Frederick de Marselaer

Marselaer was born in the city of Antwerp in 1584. He studied Law at the University of Leuven, graduating on 23 March 1611, and then made a tour of Italy.[1]

In 1613 he was admitted to the Roodenbeke lineage, one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, making him a patrician of the city of Brussels. Between 1614 and 1659 he served ten terms as an alderman of Brussels, and between 1623 and 1651 seven terms as mayor.[1]

In 1617 he was knighted, and in 1622 he organized local levies to repulse Dutch raiders from Vilvoorde. In 1659 he was raised to the rank of baron.[1]

The first edition of his treatise on ambassadors was published in 1618, under the title Khpykeion, sive legationum insigne. It went into a second edition in 1626 under the title Legatus libri duo, and further editions under this title in 1644, 1663 and 1666.

Marselaer died on 7 November 1670.[1]

Title page of Frederick de Marselaer's Legatus (1666), engraved by Cornelis Galle the Younger after a design by Peter Paul Rubens

• Khpykeion, sive legationum insigne (Antwerp, 1618). Available on Google Books.
  • Legatus libri duo (Antwerp, 1626). Available on Google Books.
  • Legatus, libri duo (Amsterdam, 1644). Available on Google Books.
  • Legatus, libri duo (Weimar, 1663). Available on Google Books.
  • Legatus (Antwerp, 1666). Available on Google Books.