Valerius Andreas
historian (1588-1655)
Wouter Dries or Walter Driessens (1588–1655), Latinized Valerius Andreas, was an academic jurist, Hebraist, and historian from the Duchy of Brabant in the Habsburg Netherlands.
Life
Valerius was born in Dessel on 27 November 1588, the eldest son of Henricus Dries and Adriana Pauwels. He was educated by schoolmaster Walter van Hout in Dessel and then by the Jesuit Andreas Schott. He learned Hebrew from the Scottish Jesuit John Hay and graduated B.A. from Douai University. In 1610 he moved to Antwerp, where he became friends with Aubertus Miraeus and Franciscus Schott, brother of Andreas Schott. In 1611 he was appointed professor of Hebrew at the Collegium Trilingue at the Leuven University, delivering his inaugural lecture in 1612 and teaching there until his death.
On 21 August 1621 he married Catharina Baeckx (1597–1640), with whom he had two daughters. On 22 November 1621 he graduated doctor of both laws in Leuven, and was appointed professor of law in 1628. In 1636 he also became the head of the university library. He twice served terms as rector of the university, in 1644 and 1649.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Valerius Andreas” as historian (1588-1655). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 11, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q770810. VIAF identifies the subject as 51846795. The Library of Congress control number is n86864847. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1588, 1655, 1610 and 1611.
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This entry incorporates text from “Valerius Andreas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.