Vortigern Studies is run
by a single Sitemaster, and though I am not used
to talk about myself, well..that's me. Care to
meet me?
I was born in 1964 (the year of the
Dragon) in the old city of Amersfoort, The
Netherlands, which is famous for its collection
of single megalithic stones. I guess that’s
where it all started, at that ancient ford in the
small river the Amer, for being born there means
you’re a "Keien-trekker" (Boulder-hauler)
for the rest of your life!
I spent most of my life in the small village of
Voorthuizen though (yes, another ancient ford) in
the agrarian area west of the Veluwe, known as
the Gelderse Vallei (Valley of Geldern). This
insignificant spot only managed to enter history
in the 12th century when the
inhabitants supposedly managed to kill a bishop
by indigestion...
Several
holidays abroad in Germany kindled my interest in
history in general and everything Roman in
particular.
After my military service
I went on to study history in the city of Utrecht,
the ancient Trajectum on the Rhine which
was founded by the Romans. There I got my degree
in modern Middle Eastern Studies, after which I
worked for a few years for Amnesty International
(the Iraq portfolio). After a few years' working
for an insurance company I now work as a civil
servant on the local council.
My father’s family
has come recently from Maasland, a village west
of Rotterdam, and my mother’s ancestors came
from the northern banks of the Rhine. Both their
names, Vermaat and Van den Born
derive from certain low-lying pieces of farmland
close to a river, known as a ‘Maat’ and
a ‘Born’. Agrarian roots, but with wet
feet, so to speak. What else would you expect
from Dutch ancestors…
Maybe not surprisingly (in
a family where these roots were common) I grew up
with a sense of history already present when I
was very young. Books aplenty (my father owned
many books on local history), true historical
ones but children’s books as well. I guess
something just had to rub off..
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One of the books that made
an impression was The Eagle of the Ninth
by Rosemary Sutcliff. After that, I found out my
parents had a copy of Sword at Sunset by the same
author, and I guess I have never left the realm
of Arthurian and Roman Britain.
.
Today my wife Philippine
and I live  with our daughter Marrit
(1997), our son Jeroen (2000) and our cat in the
town of Houten, only a short distance from the
Roman limes
fortress once named Fectio/Vechten and
the remains of several Roman villas scattered
south of the city of Trajectum ad Rhenum/Utrecht.
I have been collecting books for about twenty
years, but I guess I'm not an antiquarian. The
old books I do collect are for my growing Arthurian
collection, which I started in my childhood
with the first books I read by Rosemary Sutcliff,
as I mentioned earlier. Her Eagle of the
Ninth has truly set me on a course towards
the enjoyment of Roman history in general and her
Lantern Bearers and Sword at Sunset
led me to the fascination of Sub-Roman Britain in
particular.
 Apart from my activities on the
Internet I am a member of a small re-enactment
group that bears the name of this fort I
mentioned above, Fectio. Our basis is the
aforementioned complicated period of those post-Roman
times.
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