the Common Life in 's-Hertogenbosch. He died at the age of 71 in this town during a period of the plague, in July 1558, and was buried in the Brothers’ church. After his death, his grateful former students erected a monumental tomb there, with an epitaph. They had a portrait painted of their beloved master, which was hung over the tomb. Both tomb and painting have since disappeared and so has the church. Writings Macropedius wrote several textbooks. The most famous of all was Epistolica, a textbook on the art of writing letters. It was published for the first time in Antwerp in 1543. It was also printed as Methodus de Conscribendis Epistolis in Basel, Cologne, Dilligen, Frankfurt am Main, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Leyde. The book was published in London in 1576, followed by ten reprints; the last one dates from 1649. Even William Shakespeare may have known it due to the reprint of the work by his friend, fellow townsman and printer, Richard Field. Evidently, the book was used at many schools in Western Europe for a long period of time. His schoolbooks proved Macropedius to be a man of great humanist culture and follower of Erasmus. He knew all about the seven Free Arts and the Three Languages: Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He was very familiar with classic Greek and Roman literature, with the Bible and with the writings of the Fathers of the Church as well. Many reprints of his textbooks in the Netherlands, in Germany, in France and in England prove that Macropedius’ activities were highly esteemed by his contemporaries and by the next generation of humanists as well. By writing his books and his teachings, Macropedius contributed very much to the successful humanist educational reform in the first part of the sixteenth century. He indefatigably promoted Greek, not only the reading of the New Testament but also the study of the works of the classic Greek authors. Macropedius owes his greatest fame to his twelve plays. In the Netherlands and in Germany he was the first, the most productive and the best Latin playwright. Andrisca is a comedy about two shrewd and adulterous women wearing the breeches and fighting their silly husbands. By the end of the century, the same plot was elaborated by William Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew. Bassarus is a real Shrovetide play. Asotus is about the Biblical theme of the