Catherine Tishem

Catherine Tishem (d. after 1577) was a Dutch woman who fled to England to escape religious persecution during the 16th Century.

The principal source for Catherine Tishem's life is a worshipful tribute to her son, Jan Gruter, written by one of his pupils, Balthasar Venator.^[1][2]

In 1558, Tishem married Gualtherius Gruter, burgomaster of Antwerp. Ten years later, they fled religious persecution to the Dutch exile community of Norwich in England. Catherine eventually returned to the Netherlands in 1577.

According to Venator, Tishem was a remarkably erudite woman, fluent in Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and English. She supervised the education of her son, who became a celebrated classical scholar.

References

1. Venator, Balthasar. Panegyricus Jan Grutero scriptus. 1631.
2. Foster, Leonard. Janus Gruter's English years: Studies in the continuity of Dutch literature in exile in Elizabethan England. Oxford University Press, 1967.