{{Short description|Dutch missionary (1616–1681)}} {{Infobox person | name = Daniel Gravius | image = gravius.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth-date|1616}} | birth_place = Dordrecht, Dutch Republic | death_date = {{death year and age|1681|1616}} | death_place = Middelburg, Dutch Republic | other_names = Daniel van de Graaff<br/>Daniel van de Graef<br/>Daniel Grauw<ref name=NNBW>NNBW</ref> | known_for = | years_active = 1647–1651<ref>Andrade</ref> | education = | alma_mater = | employer = The Dutch East India Company | spouse = {{plainlist| * Maria Poots * Maria Hubregtsz }} }}
'''Daniel Gravius''' (1616–1681) was a Dutch missionary to Formosa. He was a gifted linguist, who translated portions of the Bible and other Christian texts into the Siraya language. After falling out with Governor of Formosa Nicolas Verburg, he was accused of libel and censured. Later he was completely exonerated and returned to his native Netherlands with his reputation intact.
==Mission to Formosa== Gravius is first mentioned in historical records as a preacher in Aardenburg.<ref name=NNBW/> After two years in Batavia undergoing training and waiting to be assigned a missionary post (where he married his first wife Maria Poots<ref name=NNBW/>), Gravius went to Formosa in 1647 and was stationed in the village of Soulang. He was credited with introducing the concept of raising draft livestock for ploughing to the aborigines.<ref name="Otness">Otness 64.</ref><ref>"A short time ago the Rev. D. Gravius showed us an account referring to the purchase and attendant expenses of one hundred and twenty-one head of cattle to be used for ploughing. These cattle are destined for the inhabitants of the village of Soulang, in order to accustom them [...] to cultivate their lands in this manner." From the Minute-book of Castle Zeelandia, excerpted in Campbell 248.</ref> Gravius translated Christian works into the Siraya language, including a formulary, portions of the Bible and various other tracts, which he accompanied with examples to render the meaning clear to the native Formosans.<ref name=Otness/> His linguistic work has been used by later scholars to shed light onto the cultural practices of the Siraya; for example, he noted that the Siraya had no words for gambling, servants or slavery.<ref>Crook</ref> The Siraya language almost disappeared, but is reconstructed with the works of Gravius and reintroduced among the thirty thousand remaining Siraya. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2021/09/24/de-siraya-taal-is-ingeslapen-en-wordt-nu-wakker-gekust-a4059613|title=De Siraya-taal is ingeslapen en wordt nu wakker gekust}}</ref>
In the village where Gravius was stationed, he was not only responsible for the religious life of the village, but he was also the senior judicial officer in residence. This dual role was a source of many complaints from the clergy, but the Council of Formosa (Dutch Formosa's ruling body) had ignored these complaints.<ref>Campbell 260.</ref> In 1651 Gravius wrote to Governor Nicolas Verburg complaining about his judicial superior, super-factor Dirck Snoucq, and alleging him to be "''a person of shameful and odious character.''"<ref>Governor Verburg paraphrasing the letter of complaint from Gravius, Campbell 265.</ref> Unfortunately for Gravius, Verburg took the side of Snoucq, declaring that "''this cable of infamous slander had been formed of many strands of abuses and misdeeds of so scandalous and unchristian a nature that they cannot even here be mentioned in detail.''"<ref>Campbell 265–66.</ref>
Governor Verburg then circumvented the normal procedure for trying a libel case by declining to have it heard by the Council of Formosa, based on the supposition that Frederick Coyett, a member of that council, would rule in favor of Gravius.<ref>Campbell 266.</ref> He fined Gravius 1,000 guilders<ref name=Campbell268>Campbell 268.</ref> (a considerable sum) and then "''launched a vitriolic campaign against [Gravius] and against clerical power generally.''"<ref name=Shep70>Shepherd 70</ref> The authorities in the colony descended into squabbling factions and a commissioner was sent from Batavia to sort out the mess. This commissioner, Willem Verstegen, found fault on both sides and recommended that clergymen be removed from judicial duties to avoid further conflict.<ref name=Shep70/> Gravius went to Batavia in 1651 to appeal to Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Carel Reyniersz and his follower Joan Maetsuycker against the verdict handed down by Verburg.<ref name=Campbell268/> (In the same year the Council of the Indies were also dealing with Cornelis van der Lijn and François Caron, who were sent back to Holland, being accused of unfair trade.)
Gravius remained in Batavia for three years, arguing his case, until he was found blameless and the money taken from him in fines was returned.<ref name=Otness/> He returned to the Netherlands as a preacher, where he married again in Veere and eventually died in 1681 in Middelburg.<ref name=NNBW/>
==Published works== *{{cite book |year=1661 |title=Het heylige Euangelium Matthei en Johannis. Ofte Hagnau ka d'llig matiktik ka na sasoulat ti Mattheus ti Johannes appa. |trans-title=The Gospel of St. Matthew in Formosan Sinkang Dialect and Dutch |place=Amsterdam |version=(in Austronesian and Dutch) |publisher=Michiel Hartogh |oclc=69326189 }} **{{cite book |title=The Gospel of St. Matthew in Formosan (Sinkang dialect) with corresponding versions in Dutch and English |last1=Campbell |first1=William |author-link=William Campbell (missionary) |last2=Gravius |first2=Daniel |publisher= Trubner |place=London |year=1888 |version=(in Austronesian, Dutch, and English) |oclc=844610148 }} *{{cite book |year=1661 |title=Patar ki tna-'msing-an ki Christang ofte. 't Formulier des Christendoms. |trans-title=Formulary of Christianity in the Siraya language of Formosa |place=Amsterdam |publisher=Michiel Hartogh |oclc=846467128 }}
==See also== *{{interlanguage link|Jacobus Vertrecht|qid=Q15913206}} (Jacobus Vertrecht) * Latinisierung von Personennamen
==Notes== {{reflist|3}}
==References== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last=Andrade|author1-link=Tonio Andrade|first=Tonio |year=2005 |title=How Taiwan Became Chinese|chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/appB.html|chapter=Appendix B: Governors-General, Governors, and Missionaries }} *{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=William|author-link=William Campbell (missionary)|title=Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records|orig-year=1903|year=1992|publisher=Southern Materials Center|location=Taipei|isbn=957-638-083-9 }} *{{cite web |last=Crook |first=Steven |date=2008-04-12 |publisher=Taiwan Journal |title=Breathing life into the Sirayan language |access-date=2009-04-23 |url=http://taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=46582&CtNode=122 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223130904/http://taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?CtNode=122&xItem=46582 |archive-date=2008-12-23 }} *{{cite web|title=Gravius, Daniël|url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu04_01/molh003nieu04_01_1061.htm|access-date=2009-04-23|publisher=Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek (NNBW)|language=nl}} *{{cite book|title=One Thousand Westerners in Taiwan, to 1945: A Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary|last=Otness|first=Harold M.|publisher=Academica Sinica|year=1999|isbn=957-671-618-7}} *{{cite book|title= Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier: 1600–1800|last=Shepherd|first=John|orig-year=1993|year=1995|publisher = Southern Materials Center|location=Taipei|isbn= 957-638-311-0}} {{refend}}
{{dutch Formosa}}{{Christian missionaries in Taiwan}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravius, Daniel}} Category:1616 births Category:1681 deaths Category:People from Dutch Formosa Category:Protestant missionaries in Taiwan Category:Dutch Reformed Church missionaries Category:Linguists of Austronesian languages Category:Linguists from the Netherlands Category:Dutch expatriates in Germany Category:People from Dordrecht Category:Missionary linguists