Justus Velsius

Who was Justus Velsius?

Justus Velsius, Haganus, or Joost Welsens in Dutch, was a Dutch humanist, physician, and mathematician.

Velsius started his career as a highly respected professor of Liberal Arts in Leuven, Strasbourg, and Cologne. Later on he portrayed himself as a prophet, and promoted his own particular view of Christiany, outlined in a pamphlet "Christiani Hominis Norma" which he wrote in London. He got in conflict with civil and ecclesiastical authorities all over Europe, and spent his final years as a preacher and faith healer in his native Holland. While in Cologne Velsius was married to Beatrix van Steenhoven, and later on, in Groningen, to Grete Cassens.