DATHENUS (DATHEN), Petrus

(1531–1588)

   Former monk who converted to Calvinism. Born Pieter Daten (or Daeten or Daets), he served, among other places, in a community of Dutch refugees in Frankenthal, Germany, where he created a new translation of the Psalms (used until the end of the 18th century) and translated the Heidelberg Catechism in 1563. From 1570 to 1576, he was minis ter at the court of the Protestant Elector Palatine Frederick III. After a brief stay in the Low Countries, during which he criticized the tol erant religious policy of William I of Orange, he again retired to Germany.