Joachim Fransz Oudaan

OUDAAN (Oudaen), Joachim Fransz. b. Rijnsburg, the Netherlands, 7 October 1628; d. Rotterdam, 26 April 1692. Oudaan was a tile-maker in Rotterdam. As an enthusiastic young man he was attracted to millenarian sects; he later became associated with the Anabaptists, who were strong in the Netherlands at the time, developing into the Mennonites. Oudaan became a member of the Mennonite community, and a deacon of it. He translated the psalms into Dutch in Davids Psalmen Nieuwelkx op Rym-maat gestelt (Amsterdam, 1684), to which were added biblical hymns, including ‘Hoe groot de vrugten zijn’ (‘How great are the fruits’), set to a tune published in 1624 by Dirk Raphaelszoon Camphuysen (1586-1627)...