Anslo, Reyer, Dutch poet and convert, b. at Amsterdam in 1622; d. at Perugia in 1669. His parents were Mennonites. He was baptized on the 16th of November, 1646, and brought up a member of the same sect. He had already gained fame as a poet, and had been rewarded by his native city, with a laurel crown and a silver dish, for a poem in honour of the new town hall. A poem inscribed to Queen Christina of Sweden, a great patroness of letters, entitled ‘The Swedish Pallas”, brought him a golden chain. In 1651, he was received into the Catholic Church, together with forty-three others, as is shown by MS. records of the Society of Jesus (Lit. annuze Soc. Jes the Burgundian Library at Brussels, VI, No. 21818b f° 300, a° 1651). He proceeded to Rome, where he became secretary to Cardinal Capponi, and received from Pope Innocent X a gold medal for his poetical labours. In 1655 he was presented to Queen Christina, to whom he dedicated new poems. His collected works were published in 1713, the finest being a tragedy, ‘“The arisian Blood-Bridal”? (De parysche bloed-brui-loff), dealing with the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.
Vnism in Kirchenlex.; ID., in the Dietsache Warande (Amsterale Se Spiegel van Nederlandsche Letteren (Louvain, 1877,
Francis W. Grey.