author

Petrus Hendrix

1723–1795

An 18th-century Dutch priest and beekeeper, he is remembered for a practical guide to beekeeping drawn from life along the Maas, Peel, and Niers. His work offers a rare window into everyday rural knowledge in the old Gelderland region.

1 Audiobook

Het Geldersch Byenboek

Het Geldersch Byenboek

by Petrus Hendrix

About the author

Born in Meerlo on August 13, 1723, Petrus Hendrix was a Roman Catholic cleric in what is now Dutch Limburg. Biographical sources describe him as the son of Michael Hendrix and Allegonda Wismans, and note that he served as chaplain in Blitterswijck from 1747 to 1751, including a period caring for the parish there during a vacancy.

From August 18, 1751, he was chaplain in Lottum, a post he held until his death on March 5, 1795. Alongside his church work, he was known as an enthusiastic beekeeper.

Hendrix is best known for Het Geldersch Byenboek, a practical beekeeping book rooted in the customs and experience of the region along the Maas, Peel, and Niers in the Upper Quarter of Gelderland. The text survived through a later edition and remains of interest as both a farming manual and a document of local language and rural life.