Willem Bilderdijk

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Dutch poet and astrologer, the most important poet of his day. During the French revolution he was banned to Germany while Napoleon was in Holland. Later he became an educator at Leiden University, where he had great influence over students who later became national leaders. His most noted work was an incomplete epic, "The Destruction of the First World," which was released in 1820. Though major streets still bear his name, he is now for the most part forgotten. Though physically handicapped from birth, Bilderdijk had an extremely lively mind. He made riddles and cryptograms and studied astrology. His museum holds some 3,000 astrological texts in tiny handwriting that are now being studied to decipher them. Married, he had 13 kids of whom nine died before the age of one. Bilderdijk died in 1831. Link to Wikipedia biography