about his rectorate.
  • Whether Bruno died in 1664 or 1665: we have seen only the two statements.

Sources

  1. R.H. van Gent, ‘De hemelatlas van Andreas Cellarius: Het meesterwerk van een vergeten Hollandse kosmograaf’, Caert-Thresoor 19 (2000) no. 1, pp. 9 to 25 (scan on Van Gent’s website) The scan has no text layer; we read printed pages 9, 10, 13 and 14 ourselves, not the rest.
  2. Robert H. van Gent, Andreas Cellarius – Biography (Utrecht University) The web biography carries no date; we cannot say whether it is older or newer than the article.
  3. Arie van Zoonen and Jannie van Zoonen-Zielman, Zeshonderd jaar scholen en schoolmeesters in Hoorn 1396–1996, vol. 1 (Vereniging Oud Hoorn and Publicatiestichting Bas Baltus, Hoorn 2018), pp. 135 to 148 (chapters 3.12 and 3.13) We read these pages and their footnotes in the pdf of Oud Hoorn. The town archives (Westfries Archief) and the burial register DTB 82 that it cites, we did not see ourselves.
  4. Rijksmuseum, Entrance of the former Latin School at Kruisstraat 28 in Hoorn (photograph, November 1893), RP-F-00-2116 Object page read: attributed to Monumentenzorg and possibly A.J.M. Mulder; the file on Wikimedia Commons states CC0.
  5. Rijksmonumentenregister, no. 22487: Klaes Stapel’s Hof, Munnickenveld 15, Hoorn Register entry read: the gate of the former Latin School was placed there in 1956.

Every statement above carries the number of its source. Read on 26 October 2026. What we could not confirm in a source is left out.

Who was Cellarius?