Pieter Gillis

Who was Pieter Gillis?

Pieter Gillis, known by his anglicised name Peter Giles and sometimes the Latinised Petrus Ægidius, was a humanist, printer, and registrar for the city of Antwerp in the early sixteenth century. He is most famous as the friend and supporter of Rodolphus Agricola, Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More.

Thomas More's Utopia, although fictional, includes Pieter Gillis as a character in Book I. More dedicated Utopia to Gillis, who may have designed the Utopian alphabet. They first met when diplomatic business brought More to Antwerp.